Is Air Quality Important? Part #1
Was Air Quality on the top of your list of “must have’s” for your last home purchase?
Let’s be truthful, if you are like most people air quality probably didn’t make your “must have” list and in fact I bet you didn’t give much, if any, consideration to air quality when buying existing or building a new home, but it is VERY-VERY-VERY important.
In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. Other research indicates that people spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors. Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors.
Consider the following….
RADON: Unlike natural gas that has a scent added so you can smell it, radon is a completely colorless, odorless, radioactive gas. The most common source of indoor radon is uranium in the soil that naturally breaks down and releases into the air as a gas called radon. The EPA estimates that one in every fifteen homes in the United States has radon (http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/gbstats.pdf ). It is fair to assume that this percentage is higher in the midwest (Zone 1) where Radon is more concentrated (http://www.epa.gov/radon/images/zonemapcolor_800.jpg). The Mayo clinic reported more than ten years ago that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer second only to tobacco smoke (http://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/tc/radon-health-effects-of-radon-exposure).
The EPA reports that exposure to radon in the home is responsible for an estimated 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year. http://www.epa.gov/radon/index.html.
Many of the people being diagnosed with lung cancer, never smoked a day in their lives. Shockingly, it wasn’t until 2009 that Minnesota Building Code even began requiring Radon Protection Systems be installed in a new home. Even now only a Passive Radon Protection Systems are required which is nothing more than a vent pipe connected to your sump. I am sure this had something to do with politics and some group lobbying law makers. Amaris installs Active Radon Protection Systems. An Active Radon Protection System involves a simple in-line fan in the attic that runs 24/7. We just feel that a $150-300 exhaust fan is well worth it for our customers considering the health concerns.
Next up mold. This is gonna get very interesting…
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When children understand how important “real food” is and where the natural ingredients of our food come from, they will increase the general population’s appreciation for preserving our natural environment and limiting toxins and polluting processes in our world. We may even trend back to the time when people stepped outside their homes to interact with family and neighbors in home and community gardens and block-party barbeques. Does anybody even remember how nice those days were?
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