Why Do Canadian Buildings and Offices Need High-Efficiency Air Filters?

2022-08-13 09:08:11 By : Mr. Laptop Parts Speed

Learn about the consequences of polluted indoor air in office buildings, and how to improve indoor air quality. Report by Camfil Canada

Why Do Buildings and Offices Need High-Efficiency Air Filters

Concord, ON L4K 3C8, Aug. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Although 53% of Canadians believe that indoor air is as polluted as outdoor air, it can actually be as much as fifty times more polluted than outdoor air. Considering we spend as much as ninety percent of our time indoors, with many individuals spending sixty hours or more in our offices per week, the quality of the air we breathe is concerning.

Over the last few years, awareness of the dangers of outdoor and indoor air pollution has gradually risen. Recently more than ever, the public has become much more conscientious of the air they breathe due to the risk of respiratory virus transmission. Poor indoor air quality can affect the health, comfort, and productivity of office workers in buildings with poor air quality.

What Materials Are Considered Workplace Pollutants?

Some seemingly harmless workplace materials can contribute to poor indoor air quality.

Outdoor sources. Buildings located in close proximity to busy urban areas or high-traffic roads are particularly prone to poor indoor air quality. In poorly ventilated buildings, outdoor sources of pollution can become trapped once they enter. Usually, outdoor sources of pollution, such as car exhaust fumes, enter through doors, windows, and on people’s clothes.

Building inhabitants. Furthermore, the people who work in an office building can bring pollen, pet dander, dust, and other particulate matter inside on their clothing. Human skin cells are also a large contributor to the buildup of dust, with the average person dropping approximately 40,000 skin cells every single minute. Respiration also adds moisture to the air, and respiratory droplets can carry dangerous pathogens, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Cleaning chemicals and air fresheners. Particularly with the increased frequency of cleaning and sanitation procedures to protect clients, employees, and visitors from the threat of COVID-19 infection, cleaning chemicals that are allowed to gather in the air can be a major contributor to poor indoor air quality. Air fresheners can also linger in the air and worsen indoor air quality without proper ventilation. If you find that you are using large amounts of air freshener due to persistent unpleasant odors, this may be a sign that your building’s ventilation is inadequate.

Furniture and furnishings. New furniture, particularly cheap, mass-manufactured furniture, is one of the most common sources of volatile organic compound (VOC) off-gassing, emitting compounds such as formaldehyde into the indoor environment. Printers and copier machines also emit large quantities of VOCs due to the amount of ink they use.

What Are the Signs of Poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?

A multitude of negative health outcomes are associated with long-term exposure to polluted air. But short-term exposure to workplace pollutants can lead to unpleasant symptoms, which are sometimes referred to as sick building syndrome. These symptoms, which are a good indicator that you need to improve your building’s indoor air quality can include:

Sneezing, coughing, congestion, or persistent cold symptoms with no identifiable cause

Headaches or migraines - sudden onset migraines or headaches may be a sign of carbon monoxide poisoning, which should be treated as an emergency.

Worsened symptoms of seasonal allergies and asthma

Unexplained or unusual irritability, mood swings, or moodiness

What Is the Difference Between Sick Building Syndrome and Building-Related Illness?

The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines sick building syndrome as when “building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building.” Sick building syndrome involves symptoms such as an itchy throat, nose, and eyes, coughing and sneezing, headaches, and dizziness.

Building-related illness, on the other hand, refers to a specific, diagnosable illness that can be linked to a particular building or room. An example of a building-related illness is Legionnaires disease.

Combating Poor Indoor Air Quality in Commercial Office Buildings with High-Efficiency Air Filtration

Facilities managers can improve indoor air quality in office buildings by installing commercial high-efficiency air filters that target more than one type of pollutant:

Particulate matter (PM). Particulate matter refers to any particles of solid or liquid material that are small and light enough to be carried by the air stream. While the human body has robust defenses against visible PM (such as dust), smaller particulate matter is responsible for serious threats to human health. Camfil’s Hi-Flo ES air filter effectively targets these particles, and can last longer than a year without a prefilter.

Chemical pollutants. Chemical pollutants, or gaseous pollutants, include VOCs and other emissions from furniture and cleaning products, as well as solvents, paints, and finishes, which are common in new and refurbished buildings.

Biological contaminants. Although biological contaminants are more common in healthcare facilities, they are present anywhere that groups of people gather. Many biological contaminants, including the virus that causes COVID-19, are carried and spread through respiratory droplets (similar to particulate transmission), Commercial buildings frequently do not have HVAC systems with the capacity to house hospital-grade air filters within the air handling unit. Alternatively, air filtration experts recommend an in-room air purifier such as Camfil’s City M, which functions independently of the building’s HVAC system to deliver HEPA-filtration.

Be sure to contact an experienced commercial building air filtration consultant to find the air filtration solutions that are right for your building.

About Camfil Clean Air Solutions

For more than half a century, Camfil has been helping people breathe cleaner air. As a leading manufacturer of premium clean air solutions, we provide commercial and industrial systems for air filtration and air pollution control that improve worker and equipment productivity, minimize energy use, and benefit human health and the environment. We firmly believe that the best solutions for our customers are the best solutions for our planet, too. That’s why every step of the way – from design to delivery and across the product life cycle – we consider the impact of what we do on people and on the world around us. Through a fresh approach to problem-solving, innovative design, precise process control, and a strong customer focus we aim to conserve more, use less and find better ways – so we can all breathe easier.

The Camfil Group is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and has 31​ manufacturing sites, six R&D centers, local sales offices in 35+ countries, and about 5,200 employees and growing. We proudly serve and support customers in a wide variety of industries and in communities across the world. To discover how Camfil Canada can help you to protect people, processes and the environment, visit us at https://www.camfil.com/en-ca/

E: berni.baier@camfil.com

F: Friend Camfil Canada on Facebook

T: Follow Camfil Canada on Twitter

Y: Watch Camfil Canada Videos on YouTube

L: Follow Camfil Canada LinkedIn Page

Media Contact az@kisspr.com

Why Do Buildings and Offices Need High-Efficiency Air Filters

The U.S. climate bill, along with a parallel initiative in Europe, could reshape global energy. Plug Power, Sunrun, and other companies could make the most of the new opportunities in renewables.

Vaxxinity missed out on Operation Warp Speed and the first round of COVID-19 vaccines, but CEO Mei Mei Hu is focused on the second generation and ongoing global needs.

UNITY Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ: UBX) shares are skyrocketing after 12- and 18-week data from its Phase 2 BEHOLD study of UBX1325 for diabetic macular edema (DME). DME is a diabetic complication that affects the blood vessels in the back of your eye. At 18 weeks after a single UBX1325 injection, the mean change in BCVA of UBX1325-treated subjects was an increase of 6.1 ETDRS letters, representing an improvement of +5.0 ETDRS letters compared to sham-treated subjects. Related: UNITY Biotech Stock

New drugs from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have shown striking results in studies. If insurers step up to back them, the drugs—and the stocks—could take off.

The study, which was recently published in the journal “Scientific Reports,” found that gait patterns among Japanese children aged 6 to 12 vary from those in other developed countries. Age related variations in lower limb movements while walking were studied by scientists from Nagoya University in Japan. For Japanese children in the 11-12 year age group, the number of steps performed each minute was higher than those in the 6-8 year age group.

The industry is developing small, modular reactors that could one day be built largely in factories. Duke Energy’s CEO likes the idea.

Kazakhstan is expected to sell some of its crude oil through Azerbaijan's biggest oil pipeline from September, as the nation seeks alternatives to a route Russia threatened to shut, three sources familiar with the matter said. For 20 years, they have been shipped through the CPC pipeline to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, which provides access to the global market. In July a Russian court threatened to shut the CPC, prompting the Kazakh government and major foreign producers to set up contracts for other outlets as a precaution.

The attractions of electric vehicles have been magnetic in 2022. Now, there is legislation headed toward the home stretch that will give EVs not only new legitimacy in the eyes of the auto market, but potentially lucrative perks to automakers and consumers who decide to bet on electric vehicles as their chosen mode of transportation -- and investment. "This climate spending includes $60 billion for solar panel and wind turbine manufacturing (and $30 billion in credits for new projects), $60 billion for disadvantaged communities that bear the brunt of climate impacts, $27 billion for clean tech R&D, $20 billion to reduce agricultural emissions, $5 billion for forest conservation, $4 billion for drought funding in Western states, new battery manufacturing credits and many more climate-related priorities," EV site Elektrek reports.

(TSX: CWEB) (OTC: CWBHF) Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc. ("Charlotte's Web," "CW" or the "Company"), the market leader in full-spectrum hemp extract CBD products, today announced plans to unveil a product line catering to the sports vertical. The products are currently undergoing the NSF for Sport® certification process with NSF, a third-party organization that manufacturers, regulators, and consumers look to for the development of public health standards and certification marks that help protect

As back-to-school approaches the CDC no longer recommends quarantining if exposed to the omicron virus.

In the recall expansion, “botulism” has been mentioned.

The pharma giant hit back at allegations that the use of Zantac, known chemically as ranitidine, increases the risk of cancer.

Big pharma stocks, such as Glaxo (GSK), Sanofi (SNY), Pfizer (PFE) and Consumer stock Haleon (HLN), decline due to the litigation surrounding the heartburn drug Zantac (ranitidine).

The stock market sell-off has led to declining prices in excellent and poor companies alike. When uncertainty is high, it can be comforting to fall back on fundamentals. One tried and true long-term strategy is to invest in Dividend Aristocrats, which are S&P 500 components that have paid and raised their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years.

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico — which imports nearly all of the natural gas it burns — has laid out a somewhat surprising mission: to become one of the world’s top exporters of the fuel, and fast.Most Read from BloombergAuthor Salman Rushdie Attacked on Lecture Stage in New YorkThe Fed’s Damage to the Housing Market May Last YearsStriking Drop in Stress Hormone Predicts Long Covid in StudyTrump Calls for Release of Warrant Documents Used in SearchPutin’s War Sends Russian Economy Back to 2018 in Single

Aptinyx (APTX) reports disappointing data from a mid-stage study assessing NYX-2925 for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Stocks decline

Joining me on the call today are Sujal Shah, chief executive officer; Chuck McWherter, chief scientific officer; Dennis Kim, chief medical officer; Lewis Stuart, chief commercial officer; and Dan Menold, VP, finance. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made during this conference call, including the Q&A session relating to CymaBay's expected future performance, business prospects, events or plans, including clinical plans, regulatory approvals, funding and repayment schedules, anticipated time lines and data release date, cash runway and planning for commercialization are forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

"The internet’s hottest trend is texting your mom if you got the polio vaccine."View Entire Post ›

Enphase Energy (ENPH) witnesses the increased deployment of Clipper Creek products in the U.S. EV charging market and thus capitalizes on the growing demand.

A few weeks ago, after more than two years of evading COVID-19, I tested positive on a home rapid test.