Naturalpath

Air pollutants are an issue in cities and rural areas, and they're a cross-country, international problem. Smog in the United States' Western cities can be partially attributed to coal-burning in China.

Many industrial processes increase air pollution, such as auto emissions, forest fires, and home heating. Air pollution contributes to acid rain, climate change, and poor human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4.6 million people die each year due to complications associated with air pollution.

While the outdoor air quality is surely lacking, indoor air may be worse. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that indoor air pollution may be two to five times worse than outdoor air. Indoor air quality is a major concern for people who live in developing countries and for those who use fossil fuels for heating and cooking. Indoor air is polluted by construction materials (carpets, paints, glues, sealers) and by the off-gassing from cleansers, detergents, air fresheners, tobacco, personal care products, heating and cooling systems, pesticides and outdoor air pollution.

While there is not much a person can do to improve the outside air quality (besides participating in efforts to improve air quality), there are strategies to improve indoor air. The Environmental Protection Agency offers this advice:

Source Control

Usually the most effective way to improve indoor air quality is to eliminate individual sources of pollution or to reduce their emissions. Some sources, like those that contain asbestos, can be sealed or enclosed; others, like gas stoves, can be adjusted to decrease the amount of emissions. In many cases, source control is also a more cost-efficient approach to protecting indoor air quality than increasing ventilation because increasing ventilation can increase energy costs.

Ventilation Improvements

Another approach to lowering the concentrations of indoor air pollutants in your home is to increase the amount of outdoor air coming indoors. Most home heating and cooling systems, including forced air heating systems, do not mechanically bring fresh air into the house. Opening windows and doors, operating window or attic fans, when the weather permits, or running a window air conditioner with the vent control open increases the outdoor ventilation rate. Local bathroom or kitchen fans that exhaust outdoors remove contaminants directly from the room where the fan is located and also increase the outdoor air ventilation rate.

It is particularly important to take as many of these steps as possible while you are involved in short-term activities that can generate high levels of pollutants - for example, painting, paint stripping, heating with kerosene heaters, cooking, or engaging in maintenance and hobby activities such as welding, soldering, or sanding. You might also choose to do some of these activities outdoors, if you can and if weather permits.

Advanced designs of new homes are starting to feature mechanical systems that bring outdoor air into the home. Some of these designs include energy-efficient heat recovery ventilators (also known as air-to-air heat exchangers).

Air Cleaners

There are many types and sizes of air cleaners on the market, ranging from relatively inexpensive table-top models to sophisticated and expensive whole-house systems. Some air cleaners are highly effective at particle removal, while others, including most table-top models, are much less so. Air cleaners are generally not designed to remove gaseous pollutants.

The effectiveness of an air cleaner depends on how well it collects pollutants from indoor air (expressed as a percentage efficiency rate) and how much air it draws through the cleaning or filtering element (expressed in cubic feet per minute). A very efficient collector with a low air-circulation rate will not be effective, nor will a cleaner with a high air-circulation rate but a less efficient collector.

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