Most people talk about air pollution outside your home and how dirty air can do harm to your body. However, indoor pollution can be as deadly, according to experts.
A recent study, carried out by a team of researchers from Australia, Europe and UK, led by the University of Surrey analyzed the dangerous effects that indoor pollution has on human health, and in the process, found out the best possible methodologies to regulate and minimize the consequences.
Globally, in the year 2012 alone, 4.3 million fatalities were associated with indoor air pollution, as compared to the 3.7 million deaths linked to outdoor pollution.
It is referred to as the "Sick Building Syndrome" (SBS), wherein people showcase a wide range of drastic health conditions caused by breathing in polluted indoor air. City dwellers typically spend large amounts of time indoors, be it at work, home, school, college and likewise, and are at a higher risk of acquiring SBS.
The word 'air pollution' usually gets us thinking of gray-tinged fumes, on the lines of toxic gases erupting from factories and industries or the discharge from vehicle exhausts.
However, there are other forms of air pollution, which are incrementally more disastrous than these outdoor ones, most of them existing within the safe confines of our own homes or offices. Cooking residue, smokes, paints, varnishes, fungal spores, and so forth, are few of the harmful pollutants present indoors.
The main purpose of this research was to put an emphasis on ensuring that buildings have a proper system in place that monitors the levels of indoor pollution. It stresses on the need to protect ourselves from harmful pollutants that can adversely affect us both mentally and physically.
In this age of futuristic smart cities, it is important to keep a close tab on issues concerning the quality of air we breathe in. The best way to do so is by appropriately leveraging technology and putting policies in place that works together for the betterment of human health and control of air pollution.
"It is essential that we are able to effectively monitor indoor air pollution so that we can better understand when and where levels are worst, and in turn offer solutions to make our air healthier. Our work looks at the use of small, low-energy monitoring sensors that would be able to gather real-time data and tell families or workers when levels of pollutants are too high," said Dr. Prashant Kumar, head researcher, University of Surrey.
The new research has been published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
Photo: Justin Clements | Flickr
