Houseplants as Home and Public Building Air Purifiers - Essay Example

Project Houseplants as Home and Public Building Air Purifiers Total amount requested: £5,000 Project start 01/04 Project summary for Plant Club website This is a plant club project that aims at identifying the potential use of houseplants as air purifiers in public buildings. The study stems from the fact that some houseplants have been known to absorb common indoor air pollutants such as benzene and also replenish oxygen supplies in buildings. This work will conduct a pilot study in selected public buildings that constantly engage mechanical air purifiers and audit the outcome. Expected outcomes will be drawn from the overall improvement of air quality as compared to conventional air purifiers. Secondly, the study will conduct interviews amongst the building occupants to audit the overall likability of houseplants. Finally, the study will probe the overall reduction of costs in terms of maintenance of houseplants as compared to conventional air purifiers. This study has an element of ‘going green’ in the current global warming discussions all over the world. Project Context, Vision and Aims Indoor air quality may be compromised by equipments such as office furniture, computers, printers, photocopiers and carpers among other equipments. The pollutants may compromise the working environment especially in public places where a serene environment is of essence to guarantee productivity of the staff. Apart from interfering with the serene working environment in amongst employees in a public building, air pollutants may present potential health risk to the building occupants. Proper ventilation is a sure way of introducing fresh air in the building but in some circumstances, this may not be practical. For instance in bad weather, ventilation may be closed or in other instances the outdoor air may contain even more contaminants than indoor air requiring therefore a closed indoor environment. In this instance, air cleaning devices may come to the aid but with added cost in terms of energy consumption. Houseplants on the other hand will play similar role as air cleaning devices but with low cost of maintenance in addition to improving the aesthetic value of the environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States, an air cleaner is designed to remove certain pollutants such as particles, gases and may carry pollutants destruction using technologies such as UV light technology (Environmental Protection Agency 1) Plants that absorb air pollutants may alleviate the presence of volatile organic compounds that may contaminate the indoor environment (Girman et al 1). Common air pollutants that may be found in an indoor setting include formaldehyde, trichloroethylene and benzene. Apart from the chemicals such as aerosols that may be present in a public building, exhaled carbon dioxide is also removed by the plants with further replenishment of oxygen thereby making the indoor environment fresh. Girman et al (1) had investigated the possible role of some plants as possible pollutants absorbers by injecting a pollutant into a small sealed chamber with and without plants and observing the outcome. In the observation the researchers found that in a period of 24 hours the removal of the decaying smell was over 90%. It is upon this finding that this project proposes the erection of houseplants in public buildings with the aim of cleaning the air and improving the overall working environment. Project Objectives i. To use house plants as indoor air cleaners in public buildings so as to improve the overall working environment. ii. To establish the overall cost reduction when houseplants are used in place of mechanical air purifiers. iii. To audit the overall likability of the houseplants among occupants and visitors in public buildings as a means of purifying the air and improving the aesthetic value iv. To involve members of the public especially school going children in meaningful projects that will incalculate a culture of clean environment This plant club project will focus public buildings. The project will involve schoolchildren after liaising with selected public schools. In selecting children, the project is gearing towards encouraging the culture o f using plants as air cleaning tools. The selection of the buildings will be based on the occupants and people who frequent it. Potential buildings which the study will seek to base its work are those that constantly employ air purifiers as remedies to improve the air quality. The study will seek to convince the management on the erection of houseplants for a defined period of time. This will then be followed by careful and systematic audit of several measures. First, the air quality will be measured and interviews will be conducted to ascertain the feeling of the occupants. The measurable objectives that will be evaluated include; i. Air quality when houseplants are used ii. Building’s occupants feedback on the environment when houseplants are in use instead of mechanical air purifiers including the added aesthetic value iii. Overall cost differences when houseplants are used instead of mechanical air purifier Project Details In the present debate on global warming, the need to adopt green energy is vital in minimizing the burning of carbon and ultimately reducing carbon emission. The use of mechanical air purifiers may rely on energy consumption and their use is not efficient. This is because the air purifiers may also present noise pollution and in most satiation may not be that efficient in maintaining a clean environment. Buildings especially those experiencing an influx of people such as railway stations will face the challenge of maintaining a clean environment. Air pollution in buildings will result in drowsiness among workers, respiratory and sinus congestion and allergic related problems. Therefore, it is imperative to maintain a clean environment so as to have a clean working environment and ensuring the occupants’ health is not compromised. One such solution is the use of houseplants that are known to absorb air pollutants and in addition replenish oxygen. These plants in addition will provide aesthetic value to the building. Factors such as furniture, influx of masses of human and the emission from furniture and office equipments may present a phenomenon referred as “sick building syndrome (Wolverton et al 2). Even at low quantities, air pollutants in indoors settings may adversely affect the building inhabitants. Mechanical ventilated buildings are the main culprits of this syndrome as compared to naturally ventilated buildings (Wolverton et al 2). This rules the possibilities that the ‘sick building syndrome is as a result of microorganisms. This project proposes the erection of houseplants in public buildings to solve the problem of the “sick building syndrome.” The project intends to supply around a 100 houseplants in selected public buildings and evaluate their influence on the indoor environment. This will be done first by measurement of air quality followed by questionnaire based interviews from the buildings occupants. Controls for the project will be buildings that will not adopt houseplants but will use conventional mechanical air purifiers. Output of the project will be based on the differences between the two indoor settings. Project Evaluation A good environment is essential in improving the working environment of the employees and people seeking services in public. Aerosols have been used as air refreshers in public places and their use though rampant may present challenges to some people especially those susceptible to allergens. On the other hand, plants especially those that can withstand indoor environment (houseplants) can sustain a clean environment by absorbing pollutants in the indoor air and even replenishing the oxygen in the indoor settings. The plant club seeks to erect appropriate number of houseplants in selected public buildings and over time query the outcome through questionnaires from the people stationed in those buildings on whether the environment has improved. This will be carried in the form of interview. Further there will be measurement of air quality in terms of presence of known environment indoor air pollutants such as benzene. Project Impacts Global warming has been a problem in this age as burning of fossils become the main ‘suspects’ in causing global warming. Indoor air quality is important in ensuring a clean environment both for staff and visitors of public buildings. This work intends to positively identify the use of houseplants as air purifiers in the place of mechanical air purifiers which are expensive to maintain in terms of energy consumption. Plants on the other hand may be relatively cheap in terms of maintenance cost and in addition the plants take up carbon dioxide from the environment and replenish oxygen supply. Overall the proposal intends to encourage institutions especially the public ones to adopt the use of houseplants in the place of mechanical air filters as a way of encouraging a greener and cleaner environment. Sharing Learning The outcome from the study will be distributed to the public through publishing of a paper with further presentation of the research outcomes in seminars and conferences especially those concerning human resource development and landscape planning. After proper analysis of the measured objectives of the proposal, awareness of the potential impact of the houseplants will be made. This will encourage their use especially in public buildings. Dissemination of the information gathered from this work may be disseminated in print media so as to create awareness among members of the public on alternative air purifiers that can be used in the place of the more expensive mechanical air purifiers. Pamphlets maybe distributed in areas that witness crowding and mechanical air purifiers’ use is rampant. Project Costs and Justification of these Costs The budget estimates of the proposal is £5000 including labor cost, houseplants and transport costs as listed in the table below. Quantity Cost Per Item (in £) Total Cost (in £) Houseplants 100 20 2000 Labor Cost - - 1000 Data Collection and Analysis - - 500 Stationery - 100 Miscellaneous - 400 Total Cost - 5000 * Houseplants cost courtesy of http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/House-Plants-/1510/i.html accessed December 6, 2012. Works Cited Environmental Protection Agency. “Guide to Air Cleaners in the Home” Accessed December 6, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/airclean.html Girman, J.R., Phillips, T. and H Levin, H. “Critical Review: How Well Do House Plants Perform as Indoor Air Cleaners?” Wolverton, B.C., Johnson, A. and Bounds, K. “Interrior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement, Final Report” NASA September 15, 1989. Accessed December 7, 2012. Retrieved from http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073077_1993073077.pdf Read More