There is a lot of talk these days about eating organic food and how that may influence our health and well-being. But very little is said about the impact of the air we breathe on our health. This seems strange because, in general, Americans spend about an hour a day eating, but we are breathing all day long, every day. And unfortunately much of this breathing is done indoors, in homes and buildings that are emitting invisible toxins that we are taking into our bodies with every breath.
While we can’t control the building and design choices of our employers or other businesses, we can most certainly choose what goes into our own homes. We need to protect our indoor airspace like countries protect their airspace from armed invaders. Our homes should be retreats from the pollutants we encounter outside of them. They should provide clean, toxin-free air. But if we don’t choose to purchase toxin-free furniture, building materials, paint and other design elements, our homes will be danger zones rather than the supportive, refreshing and rejuvenating spaces they should be.
If you’re not lucky enough to purchase and move into a newly built “green” home with all the bells and whistles, you can still have a supportive and toxin-free home by taking meaningful steps to make your present house healthier, more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
A sustainable home means that the building and its contents work together. The first step in creating a sustainable home is to consider our stuff. We need to become more conscious about how much stuff we are purchasing, as well as the quality of that stuff. As Americans, we have a tendency to buy cheap, disposable products with the expectation that we will be replacing it within a relatively short period of time. Instead, we should be purchasing products based on their quality and functionality, products that work effectively in our space, that will last, and that do not have a negative impact on our health or indoor air quality. Price cannot be the only consideration we use when buying things for our homes.
Once we consider quality and functionality, we should consider the efficiency of our homes and the appliances we choose to install in them. According to current EPA statistics, the average American household generates approximately 7.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year from electricity use alone. To make our homes more sustainable and limit their impact on the environment, our dishwashers, refrigerators, and other appliances should be as efficient as possible. We can achieve this efficiency by choosing Energy Star options when it is time to purchase or replace appliances. According to a recent article published in both the August 2010 issue of Dwell and the summer 2010 issue of GOOD, replacing every item in your house that uses energy with the most efficient options can decrease household energy use significantly. Couple those changes with improvements in the efficiency of power plants and power generation processes, and families could reduce their energy use and costs by about 39% overall. As more people begin transitioning to more efficient homes, the positive impact on our environment and our health is amplified.
Heating systems are another important factor in the sustainability of our homes. While research on the impact of heating systems on our home and outdoor environments is limited, the EPA clearly states that most heating systems not only contribute carbon dioxide to the atmosphere but can negatively impact your indoor air quality. Wood burning fireplaces and woodstoves in particular, produce soot and smoke, as well as carbon dioxide and other hazardous air and fine particle pollutants that can have negative health impacts on anyone living in your home. With the spectrum of innovative and efficient home heating options available today, I believe that these significant contributions to indoor and outdoor air pollution by wood or pellet burning stoves are entirely unnecessary. In fact, the article sited above illustrates that installing the most efficient heating and cooling systems available today can save significant amounts of energy. For a sustainable home, whether functional or decorative, heating systems should not only provide a warm, relaxing and comfortable home environment, but also limit or, preferably, eliminate soot production and carbon dioxide emissions.
Fireplaces, while the most attractive option, are also the least sustainable. Newer pellet stoves and gas fireplaces can have a lower impact on your home’s air quality, with fewer smoke and particle emissions, but even they can contribute carbon dioxide and other pollutants into your air, and they might not provide the same design and atmospheric effects as a fireplace. So do you choose form or function, sexiness or sustainability? An alternative like an ethanol hearth, which burns as cleanly as natural gas without depleting our natural resources, and with no toxins and no carbon monoxide, can provide both ambiance and heat without the negative affects of wood burning stoves and fireplaces.
An added benefit of making these positive choices for our own homes is that they will also have a positive impact on our planet. Buying products that will last and will be part of our lives and homes for the long haul reduces trash production and the burden that trash puts on our environment through trash collection, disposal and incineration. In turn, decreasing consumption by purchasing products with longevity decreases pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. For every pound of trash we throw away, the EPA says almost a pound of carbon dioxide equivalent is released into the atmosphere, and the average person in the U.S. generates more than 1,100 pounds of trash each year. The less trash we create, the lower our carbon footprint and the healthier our air.
Another way we can reduce our carbon dioxide generation is to reuse the things we buy beyond their normal function. For example, recycling carpets to make new rugs and creating plastic lumber products from plastic bottles can close the loop when items have reached their (usual) end of life. There are a number of businesses and manufacturers who are beginning to take advantage of the second lives of consumer products to create new, usable, functional products for our homes from the things we would normally throw away.
The home sector industries comprise more than $200 billion of the retail market. WorkingWonders will offer access to and information about products such as electric and non-electric composters that can reduce trash production; ethanol (vital fuel) fireplaces that can reduce or eliminate soot and carbon dioxide emissions; and sustainably produced, toxin-free home goods that limit their environmental impact on both the planet and our homes. By doing so, WorkingWonders will become a change-agent company that can begin mitigating the overload of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. (originally published on 03.04.2011 as Making Our Homes Work For Us...And Our Planet)
While we can’t control the building and design choices of our employers or other businesses, we can most certainly choose what goes into our own homes. We need to protect our indoor airspace like countries protect their airspace from armed invaders. Our homes should be retreats from the pollutants we encounter outside of them. They should provide clean, toxin-free air. But if we don’t choose to purchase toxin-free furniture, building materials, paint and other design elements, our homes will be danger zones rather than the supportive, refreshing and rejuvenating spaces they should be.
If you’re not lucky enough to purchase and move into a newly built “green” home with all the bells and whistles, you can still have a supportive and toxin-free home by taking meaningful steps to make your present house healthier, more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
A sustainable home means that the building and its contents work together. The first step in creating a sustainable home is to consider our stuff. We need to become more conscious about how much stuff we are purchasing, as well as the quality of that stuff. As Americans, we have a tendency to buy cheap, disposable products with the expectation that we will be replacing it within a relatively short period of time. Instead, we should be purchasing products based on their quality and functionality, products that work effectively in our space, that will last, and that do not have a negative impact on our health or indoor air quality. Price cannot be the only consideration we use when buying things for our homes.
Once we consider quality and functionality, we should consider the efficiency of our homes and the appliances we choose to install in them. According to current EPA statistics, the average American household generates approximately 7.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year from electricity use alone. To make our homes more sustainable and limit their impact on the environment, our dishwashers, refrigerators, and other appliances should be as efficient as possible. We can achieve this efficiency by choosing Energy Star options when it is time to purchase or replace appliances. According to a recent article published in both the August 2010 issue of Dwell and the summer 2010 issue of GOOD, replacing every item in your house that uses energy with the most efficient options can decrease household energy use significantly. Couple those changes with improvements in the efficiency of power plants and power generation processes, and families could reduce their energy use and costs by about 39% overall. As more people begin transitioning to more efficient homes, the positive impact on our environment and our health is amplified.
Heating systems are another important factor in the sustainability of our homes. While research on the impact of heating systems on our home and outdoor environments is limited, the EPA clearly states that most heating systems not only contribute carbon dioxide to the atmosphere but can negatively impact your indoor air quality. Wood burning fireplaces and woodstoves in particular, produce soot and smoke, as well as carbon dioxide and other hazardous air and fine particle pollutants that can have negative health impacts on anyone living in your home. With the spectrum of innovative and efficient home heating options available today, I believe that these significant contributions to indoor and outdoor air pollution by wood or pellet burning stoves are entirely unnecessary. In fact, the article sited above illustrates that installing the most efficient heating and cooling systems available today can save significant amounts of energy. For a sustainable home, whether functional or decorative, heating systems should not only provide a warm, relaxing and comfortable home environment, but also limit or, preferably, eliminate soot production and carbon dioxide emissions.
Fireplaces, while the most attractive option, are also the least sustainable. Newer pellet stoves and gas fireplaces can have a lower impact on your home’s air quality, with fewer smoke and particle emissions, but even they can contribute carbon dioxide and other pollutants into your air, and they might not provide the same design and atmospheric effects as a fireplace. So do you choose form or function, sexiness or sustainability? An alternative like an ethanol hearth, which burns as cleanly as natural gas without depleting our natural resources, and with no toxins and no carbon monoxide, can provide both ambiance and heat without the negative affects of wood burning stoves and fireplaces.
An added benefit of making these positive choices for our own homes is that they will also have a positive impact on our planet. Buying products that will last and will be part of our lives and homes for the long haul reduces trash production and the burden that trash puts on our environment through trash collection, disposal and incineration. In turn, decreasing consumption by purchasing products with longevity decreases pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. For every pound of trash we throw away, the EPA says almost a pound of carbon dioxide equivalent is released into the atmosphere, and the average person in the U.S. generates more than 1,100 pounds of trash each year. The less trash we create, the lower our carbon footprint and the healthier our air.
Another way we can reduce our carbon dioxide generation is to reuse the things we buy beyond their normal function. For example, recycling carpets to make new rugs and creating plastic lumber products from plastic bottles can close the loop when items have reached their (usual) end of life. There are a number of businesses and manufacturers who are beginning to take advantage of the second lives of consumer products to create new, usable, functional products for our homes from the things we would normally throw away.
The home sector industries comprise more than $200 billion of the retail market. WorkingWonders will offer access to and information about products such as electric and non-electric composters that can reduce trash production; ethanol (vital fuel) fireplaces that can reduce or eliminate soot and carbon dioxide emissions; and sustainably produced, toxin-free home goods that limit their environmental impact on both the planet and our homes. By doing so, WorkingWonders will become a change-agent company that can begin mitigating the overload of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. (originally published on 03.04.2011 as Making Our Homes Work For Us...And Our Planet)
