Many believe that the indoor air of typical homes is cleaner and healthier than outdoor air. And, many of us may presume that if we keep polluted outdoor air from coming into our homes we'll be able to maintain clean indoor air.

Unfortunately, this is not necessarily true. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2008) indicates that indoor air can actually be more polluted than outdoor air. This is because while some pollutants may come from outside, many of our indoor air pollutants are produced inside the home.

These pollutants can come from your home's structure, paint, carpet, furnishings, or many other sources inside the home. To make things worse, if you fail to bring in enough outdoor air to dilute the level of indoor pollutants, and to take those pollutants outside, they can accumulate to levels high enough to cause health and comfort issues for the occupants.

Source: Energy Efficient Homes: Indoor Air Quality and Energy1Hyun-Jeong Lee, Kathleen Ruppert, Wendell Porter, UF IFAS FCS3275, 2008

Additional Resource

EnergyStar® - http://www.energystar.gov/

UF IFAS Energy Efficient Homes: Indoor Air Quality and Energy http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FY1044