IAQ Issues? Open a window!

Open a window - yes, it sounds too easy, but the fact of the matter is that if you want to improve the air quality of almost any indoor environment, the fastest and most effective way to do it is simply to open a window and let some fresh air in. It doesn't matter if you reside in a rural country setting or an inner-city industrial area, the air quality is better outside the door than inside, even if the view from the front porch includes factories and smokestacks.

Thanks to the Clean Air Act of 1963 (amended in 1967, 1970, 1977 and 1990), tremendous progress has been made in reducing the levels of the six most serious air pollutants, including ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead. The result is that the outdoor air across America is substantially cleaner than it was 30-40 years ago.

On the other hand, indoor air is a different matter entirely. In fact, it is the main source of air pollution in our lives. According to EPA, the indoor level of organic pollutants is 2 to 5 times higher than the outdoor level, and often much higher than that. The culprit? Volatile organic compounds (VOC's) produced by the products we bring into and use around the house (petrochemicals of all kinds, dry cleaning agents, tobacco smoke, chlorine bleach, polishes, ammonia, urea-formaldehyde that off-gases from laminated kitchen cabinets, wall paneling, and/or other engineered wood products, and so on. The list is endless.

So, any time you want to improve the quality of the air you breathe, open a window and take a good deep breath, safe in the knowledge that, unless you live directly across the street from a coal-fired electrical plant (the last holdouts in the battle against outdoor air pollution), the outdoor air is going to be 2 to 5 times cleaner than the indoor air and maybe even better than that.

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24 Jan