IAQ at Home Blog

AspenAir partners with school district to cut costs and improve life for students and teachers

2011-08-10T16:11:29+00:00

By Mike Gunion, President & CEO In these difficult economic times our schools are looking for ways to cut costs and get by with less. AspenAir, working with a large school district has found a truly win-win situation, with many benefits. AspenAir has recently completed a 15 month trial at one of the largest High School Districts in California. Our collective goals were to measure the operational cost savings by replacing their standard HVAC air filters with AspenAir high efficiency air filters. 1 - AspenAir filters lasted 400% longer between service than the traditional filters, lasting longer than 15 months. a - As the school district has nearly 5000 air filters across many campuses, this projected to nearly $500,000 in savings per year, for labor and material only. 2 - Because of AspenAir's unique technology, projected energy savings added another $570,000 per year. These results were well beyond expectations! Not only are there operational cost savings, teachers, staff and students will benefit from the clean, healthy air in classrooms and administration building. And cleaner indoor air also means higher productivity and attendance rates, which has been well-documented.

EPA to Mandate More Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels

2011-06-22T20:27:47+00:00

By Joe Castner - VP Marketing The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) requires major changes to the manufacturing, sales and marketing of tobacco products. Yesterday, the FDA announced perhaps the most public and noticeable of these changes: new graphic warning labels required for cigarette packs and advertisements. Beginning September 2012, the FDA will require larger, more prominent cigarette health warnings on all cigarette packaging and advertisements in the United States. These warnings mark the first change in cigarette warnings in more than 25 years and are a significant advancement in communicating the dangers of smoking. These large, graphic warning labels will appear on the top 50 percent of the front and back of all cigarette packs – replacing the 25 year-old warnings that are ineffective and hidden on the side of packages. For the first time, the true dangers of cigarettes will be highlighted with vivid images and hard-hitting messages, including “WARNING: Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease” and “WARNING: Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in nonsmokers.” To view the entire FDA release, click here. We applaud this move by the FDA. These types of warnings have been deployed in Europe for some time, and it’s about time we followed suit. As IAQ experts, we know that cigarette smoke, despite all of the known health risks and the combined efforts of the FDA and organizations like the American Lung Association to make people aware of those risks, is still the number one cause of indoor particulate pollution. More than likely, these graphic images will have little effect on adults who currently smoke. They will bother children and young adults, though, which is really where these messages are intended. If one child chooses not to smoke because of these new warnings, then they were worth it. Also, children who see these warnings on their parent’s cigarettes may engage their parents in discussions about the dangers of cigarette smoking, and why, despite the obvious healthy risks, they continue to smoke. Perhaps these painful parent/child discussions may lead parents to put forth more effort in their attempts to stop smoking. While these new warning labels may not lead to huge decreases in the numbers of smokers, I believe that they will cause children and young adults to pause before they light up…and that’s a step in the right direction.

Interesting Triggers to Indoor Allergies

2011-06-21T21:11:53+00:00

By Joe Castner - Marketing VP If you want to better understand the causes of indoor allergies, some of the best places to go on the internet are the websites of companies that sell air filters, carpet and furniture cleaning products, and drugs that treat allergy symptoms. I came across an interesting post the other day called ZYRTEC, love the air. ZYRTEC, of course, sells allergy pills. While I no longer need their excellent pills, thanks to my AspenAir indoor air cleaner, I thought they did a very good job of quickly and clearly explaining the various types of indoor allergens. And, as it turns out, I learned a thing or two. Of course, number on their list of indoor allegens are molds and mildew. This stuff is bad news and you don’t even have to be allergic to them to be harmed by them. They’re usually found in basements, bathrooms, shower stalls, refrigerator drip trays, house plants, humidifiers and garbage pails. Holding down humidity and keeping the air flowing is very important. Second on their list of is pet dander. I received a surprise here. I always thought that pet fur and dander were the problem. Of course, they are a problem, but, according to this article, the major culprit is the saliva that sticks to the fur when pets clean themselves. Pet saliva (dogs, cats, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters) contains a protein that causes allergic reactions. Apparently cats can be worse than dogs because they are constantly cleaning themselves and tend to spend more time in the house. I did not know that it was pet saliva was the predominant pet allergen. Dust mite droppings and stuff that cockroaches leave behind (feces, saliva and parts of their bodies) were also cited as major sources of indoor allergies. While most of this material is fairly large and tends to settle out of the air, it’s when people stir them up by moving around or when children are playing that they become airborne, and therefore pose the health risk. As it turns out, your HVAC comfort system can either be a help or a hindrance in the battle against airborne indoor allergies. According to this posting, the best thing you can do is keep your filters clean. A dirty filter attached to a forced air system will billow dust into your home. This article recommends that you clean your filters at least twice a month. That’s a real change since the manufacturers of the most commonly used media filters recommend that they be changed annually, and we know from experience and studies that people don’t change their filters on time, and 10% have never changed their filter. Running your air conditioner is also also mentioned as a very good thing to do because it dehumidifies which controls mold; it filters out particles and allergens. But here was another big surprise. According to this article, keeping your filter clean will increase airflow, which will discourage cockroaches. Cockroaches don’t like airflow. That’s new to me. I knew that by improving airflow you could lower heating and cooling bills, but I had no idea that it had anything to do with controlling cockroach allergies. I learned a lot from reading this article. To read the entire article, click here. I had no idea that pet saliva was such a powerful allergen, nor did I know that improved airflow will help hold cockroaches in check. I thought this was worth sharing. AspenAir – Clean healthy Air, lower ENERGY bills, and real tough on cockroaches! There’s something to it, don’t you think?

O Magazine’s Advice to Protect Yourself from Air Pollution

2011-06-21T00:08:56+00:00

By Joe Castner, VP Marketing Health is a major topic of discussion in O Magazine. I’ve already mentioned that I’m a big fan of Dr. Oz (Oprah’s protégé and the heir apparent to her daytime TV kingdom). I don’t have much opportunity to actually flip through the pages of her magazine but I do keep my eye peeled for online articles that address asthma, allergies, and indoor air quality & pollution. It was during one of those searches that I found an interesting article in the June 2011 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, entitled How to Protect Yourself for Air Pollution (No Mask Required!), written by Amanda Schupak. It’s a quick read and it should really open eyes about the many health risks associated with air pollution. Of course, with the weather heating up, it would seem logical that Ms. Schupak would recommend staying indoors as much as possible. I find this interesting since most people already spend 90% of their time indoors, and many studies have proven that indoor air is many times more polluted than outdoor air. That being said, air pollution, be it of the indoor or outdoor variety, is responsible for many more health risks than asthma attacks, allergy attacks and other respiratory ailments. The list of other ailments is quite shocking. It includes headaches, appendicitis, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, & breast cancer. And I thought all of those ailments were the result of a sedentary lifestyle? As to what to do about all of this "sick" air, there’s not too much “new “news here. Ms. Schupak recommends going outdoors early if you really must go out at all. She also urges people to stay away from busy streets and roads as this is where the highest levels of pollutants are found. I guess that’s sound advice is you don’t have to go to work or if you work from home. I suppose short early morning jaunts in the country are OK. And when you get back safely indoors, she recommends that you filter your air though a MERV 9 or higher air filter, and that you keep your filter clean. As an air filtration guy, I know that a MERV 9 filter will clog very quickly, and when it does, the energy required to pull air though it will increase to a ridiculously high level. I have also read studies that said that most people don’t clean nor replace their filters consistent with the manufacturer’s specs, and that 10% have never cleaned their filter. If you would like to read the entire article, please click here. My advice to anyone concerned about air pollution and its potential for damaging our health is this: call your HVAC contractors and have them install an AspenAir whole-house high-efficiency air cleaner in your home. It will remove all the stuff from the air that makes people sick and it will lower your heating and cooling bills in the process. In regards to keeping your filter clean - I would have your contractor do that for you. Most contractors are more than happy to add their customers to a “low cost” or even a “no cost” programmed maintenance program that includes keeping your filters clean. You can have clean, healthy indoor air that will ultimately pay for itself due to lower heating and cooling bills. It’s 2011 and outstanding air filtration products really do exist. They will keep you and your family healthy and they will help you lower your energy bills. Now who wouldn’t be interested in having both?

The You Doctors Urge People to Clean their Indoor Air

2011-06-20T22:32:27+00:00

By Joe Castner - VP Marketing You have probably heard of The You Docs – Dr. Mehmet Oz (The Doctor Oz Show) and Dr. Mike Roizen. They publish a very popular syndicated column and they recently published their take on the city-by-city air pollution expose (www.stateoftheair.org). I follow the good doctors regularly for lots of reasons, not the least of which is they often address indoor air pollution and what people can do about it. This particular column was called “Clean Up the Air In Your Castle” and I saw it in the Boise Statesman. It's well written and chocked full of IAQ insights. I’ll point out a few: Indoor levels of the pollutants formaldehyde, styrene and chloroform can be 2 to 50 times higher than outdoors. Cigarette smoke is still the number one cause of indoor air pollution, and it has been linked to lung, cervical and other cancers, heart disease, asthma attacks, wrinkles, and erectile dysfunction. Avoid using air fresheners and spray-on cleaners. They write, “regularly breathing in a volatile organic compound called 1,4 DCB found in room deodorizers (toilet-bowl freshening blocks, too) could reduce your lung function by 4%”. 1 in 7 asthma attacks may be triggered by cleaning sprays. Chemicals used in dry-cleaning (trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene or PERC), have been linked to kidney and nervous system damage, as well as cancer. Unhealthy levels of OZONE are emitted from home-office electronics such as laser printers and copy machines. To read their entire article, please click here. While they recommend frequent ventilation (open the windows and let the fresh air in and the bad air out) which is always a good idea, they don’t mention the benefits that people would derive from affordable, practical and effective high-efficiency air filtration systems, such as AspenAir. There are times (and places) when it isn’t reasonable nor practical to throw open your windows. With the rising costs of energy, I wouldn’t recommend anyone letting their expensively heated or cooled air out too often. And let’s be honest… people aren’t likely to soon give up their cleaning products and home offices. People need to know that today it’s possible to remove the stuff from indoor air that makes us sick, and to actually lower your heating and cooling bills in the process. I’m going to see what I can do to educate and inform Drs. Oz and Roizen of the many benefits of AspenAir in hopes that someday they’ll write a column recommending it to their readers.

Chemicals Found in Nail Salons Pose Risks to Employees and Customers

2011-06-01T16:52:39+00:00

By Mike Gunion, President & CEO - AspenAir People love to be pampered from time to time and it occurred to me that simple pleasures are sometimes not so simple. For example, today I read an article about nail salons, indicating that there are over 375,000 nail technicians working in over 57,000 salons across the country. That is a tremendous industry, and one with real air quality issues, as the article goes on to describe. There are indications that the indoor air quality is possibly dangerous in many of these salons, presenting health risks to workers and customers alike. For example, researchers at the Cancer Institute of California found toluene and other dangerous chemicals such as methyl-methacrylate in nail salon air. The Safe Cosmetics Act was recently introduced in the 110th Congress called for a phase out of salon chemicals linked to cancer or birth defects. Unfortunately, it never passed. Perhaps salon owners should consider air purification equipment such as AspenAir. It might be good for business. It would certainly be good for salon workers and their customers. Sometimes even life’s simplest pleasures aren’t so simple. Click here for full article.

Sonoma Mountain Village Chooses AspenAir for LEED Platinum Project

2011-05-31T23:58:33+00:00

By Mike Gunion, President & CEO - AspenAir Sometimes good news arrives and it makes you think a bit. We recently heard from a commercial building customer that one of their office buildings has been LEED-CI Platinum certified. AspenAir filters are now providing energy savings and improved indoor air quality for the 30,000 square foot LEED-CI Platinum rated Comcast facility at Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park, CA. To see what's happening at Sonoma Mountain Village, click here. This is very good news as it provides another validation of our technology as THE premium air filtration solution available today. As important as indoor air quality is, there used to be a costly trade-off associated with that great benefit. Those days are gone as technology now allows the delivery of clean, healthy indoor air while lowering energy and operating costs. It now makes good financial sense to install an AspenAir high-efficiency air filtration system into an office building or other commercial environments. To see AspenAir's Commercial Brochure, click here. Isn’t that good news – something that pays for itself and provides something that provides so many benefits to people – clean healthy air – and it does so while reducing energy consumption and cost? I think it does, and I simply wanted to share the good news with you. To see the entire press release, click here.

Most Polluted Cities & Asthma

2011-05-13T17:26:04+00:00

By Mike Gunion, President & CEO - AspenAir Reading the American Lung Association's 2011 list of America’s most polluted cities (To view the current rankings of America's most polluted cities, click here) made me think about a recent (and related) May 3, 2011 Fox News.com article that outlined a CDC study showing that Asthma rates have increased yet again. The article stated that “about one in 12 people in the United States now has asthma, a total of 24.6 million people and an increase of 4.3 million since 2001", according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This means that asthma continues to be the number one reason why kids miss school and adults miss work in the US. (To read the entire article, click here) So we know that the air is dirty and that it is making us sick. It is important in these tough economic times to keep our eye on the target: health and quality of life. There are no silver bullets for asthmatics, but I do believe that there are opportunities for improving their day-to-day experience thru simple methods of improving indoor air quality, for example. This is why I became involved in the IAQ business in the first place.

AB 811 SCEIP Financing Available for AspenAir Inside’s Air Filters

2009-09-10T00:03:38+00:00

By Joe Castner We just learned that the AspenAir Inside Filter Grille and the Furnace Mount models qualify for funding under California Assembly Bill AB811 in Sonoma County as a part of Sonoma County’s Energy Independence Program (SCEIP). This didn’t happen because we do an outstanding job of removing the stuff from indoor air that makes people sick. We already knew that. No, this happened because we were able to prove that our filters do a better job than one inch fiberglass filters and one inch pleated media filters (the type of filters found in over 80% of California homes) of allowing HVAC systems to efficiently deliver the BTUs needed to heat, cool, and move indoor air. This is important because after reviewing our energy-efficiency claims and proof of performance documentation, Sonoma County has determined that homeowners there will consume less energy and lower their energy bills by switching to AspenAir Inside. To qualify for the program, we provided an independent study that showed how homeowners could reduce their energy consumption as well as their heating and cooling bills by replacing the standard fiberglass or pleated HVAC furnace filters (which are used in nearly 80% of homes) with AspenAir's Filter Grille and Furnace Mount air filtration systems. The study, which was conducted by an industry leading energy consulting firm, revealed significant energy savings potential through improved airflow and reduced static pressure of the AspenAir filters in the three most typical types of homes - (homes built prior to California's energy standards but with added attic insulation, homes built to the energy 1980's energy standards, and homes built to the current title-24 standards). Those savings ranged from 13% to 65% of the homeowner's total annual heating and cooling energy expenditures, or $462 to $2310 dollars per year for a typical 2000 sq ft Sonoma County home, and these estimates are conservative. So what does this mean? It means that our systems will pay for themselves in two to three years based on energy savings alone. And since many other cities and counties are in the process of enacting similar programs, more Californians suffering from asthma, allergies and even more serious respiratory ailments will be able to secure inexpensive financing to pay for their systems. This is industry-shattering news because none of our competitors can make either of these claims In July 2008, the California Legislature approved Assembly Bill 811 (AB 811), authorizing cities and counties to establish voluntary contractual assessment programs to fund an array of “green” conservation and renewable energy projects. Sonoma County is one of three California municipalities aggressively moving forward to make these funds available to homeowners. The program provides financing (SCEIP Financing) to property owners within Sonoma County to finance the installation of Energy and Water Conservation Improvements under contractual assessment agreements. Homeowners may finance these costs over 5, 10 and 20 years, and they will repay SCEIP Financing through an assessment levied against their property which is payable in semi-annual installments on property tax bills. Similar legislation is in the works across the country. The financial restraints to installing the top IAQ system on the market today are coming down. There’s absolutely no good reason now not to enjoy the benefits of clean, healthy AspenAir Inside your home. Things are getting exciting.

Most Indoor Air Dirtier than the Dirtiest Outdoor Air

2009-08-18T22:36:48+00:00

August 18, 2009 By Joe Castner So I'm sitting on the sun porch of a cozy log cabin on the shores of Payette Lake, in McCall Idaho, breathing cool, clean mountain air, reading the Idaho Statesman, when I come across a newspaper article entitled, "Small Particulates Can Be a Big Problem In Your Home", written by Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, "The You Docs". It really is unbelievable how much news and information about the health risks associated with poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is out there if you're tuned into it. Well, being in the biz, I am definitely tuned into it. The first thing that catches my eye is that Los Angeles is no longer the dirty air capital of the US. That infamous title now belongs to Bakersfield CA, and Pittsburg, PA. But before anyone should breathe a sigh of relief, the authors disclose that most people's indoor air is dirtier than the dirtiest outdoor air, and that it's small, airborne, respirable suspended particles (RSPs) that are the culprits, and that they are "so small that 50,000 of them could pit on top of the period at the end of this sentence". Now that's small! The article reiterates that these particles can trigger asthma attacks and can worsen or even cause serious respiratory diseases including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and inscrease the risk of heart attack, stroke, and early death. The authors also host a website chocked full of useful health related information. Go to http://www.RealAge.com. For example, by typing "particulates" into their search engine, I was able to locate 152 articles from some very reputable sources that should be able to convince anyone that poor IAQ is a serious health problem that is probably going to become a lot worse before it gets any better, and homeowners need to do something about it now, both to protect themselves and their loved ones. These guys really are providing a wonderful public service and I recommend you visit their website. They also included in the article a six-point checklist for reducing the damaging health risks associated with airborne particles Among these was maintaining your HVAC system including keeping the filters clean. I heartily agree with this recommendation. They also recommend creating a "safe haven" in the home by buying and installing a "hepa" system in at least one room in the house. On the face of it, this may sound like a good idea, but being in the biz, I cannot support this idea. These systems are very expensive, consume tons of electricity, emit harmful ozone which can be as bad or worse for your health than tiny airborne particles, are difficult to clean, and only clean the air in a very small area for a very short period of time before they need to be cleaned. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, especially when you could instead have AspenAir Inside, turning your entire home into a "safe haven", lowering your energy bills by up to 30% with zero risk of ozone entering your indoor environment. Now I could recommend this solution to anyone and everyone, and, in fact, I have! Vacation also afforded me the opportunity to consider how fortunate I am to have AspenAir Inside my home. Many people "get away from it all" taking trips to the beach or the mountains to get to someplace where the air is fresh and clean. I love taking trips and getting away from time to time, but not escape bad air. My family and I already enjoy the cleanest, heathiest air that we will ever breathe back home with our AspenAir Inside. We get to enjoy this "vacation-grade" air everyday. I came back to work re-committed to educating and informing the public about the health risks associated with bad IAQ, as well as how simple and affordable it is to eliminate those risks with AspenAir Inside.