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Improvements on
Asset Performance |
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Improving air quality and saving billions |
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Findings indicate that an adequate installation of interior plants in a modern, sealed office structure could save U.S. companies $129 billion via contributions to improved indoor air alone, according to researchers William J. Fisk and Arthur H. Rosenfeld of the Lawrence and Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA.
Green Plants for Green Buildings, a national information campaign to inform professionals and the public about the numerous benefits of plants, has assembled research that has found that US companies can save as much as $58 billion annually by preventing sick building illnesses and an additional $200 billion in worker performance improvements by creating offices with better indoor air.
Additional research verifies that 40 percent of all sick days are IAQ-related. The work of NASA scientist Dr. BC Wolverton and others has clearly indicated that interior plants reduce the responsible airborne molds in a sealed office environment by as much as 50 percent.
According to published research by organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the John C. Stennis Space Center’s Environmental Research Laboratory, Texas A & M University, University of Surrey, and Washington State University, interior landscaping can improve your building’s IAQ in the following ways:
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Filtering air, producing oxygen– and maintaining appropriate humidity levels. Plants filter air in two ways. First, they absorb pollutants like formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene, and microbes, such as anthrax and Ebola – into their leaves and send these pollutants to their roots, where the pollutants are converted into food. Second, through a process called transpiration, plants emit water vapors that create a pumping action that pulls the dirty air down around their roots, where the pollutants are absorbed and converted into food.
Producing oxygen – Today’s sealed, energy-efficient buildings have less exchange of fresh outdoor air for stale, indoor air. By producing oxygen, plants help freshen a building’s indoor air.
Maintaining appropriate humidity level- Plants help keep an optimal humidity level for building maintenance and human comfort and health – and below levels that can cause mold and bacteria to grow. In fact, research has shown that plant-filled rooms contain 50 percent to 60 percent fewer airborne molds and bacteria than rooms without plants.
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Relative humidity in an office demonstrates that plant transpiration in an office environment releases moisture, creating a humidity level exactly matching the recommended human comfort range of 30% to 60%. The same study concludes that in the absence of plants, the relative humidity in offices runs below this recommended range. When the relative humidity of office air is too low, costly materials such as wood can become damaged and crack. When the relative humidity is too high, the condensation of windows and exterior walls can result in costly structural damage. |
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