Keeping It Cool and Keeping It Oxygenated!

People who live where the temperature is above the normal body temperature of 98.6F have been creating ways to keep themselves cool for centuries. To the person living in hot climates back in previous times, the only way to keep cool was to jump in a lake or create currents of wind in a dwelling. Architecture and the task of cooling joined together in creative ways to keep the summers cooler and the winters warmer. In the 1800s, the thick walls of castles in Europe and houses in the northern sections of the United States kept the inside cooler. In nomadic regions of the midwest, tents, yurts, and cave dwellings were made in such a way to take advantage of wind currents, natural bodies of water, and seasonal changes.

In the twentieth century, architects, engineers, constructionists, electrical contractors, and high volume air conditioning companies have come together to impact the latest developments in efficient energy usage and sustainable living in highly sophisticated business and home dwellings. The average consumer has come to expect the air to be clean, fresh, and appropriately comfortable for daily living.

TED and TEDx

There is an advanced organization that began its trek into the American culture in 1984. TED(Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a media company which shows talks online for free under their company slogan of “ideas worth spreading.” TED and TEDx talks are held every month and cover areas such as scientific, cultural, and academic topics. Lately, because of the deterioration of our planet’s atmosphere and our constant use of toxic chemicals in a myriad of industries, TED & TEDx have started inviting scientists and academics from around the world to give speeches and show their research in regard to increasing the quality of air inside and outside along with better high volume air conditioning technology.

Indoor Air Quality

IAQ is important to the person working in a large building in any city in America. Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) is important to the homeowner raising a family or the elderly person suffering from lung disorders. The use of air filters, ultra-violet lights, and various technologies have been introduced and documented through many decades of data now collected by industries, standard setting organizations, and government laboratories.

The use of HEPA air filters has also been shown and proven to enhance indoor air quality and the direct relationship between good health and good air can be correlated by research statistics. The assessment of the size of a high volume air conditioning unit and its ability to cool/heat a space is also of paramount importance when building a home or business. These factors along with adequate cleaning and consistent maintenance procedures can keep indoor air quality at its best.

Plants Change Things!

According to a recent TEDx talk by Kamal Meattle, a researcher from Delhi, India the quality of air inside a structure can be positively impacted by the strategic placement of certain plants. We have known for years that placing plants inside the home can lend an aesthetic quality to it. We have also known that at some level, plants make our home and planet environment better and easier to breathe.

Mr. Meattle has taken it all to a whole new level though. After being told by his doctor that his lungs were decreasing in capacity and his death would soon be upon him, he decided to try to do something about the quality of air inside the office building where he worked in Delhi. He has experimented with kinds and categories of plants and has been able to isolate those plants with a higher capacity to convert bad air into good air.

He has narrowed the plant choices down to three. The first is the Areca Palm(Dypsis Lutescens). It is an indoor house plant that originated in Madagascar. This plant removes CO2 and converts it into oxygen. The second plant is known as Mother-in-law’s Tongue(Sansevieria Trifasciata). This is an evergreen, flowering plant with stiff leaves that grow vertically. The plant is also known as the bedroom plant because it converts CO2 to oxygen at night. The third plant is called Money Plant(Epipremnum Aureum). It is an evergreen, flowering vine that is native to Polynesia. This plant has the ability to remove formaldehyde and other volatile chemicals from the air.  The researcher has actually declared that if you could enclose yourself inside a bottle with these plants, you could still breathe normally!

Startling Results!

The research with these plants clearly indicates that if the correct number of plants are used compared to the number of humans inside the dwelling blood oxygen levels can be increased by 42% within 10 hours. The evidence also shows a lower incidence of out of work employees due to colds, flus, and other viruses. Headache, respiratory ailments, and eye irritations were down by 34%. Another byproduct of clear and clean air was an increase of 20% in overall human productivity because people were more alert due to higher oxygen levels.

The use of these kinds of plants inside homes or large buildings also has an impact on our world. The world’s energy requirements will increase in the coming years. 40% of the world’s energy resources are used by buildings and homes. It is estimated that in the next decade, 60% of the world’s population will be living in large, inner-city buildings. With this change in demographics and lifestyle, air quality will suffer and plants can change that.