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Indoor Air
Quality
What Should You Know?
Based on studies by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), billions
of dollars are spent annually for medication to help Americans breathe or cure
their respiratory illnesses. Eleven
million Americans have asthma. Twenty-eight
million have hay fever and other allergies.
Physicians are now discovering that the solution to the problems of many
of these people is not in medicine but in reducing the pollutants in the air
they breathe.
Every year at least 6,000 new
chemical compounds are developed. Many are used indoors every day, at home and at work.
Add to these pollutants the mold, mildew, bacteria, viruses, tobacco
smoke, grease, pollen, dirt, asbestos, lead and numerous other contaminants that
can affect our breathing and our health. Then
allow them to circulate in today's nearly airtight indoor environment.
No wonder our indoor air is, on average, two to ten times as polluted as
the worst outdoor air.
Viruses and bacteria that thrive
in the ducts, coils, and recesses of building ventilation systems
have been proven to cause ailments ranging from influenza to tuberculosis.
Some HVAC systems have been found to contain up to 27 species of fungi.
Based on information given at the
First Annual Air Quality convention sponsored by EPA, April 1992, Tampa,
Florida:
•
40% of all buildings pose a serious health hazard due to indoor air
pollution, according to the World Health Organization.
•
EPA estimates an 18% annual production loss to American business due
to poor indoor air quality.
• 20% of all employees
have a major illness related to indoor air pollution such as allergies,
asthma, auto-immune diseases, etc.
•
EPA says high levels of formaldehyde cause cancer
•
Scientists now recognize that pollutants, even at acceptable concentration,
combined together in an indoor environment have a synergistic negative effect.
Indoor Air Quality And
Ozone
The air we breathe is made up of
mostly oxygen and nitrogen. Ozone can be made from common oxygen and high electrical
discharge (as in a thunderstorm). The
high voltage discharge (also known as corona discharge) breaks the two oxygen (O2)
atoms apart. These oxygen atoms are
extremely reactive and they recombine in groups of three with the resulting
molecule being called Ozone (O3)
or trivalent oxygen. When this
highly reactive O3
molecule floats in the environment it actively seeks out pollutant molecules.
One of the atoms from the O3
molecule will attach itself to the pollutant molecule and destroy it.
This highly reactive quality of
ozone is why it is such a powerful and efficient cleaner and purifier.
Ozone will react with almost anything, including chemical sources of
unpleasant or hazardous indoor odors. Bacteria,
mold and mildew, pet odors, many cooking odors, etc., are destroyed when they
react with ozone. Like chemical
pollutants, the membranes or shells of bacteria contain unsaturated molecules
which are destroyed by ozone. Without
its protective membrane or shell, the bacterium dies, leaving only oxygen. The same applies to viruses and fungi.
One of the most important properties
of ozone is that it has a very short life span.
This life span is called a "half-life".
The half-life of ozone is approximately 20 - 30 minutes.
This means that half of the ozone created will break down and return
to oxygen in approximately 20 - 30 minutes depending on temperature,
humidity and the amount of contaminants in the air or on surfaces that the ozone
has to counteract. In other words,
strong odors or pollutants will use more ozone and light odors will require
less. If ozone can not find a
contaminant to work on, it simply reverts to oxygen.
OZONE
AND CONTAMINANTS
Ozone
can be effective against*:
| Chemicals
|
Combustion |
Germs |
Odors |
| Cooking
Odors
|
Garbage
Odors
|
Menthol
|
Onions
|
| Hospital
Odors
|
Sewer
Gases
|
Asphalt
Fumes
|
Butane
|
| Aged
Manuscripts
|
Cigarette
Smoke
|
Exhaust
Fumes
|
Food
Odors
|
| Creosote
|
Garlic
|
Mildew
|
Paint
Odors
|
| Industrial
Wastes
|
Toluene
|
Bacteria
|
Poultry
Odors
|
| Dead
Animals
|
Gasoline
|
Fecal
Odors
|
Carbon
Monoxide
|
| Kerosene
|
Viruses |
Mold
|
Fungi
|
| Algae
|
Acrylic
Acid |
Bathroom
Smells
|
Propane
|
| Decaying
Odors
|
Formaldehyde |
Fertilizer
|
Tetrachloride
|
| Lactic
Acid
|
Adhesive
Gases
|
Moth
Balls
|
Furniture
Odors
|
| Ammonia
|
Coal
Smoke
|
Benzene
|
Rancid
Oils
|
| Diesel
Fumes
|
Carbolic
Acid |
Fire
Odors
|
Carpet
Odors
|
| Lubricating
Oils
|
Alcohol |
Naphtha
|
Gangrene
|
| Animal
Odors
|
Ethyl
Alcohol |
Body
Odors
|
Resins
|
| Ether
|
Anesthetics |
Fish
Odors
|
Charred
Materials
|
| Medicinal
Odors
|
Flood
Odors |
Nicotine
|
Burned
Food Odors |
*
This is only a short list of the things ozone can effect.
Negative Ions, Pollutants
and Health
Ionization or
negative ion generation is often referred to as the “thunderstorm effect”.
It is well known that prior to a thunderstorm, animals and even many
humans feel nervous, jittery and irritable; however, after the storm there seems
to be a feeling of calm. Both
animals and humans experience this phenomena.
Most people can not explain this renewed sense of well-being.
However, there is a logical explanation. All of this is due to the amount of negative ions in the air
around us. Prior to a thunderstorm
there is a very high concentration of positive ions in the air.
These tend to be pollutants such as dust, bacteria, pollen, chemicals,
etc. The storm releases electrical discharges consisting of high concentrations
of negative ions.
Negative ions
destroy many of these air pollutants and, therefore, give us a sense of well
being. When relatively too many
positive ions are present in the air before a storm, the positive charge is
transferred in the air you breathe from your lungs to the blood, causing the
blood platelets to release a hormone that quite strongly affects your moods,
your joints, and other physiological functions in your body.
Ions are floating in the air around
us all the time and have either negative or positive charges on them.
Changes in their concentration, or in the ratio of positively to
negatively charged molecules can have remarkable effects on plants and
animals. It is known in science that ion depletion is the source of a
wide range of human health problems, both mental and physical.
Air ions are important to you because if there are a high proportion of
negative ions you will feel lively, uplifted, and enthusiastic.
Too many positive ions will have you feeling depressed, lethargic and
full of aches, pains and complaints. In
general, exposure to negatively ionized air has been shown to increase
oxygenation of the lungs, vital capacity, and ciliary activity.
All types of beneficial responses take place as a result of these
friendly ions.
Fortunately through modern
technology it is possible to control the electrical state of our indoor
environments by generating negative ions back in the air.
These negative ions attach themselves to airborne toxins and drop them to
a surface. Ions basically take out
the larger pollutants in the air. For
example, ozone will take the smell of smoke out of the room and neutralize the
chemicals, but will not remove the smoke itself.
Negative ions take the smoke out.
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Air & Water Purification
