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Gaining Victory Over VOCs and Energy Costs in Tight Winter Homes Leading...



Americans tend to button up their houses during winter to save energy and stay warm. This can create indoor air quality problems, including elevated levels of harmful VOCs. Opening up the windows to air the place out and inserting fans may help, but at the expense of the loss of precious - and expensive - heat energy. What can consumers do



According to the US EPA: Ventilation systems can be equipped with a heat exchanger that recovers most of the heating and cooling energy from the exhaust air. These are also known as Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs) or Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs).



It'ss the best of both worlds, said Jacki Golike, CAE, Executive Director of the non-profit Home Ventilating Institute (HVI). You can have fresh air without losing heat or running up your heating costs.



Given the timeliness and importance of this information, The Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) and The Healthy House Institute (HHI) - an educational resource whose mission is to help consumers make their homes healthier - have formed an educational partnership to teach the principles of residential ventilation and a practical awareness of Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) and Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) technology options. Information on and benefits of using mechanical ventilation systems are featured on the Web sites of both organizations. Visit: www.healthyhouseinstitute.com or HHI on Ventilation (http://www.healthyhouseinstitute.com/searches.phpquery_string=ventilation's38;x=0's38;y=0) or visit www.hvi.org or Ventilation Info for Consumers (http://www.hvi.org/consumers.html). In addition, HVI offers a free brochure covering Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs) and Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) (http://www.hvi.org/assets/pdfs/HRV.ERVBrochJune2008.pdf). Also, HVI and HHI have partnered to produce a free QuickGuide to Indoor Air Quality (http://www.hvi.org/resourcelibrary/tradeart.html) as a general indoor air quality resource.



Benefits of Heat Recovery Ventilation



According to the US EPA, balanced ventilation systems can provide many benefits including:



>    Improved indoor air quality. Balanced ventilation systems supply fresh air to the living and sleeping areas of homes while exhausting stale air at an equal rate from other areas. This proactive approach to ventilation can result in improved indoor air quality.


>    Improved comfort. ENERGY STAR labeled homes with tight construction and balanced ventilation systems can have fewer drafts and a constant supply of outdoor air resulting in improved comfort.


>    Improved health. Stale air can cause health problems. It can be responsible for symptoms such as headaches, drowsiness, and respiratory problems. These symptoms are more common in homes with poor ventilation and moisture control. Continuously providing fresh air can result in the improved health and well being of the occupants.


>    Lower utility bills. Less energy is consumed to operate ventilation systems than to heat and cool excessive amounts of outdoor air that infiltrates leaky homes. Additional savings are captured when these units are equipped with an energy recovery system or heat exchanger. This can result in lower utility bills, making homes less expensive to operate.


>    Improved resale position. ENERGY STAR labeled homes with balanced ventilation systems can provide the many impressive benefits listed including more comfortable homes with better indoor air quality and lower utility bills. These benefits can translate into higher resale value.



Backstory on VOCs



Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are common indoor air pollutants. VOCs can originate from a variety of natural and man-made sources. The characteristic odor of mold is composed of VOCs, as is the smell of an orange or an onion. Baking bread also releases VOCs into the air. VOCs are also released, or outgassed, from many manufactured products and home furnishings. Familiar sounding VOCs might include benzene, xylene, toluene, formaldehyde, and ethanol. These can all be released from typical building materials. Indoor air typically contains 30-100 different VOCs that are readily measurable, and others at low levels that are more difficult to measure. Some VOCs cause no health problems, but others are serious indoor air pollutants. Mixtures of VOCs have undetermined health impacts.



About HVI



The Home Ventilating Institute (HVI), founded in 1955, is a nonprofit association of the manufacturers of home ventilating products. Through a Certified Ratings Program, HVI provides a voluntary means for residential ventilation manufacturers to report comparable and creditable product performance information based upon uniformly applied testing standards and procedures performed by independent laboratories.



Today, HVI represents manufacturers from the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe, producing the majority of the residential ventilation products sold in North America. For more information, contact HVI at 1000 N. Rand Road, Suite 214, Wauconda, IL 60084. Telephone: 847/526-2010; fax: 847/526-3993; E-mail: hvi@hvi.org. Visit the Web site at www.hvi.org.



About HHI



The Healthy House Institute's8482; (HHI) provides consumers information to make their homes healthier. HHI strives to be the most comprehensive educational resource available for creating healthier homes, covering topics in-depth such as air and water quality, building, remodeling and furnishing, cleaning and housekeeping, health and safety, ventilation, lighting, energy efficiency and more.



The Institute'ss goal is to reach a mainstream educated consumer with credible information merging the best of 'sgreen's with the best of healthier homes research, indoor environmental data, health and medical science, into a practical, timely, easily digestible but comprehensive message. HHI strives to be a truly authoritative voice that has the 'sear's and trust of major media, influentials, and most importantly, the intelligent consumer. For more information, contact HHI at 13998 West Hartford Dr., Boise, ID 83713; Telephone: 208/938-3137; Fax: 208/938-3138. Visit the Web site at www.healthyhouseinstitute.com.






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