Identifying and Managing Common Indoor Air Pollutants
What method do you use to discover the source of a rank odor? Most would probably take a large whiff and follow the scent trail. Unfortunately, many dangerous but common indoor air pollutants are undetectable by human senses.
Below is your guide to airborne enemies that result in poor indoor air quality and the tools that can accomplish what your nose can't.
What Is Indoor Air Pollution?
Pollution is a blanket term for the concentration of matter in the air that threatens human health. It's a huge problem that contributes to 3.2 million deaths globally.
Indoor pollution tracks the concentration of pollutants in indoor environments like homes, hospitals, schools, and offices. This type of pollution is typically 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor air pollution. At its worst, it can be up to 100 times as bad. A common culprit is poor ventilation causing dangerous gases and particles to stay trapped inside.
What Are the Likely Consequences of Indoor Air Pollution?
Harmful indoor pollutants are present in all buildings, but health effects vary depending on the type of pollutant, concentration, and length of inhalation. For example, breathing pollutants over a short time typically yield these types of health effects:
Headaches, nausea, exhaustion
Trouble focusing, learning, or working
Irritation to the nose, eyes, and throat
Shortness of breath
However, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Indoor air pollution is one of the world's leading causes of lowered life expectancy, and long-term exposure to poor indoor air quality can lead to many tragic outcomes:
Lung cancer and severe respiratory diseases
Heightened blood pressure, heart attacks, and cardiovascular diseases
Noticeable cognitive decline
Common Indoor Air Pollutants and Their Sources
So what are these invisible threats? Here are the most common sources of indoor air pollution and how they can damage human health.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
VOCs are organic biological contaminants released from substances, natural and organic. If breathed for long enough they can damage vital organs, like the heart and lungs.
VOCs are much like cryptic supervillains with strange origins because they come from a plethora of sources, including:
Building Materials: Paint, pressed wood, flooring/carpet, sealants/glues/adhesives
Home Products: Deodorants, perfumes, air fresheners, cleaning products, gas stoves
Human Activities: Cigarette smoking, printing/copying, burning ash or wood
Mold and Mildew
Unless you're trying to invent penicillin or a new cheese, avoid mold and mildew at all costs. These fungi thrive in places that are damp, cool, and dirty. In terms of indoor spaces, they tend to fester in attics, basements, crawl spaces, and cabinets with plumbing. Once a colony of mold grows, it gives off spores that can carry serious health effects that weaken the respiratory system.
Particulate Matter (PM)
If an indoor air expert explained you have concerning levels of PM they could be talking about anything from construction dust to pet dander to cockroach waste. PM explains a pollutant's size. As the rule goes: the smaller, the deadlier. That's why PM is measured in two sizes, PM2.5 and PM10.
Humans can inhale particles of either size, which come from sources like wildfires, construction, pests, and indoor combustion. However, PM2.5 is more dangerous because it's small enough to slip past the lungs and into the bloodstream, which can cause irreparable heart damage.
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Carbon monoxide is a silent killer that's colorless, odorless, and poisonous. It originates from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing compounds, primarily industrial processes: generators, gas stoves, or burning fossil fuels. But it can also occur naturally from forest fires and volcanoes. Too much CO is lethal, so it's crucial to have dedicated sensors for this gas in any indoor space.
Radon
Radon emits naturally from several sources, often right underneath homes. Essentially, it's the decay of uranium through rocks, soil, and water. Eventually, it seeps upward into homes through cracks in the foundation, and long-term exposure can cause lung cancer.
How To Reduce Common Indoor Air Pollutants
You've met the culprits, now it's time to learn how to prevent them from infiltrating your living and workspaces.
Ventilation Improvements
Proper ventilation is the top priority for diluting the indoor pollutant concentration. Always ensure there's enough fresh air circulating throughout an indoor space by keeping windows open when possible. You also need enough indoor fans to circulate fresh air throughout each room.
If outdoor air is polluted, you must rely on proper ventilation by running the HVAC more often. However, always run it with a clean filter that has the right MERV rating.
Regular Cleaning and Maintenance
Air conditioners, HVACs, air purifiers, and air filters need regular cleanings and checkups to ensure they're working to remove pollutants from the air. At the bare minimum, check your HVAC system biannually before serious weather changes. Areas with heightened poor air quality or excessive humidity require more frequent monitoring.
Use of Air Purifiers
Air purifiers provide an excellent second layer of defense. Place air purifiers in rooms with the highest pollutant concentration, such as recently renovated spaces or places with a high presence of chemicals and combustion like bathrooms or kitchens.
Eliminating Sources of Pollutants
Fighting pollution only works if you pull it up by the roots. You must stay in touch with your building's air by testing for things like mold, CO, and radon to identify the origins of harmful indoor air quality (IAQ). Work to identify and eliminate all appliances or materials that emit pollution. For example, certain copy machines and laser printers emit harmful VOCs. You might need to switch to electric stoves instead of gas-powered stoves if your building doesn't have proper ventilation.
Monitoring Indoor Air Quality
Building managers must pay hawklike attention to indoor air quality at all times. However, tackling poor IAQ issues requires much more than a sharp sense of smell.
That's where Attune swoops to the rescue. Our fine-tuned sensors pair with market-leading software to create a holistic system that places the power to monitor IAQ in real time directly in the pockets of building managers. From there, managers can monitor the dashboard and act swiftly to spot and eradicate the sources of pollution.
Curious to know more? See how Attune can catapult your IAQ efforts to new heights and schedule a free demo today.
FAQs:
What is the most common indoor air pollutant?
Common pollutants are biological compounds such as animal hair, dander, saliva, pollen, dust, or mold.
How can we purify indoor air quality?
Proper ventilation paired with clean air filters and air purifiers are outstanding methods for locking in a healthy IAQ.
How can we manage indoor air pollution?
The best way to track pollution is through powerful, accurate sensors that collect real-time data across all common pollutant strains.
