Sunday, March 13, 2011

Healthy Air In Cars

By Didi Smith


Nearly everyone sense the importance of air quality inside our houses and outside our surroundings. What about the condition of the air inside our cars? Based on the study conducted by the Dohring Company, over 95% of people were concerned about the quality of air in cars.

Every day, Americans normally stay in their car for a tremendous amount of 1 and a half hour. A friend of mine travels to work for 2 hours every day, five days every week. That is equivalent to a five-day workweek.

Unfortunately, recent and ongoing studies are indicating that the air inside your vehicle is likely more contaminated than that of your home or workplace - up to 2-5 times poorer. Technically, the car is just a smaller form compared to a house or a workplace and the space is more contained and is more prone to allergies associated to fungus and warning signs similar to sick building syndrome. Fungi can enter the air through air streams and the ventilation systems, circulating harmful allergens and microorganisms. You and the passengers in your car are breathing particles of dust, greenhouse gases and car exhaust - not to mention the formaldehydes, other various irritants in the materials in the car from pets, food and cigarette smoking. According to Anders Lofvendahl, project manager at Volvo, "In hot climates, volatile hydrocarbons evaporate from plastics and textiles." These factors can completely worsen the condition of asthma and allergy sufferers, and produce an unhealthy environment for you and your loved ones. Also according to a study by The International Center for Technology Assessment in 1990, twenty three unrelated scientific investigations performed during the 1980's and 1990's showed that air contamination levels in cars normally reach concentrations that are dangerous to human health. Nearby monitoring stations used to calculate government air quality information showed results of indoor air in cars have more carbon monoxide, benzene, toluene (all cancer-causing agents), fine particle matter, and nitrogen oxides than ambient air. This fact was also stated in that study.

Envision this - each car and truck on the street draws in and blows out contaminated air - that air is in your vehicle. That is the air you keep inhaling into your lungs and breathe for the whole duration that you are inside that enclosed, contaminated space, traveling.

We definitely love Bear, our dog. He is a 135-pound Newfoundland and loves to ride in the car. Only problem is, besides the fact that he takes up the entire back seat in our small car, is that he sheds and has a lot of dander with a particular odor. So, instead of leaving him in the house and pouting, the option was to find a means to purify the air in our vehicle. A number of proposals include installing a filtration system in your car, or a plug-in air purifier perhaps (placed on the cigarette lighter plug-in, a better use for it anyway) one that uses negative ions to cleanse the air inside the car, or air freshener ionizers. The windows stay up and the outer vent is closed. Only point is - Bear can't enjoy the wind in his face!




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