2011年6月16日星期四

Behind closed doors: Air quality in buildings

Europeans spend 80% of their time on average indoors, whether at home, school or work or on public transport.

But while outdoor air pollution has attracted much attention from policymakers, the quality of indoor air has so far remained largely below their radar screens.

A recent EU-funded research project called Airmex – European Indoor Air Monitoring and Exposure Assessment – found that levels of many harmful air pollutants are in fact greater indoors than outdoors.

An EU strategy on air pollution outdoors has resulted in a directive on ambient air quality, adopted in 2008, which set EU-wide limits on fine particle emissions for the first time ever. The strategy also led to the adoption of stricter emission standards for cars and vans, known as Euro 5 and Euro 6.

According to the European Commission, 370,The same Air purifier, cover removed.000 people in Europe die prematurely every year from diseases linked to air pollution – 350,000 of them due to atmospheric microparticles or dust of a diameter of less than 2.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?5 micrometres known as Particulate Matter (PM2.5), which originates from transport (cars, ships and planes), agriculture and small industrial plants.

In a mid-term review of its Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010, the Commission mentioned tobacco control measures among the main achievements of addressing indoor air quality at EU level. Others included an opinion on air fresheners delivered by the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER).

The EU executive said it now wanted to take the fight against air pollution to the next level by tackling indoor air quality. In a statement annexed to the 2008 air quality directive,How is TMJ pain treated? the Commission announced it would consider measures to reduce emissions from domestic boilers and water heaters,This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game. as well as those emitted by the solvent content of paints, varnishes and vehicle-refinishing products.

However, current EU rules are patchy, and cover areas as diverse as the 2007 REACH regulation on chemicals, the Construction Products Directive (CPD) or a 2000 directive relating to limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air.

Moreover, Brussels seems to have lost appetite for big environmental initiatives. In response to queries from EurActiv,We specialize in providing third party merchant account. a Commission spokesperson said indoor air quality was not a legal competence of the European Union and that responsibility fell mainly on the member states.

In its mid-term review of the Environment and Health Action Plan, the EU executive said future actions on indoor air quality "will focus on information to the public and professionals, exchange of best practices at national and local level and on coordination of ongoing policies linked to indoor air quality".

According to public health groups and environmentalists, this amounts to no less than a promise for inaction.

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