Indoor Air Quality
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 9:31AM Indoor air quality (IAQ) affects our health, comfort, productivity,
and quality of life.
During each minute of the more than 21 hours we spend
inside our homes and other indoor spaces each day we
breathe an average of 12 to 20 times per minute, taking in
one to two gallons of air. Each of those 12 to 20 breaths
per minute—or in the case of our children, an average of 16
to 30 breaths per minute—contains not only the oxygen we
need to stay alive, but also any airborne pollutants that may
be present. Given that indoor air pollution levels are typically
two to five times greater than outdoor levels, and occasionally
even 25 to 100 times greater the immediate importance
of understanding indoor air quality and how we can control
and improve our indoor air environment is clear.
Since 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
has consistently ranked indoor air pollution as one of the top
five environmental risks to public health. Around the world, a
death occurs every 20 seconds due to poor indoor air quality;
each day in America alone, 11 people die from asthma.
Some of those people are our children: since 1980, the asthma
death rate for children under 19 years old has increased
by nearly 80%.
Despite the many adverse affects known to be associated
with indoor air pollution, over half of all Americans are unaware
that poor IAQ is one of the top five most urgent environmental
risks to public health. Therefore, the AirAdvice
State of Our Indoor Air Report 2007 is presented as:
- A resource for timely information regarding the nature,
frequency, and severity of IAQ problems in homes; - A foundation for discussion of IAQ issues and solutions,
including source control and better in-home indoor
air practices; and - A guideline to actions regarding IAQ awareness, education,
and improvement.


