Clean Air Month – A Breath of Clean (Not Fresh) Air

Published 05/24/2022
By Christian Weeks
enVerid: A Breath of Clean (Not Fresh) Air

A breath of fresh air. Literally and figuratively, that phrase is more relevant than ever before following more than two years of the pandemic, which have impressed upon us the critical nature of healthy indoor air quality. At the same time, the pandemic has helped us understand different ways to increase not just fresh air, but clean air, which is what really matters to our health.

enVerid: A Breath of Clean (Not Fresh) AirAs we conclude the American Lung Association’s Clean Air Month, I wanted to take a moment to revisit some of our assumptions about the quality of the “fresh air” that we bring into buildings to dilute indoor-generated contaminants. As we will see, the concept of fresh air is becoming something of a misnomer in areas where many of us work and play.

Fresh air is traditionally associated with the outdoors. Yet those reading the new reports coming out on ozone levels, particulates, and wildfire smoke know that the air outside is often not fresh at all. In fact, we are falling woefully short of approved limits of exposure to polluted air both in the U.S. and around the globe. According to a World Health Organization report published in April, “99 percent of the global population breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits.”

Just last week, a new study in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health blames pollution of all types for 9 million deaths a year globally, with the death toll attributed to dirty air from cars, trucks and industry rising 55 percent since 2000. According to the study, the United States is the only fully industrialized country in the top 10 nations for total pollution deaths, ranking 7th sandwiched between Bangladesh and Ethiopia.

When opening a window at home, or the HVAC damper in an office or school to increase “fresh” air, too little thought is given to how close the building might be to major infrastructure – highways, train tracks, or airports – and how that close proximity impacts indoor air quality, as a recent report from the UK highlights.

40 percent of Americans live with unhealthy airHere in the U.S., the latest annual State of the Air Report from the American Lung Association published in April found that for more than 40 percent of the U.S. population, outside air is decidedly not fresh and is in fact downright harmful. The report tracks two of the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants, fine particles and ozone. Among its findings:

  • More than 137 million people – an increase of 2.1 million over the 2021 report – live in counties that received an “F” for either ozone or particle pollution.
  • During 2018-2020, 34 million people were impacted by 116 “very unhealthy” air quality days, twice the number recorded in the previous two reports, and more than ten times as many as reported in the 2018 report.
  • People of color were 3.6 times more likely to live in a county with failing grades for ozone, short term particle and long-term particle pollutants.

Outside Air Pollution and its Health Impacts

While polluted outside air has been long associated with respiratory issues, such as asthma and bronchitis, as well as contributing to heart disease, new research is showing that exposure to particulates and ozone have broader impacts on both our physical and mental health. Here are some recently published reports that point to concerning new health impacts.

Ozone – Impacts on Adolescent Mental Health

For some time, ozone has been linked with a variety of physical health issues ranging from increased susceptibility to respiratory viruses to asthma to premature mortality. More recently, research has also emerged about ozone’s impact on mental health, and a new study from the American Psychological Association goes further, finding links between ozone exposure and an increase in adolescent depression.

In this most recent study, researchers from Stanford and the University of Denver tracked 213 adolescents exposed to high levels of ozone, a gas that is the product of pollutants reacting to sunlight, finding links to higher occurrences of “depressive symptoms” including “feeling sad, withdrawing socially and losing interest or pleasure in activities.” According to Erika Manczak, one of the authors, the study “potentially highlights that even fairly low exposures [to ozone] might be increasing risk, and doing so on a faster time frame than what we tend to think about.”

Vehicular and Industrial Pollution – Linked to Autoimmune Disease Risk

Particulates, also known as PM2.5, are small particulate matter that are tiny enough to enter the bloodstream when they are inhaled. They can come from any number of sources including wildfire smoke, vehicle emissions, and industrial sources.

A population study out of Italy that included 81,363 subjects found that sustained exposure to PM2.5 and larger PM10 was associated with an increased risk of many types of autoimmune diseases. According to an article in The Independent on the results of the study, “Overall, long term exposure to traffic and industrial air pollutants was associated with an approximately 40 per cent higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, a 20 per cent higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease, and a 15 per cent higher risk of connective tissue diseases.”

These are alarming findings.

At enVerid, our mission is to make the world a cleaner, healthier place – both inside and out. During Clean Air Month, we thought it important to share this research to encourage building owners, engineers, and contractors to re-assess their assumptions about the freshness of outside air and consider the latest research on the impacts of poor air quality as they update their ventilation strategies.

Fortunately, when the outside air is not fresh, there are alternative ways to ensure clean indoor air for occupants including layered air cleaning strategies to address the three pillars of IAQ: particles, pathogens, and gases.

Click here to learn more about our Clean First framework to achieve Sustainable IAQ – better IAQ, more energy efficiently, with improved resilience.

Christian Weeks