The most common cause of poor indoor air quality, especially in older buildings, is asbestos. The material is often found in paint, construction material, ceiling and floor tiles, etcetera.
Human activities within buildings, such as smoking, burning solid fuels, cooking, and cleaning. Vapors from building and construction materials, equipment, and furniture. Biological contaminants, such as mold, viruses, or allergens.
Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems. Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the area.
Sources of air pollution are multiple and context specific. The major outdoor pollution sources include residential energy for cooking and heating, vehicles, power generation, agriculture/waste incineration, and industry.
Indoor air pollution can come from a variety of sources, some which are easy to spot and others which are slightly less obvious. The most common sources include inadequate ventilation, mold growth, HVAC systems, cleaning products, and building materials.
Change your furnace filter regularly. Avoid burning in your home, including fireplaces, wood stoves, gas appliances, and candles. Avoid chemicals such as air fresheners, sprays and cleaning products or use a healthier option. Vacuum your rugs and carpets regularly.
The smoke from cigarettes, cigars, and pipes is one of the most common – and most dangerous – indoor air pollutants. Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including at least 70 that are carcinogenic.
Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been tied to symptoms like headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. Also, some specific diseases have been linked to specific air contaminants or indoor environments, like asthma with damp indoor environments.
1. Burning Fossil Fuels. The biggest contributors of air pollution are from industry sources and power plants to generate power, as well as fossil fuel motor vehicles. The continuous burning of fossil fuels releases air pollutants, emissions and chemicals into the air and atmosphere.
Wildfires, flooding, hurricanes and other natural events can create unhealthy air, especially for people with lung disease. And the cleanup often adds to the challenge. Climate change poses a grave health threat to everyone, with serious risks to lung health.
Install An Air Quality Monitor
Devices like the PurpleAir Indoor Air Quality Monitor help homeowners monitor real-time changes in air quality, making it easier to take action when necessary. This is a very straightforward option and something that homeowners can install and monitor on their own.
The “immediate” symptoms of poor indoor air quality can often resemble a cold or allergies. You can feel fatigue or dizziness and may frequently get headaches and experience eye, nose, or throat irritation.
Inadequate ventilation can raise interior pollutant levels by failing to bring in enough external air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and failing to transport indoor air pollutants out of the area.
Never use gas stoves to heat the house as this can lead to a build-up of carbon monoxide and other air pollutants. Never use hibachis, charcoal grills, unvented space heaters, or portable generators indoors.
Some sources, such as building materials, furnishings and household products like air fresheners, release pollutants more or less continuously. Other sources, related to activities carried out in the home, release pollutants intermittently.
Many aerosols enter the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels—such as coal and petroleum—and wood. These particles can come from many sources, including car exhaust, factories and even wildfires. Some of the particles and gases come directly from these sources, but others form through chemical reactions in the air.
Two of the pollutants of the greatest concern from a public health perspective are fine particulate matter and ozone. Sources of PM2. 5 include direct emissions from combustion of fuels such as gasoline, oil and diesel as well as wood combustion.
1 – Fossil fuels – It is no surprise that the fossil fuels sector is the most polluting in the world. Despite this knowledge, emissions from fossil fuels keep increasing.
There are several low-to-no-cost steps you can take to improve the indoor air quality in your home based on three best practice strategies of: controlling the sources of pollution; insuring there is adequate ventilation; and, using supplemental air cleaning and filtration.
The combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths annually. Household air pollution exposure leads to noncommunicable diseases including stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.