Affirm that domestic chores pollute more than cars and trucks – 17/02/2019

Cooking, cleaning and other domestic activities regularly generate significant average concentrations of volatile chemicals and particulates in the home, leading to similar indoor air quality levels to those a very polluted city, according to researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, United States.

In addition, chemicals present in the air and from a home do not stay there: volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of products such as shampoo, perfume and cleaning solutions finally escape to the outside and contribute to the formation of fine particles and ozone, which constitute an even bigger source of global air pollution than cars and trucks.

The previously unexplored relationship between households and air quality is at the center of the debate at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC, in the United States, where researchers from the Cooperative Environmental Research Institute of the University of Colorado (CU), Boulder, United States, and the Department of Engineering University mechanics present their results during a roundtable.

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"Homes have never been considered a major source of outdoor air pollution and it's time to start exploring them," said researcher Marina Vance, badistant professor of mechanical engineering at CU Boulder. . "We wanted to know how basic activities change – how to cook and clean the chemistry of a house?"

In 2018, Vance co-directed the collaborative field campaign HOMEChem, which used sensors and advanced cameras to monitor the indoor air quality of a prefabricated 111 square meter home located on campus. the University of Texas at Austin. Over the course of a month, Vance and her colleagues conducted various daily housework activities, including preparing a Thanksgiving dinner in Texas in the height of summer.

While the results of the HOMEChem experiment are still pending, Vance notes that it is obvious that houses must be well ventilated during cooking and cleaningeven basic tasks such as boiling water on a fire can contribute to the formation of high levels of gaseous air pollutants and suspended particles, with adverse health consequences.

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To his team's surprise, the indoor concentrations measured were high enough for his sensitive instruments should be recalibrated almost immediately. "Even the simple fact of toasting toast particles much higher than expected," says Vance, "we had to adjust many instruments."

Interior and exterior experts collaborate to paint a more complete picture of air quality, said Joost de Gouw, visiting professor at the Institute for Cooperative Research in Environmental Sciences. (CIRES) from CU Boulder. Last year, Gouw and his colleagues published the results in the journal "Science", showing that the regulation on automobiles had reduces emissions from transport in recent decadeswhile the relative importance of household chemical contaminants had only increased.

"Many traditional sources, such as fossil fuel burning vehicles, have become a lot cleaner than before," says De Gouw. "Ozone and fine particles are controlled by the EPA. [la Agencia de Protección Ambiental estadounidense]but data on toxins in the air, such as formaldehyde and benzene, and on compounds such as alcohols and ketones originating in the home are very rare. "

"Originally, there was a skepticism about whether these products were contributing significantly to air pollution, but this is no longer the case," Gouw said. "In the future, we should refocus research efforts on these sources and provide them the same attention we gave to fossil fuels. The picture we have in our minds about the atmosphere must now include a house. "

Source: DPA

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