How Can You Improve Your Indoor Air Quality?

Isn’t the air inside our homes better than the air outside?

No, absolutely not. What’s inside may be even worse. Indoor air pollution, the degradation of indoor air quality by harmful chemicals and other materials, can be up to 10 times worse than outdoor air pollution. This is because isolated areas like a home enable potential pollutants to build up more than open spaces do.

What makes the “outdoor” air so much better than the air in my home?

The short answer — the sun. UV light is not only harmful to our skin but also harmful to many of the organisms, organic compounds, and chemicals that would otherwise cause harm to us. Naturally occurring UV light also catalyzes beneficial chemical compounds that attack and neutralize many of the items listed on the right.

If you consider that people spend approximately 92 percent of their time indoors and around 68 percent inside their homes in particular, you can see why indoor air pollution is an important issue.