Ready to breathe easy? Air quality has become more and more of a focus in recent years. It has more than just mental benefits; air quality has a direct correlation with our physical well-being. Those of us in the construction industry have known this for years, but recently with COVID-19, the world is now aware of how your indoor air can affect your health.
Dwelling Inside
People often think about air pollution being an outdoor issue, but indoor air quality is actually a larger threat to health. The EPA states that indoor air can be up to two to five times (sometimes 100 times) more polluted than outdoor air. In the United States, people spend about 90 percent of their day indoors, 70 percent of that in a residential home. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actually calls indoor air pollution the #1 pollution problem in America.
Allergies
75 million people in the United States have a medical diagnosis of allergies and asthma or both! Indoor air pollutants like pollen, mold, and other contaminants can affect air quality. Internal sources include combustion and make-up air for appliances, bath ventilation and general infiltration through unsealed openings. It is among the country’s most common, but overlooked, diseases.
Allergens can be mitigated through careful home design, thoughtful construction material selection, quality construction tactics, and other lifestyle choices. The use of wireless sensing equipment, automated pollution monitoring, strategic ventilation systems (CERV2), and high-efficiency (MERV) air filtration systems can remove up to 99.6 percent of airborne allergens.Â
Proactive Construction
At AE Building Systems, we work with our customers to provide effective construction materials and systems to build homes with good air quality. That’s why we love the CERV2. This ventilation system offers high-efficiency ventilation, while removing contaminants from the indoor air circulation. Our focus is always on proactive systems for healthy, sustainable spaces!
Below is a testimonial from one of our customers who used the CERV2 in their recent project:
“Both my wife and I work from home and suffer from pollen allergies. We wanted to minimize the health issues allergic reactions cause us both. To do that we integrated a computerized energy recovery ventilation system, CERV2, from Build Equinox into the home’s HVAC system. When we built our new home we integrated smart ventilation and air quality monitoring into the home’s HVAC system.
After moving into our new home, we were delighted to discover that our allergy symptoms disappeared. We slept better, had better brain function, less illness’, were free from sneezing and inflammation. It was transformational.
New homes are built very tightly and sealed from air infiltration. They do not “breathe” like older construction. Many areas, including Denver, require passing with a blower door test score of 3.0 or better prior to issuing a certificate of occupancy. A home with a blower door test score of 3.0 or below is a very tightly built home and needs ventilation to maintain quality indoor air.
We chose the CERV2 for a number of reasons. It is a smart ventilation system. It continually monitors for volatile organic compounds and carbon-dioxide (VOC’s and CO2). When user set thresholds are exceeded for these pollutants it automatically begins ventilation. The ventilation process filters the air through 2 separate Merv 12 air filters. The 2 Merv 12 filters remove almost all airborne contaminants.”
-Craig Tessem, Colorado
If you’d like to learn more about how to promote healthy indoor air quality, talk to our team to learn more about the CERV2 and other products that prevent air pollution and help you create a space you can truly breathe easy in!