Air is the New Water
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Remember the good old days when you could drink water from a stream? You don’t? Neither do I! Anyone who has any familiarity with drinking water contamination knows that just because the water in a stream may look crystal clear, there can be all sorts of bacteria, viruses and other contaminants that can cause illness. So why is it taking so long to recognize that we need to be concerned about the air we breathe and have a plan for ensuring our buildings provide clean, fresh air?
Poor air quality is a bigger problem than you think
While every year 3,575,000 people die from water related diseases [1], recent estimates by the World Health Organization estimate that 4.2 million premature deaths globally are linked to ambient air pollution. Even though historically the larger portion of deaths have been on other continents, North Americans are at risk too. In Canada, air pollution is linked to an estimated 14,400 deaths every year[2], and in the USA that number is around 107,500.[3] According to the State of Global Air’s 2019 report, the USA had the 7th worst air of the countries measured.
What Are the Options?
The obvious long-term option is for collective action to improve air quality in North America and across the globe. Until that happens, we need to take individual action to protect ourselves and our families. Being aware of the air quality is the first step in taking action.
Moving Our Lives Indoors
A reflexive response to the dangers of outdoor air pollution would be to move our lives inside. Indeed, we’ve already moved in that direction. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Americans are already spending 90% of their lives indoors. But moving indoors doesn’t fix the air pollution problem, as the EPA also estimates where the concentrations of some pollutants indoors are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. [4] This begs the question, “why aren’t we talking more about indoor air”?
It's Time to Have a Plan for Fresh Air Management in Our Buildings
Just like making sure that your home is getting clean water, having a plan for clean air in your home is essential. There are three ways that a building gets fresh air (or ventilation):
Natural ventilation through windows and doors.
Mechanical ventilation – Exhaust only ventilation (through cook top or bathroom fans) or balanced ventilations systems (heat recovery ventilation systems).
Infiltration, when outdoor air flows through openings, joints, cracks in walls, floors and sealings or around windows and doors.
You might think that most residential forced air-heating systems and air-conditioning systems bring outdoor air into the house mechanically, but they do not. These systems rely on natural ventilation and infiltration into your home. As we build tighter homes, the necessity for balanced ventilation systems increases (and in many cases is in our building code).
Of the three options listed above, only mechanical ventilation (and more specifically balanced ventilation systems) allows occupants to have control over the flow (and filtering) of fresh air coming into their home. Installing and using a Heat Recovery Ventilation System is the best way to ensure clean, filtered fresh air is available every day. Fresh air isn’t dependent on the outside weather or if occupants remember to turn on a fan.
How a Heat Recovery Ventilation System Works
A heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system brings in fresh air without losing most of your conditioned air. One set of ducts collects moist air from your kitchen, laundry and bathrooms, passes it through the HRV and then exhausts it outside. A second set of ducts draws in fresh, clean air from outside and passes this air through the HRV unit. As the two air streams pass each other within the heat exchanger core, heat is transfered from the outgoing air to the incoming fresh air. The two streams of air never mix, but up to 85% of the heat (or cooling, if you’re using air-conditioning) from the outgoing air is captured and reused, resulting in less energy use in addition to the clean air.
Using an HRV as Part of Your Fresh Air Management Plan
At Small Planet Supply, we offer Zehnder Heat Recovery and Enthalpy Recovery Ventilators (which retain moisture as well as heat). If you’ve been thinking about the air quality in your current or future home, we’d love to help you find the system that will help you breathe easy for years to come. Feel free to contact us for more information.
[1] https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/freshwater/deaths-from-dirty-water
[2] https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/air-pollution-drivers-impacts.html
[3] https://www.stateofglobalair.org/sites/default/files/soga_2019_usa.pdf
[4] https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/indoor-air-quality
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