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Indoor Air Quality Testing

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In the New Era of Green Conscientiousness, Indoor Pollutants will be on the Rise

indoor-air-qualityWhile I am certainly grateful to the eco-friendly save-the-planet green conscientious era we are in, there is a flip side to a greener home or office; tightly sealed homes and commercial buildings cannot easily release pollutants back into the atmosphere, thus concentrations are higher indoors than out. The best way to begin the process of making a green home is to conduct indoor air quality testing.

Indoor pollution is potentially a far greater pollutant creator than the outdoor pollution at even the most industrialized cities across the planet. It is true that many pollutant levels from individual sources are not a serious health risk and they will not have a significant and detrimental impact all by themselves. But the cumulative effect of those pollutants can pose a real health risk. Immediate and future health risk is greatest for infants and children as well as chronically ill people and the elderly population.

So, with the many foreseeable changes in how we live our lives in relation to the planet and lessening our carbon footprint, there will also be a significant shift in how we build all future buildings, including our homes. With the New Age of Responsibility comes the responsibility of protecting our natural resources while repairing our planet healthier. We cannot lose sight of the fact that old structures around the world need our attention – all things must be constructed with new sustainable practices and guidelines as well as updating of the old.

Healthy indoor environments are equally as important as energy conservation. Indoor air quality testing is just a step in the process of protecting our resources and adding to the world’s conservation plight.

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Indoor Air Quality

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Can be More Polluted Than the Biggest Cities of the World

Scientific evidence shows us that that the indoor air quality of our homes and other buildings can be more unhealthy than the polluted outdoor air of the largest and most industrialized cities on our planet. Research demonstrates that we spend an average of 90 percent of our time indoors, whether it is home, office or other building. Health risks may be far more substantial than given thought due to chronic exposure to indoor air pollution indoors. The first step in resolving any air quality issues in your home is to conduct an air quality test by either purchasing an indoor air quality test for homes or hiring a professional to evaluate your home air-quality.

Indoor air pollution comes from many sources in the home and can be a health risk to anyone in the home, whether it is a multi-million dollar mansion or a small condo off Main Street, USA. Negative health effects might be fairly immediate, as in a toxic reaction, chronic allergies, or even unexplained headaches and fatigue. In addition, detrimental health effects might not show up for many years, long after the initial exposure and manifest as chronic fatigue, cancers and respiratory diseases.

Some of the most common indoor air quality busters are sources of combustion (oil, wood, kerosene, tobacco), building materials and furnishings, out-dated asbestos insulation, household cleaning products, central heating and cooling systems as well as outdoor sources such as radon and pesticides.

The first step is to evaluate your home for pollutants. Once you have feedback from the indoor air quality test for homes evaluation, changes can be made. If you have a substantial amount of pollutants, there are citywide agencies to help eliminate an air pollution problem in your home.

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Energy Efficient Space Heater

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In Our Go Green Conscious Planet can a Space Heater Really Be Energy Efficient?

Energy Efficient Space Heater is somewhat of an oxymoron because space heaters are not terrifically energy efficient. In fact, electricity is 2.5 times more energy consuming than natural gas. But yes, space heaters actually can be more efficient than a large home with a central heating system, especially if your home is not equipped with an Energy Efficient Home Heating System.

If you are using only one room or a small area of your home, a space heater, rather than the central heating system working hard to heat your entire house, is a far more efficient choice. Space heaters are not lauded for their consumable efficiency but if it is used for one room or small area of the house instead of the central heating system, it is definitely a more efficient choice.

In researching the most efficient space heaters on the market, it is important to remember that consumed electricity is basically the same no matter what does the consuming. The best thing to research is the options provided on the unit. Look for options that provide for a thermostat and a timer so you can set very specific hours of operation. Look for a space heater that helps to circulate the blowing heat. You might pay a little more for the myriad of options, but it will make a huge difference in the net efficiency of the unit.

Use energy efficient space heaters wisely and with great caution. One feature that is imperative, and really should be mandated, is the tipping/auto shut-off feature. Most, but not all, space heaters today have a feature that enables the unit to shut off immediately if the slightest tipping occurs. Make sure the energy efficient space heaters that you consider have an automatic turn off when tilted.

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Energy Efficient Electric Heaters

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Consumers Need Good Energy Efficient Choices to Bring Down Utility Costs and Reduce Carbon Emissions

Today, there is still quite a controversy among the green conscientious that modern energy efficient electric heaters are wasteful and consume huge amounts of energy. Eco-Friendly homes of the future will undoubtedly incorporate energy efficient electric heaters by default because they indeed can save on energy costs and reduce carbon emissions if used properly.

Alternative energy sources are no longer an option to ponder, but rather a responsibility that we all need to take on thus we all need to learn how to implement conservation in our every day lives. For example, solar power needs to be in every home, which incidentally, can easily run a space heater during the short winter days.

Until solar power is as ubiquitous as a common light bulb, we all need to work even harder at regaining the health of our planet. In one small way, believe it or not, that we can make a change is to buy a space heater. All year-round, heating and cooling your home, on average, will make up approximately 50% of all of your household energy consumption.

While a sealing the frames of your windows and doors and hanging curtains and blinds will reduce a tremendous amount of household energy consumption during all seasons, it is a space heater that can reduce your heating bills in the summer while lessening carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

When looking for an energy efficient electric heater, look for one with a thermostat and timer as well as a safety-tipping feature, where it will turn off automatically if even the slightest tipping occurs.

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Prevent Asthma Symptoms

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Asthma is a Serious Life Threatening Condition that Welcomes the New Era of Responsibility with a Green Conscious

While there is no cure for asthma, there are many healthy eco-friendly ways to reduce or eliminate asthma symptoms. The ideas presented here cannot replace your medical doctor’s orders, but are a culmination of asthma prevention research.

Although Asthma can start at any age, it most often strikes in early childhood. Asthma is the number one chronic childhood disease believed to impact approximately 15% of all children.

In order to consider prevention or remission of symptoms, it is important to understand briefly how asthma works and why it occurs. Asthma results when air passages become inflamed and narrow, making it extremely difficult to breathe out. The inflammation swells the airways impeding, or in worse cases, completely blocking airways.

Impeding airways causes wheezing, which is the noise air makes as it is breathe out through inflamed [narrowed] tubes. If an individual’s airways become too narrow, they wont be able to get oxygen into their blood and they might turn blue; get medical help immediately.

Many factors contribute to getting Asthma, including family history, cigarette smoke, allergy, stress, reaction-to-food, infection, etc. Equally there are ways to combat, lesson or eradicate Asthmatic symptoms. It is probably no surprise that asthma prevention includes modifying your environment to oppose the most common contributing factors listed above. Here are 5 basic steps you can take to begin asthma remediation;

1. Remove or reduce obvious triggers from the house and the child’s environment
2. Eliminate and remove as much dust as possible
3. Use excellent air filters at home, in your car and while traveling
4. Avoid common allergens
5. Eat unprocessed healthy foods

Preventing asthma symptoms does not cure asthma, but preventing symptoms helps people, especially children, live

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