health

The air, particularly the indoor air, contains a considerable burden of unwanted pollution. Overall there may be thousands of pollutants. They are brought in with the outside air or are generated from or within buildings. Most will be present in minute amounts but several will be present in measurable quantities. The reaction of people to the components of this pollution has little to do with toxicological assessment but is more concerned with political responses and media scares.

Ultraviolet light has been demonstrated to effectively de-activate pathogens and all other airborne bacteria, virus and mould species. The technology is already widely used within process users of air, GMP manufacturers and by those with an interest in a high quality indoor air supplies, such as call centres, banks and other high employee density locations. The technology is now being applied to reduce the incidence of nosocomial infection at healthcare providers worldwide.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) challenges outnumber all others in the health care industry. Unfortunately, the cost conscious powers that be have failed to make the management of critical infection control systems a top priority.

This paper describes research on the extremely low frequency (ELF) end of the electromagnetic spectrum from VDUs, because this is very close to the frequencies of the brain when it is concentrating. Our most recent experiments involve the use of an alpha oscillator which when stimulated with magnetic radiation from VDU's emits frequencies which peak around 12 Hz. The oscillator neutralises ELF emissions from the VDU by resonance thus acting like a tuning fork.

In 1998 the Dutch ventilation industry launched a new generation of domestic ventilation systems on the market with high efficiency heat recovery applying counter flow heat exchangers and DC fans. It is expected that these ventilation systems will play an important role in realising the goals of the Dutch national energy policy for reducing energy use in the built environment. Another important aspect is the contribution to a healthy indoor environment in dwellings with an extreme high energy efficiency, especially in relation to increasing air tightness and thermal insulation.

This publication summarizes current information on heating (both space and hot water heating), cooling and ventilation systems and equipment used in low-rise, residential buildings with regards to their effect on indoor air quality. An additional discussion of water purification systems is also presented.