Simple Steps for Improving Indoor Air Quality

We spend as much as 90% of our time indoors. That means nine out of every 10 breaths is of indoor air – much of it inside our homes.

At the same time, the EPA estimates that indoor air is 2 to 5 times more polluted than the worst outside air! Between toxic cleaning chemicals, dust, pollen, pet dander, and household product off-gassing (which can put up to 6,000 different chemicals into the air), a lot of elements act together to reduce indoor air quality.

With our increasing tendency to keep windows closed (thanks to central air conditioning and increasing outdoor noise pollution), and as our homes become more energy efficient (and thus more airtight), we have also lost our traditional sources for natural ventilation.

All of these factors make it important for us to take steps that ensure the healthiest possible air for our families. Here are a few of the many simple steps you can take to improve your indoor air quality:

• Keep pollutants out. Don’t allow smoking indoors, and use all-natural cleaning and personal care products that won’t add chemicals to the air in your home.
• Ventilate your space. You can open windows regularly (though keep in mind that this can also let in allergens and other outdoor pollutants), or with mechanical ventilation, make sure that your HVAC system has a filter with a high MERV rating.
• Try an air purifier. A central air system will be able to filter out many of the particulates and remove some gases and odors, but it will never be as efficient as a free standing air cleaner in a specific room exchanging the air several times an hour.

Your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant can provide you with much more information on indoor air quality, including additional steps to take, as part of a Green Home Makeover. Your Eco-Consultant can also introduce you to Green Irene’s full line of indoor air quality and toxic-free living products, including many of the solutions mentioned above. Make an appointment today, and begin working towards improved home air quality for your family.

Is Your Home Exhausting You?

While we are all trying to stay comfortable in the cold, the furnace runs frequently in the winter, especially during cold snaps like we’ve experienced over the last few weeks. But what do you know about how your furnace operates, other than how to turn it up or down, and maybe how to change the filter once in awhile?

Don’t be indifferent to this large combustion appliance, or any other fuel-burning equipment in your home. These appliances, which burn oil, natural gas, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), wood or biofuels, produce carbon monoxide exhaust. Because our houses generally are built pretty tightly (even though it may not feel like it sometimes), it’s important to take some precautionary steps to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning while the house is closed up for the winter.

Here are some basic safety measures to prevent carbon monoxide exhaust from entering your home:

• Install carbon monoxide alarms on all levels of the home (you conveniently can order one online through Green Irene).
• Replace any carbon monoxide detectors that are more than five years old. The sensors in the detectors are accurate for only about five years.
• Don’t warm up your car in an attached garage.
• Don’t use the top of your furnace or water heater as a shelf. Keep it clear all around.
• Keep flammable and corrosive materials far away from heat sources.
• Don’t run bathroom exhaust fans for more than 10 minutes after your shower, and try to avoid running multiple fans at the same time. Depending on the venting system on your furnace or hot water heaters, running the bathroom or kitchen exhaust fan can cause negative pressure (backdraft) in the home. It also can suck all the hot air out of your house, too (hot air naturally wants to travel to cold and seek every opportunity to do so).
• Watch for soot build-up on or around the furnace or water heater.
• Be sure the chimney and flue pipes are clean, tight and free of corrosion and obstructions.
• Never use an unvented gas or kerosene heater in a living or work space.
• Know where underground fuel and electric lines are buried.
• Have all fossil fuel appliances tested annually for proper operation by a qualified service person.

Green Irene Item #: 40150
Kidde Carbon Monoxide Detector and Alarm

Ellen Hall
Green Irene Eco-Consultant
Greening Our World One Home and Small Business at a Time
ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com
http://www.GreenIrene.com/CincyDaytonEllen
513-932-7304

How To Place Your Carbon Monoxide Detector

I recently performed a Green Home Makeover for a client who works for a top-notch HVAC company and is very knowledgeable about air quality. He had his Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detector mounted at the top of his stairs, at about 6 feet off the ground. When I asked him about this, he told me that CO is lighter than air so he figured he should mount the detector up high.

I had never heard of this before, so I thought I would check it out. I had recently installed additional CO Detectors in my home, and I wanted to make sure that my family was fully protected. A preliminary internet search told me that CO is lighter than oxygen (O2) but heavier than nitrogen (N2), so you would expect that CO would mix in with the air. However, I wanted to be sure, so I asked Green Irene’s Greenbase researchers. Here’s what they said:

“There are a few different opinions out there about the best placement. The most important placement procedures seem to have more to do with room location than location on the wall. The International Association of Fire Chiefs recommends a carbon monoxide detector on every floor of your home, including the basement. A detector should be located within 10 feet of each bedroom door (so that you can hear it when you are sleeping) and there should be one near or over any attached garage. Each detector should be replaced every five to six years.

The more common view (and what it states on our carbon monoxide detectors) is to place them around eye level. This allows for easy reading. Additionally, carbon monoxide is roughly the same density as nitrogen gas and less dense than oxygen. Plus, CO coming out of a heat source will generally be warm (and therefore even less dense) and so it is likely to rise up in the air. In practice, the densities are so close, and there is often a lot of convection currents in a room mixing the air, that there is not much difference in CO concentration. Different manufacturers actually recommend different placement based on the studies their specific company has done.”

Given that my CO Detectors plug in to an outlet and I don’t have any outlets at eye level, that was not an option for me. So I instead focused on thinking about where the best placement was for my detectors. I took another look at the CO detector manual for additional placement instructions:

- place a detector near (but not in) the garage;
- to avoid nuisance alarms, do not place a detector within 5 feet of heating or cooking appliances;
- do not place detectors near windows, doors, fans, forced air registers or returns;
- do not place detectors behind things (including drapes) that may block the air flow.

Oops! I did not have one near the garage, I had one too close to my wood stove, and one behind a sofa outside my bedroom. So I moved my wood stove to the powder room near the garage, and I moved the one from behind the sofa to our master bathroom, since our bedroom outlets are all near forced air registers.

As I thought about the registers, I realized that we all sleep with our bedroom doors closed. If there were a CO problem and the furnace or A/C was on (as it is for most of the year), the CO would most likely enter our rooms through the vents rather than from our open, high-ceiling, vent-less hallway where the CO Detector was. So I moved the hallway detector into one of my children’s bedrooms and bought an additional one for my other child’s bedroom. The only detector I had gotten right was the one outside our furnace room!

Now I sleep better at night knowing that I’ve done my best to make sure it’s a safe night for the entire family. Of all of the things I want to get right, this is one of them! Thanks, Green Irene!

Sue Dorward

Bridgewater, NJ Green Irene

http://www.greenirene.com/SueBridgewater

100 Cities: Which Ranks High on Air Quality?

Commentary: Outdoor air quality is not the only threat to your family’s health from air. Indoor air quality, the quality of air inside your home, is also a threat to your family’s health. Items you buy tend to off-gas toxic chemicals into the air that can cause various health problems over time. Green Irene can help you take care of your indoor air quality. First, a Green Home Makeover can help you identify steps you can take to reduce not only your footprint in general, but also toxic chemicals in your home’s air. After that, you can also purchase Green Irene products that eliminate toxic substances in the air. Go to ShopGreenIrene today to check them out and find a Local Eco-Consultant to get a Green Home Makeover.

America’s air is markedly cleaner than it was nearly 40 years ago, when the Clean Air Act was passed. Toxic chemicals, smog and soot are less pervasive today. But science has also taught us, since then, that lower levels of pollutants do serious harm — to our lungs, our hearts and circulatory systems and to the development of our children. Science has shown that, despite significant reduction in acid rain, mountain streams are still struggling to recover from decades of abuse, leaving water there toxic to much fish and plant life.

In other words, as the American Lung Association’s 10th annual State of the Air puts it: “Air pollution continues to threaten the lives and health of millions of people in the United States despite great progress since the modern Clean Air Act was first passed in 1970. Even as the nation explores the complex challenges of global warming and energy, air pollution remains widespread and dangerous.”

The report, released this week, focuses on the two forms of air pollution most dangerous to lungs: Smog (a.k.a. ozone) and soot (a.k.a. fine particulates). Particulate pollution was analyzed in two ways — short-term and long-term levels.

Ozone forms on hot sunny days when smokestack and tailpipe pollution interacts with heat and sunlight. The result is ozone, a major component of smog. It’s the same molecule that, in the upper atmosphere, protects our skin from harmful radiation from the sun; but at ground level it scars lung tissue, causing permanent damage and making it unhealthy to exercise or, for sensitive individuals like the young, the elderly and those with lung disease, even breathe. Particulates can come in the form of familiar dust and soot, but also in the form of chemicals that form as tiny droplets after being spewed out of tailpipes and smokestacks.

More than 175 million Americans — six in 10 — live in counties where high ozone levels were detected — nearly twice as many as were at risk in 2008. That increase is largely due to new government calculations that account for new scientific understanding of risk of exposure at lower levels for shorter durations.

Even as cities have taken steps to reduce pollution sources, global warming is producing more hot sunny days, extending the ozone pollution season (April heat wave, anyone?) and increasing the number of days likely to produce unhealthy levels of ozone pollution.

Of the 25 most-polluted U.S. cities, 16 had worse ozone pollution than one year ago, according to the American Lung Association. Thirteen had worse particulate pollution.

The Cleanest Cities in the U.S.

1. Fargo-Wahpeton, ND-MN. This is the only city area to appear on the American Lung Association’s list of cleanest cities when measured by all three criteria — ozone, short-term particulates and long-term particulates. The others on this list appeared on two of the three.
2. Billings, MT
3. Bismarck, ND
4. Cheyenne, WY
5. Colorado Springs, CO
6. Farmington, NM
7. Ft. Collins, CO
8. Honolulu, HI
9. Lincoln, NE
10. Midland-Odessa, TX
11. Port St. Lucie, FL
12. Pueblo, CO
13. Redding, CA
14. Salinas, CA
15. San Luis Obispo, CA
16. Santa Fe-Espanola, NM
17. Sioux Falls, ND
18. Tucson, AZ

25 Cities With The Worst Air Pollution: Ozone (Smog)

1. Los Angeles/Long Beach/Rierside, Calif.
2. Bakersfield, Calif.
3. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
4. Fresno/Madera, Calif.
5. Houston/Baytown/Huntsville, Texas
6. Sacramento, Calif./Arden-Arcade/Yuba City, Nevada
7. Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
8. Charlotte/Gastonia/Salisbury, N.C.
9. Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale, Ariz.
10. El Centro, Calif.
11. Hanford/Corcoran, Calif.
12. Las Vegas/Paradise/Pahrump, Nevada
13. Sand Diego/Carslbad/San Marcos, Calif.
14. Washington, D.C./Baltimore, Md./No. Virginia
15. Cincinnati, Ohio/Middletown, Ky./Wilmington, In.
16. Philadelphia, Pa./ Camden, N.J./ Vineland, De.
17. St. Louis, Mo. / St. Charles / Farmington, Il.
18. New York, N.Y. / Newark, N.J. / Bridgeport, Conn.
19. Knoxville/Sevierville/ La Follette, Tenn.
20. Birmingham/Hoover/Cullman, Ala.
21. Baton Rouge/ Pierre Part, La.
22. Kansas City, Mo./ Overland Park, Ks.
23. Atlanta, Ga. / Sandy Springs / Gainesville, Ala.
24. Merced, Calif.
25. Memphis, Tenn.

25 Counties With The Worst Air Pollution: Short-term Particulates

1. Allegheny, Pa.
2. Fresno, Calif.
3. Kern, Calif.
4. Riverside, Calif.
5. Jefferson, Ala.
6. Los Angeles, Calif.
7. Salt Lake, Utah
8. Sacramento, Calif.
9. Cache, Utah
10. Cook, Ill.
11. Wayne, Mich.
12. Marion, Ind.
13. Tulare, Calif.
14. Lane, Ore.
15. San Bernardino, Calif.
16. Baltimore City, Md.
17. Kings, Calif.
18. Orange, Calif.
19. Union, N.J.
20. Stanislaus, Calif.
21. Washington, Pa.
22. Merced, Calif.
23. Jefferson, Ky.
24. Philadelphia, Pa.
25. Santa Clara, Pa.

25 Cities With The Worst Air Pollution: Long-term Particulates

1. Bakersfield, Calif.
2. Pittsburgh/ New Castle, Pa.
3. Los Angeles/Long Beach/Rierside, Calif.
4. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
5. Birmingham/Hoover/Cullman, Ala.
6. Fresno/Madera, Calif.
7. Cincinnati, Ohio/Middletown, Ky./Wilmington, In.
8. Detroit/Warren/Flint, Mich.
9. Cleveland/Akron/Elyria, Ohio
10. Charleston, W.V.
11. Huntington/Ashland, W.V./Ky./Ohio
12. Louisville, Ky./Jefferson County/Elizabethtown/Scottsburg, In.
13. Macon/Warner Robins/Fort Valley, Ga.
14. St. Louis, Mo. / St. Charles / Farmington, Il.
15. Weirton, W.V./ Steubenville, Ohio
16. Atlanta, Ga. / Sandy Springs / Gainesville, Ala.
17. Indianapolis/Anderson/Columbus, In.
18. Rome, Ga.
19. Canton/Massillon, Ohio
20. Yor/Hanover/Gettysburg, Pa.
21. Lancaster, Pa.
22. New York, N.Y. / Newark, N.J. / Bridgeport, Conn.
23. Hagerstown, Md./Martinsburg, W.V.
24. Houston/Baytown/Huntsville, Texas

See how your city’s air quality ranks.

But most people are not in those clean counties. One in eight lives in a county where all three pollutants reach unhealthy levels, according to the American Lung Association. Among them, at least 4 million children and 10.9 million adults with asthma are exposed to unhealthy air. At least 20.4 million adults over age 65, and 44 million children under the age of 18 are exposed to unhealthy air. And at least 4.4. million people with chronic bronchitis, and 2.1 million people with emphysema are exposed to unhealthy air.

Air pollution isn’t just a risk factor for lung disease, but heart disease and diabetes, too, research shows. At least 24.5 million people with cardiovascular diseases and 5.2 million people with diabetes are exposed to unhealthy air.

Article excerpted from The Daily Green.

Alert: Drywall Causing Home Health Hazards

Commentary: You can begin making your indoor environment more breathable with Green Irene’s line of toxic-free cleaning products, home air cleaners and furnace filters, odor-eating Tub O’ Carbon, and other items that can improve your indoor air quality. Green Irene’s cleaning products contain no toxic substances and the air cleaners will filter out any impurities from other off-gassing objects in your home or office. To learn more about what you can do, you can sign up for a Green Home or Office Makeover with Green Irene or purchase items at ShopGreenIrene.

A gut-turning smell like rotten eggs hit Richard and Partricia Kampf the day they first walked into their new house in Cape Coral, Florida, in July 2007. At first they thought it was some kind of “new home” smell that would go away quickly. Patricia bought some scented candles to help cover the odor.

But the smell didn’t go away and other strange things started happening. The metal coil on the central air conditioner turned black and then became so badly corroded it had to be replaced after just a few months. The mirrors in the bathrooms turned black. The Kampfs had to replace the motherboard on their computer three times and their son’s X-Box stopped working—after two repairs they bought a new one.

And then there were the headaches and the nosebleeds. The only time the symptoms subsided was when they were away from the house. Their son, who had always been the picture of health, was sickened for a week by an upper respiratory attack.

After replacing the air conditioner coil several times, the air conditioner company told them their problem was likely the drywall that had been installed in their new home during construction. The Kampfs were astonished.

Similar things were happening in a lot of homes, the air conditioner company told them. The drywall had been imported from China and was giving off metal-corroding gases. It had been used in a lot of new homes during the past few years, they were told.  “This was our dream house – the place we were retiring to,” says Richard. “But it has been nothing but a nightmare. We really don’t know what we are going to do.”

The Kampfs are far from alone. The federal government is now ramping up a multi-agency investigation of drywall imported from China that is suspected of releasing sulfur gases believed to be causing the corrosion and health problems.

Until recently the drywall problems had been found mainly in Florida, but a Washington, D.C.-based research group that works on class action lawsuits, America’s Watchdog, says it is now getting complaints from California, Arizona, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, Nevada, the Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia and other states.

A number of class-action lawsuits have recently been filed in Florida, where some builders are moving residents out of their homes and replacing suspect drywall. But the Kampfs say their builder recently told them it was not responsible for fixing the problem.

The drywall used in U.S. homes has traditionally been made in this country, but that changed beginning in 2004 as first a building boom and then rebuilding made necessary by hurricanes Katrina and Rita depleted domestic supplies.

A spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission says the agency has been looking into possible defects surrounding drywall imported from China for the last two months and has now initiated a formal compliance investigation. “The agency is on the ground in Florida in a fact-finding mode,” says CPSC spokesman Joe Martyak. “Our goal is to determine if, and to what extent, there is any safety risk involved with imported Chinese drywall.”

Martyak says the CPSC is working on the investigation with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Florida Department of Health. He says the CPSC has received a “handful” of complaints about the drywall beginning late last year. Martyak says the agency has received no reports of fires.

The Florida Department of Health says it has received more than 140 complaints from homeowners and is still trying to determine if the drywall is causing serious health problems. The health department is featuring a series of photos on its Web site to help homeowners identify suspect drywall.

America’s Watchdog says the suspect drywall is being found in homes built or remodeled since 2004. Among the indicators:

• The home may have a slight or strong sulfur, rotten egg or even acid type smell.
• Air conditioning coils, stove top and oven elements, and refrigerators may be failing at an unusually high rate—often within a year or less.
• Silver jewelry or silver wedding plates or flatware may be tarnishing within months or even weeks. Mirrors might turn black.
• Since moving into the house, a homeowner or family member may have experienced symptoms of severe allergies, nose bleeds, or upper respiratory problems. If that person leaves the home for an extended period of time, these symptoms may disappear.

The Herald Tribune of Sarasota  recently reported that at least 550 million pounds of Chinese drywall have come through U.S. ports since 2006, according to a review of shipping records conducted by the newspaper. That’s enough to build at least 60,000 homes, according to the paper.

The drywall problems are having a negative impact on an already troubled real estate market in Florida, according to USA Today and reports in other newspapers in the Sunshine State. Some would-be home buyers are backing out of contracts.

Richard Kampf says he is worried the corroded wiring poses a fire hazard. “It’s really scary,” he says. “I don’t even want to think about what this has done to the value of our house. It’s awful.”

Excerpted from ConsumerReports.

How To Breathe Easier In Your Home

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the air inside our homes is on average two to five times unhealthier than the air outside. This indoor air pollution is caused by the off-gassing of toxic substances by items you bring into your home, including paint, furniture, carpeting, pesticides, cleaners, tobacco smoke, and plastics.

Toxic chemicals in your air can also come from aerosol sprays, air fresheners, dry-cleaned clothing, personal care products, and dust and mites. Most of these toxic substances are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which slowly evaporate, increasing the chances of breathing them in and subjecting you, your family and coworkers to detrimental health effects. Spring cleaning is a great time to purge your home of these health hazards and freshen up your indoor air quality.

In order to protect your health in your home and office, Green Irene recommends you take measures to avoid bringing things inside that off-gas in the first place, and use filtering devices to further purify your indoor air. The best way to start is by identifying and eliminating the source of toxic chemicals and replacing them with more natural substitutes. While completely avoiding toxic substances is not always possible, the more you can eliminate your exposure to them, the healthier you will be. Green Irene recommends the following precautions:

• Safely discard of partially-used containers of old or unnecessary chemicals.
• Get house plants! Many houseplants can absorb benzene, formaldehyde and xylene. For maximum benefits you should have a plant for every 100 square feet of home or office space.
• In new or remodeled areas, allow time for building materials to off-gas pollutants before occupancy.
• Make sure there is good ventilation in your home or office (open the windows or use a fan, if necessary).
• Change or clean your furnace or A/C filters at least once every 1-3 months depending on use.
• Avoid using chemical air fresheners and traditional petroleum-based candles (try natural Soi Candles instead).
• Use only non-toxic home or office cleaners (i.e. Green Irene-recommended toxic-free cleaners).
• Avoid buying any wood materials or other products with formaldehyde.
• Remove or limit vinyl plastics from your home or office.
• Select only low-VOC paints, caulks, sealants, finishes and carpets.

You can begin making your indoor environment more breathable with Green Irene‘s line of toxic-free cleaning products, home air cleaners and furnace filters, odor-eating Tub O’ Carbon, and other items that can improve your indoor air quality. Green Irene‘s cleaning products contain no toxic substances and the air cleaners will filter out any impurities from other off-gassing objects in your home or office. To learn more about what you can do, you can sign up for a Green Home or Office Makeover with Green Irene or purchase items at ShopGreenIrene.

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford
Co-Founder and the Original Green Irene

How to Detox Your Child’s Bedroom

This blog post was written by Linda Tarr, a Green Irene Eco-Consultant based in Maumelle, Arkansas.  Click here to visit her personal site.

Indoor air quality is how clean the air is that we breath while indoors.  Unfortunately, due to weather-tight homes, dust, pollen, dander, chemical cleaners, etc, the indoor air we breath can be as bad as the most polluted city.  Indoor air quality is listed as one of the EPA’s top three health concerns.

What we bring into our homes directly affects our indoor air quality.  The good news is we can choose what we bring into our homes.

Here’s a few easy ways to improve the air quality in your child’s (or your) bedroom:

1.  Ventilate.  The easiest way to improve your indoor air quality is to open the window and let the fresh air in.  This will get rid of any accumulated VOCs.  For the winter months, a good-quality Hepa air filter is a great thing to have, such as the Austin Air Filter.  Consider using a washable electrostatic air filter for your HVAC vents which trap five times the amount of airborne particles as opposed to a regular filter.  This will end up saving you money over time since you will never have to replace another air filter again.

2. Vacuum often. This will get rid of allergy-triggering dust and dander (if you have pets).  Vacuum or wash anything else that traps dust such as stuffed animals, comforters, and window treatments.

4. Use natural cleaners. Most common cleaners have harmful chemical ingredients.  Most of these chemicals are not tested for toxicity before being put into products we buy off the shelves.  We are the lab rats who end up testing for product safety!  An easy solution is to make your own inexpensive, non-toxic cleaners with water, vinegar, a touch of essential oil to scent, and a few drops of liquid castille soap, or buy a natural cleaner through Green Irene.

5. Buy natural toys. A lot of flexible plastic toys such as blow-up balls or blow-up chairs, etc, have harmful chemicals that offgass into the air.  A good rule of thumb is if you open up a package and smell that “new” vinyl smell, it’s got to go right back to the store.  For future purchases, consider natural toys made out of wood or cloth, and don’t forget beeswax or soy crayons and no-VOC paint for crafts.

6. Natural bedding and mattresses. Kids spend a lot of time in their beds sleeping (or so moms wish!)  Make it a safe haven by using organic cotton bedding.  Organic fabrics aren’t treated with formaldehyde, and are kinder to the earth in how they are processed.  If you can’t afford one now, plan to save up for an organic cotton, wool, or hemp mattress.  Regular mattresses are full of fire retardants and other nasty chemicals which kids will be breathing in while sleeping.  If you are planning on having a baby soon, organic mattresses are made to fit in cribs too.

7. Redecorating. If you need to replace the flooring, consider earth-friendly alternatives like bamboo or cork flooring instead of dust-collecting carpets that can also offgass VOCs.  Use low or no-VOC paints on the walls.  Buy furniture made of solid wood or metal, not pressboard which contains formaldehyde.

8.  Clothing. Chemical flame-retardants can be in our child’s clothing.  An inexpensive way to dress your child is to buy used clothes from garage sales, consignment sales or second-hand stores, since the chemicals have most likely been washed out.  For new clothing, buy organic items which haven’t been treated with chemicals and are made with earth-friendly practices.

9. Have fun!  Laughter is the best medicine and happy people live longer!

Austin Air Filters, washable electrostatic air filters, natural cleaners and other great products can be purchased here.