What is Indoor Air Quality?

Studies show that humans can spend about 90% of their lives indoors, which makes sense if you think about how much you sleep, go to work, and spend time in most public spaces. This should be enough reason to make everyone concerned about the quality of indoor air that we breathe.

There are many indoor air pollution-causing agents including second-hand cigarette smoke, furnaces, and open fireplaces. These cause a build up of toxic gases such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide which can lead to various respiratory diseases and illnesses, impacting nearly 4.3 million people worldwide every year!

There is a common misconception that indoor air quality is something that is only localized in developing countries, however it is just as much of a problem in developed countries. Large cities with higher pollution levels are facing worsening air conditions, especially as more people move into small residences with limited air flow just to be within city limits. This normalized lack of ventilation can be detrimental over time.

The quality of indoor air is directly connected to the quality of the air outside it, and can even stretch upwards of 5 times as bad. Ventilation is a huge component of enabling airflow, but without proper filtration it doesn’t necessarily do much. This makes most HVAC systems unreliable, since a dirty filter causes inefficient filtration.

Poor indoor air quality is more common than we realize, which makes it important to check your HVAC filters, and consider investing in an air purifier for your home.

Article cited from: mtltimes.ca