As organizations worldwide pursue sustainable and ecologically conscious methods of doing business, today's building industry is increasingly concerned with going green. Healthy air and energy efficiency are a big part of that process and those are exactly what you get with InnovativeAirQuality technology.
LEED Certification
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary standard that recognizes environmentally friendly buildings.
A building is awarded points if it meets certain green criteria. Based on how many points it earns, a building will be recognized by LEED as belonging to one of four levels:
26 - 32 points: LEED Certified
33 - 38 points: LEED Silver
39 - 51 points: LEED Gold
52+ points: LEED Platinum
The LEED stamp of approval is considered highly desirable. Some investment advisors recommend that investors watch for LEED certification when deciding where to spend their money. Meanwhile, in InnovativeAirQuality's home base of Calgary, the city recently instituted a mandate that all new government buildings be built to achieve LEED silver status. Early participants in this program included the Crowfoot Library and the Country Hills Multi-Services Centre.
InnovativeAirQuality may assist a building to earn as many as eight points toward its LEED status:
Effects of Contaminants
Most people spend 90 percent of their time indoors, where indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times (and even 100 times) greater than outdoor levels, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The effects on the human body and therefore on the quality and productivity of a workplace can be devastating. The EPA reports that the long-term health effects can be severely debilitating or fatal, and may show up years after exposure has occurred.
The Unseen Enemy: Sick Building Syndrome & Declining Morale
Bad air in a building leads to Sick Building Syndrome, or SBS, a set of symptoms that is difficult to diagnose or prove. As soon as SBS is even mentioned, it can affect morale: a pervasive but intangible threat can make anyone worry that theyre suffering symptoms.
VOCs are very common in domestic, office and industrial environments because they are petroleum-based and therefore found in a myriad of substances, from household products to pesticides to paint to pressed wood products, and, of course, plastics. Petroleum and the human body have a similar chemical makeup, making it very hard for the body to recognize and expel petroleum-based chemicals.
One of the most common VOCs is formaldehyde, a sensitizing substance found in oft-used building supplies such as particleboard, pressed wood and interior plywood. Furniture and interior decoration also involve formaldehyde: its frequently found in caulks, adhesives, paint, furniture and permanent pressed fabrics. People sensitive to formaldehyde and theres a large number of them may suffer headaches, numbness, tingling fingers and toes, depression, anxiety and inability to concentrate when exposed to the substance. Making things worse, formaldehyde lowers your resistance to other chemicals.
When moisture accumulates in roof and wall systems, the building is threatened by structural decay and premature aging. Its expensive and time-consuming to get checked for mould through traditional inspection methods, and often the problem is invisible until significant damage is already done.
Why are We Concerned About Particulate Matter?
Particulate matter is the term used for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Coarse particles (larger than 2.5 micrometers) come from a variety of sources including windblown dust and grinding operations. Fine particles (less than 2.5 micrometers) often come from fuel combustion, power plants, and diesel buses and trucks.
These fine particles are so small that several thousand of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence.
They are of health concern because they easily reach the deepest recesses of the lungs.
Batteries of scientific studies have linked particulate matter, especially fine particles (alone or in combination with other air pollutants), with a series of significant health problems, including:
The Elderly:
Studies estimate that tens of thousands of elderly people die prematurely each year from exposure to ambient levels of fine particles.
Studies also indicate that exposure to fine particles is associated with thousands of hospital admissions each year. Many of these hospital admissions are elderly people suffering from lung or heart disease.
Individuals with Preexisting Heart or Lung Disease:
Breathing fine particles can also adversely affect individuals with heart disease, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis by causing additional medical treatment. Inhaling fine particulate matter has been attributed to increased hospital admissions, emergency room visits and premature death among sensitive populations.
Children: The average adult breathes 13,000 liters of air per day; children breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults.
Because children's respiratory systems are still developing, they are more susceptible to environmental threats than healthy adults.
Exposure to fine particles is associated with increased frequency of childhood illnesses, which are of concern both in the short run, and for the future development of healthy lungs in the affected children.
Fine particles are also associated with increased respiratory symptoms and reduced lung function in children, including symptoms such as aggravated coughing and difficulty or pain in breathing. These can result in school absences and limitations in normal childhood activities.
Asthmatics and Asthmatic Children
More and more people are being diagnosed with asthma every year. Fourteen Americans die every day from asthma, a rate three times greater than just 20 years ago. Children make up 25 percent of the population, but comprise 40 percent of all asthma cases.
Breathing fine particles, alone or in combination with other pollutants, can aggravate asthma, causing greater use of medication and resulting in more medical treatment and hospital visits.
Reference: http://www.epa.gov/rgytgrnj/programs/artd/air/quality/pmhealth.htm
Symptoms of Exposure to CO2 - learn more...
ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2008) A Stanford scientist has spelled out for the first time the direct links between increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and increases in human mortality, using a state-of-the-art computer model of the atmosphere that incorporates scores of physical and chemical environmental processes. The new findings come to light just after the Environmental Protection Agency's recent ruling against states setting specific emission standards for this greenhouse gas based in part on the lack of data showing the link between carbon dioxide emissions and their health effects.
Carbon Monoxide
What is it?
Carbon Monoxide or CO is a natural gas created by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. It has no smell, no taste and no color, making it extremely hard to detect. The effects of carbon monoxide on humans and animals can be deadly - around 40 people die each year in the UK from CO poisoning.
Fossil fuels are used extensively in our lives and are used every day in our homes. Gas, oil, coal and even wood burnt in boilers and engines can emit CO, as can fossil fuels used in water heaters, oil burners, cookers, gas fires, open fires and solid fuel appliances. When these appliances are installed correctly, maintained and serviced regularly, the chance of CO building up are greatly reduced. Most victims of CO poisoning are exposed to gasses that are not vented adequately by heating equipment.
How are people poisoned and what happens?
Our bodies will quickly and easily absorb carbon monoxide. In fact our bodies will actively seek to absorb CO over oxygen where it is present, even though the gas is fatal to us. If CO builds up in the air you breathe, you will begin to feel its effects. Once inhaled, carbon monoxide combines with oxygen carrying hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin. Carboxyhemoglobin inhibits the transference of oxygen around the body, starving the organs of oxygen. This oxygen starvation particularly affects the heart, brain and central nervous system.
Symptoms are often flu-like and their severity depends on the amount of carbon monoxide inhaled. The below guide shows symptoms experienced by an healthy adult at the relevant exposure level. The CO is measured in Parts Per Million (ppm) in relation to air.
Reference: http://www.iphe.org.uk/health/carbon_monoxide.html
InnovativeAirQuality © 2010 - All Rights Reserved
