Healthiness of the air in the internal environments of the home
Pursuing the goal of healthy air begins with an analytical approach to thermal and acoustic design from the outset. The first step toward healthy air involves raising personal awareness to fully understand the importance of this topic.
This topic is far from trivial; in this article, we will only provide insights that will be explored in later articles.
How clean air affects your health
We are healthy when we are able to prevent something foreign from harming our body. We will call this something a pollutant.
In a so-called indoor environment, the concentration of pollutants affects humans in a multisystem manner; it interacts with human metabolism through assimilation mechanisms including inhalation, dermal absorption, and ingestion.
Pollutants are numerous and heterogeneous, with different effects on health. There are cases in which the body is exposed to high concentrations of pollutants for short periods and experiences an immediate and recognizable physical reaction (acute intoxication).
There are other cases in which the body is exposed to low concentrations for prolonged periods, such as inside one’s home. This will be the topic of our discussion.
Prolonged exposure to low concentrations causes ailments that we can’t quite contextualize, such as headaches, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, stress, fatigue, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, and sometimes even nausea and vomiting.
All these ailments can be summarized under the heading of Sick Building Syndrome. It’s a sneaky enemy because we fail to recognize it.
Through the development of Clinical Environmental Medicine, we are becoming aware that numerous chronic-degenerative diseases are actually caused by prolonged exposure to pollutants present in the home environment.
What compromises the healthiness of the air?
Chemical pollutants:
Environmental health is compromised by high concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which can be found not only in the air but also in water and dust deposits. Among these, formaldehyde is a substance widely used in the production of building materials, household products, tobacco, detergents, glues, or adhesives, to name just a few internal sources.
Pollutants such as benzene and particulate matter can also be found in the environment.
Allergenic and microbial pollutants:
These are agents capable of generating specific immune responses in humans. They are composed of viable and non-viable microorganisms, their fragments or residues, toxins, and volatile compounds.
They can be associated with various asthmatic symptoms and mixed hypersensitivity, as well as various diseases and infections (viral and/or bacterial). They find their ideal habitat inside air conditioning systems, cooling units, and humidifiers. Other suitable places for their proliferation include poorly ventilated bathrooms and humid kitchens.
They include:
Mites;
Fungi: eukaryotic organisms capable of reproducing through the use of very small spores carried by the air;
Animals;
Pollen;
Bacteria: unicellular organisms; their proliferation indoors is determined by increased water activity and higher relative humidity;
Viruses: infectious agents of ultramicroscopic size, which can multiply only inside living cells.
Heavy metals
These are perhaps the most harmful environmental pollutants for humans, as they can bind to cellular structures and accumulate within the body, hindering the development of many metabolic functions.
Among the most harmful are:
Aluminum
Arsenic
Lead
Cadmium
Mercury
Heavy metals can be ingested or inhaled.
They can also be partially eliminated through salivation, perspiration, and urination. Anything that cannot be eliminated is biologically accumulated within tissues and/or organs and, as absorption progresses, can cause the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS.
How can I understand the healthiness of the air in my environment?
To determine whether an environment can be considered healthy, measurements must be taken with specific instruments (which we will not discuss in this article).
It is generally accepted that an environment is considered healthy if the measured values remain below 300 micrograms/m3, equal to 0.25 ppm (particles per million).
Below this value, the individual’s natural detoxification capacity can almost completely eliminate these substances without altering organic processes. Carbon dioxide is also a waste product of respiration and should remain below the 410 ppm threshold.
Air health analysis
What are the main factors that guide us to ensure healthy air in our homes?
Choosing low-emission materials
Adopting purifying/ventilating systems
A guide to choosing materials for better air quality
Air quality depends primarily on the choice of materials. Some materials emit pollutants into the environment, while others actually contribute to air purification, a fact that has represented a significant turning point in the construction industry.
In this case, the material can be compared to an air treatment system, albeit without the associated operating costs.
There are materials that absorb pollutants and retain them, thus improving air quality. These are called hygroscopic, non-re-emitting materials.
There are also photocatalytic materials that contain special additives (such as titanium dioxide) that are activated by ultraviolet energy and generate processes that render many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) inert through oxidation-reduction dynamics. Given this characteristic, they are much more effective outdoors than indoors, also because this phenomenon is amplified in the presence of humid air.
A third group of passive purifying systems involves antibacterial materials.
These are added with metal ions capable of destroying the protein membranes of viruses and bacteria. A certain amount of humidity is required to activate them.
Active systems to improve air quality
While the proper use of materials is of primary importance for air quality, it’s not the only aspect to consider. We’ve found that zero-emission materials are rare, and certainly not all will ever be, with the exception of glass and undrawn steel.
Air Purification Systems
Air purification refers to the process of ridding the environment of substances (particle pollutants) defined as impure, such as fine particles.
This is achieved through air filtration systems.
Active Systems for Air Health
Active air purification systems apply technologies capable of eliminating a pollutant load. These include controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV), in ducted or centralized versions.
CMV can reduce the concentration of pollutants in the air by up to 70% through the use of filters. Examples include particulate filters, which eliminate smog in outdoor air, and activated carbon filters, which purify the air from VOCs and fine particles. These air purification methods can work synergistically.
Air Sanitization Systems
Air sanitization refers to the action aimed at eliminating contaminants, allergens, viruses, and bacteria. Air sanitization can be achieved by installing a sanitizer to reduce allergens (bacteria, viruses, and pollen).
It can be ducted as a post-treatment battery and utilizes various operating principles, including ionization. Ionization is a very common phenomenon in nature that occurs during thunderstorms. The electrical potential difference generated by the device damages the outer protein membrane of viruses and bacteria, strongly inhibiting their spread. Additionally, existing systems can be integrated with an activated carbon system.
Therefore, it is necessary to introduce not only low-emission materials but also ventilation and purification systems that eliminate residual emissions.
The use of plant essences for indoor air purification
Houseplants are capable of synthesizing harmful substances (VOCs) present in the air and converting them into nutrients. Their efficiency is comparable to that of non-re-emitting hygroscopic materials and therefore constitute a passive system.
Among these plants are the ficus, areca palm, bamboo palm, peace lily, dracaena, and dwarf date palm. Not to mention that in photosynthesis, plants use the carbon dioxide present in the air to produce energy.