Gasping for Air? . . . Air Quality Discussed
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday said that air pollution now constitutes a "public health emergency" across the world.
Eight days into 2016, London breached its own legal limit for air pollution for the entire year. Under regulations, the city is allowed to exceed maximum safe limits for 18 hours a year, an allowance that had already been exhausted by 8 January!
The below graphic from the i-paper shows air pollution readings for the UK taken at 7pm on Wednesday 20 January 2016, according to data from the World Air Quality Index.
A good solution to deal with these issues is to fit a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery System (MVHR) which then means that all the "breathing" for your house and its occupants is carried out without opening any windows, and by the machine which uses an allergy foundation approved high quality filter to ensure that the air you breathe in your house is cleaner than the air outside!
It also helps your house to "breathe", expelling any excess moisture from the building and ensuring that the moisture content of your air is acceptably low.
Take a look at the graph below which shows the indoor air quality measured in a property before and after a heat recovery ventilation unit was fitted, and you can see how the Co2 levels climb alarmingly highly each night (in excess of world health authority guidelines) whilst everyone is sleeping and there is no movement of air in the property with doors and windows remaining closed. Once the MVHR system is fitted this is controlled by the replacement of air every 2 hours in the property which limits Co2 levels to only 1.2ppm, well within world health authority guideline levels. The air coming in will also be filtered and many pollutants and allergens will have been removed.
All I need is the air that I breathe. . . .
We eat on average 1Kg of food each day, and drink 3Kg of liquid.
In the same day, we consume 25-30Kg of air
We spend on average between 70-90% of our time indoors, yet we barely think about the quality of the air that we are breathing
Continuous, controlled and energy efficient ventilation is therefore paramount for encouraging health and well being within our homes!
BMD & Direct Insulation are able to offer Design, Supply, Installation and Commissioning of MVHR systems for Residential Properties and Apartments, as well as MVHR Web Kits for those that wish to simply buy parts and install systems themselves. Contact our office on 01793-791010 to discuss your requirements or email mvhr@buildingmaterialsdirect.com with your plans for a bespoke quotation or follow the link here to see our MVHR Web Kits.
