“Some 17 years ago, I became allergic to Delhi’s air. My doctors told me that my lung capacity had gone down to 70 percent, and it was killing me. With the help of IIT, TERI, and learnings from NASA, we discovered that there are three basic green plants, common green plants, with which we can grow all the fresh air we need indoors to keep us healthy. We’ve also found that you can reduce the fresh air requirements into the building, while maintaining industry indoor air-quality standards.
The government of India has discovered or published a study to show that this is the healthiest building in New Delhi. And the study showed that, compared to other buildings, there is a reduced incidence of eye irritation by 52 percent, respiratory systems by 34 percent, headaches by 24 percent, lung impairment by 12 percent and asthma by nine percent. And this study has been published on September 8, 2008, and it’s available on the government of India website.
Our experience points to an amazing increase in human productivity by over 20 percent by using these plants. And also a reduction in energy requirements in buildings by an outstanding 15 percent, because you need less fresh air. We are now replicating this in a 1.75-million-square-feet building, which will have 60,000 indoor plants.”
Source: Ted.com
GreenSpaces
Thanks to Kelly for this suggestion.
And now for something completely different…
Imagine a house built with PAHS systems.
Imagine that the air intake tubes for a PAHS house had a greenhouse full of oxygen producing plants at the air intake.
Or…
Imagine a passivehouse. Imagine the air intake for the heat recovery ventilator sucking air from a greenhouse full of oxygen producing plants.
My thoughts immediately turned to those who are elderly, sick, etc whose doctors have prescribed oxygen. That may be oxygen at night, while sleeping, or 24hrs a day.
Imagine those people instead of being chained to noisy energy consuming oxygen separation machines, or to heavy oxygen tanks, living in homes filled with plants.
Imagine how much cheaper it would be for the patient to not have to pay for the oxygen, or the energy bill to keep an oxygen separation machine chugging.
Also, imagine combining other plants in a bedroom along with night-time oxygen producers, such as Lavender, which is renown for it’s relaxation inducing properties and sleep inducing effects.
I encourage everyone to include at least a small grow bed in their home for oxygen and food production. Either that or potted plants, windowsill gardens, etc.
Another tip is doing an Internet search for cinder cones plus the name of your state. This will enable you to pinpoint volcanoes with lava rock. The lava rock mines/quarries will be located next to the cinder cones. Buying direct from the mine is less expensive than buying lava rock through a middleman. Find the closest mine to your land because shipping is a major expense.
A quick search turned up one in Goldendale in eastern WA. And there are several volcanic fields near Mt. Adams.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Adams/VolcanicFields/description_volcanic_fields.html
And I see there’s some lava rock in Black Diamond, WA http://www.palmercc.com/directions.htm
Note: wholesale companies are a little harder to track down than resale companies. Ask any landscape rock supplier where they get their lava rock from.
Thanks Doc for the advice on where to look for the rock. I really had not thought of looking using the government site. You really helped me huge on this one since I plan to use it for the build.
I very much enjoyed what he had to say. I’ll try to remember to include these plants into my solarium/indoor greenhouse.
I just read the video transcript at the above link. For me it was much more powerful reading the facts than trying to listen to the video. I have small, low quality speakers and it’s often difficult to hear videos. What they’ve accomplished is absolutely amazing. It’s convinced me that houses should have adequate glazing to support houseplants that will clean the air. This is especially important where the outdoor air quality is below standard.