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As spring turns to summer in North America, many of us are putting on our “taxi driver” caps and ferrying our kids between lacrosse, soccer, playgrounds and parks and other outdoor events and activities. Some of us however, have kids like my son Elliot who seems to be “allergic” to spring, a time of year when his seasonal allergies kick in big time, and every day becomes a battle between letting him spend time outdoors with his friends and playing sports versus suffering the consequences of bad allergies triggered by pollen and spring time allergens.

Indoor air quality becomes a top priority as we try to find a reprieve from the hostile environment outside. The following post was sent to us by Aneliese Ramsay, Client  Marketing Specialist, with Ino-Labs.com whose company has developed a new technology to create cleaner indoor air and to remove “volatile organic compounds” or VOCs such as bacteria and viruses from the air. Join us as Analeise explains how this new technology works.

Improving Indoor Air Quality: Guest Post, Aneliese Ramsay

According to a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Individuals spend 90% of their time indoors where the levels of pollutants may be 2 to 5 times, and occasionally 100 times higher than outdoor air. Harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde, acetone, ethanol and aldehydes can produce symptoms such as burning eyes, sore throats, skin irritation and long term exposure can also lead to cancer. In addition, according to the Center for Disease Control, as climate scientists show us the increasing linkages between climate change and extreme weather events, mold and bacteria become a more common concern in homes and buildings that are inundated with floods and storm weather events. Realizing the need for cleaner indoor air, Innovative Labs developed a new technology to remove VOCs such as bacteria and viruses from indoor air.

Aneliese tells us that, Innovative Labs was started for the express purpose of solving environmental challenges that affect global well-being; focusing on a problem and then engineering a solution. Innovative Labs team of engineers and scientists developed a unique photo catalytic oxidation (PCO) air purification system that has been designed to address the concerns of formaldehyde, ozone and VOC pollution. Innovative Labs took on a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) challenge to scientists, to develop air purification technology for trailers supplied by FEMA which were housing many of the displaced citizens of the 2005 New Orleans hurricane disaster. It turned out that these trailers were exposing occupants to high levels of formaldehyde and other VOCs’ off-gassing from the composite wood and other materials used in trailer construction. With the linkages between climate change and extreme weather becoming more evident and playing out more often, there could be an increase in trailer use in communities impacted by severe weather events so solving these indoor air quality problems are of increasing importance.

According to Innovative Labs, the technology behind their air purification system, the Sonoma Breeze, is unique in the industry. Air is continuously drawn into the air purifier, where a strong UV light activates a long-lasting titanium dioxide photo catalytic reactor core, breaking down and destroying airborne biological contaminants, odors, pollutants and dangerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The result is pure air free from formaldehyde, bacteria and viruses. The benefit of Innovative Labs technology is that does not emit ozone, and can remove 90% formaldehyde on a single pass, giving consumers a way to mitigate exposure and promote a healthy lifestyle.

For more information on innovative labs visit ino-labs.com. While ClimateMama hasn’t tried out this new technology yet, we are interested in finding out if you have and what you think. Also, do let us know if you have any other tips you want to share for keeping the indoor air your children breath clean and clear!

On our quest to keeping our outside air clean if you haven’t done so already, consider signing on to the Moms Clean Air Force petition to defend clean air and fight mercury emissions and other toxins emitted by power plants!

Yours,

Climate Mama

Tags: climate change kids, climate change parents, indoor air quality, innovative labs, mold and climate change, moms clean air force, trailers and climate change

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at 8:57 am and is filed under Construction, Disasters, Health & Fitness, In The News, Product Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.