 Common indoor houseplants provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. The plants in your office or home are not only easy on the eyes, but NASA scientists are finding them very useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings. Plants scrub significant amounts of harmful gases out of the air, through the everyday processes of photosynthesis. Some pollutants are also absorbed and rendered harmless in the soil. It is one of the most eco-friendly and low-cost ways to clean up the air in your living or workspace.
Newer buildings are constructed largely with man-made building materials and furnished with synthetic carpeting, fabrics, laminated counters, plastic coated wallpaper, and other materials known to VOC pollutants into the interior environment. The "energy crisis" has increased the problems associated with indoor pollutants. Newly constructed buildings are better insulated and sealed tightly to conserve heat or air-conditioning. While it does save both money and energy, this new found efficiency has its downside in that pollutants may be trapped indoors. The phrase coined to describe this is "sick building syndrome" because of the health effects caused by the pollutants. If your home is old enough to be leaky and drafty, you may not need to worry about "sick-building syndrome." If you live in a newer, energy-efficient home with windows and doors tightly sealed, or you work in a building where the air feels stale and circulation seems poor, using plants is an easy way to help the problem.
NASA scientists studied nineteen different plant species for two years. Most of the plants that were tested are "true" houseplants. Most were kept indoors year-round in our climate, some were placed outdoors during warm summer months. One of the species that was studied was the Aloe Vera plant, which is also known as the "medicine plant." Many people already have one in a bright kitchen window because of the soothing, healing properties its viscous inner tissue has on burns, bites and skin irritations. Most of the plants we use evolved in tropical or sub-tropical forests, where they received light filtered through the branches of taller trees. Because of this, their leaves allow them to photosynthesize efficiently under lesser light conditions, which in turn allow them to process gasses in the air efficiently which makes ideal for indoor environments. Soil and roots were also found to play an important role in removing air-borne pollutants. Micro-organisms in the soil become more adept at using trace amounts of these materials as a food source, as they were exposed to them for longer periods of time. Their effectiveness is increased if lower leaves that cover the soil surface are removed, so there is as much soil contact with the air as possible.
The NASA studies generated the recommendation to use 15 to 18 good-sized houseplants in 6 to 8-inch diameter containers to improve air quality in an average 1,800 square foot house. The more vigorously they grow the better job they'll do.
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