Photo By: Ron Chapple studios Photo By: Ryan McVay Photo By: Photographer Brian North 01582 767689 Since the bamboo palm, or reed palm, prefers part sun or shade, it makes a great houseplant with the added benefit of aiding in the removal of harmful elements such as benzene and formaldehyde. The Chinese evergreen is an easy-care plant that thrives in low-to-medium light. It generally grows to one or two feet. Though it helps to maintain healthy air quaility in the home, it is important to note that the Chinese evergreen contains an irritant that can be toxic to pets. Beautiful as a groundcover or a house plant, English ivy is a classically elegant choice that is also excellent for removing some harmful chemicals found in the home. It can grow in full shade to full sun, and with proper care, it is likely to survive for several years. When placed indoors, this popular annual is useful in removing benzene and providing mood-enhancing beauty to the home. However, keep in mind that the gerbera daisy does best in warm temperatures, at 75 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

This indoor plant can grow up to 10 feet tall and does well in full shade to partial sun. Janet Craig is a good option for an indoor plant as it is easy to care for and grows best in average temperatures. With a leaf color that ranges from green to purple, this plant would be a gorgeous addition indoors or outdoors. It would also fit right in at the office, as it can tolerate low light. Proven to help remove formaldehyde, the mass cane/corn plant is one of the most popular varieties of Dracaenas for its lovely foliage that ranges from green to yellow. They look stunning in tree form but can also be grown as shrubs. A hardy succulent, mother-in-law's tongue is a great houseplant for beginners and can survive in some of the toughest conditions, including a wide variety of temperatures and light conditions. However, be careful not to overwater (or to not water at all). Good for removing benzene, the pot mum is also a colorful addition to the home in fall when many other flowering plants are past their prime.

Known for its ability to fight against toxic gases such as formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, peace lilies are relatively easy to care for and even show signs of drooping when they need to be watered. They can be mildly toxic to pets and humans, so it's important to wash your hands after touching the plant.Thankfully in recent years awareness has grown of the dangers of the Sick Building Syndrome: people literally turn ill because of the presence of harmful substances like benzene and formaldehyde in buildings, due to insufficient or closed ventilation systems. A study of University of Technology in Sydney demonstrated that over 300 volatile organic compounds can be present in the air of office buildings. This gives people headaches, fatigue symptoms and respiratory ailments. In the Netherlands the national institute for public health, RIVM, has compiled norms for outside air quality and there are guidelines for the indoor air quality of schools and houses as well. It is a fact that the air quality is not good in many cases.

During his research for NASA in the 1980s, Bill Wolverton discovered that plants could be used to keep up the air quality in space vessels. This Clean Air Study was the beginning of a lot of studies all over the world which all found that plants are a cheap and effective solution to clear the air in rooms. camera lens cleaning kit ukEspecially green plants with a lot of leaves and a fast metabolism appear to have these outstanding air-purifying qualities. what is an ionic air cleanerThese plants can pick up harmful compounds with their leaves and break these down in the plant or via the roots. turbo 2 pre air cleanerIn the book How to Grow Fresh Air you can read about these plants. In 2010 Wolverton published the book Plants;

Why You Can’t Live without Them that summarizes his scientific research spanning decades. Together with Japanese colleague Takenaka he developed the concept Ecology Garden, meant for the healthcare industry. The concept involves indoor gardens, containing any number of the 50 air-purifying plants that NASA discovered, planted in a special soil. They are already in use in 71 Japanese hospitals. On the Internet many lists or top-10 of air-purifying plants can be found. These are all based on the original study by Wolverton for NASA. Check here, here and here, for example. In the Netherlands research facility Fytagoras investigates the air-purifying capacities of plants, for example by placing them in a closed cupboard, adding toxic substances and measuring the break-down time. Fytagoras developed norms for the efficacy of air-purifying plants and compiled the following list for the society for nurseries Air so Pure: golden cane palm, spathiphyllum, sword fern, ivy, dracaena, cabbage palm ferns and calathea.

Please note: the latter is not an easy plant to grow. Based on the Fytagoras study, Noviflora developed the concept Ogreen, for plants that can clean the air from 10 to 30 m3 per plant. These are: philodendron, maidenhair fern, clusia and brake fern. All plants mentioned here are easily obtainable. In other countries market concepts are also developed based on the air-cleaning capacities of plants. These parties have all executed studies and come up with a list or a top-10, but in order to truly convince policymakers, the results need to be more transparent. This will also allow seed improvement companies and nurseries to decide with which plants they want to improve in order to enhance their air-cleaning qualities. Despite positive research results and the market concepts already developed, it should be noted that hardly any mention is made of the opportunities plants can offer in most programmes aimed at improving the interior environment of buildings. In 2013 the National Effort Environment and Health initiated by the Dutch government and focused on the improving of the interior of homes, schools and childcare centres.

Part of this Effort are the following programmes: The Healthy School, Fresh Schools. In 2014 the following programme was also explored: Healthy Childcare. The latter does bring up plants outside, but no mention is made of the possible positive effects of indoor planting. And in a recent report of the WHO about the indoor climate of schools plants aren’t mentioned either, as is the case in the deal that was closed this past May: Green Deal: Making school buildings sustainable with the spearhead of achieving a healthy and sustainable learning and working climate for students and teachers. In all programmes aimed at enhancing the interior environment, the focus is always mostly on CO2 and taking measures for natural and mechanical ventilation. However, according to the national institute for public health, better ventilation in schools is often difficult because there are insufficient windows and outlets since theses are closed to keep out draft, sound pollution or to prevent burglary.

For further improvement of the indoor environment of schools, structural changes to the ventilation systems and the school buildings are needed. Understandably these adaptations will cost a lot of public money. It is now over 25 years since the appearance of the ground-breaking Clean Air Study by NASA. It is high time to bring these effective and relatively cheap air-cleaners to the attention of national and European policymakers, working on improving the indoor environment. Our professional organization has already brought this to the attention of the Dutch delegation with the European Parliament. In this respect it is important to give the public transparent and structural access to the research results of the studies into the air-purifying capacities of plants, and especially to which plants give the best result under what circumstances. Because so far the available information is no more than a jumble of lists. This makes it hard for policymakers, interior architects and directors of companies, schools and healthcare centres to see the forest for the trees, when they are looking for the right information.