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What’s Your IAQ? By Janice Milliner
Being Green is so easy - It begins with making a choice!
Believe it or not, knowing your IAQ is just as important as knowing your blood pressure. It has just as much impact on your health as what you eat, and it also gives you the power to make it a positive influence in your life. IAQ, or Indoor Air Quality, is vital to your overall well-being, just as the right choices in a healthy diet are essential to promoting and maintaining good heath. In fact, the same could be said of most aspects of your everyday life, including indoor design choices, which can dramatically affect your IAQ. There is no question that our health is affected by our surroundings. Without most of us even being aware, our surroundings have a powerful impact on every facet of our being. The most widely recognized are the psychological factors, such as people’s moods being affected by color and lighting. Not very many, however, recognize the impact of the IAQ that they are always breathing. Unfortunately, although most are not familiar with IAQ, most can still identify with the symptoms poor air quality can cause: headache, itchy or dry eyes and throat, coughing, lack of energy or sleepiness, difficulty maintaining focus or concentrating, etc. The list goes on and on. Air is essential to life. Good IAQ makes all the difference in how well one feels. It can also have a direct effect on one’s productivity and energy levels. Concerns over IAQ have been steadily growing over the years, and the response has been swift. In support of this growing awareness of air quality and its impact on students in particular, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with the support of the National Education Association (NEA) has instituted a program to aid schools in developing a positive air quality strategy plan for their students. The educational material is provided in a kit called the “The Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools (IAQ TfS) Kit.” According to Bio-Strategic Environments & Healthful Indoor Solutions—a Pittsburgh company specializing in helping residential consumers, schools and businesses in the assessment and planned improvements of their respective indoor environments—IAQ education is vital.
“We happily provide schools with their free kit and extend our services in developing solutions that positively create healthy IAQ,” says co-founder Janean Scheuermann. The kit helps school facilities to assess and create a plan of action for healthy IAQ strategies and implementation.
“Whether a school is developing a five-year plan that includes new construction or renovating existing structures, the IAQ Kit identifies viable and life sustaining options,” adds Scheuermann. “Not only is air circulation critical, but so is the air that is being circulated. You have to evaluate what impacts the indoor environment through a progressive assessment. Is there carpet? Does the carpet get wet? Is there mold growth? If so, the likelihood of mold becoming a part of the air that is breathed is pretty much a certainty.” “Outside conditions can most certainly also adversely impact indoor air quality,” continues Scheuermann, “especially away from the home in commercial and school settings. For instance, idling busses are now an EPA violation in Pennsylvania. Old habits are hard to break, however, and many drivers still idle while parked outside schools. What drivers and parents need to know is that, believe it or not, many schools have fresh-air-intakes that can easily pick up these severely toxic diesel emissions. Hopefully by educating and informing parents, drivers, and respected school and local officials, change will take place.” For IAQ Information & Solutions for your home or business or to obtain an Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools (IAQ TfS) Kit as well as information on up-and-coming IAQ workshops and seminars, please contact:
Bio-Strategic Environments |
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