We recently wrote about the unknown dangers of indoor air pollution and how it is affecting you and your loved ones. Now that you know these unknown dangers, it is now imperative to discuss more about the causes and prevention of indoor air pollution.
We usually assume that air inside our homes are clean simply because it's safe from the usual outdoor pollutants. However, more frequent than we know, air quality inside our homes may actually be as bad as the outdoors depending on varying factors.
Indoor Air Pollution Causes
Recent studies identified these factors such as your pets, open stove (fuel) cooking, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The latter are products made of chemical compounds that evaporate under normal indoor conditions.In some areas, construction materials, office furnishings, and finishes like vinyl floorings usually give off harmful gases. Who would have thought that vinyl floorings contain a toxic substance know as phthalates?
What are VOCs? Infographic by Envirovent.com.
Apart from VOCs, here other sources of indoor air pollutants you didn't know. Cleaning products contain some chemicals that can also be harmful to you and your family's health with its continued use. Indoor cigarette and tobacco smoking increases your risk of getting lung cancer, remember that secondhand smoke is more dangerous than firsthand smoke. All these and more contribute to your indoor air pollution, they may seem harmless at first but long-term collected
Indoor Air Pollution Prevention Tips
It is worrying that pollution at home comes from almost everywhere we didn't know about. However, it is comforting to know that there are a number of ways to prevent and manage it! Here are some of the few things you can do:
- Maintain indoor plants.
- Periodic cleaning schedule at home
- Regular grooming of pets
- Avoid using open stove cooking
- Use cleaner and more energy efficient fuel and technologies such as electric stove, LPGs, and biogas
- Invest in a quality air purifier
Images by Andatech