
TED 2009: How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - meattle
http://greenspaces.in/blog/ted09/
======
meattle
With only three varieties of plants, we can grow our own fresh air indoors, to
keep us healthy.

After studying the effects these plants had on air quality for the past 15
years in a building in New Delhi, India it was found that there was a 42%
probability of increasing blood oxygen by 1% simply by being in the building
for one hour. Compared to other buildings in the city, eye irritation was
reduced by 52%, respiratory symptoms down by 34%, headaches by 24%, lung
impairment by 12%, and asthma by 9%.

They were also able to reduce the fresh air supplied to the building and still
meet industry standards for healthy indoor air, netting a reduction of energy
costs by greater than 15%. With buildings consuming 40% of the world’s energy,
this is a big deal.

~~~
barbie17
Why those three types and not others?

~~~
meattle
The data shows that they work well together.

Areca Palm is good for the day, while Mother-in-law’s Tongue works during the
night. Money Plant helps remove toxins like Formaldehyde (from carpets and
furniture) from indoor air.

------
streety
Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) . . . One needs about 4 shoulder high
plants/person

Mother-in-law’s Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata) . . . One requires about 6-8
such waist high plants per person in the bedroom

This seems like a large number of plants to fit into a space. Any tips on
fitting them in without having them dominate the space?

~~~
forgottenpswrd
Where I work,there's some kind of creeping vine, that's planted in the
intersection of 3 cubicles and has spread beyond all of them, almost reaching
the printer.

It takes up a lot of space, but it shares that space with the cubicle walls,
so in a strange way it takes up very little space.

I guess what I'm saying is be creative.

------
RiderOfGiraffes
Already posted: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=466315>

At least this has the merit of being posted by the author, even if it was
posted to HN 3 days ago.

~~~
meattle
RiderOfGiraffes, thank you. Couldn't find a "search box", hence the somewhat
duplicate entry. The page posted today should be more useful to readers, as it
has many more actionable details. The talk was given by my father.

~~~
teej
Some people like to use <http://www.searchyc.com> for their searches.

~~~
someperson
and this: <http://www.webmynd.com/html/hackernews.html>

(link at the bottom of the news page)

------
arthurk
This is great. These plant are also very common and therefore easy to get and
don't cost much. I think I've seen the Areca Palm at Ikea.

Do you have any pictures of how it looks inside the building?

~~~
meattle
The Areca Palm is indeed available at Ikea (i know friends who have bought
some from there). I suspect the Money Plant would also be available there or
most garden stores. Home Depot is another one to check.

Picture of one of the building plant rooms -

<http://greenspaces.in/images/pbc_greenhouse_1.jpg>

<http://greenspaces.in/images/pbc_greenhouse_2.jpg>

One of the things that is done in the building is that air is passed through
these rooms first, and then circulated through the building.

------
albertcardona
Thank you very much for sharing this simple yet (as for your claim) effective
way of keeping ourselves healthy.

