Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman outlines two core strategies for a healthier home: source control, choosing nontoxic materials and products that don't off-gas, and contaminant containment through regular cleaning, filtration, ventilation, and fresh air exchange.
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Sara Gutterman: Hi, I'm Sarah Gutman, CEO of Green Builder Media. We spend upwards of $60 billion each year on organic food and bottled water. And given that we ingest seven times more air than food and water on a daily basis, it's no wonder that interest in healthy homes and indoor air quality is exploding. But the healthy home and indoor air quality category is kind of like the Wild West right now.
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Sara Gutterman: It's hard to measure the full impact of many construction materials and other products that people bring into their homes. What we do know is that there are two main strategies that homeowners should pursue in order to make their homes healthier. First, this source control make sure that all of the products, materials, surfaces, furniture, and cleaning products brought into a home are nontoxic, eco friendly, and don't off gas.
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Sara Gutterman: Second is contaminant containment. Clean surfaces regularly and make sure that your home has proper filtration systems, ventilation, and fresh air exchange. There's some great indoor air quality monitoring systems now that have sensors that monitor things like toxins and dust and CO2 and VOCs, and then when those toxins are sensed, they kick on vent fans and range hoods and events like the Panasonic Cosmos system as one example.
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Sara Gutterman: Check out this blog to learn more about how you can keep your home healthy, and a program called Indoor Air Plus, offered by the EPA that provides a checklist and guidelines for maintaining good indoor air quality in your home.