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Air Quality Orange County Article
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Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency Go Hand in Hand
from:If you wish to improve your indoor air quality and energy efficiency at the same time, you may want to follow some basic rules that will do both of these simultaneously.
If you do whatever you can to prevent cold drafts you will limit the amount of airborne allergens entering your home from the outside. By preventing cold drafts, you will be helping your indoor air quality and energy efficiency by limiting the loss of heat in the winter or cool room air in the heat of the summer. At the same time, you are limiting outside irritants as well as toxic particles that may be suspended in the atmosphere around the outside of your home. If you circulate the warm and cool air inside your home, you will not be allowing your rooms to become stuffy and stale as you are preventing odors. You will also be able to control the humidity in your home. By controlling the humidity in your home, you will be able to prevent mold and the need to use a dehumidifier, which can be very costly to run.
You will be far ahead with indoor air quality and energy efficiency if you are able to create a sanctuary inside your home away from airborne microbes that may include anthrax, botulism, small pox, toxic gasses, and radioactive particles that are released by terrorists or by accident.
A simple air leakage test can be the first step towards indoor air quality and energy efficiency. The air leakage test can be done with a fan in and outer doorway. After the fan has been placed in the outer doorway you will find that the amount of air flowing through the fan is equal to the air flowing through any leaks in the shell of the building’s construction.
If you use small cool white smoke puffs during the air leakage test you will be able to identify the areas where insects, dust, mold spores, pollen and any possible cold drafts may be entering your home.
In most new home construction as well as existing buildings there may be gaps, cracks and holes in the outer shell construction that can total as much if not more than 100 to 300 square inches. These holes in the construction of your home’s shell are open all the time. If you have a ducted air circulation system in your home it may be creating a significant level of pressure that can drive air through the cracks, crevices, holes and leaks between the interior and exterior.
Air Quality Orange County News
Heat, smog lead to air warnings
PARKER COUNTY — Fort Worth and communities around it are under a Level Orange air quality warning, issued by the National Weather Service Thursday. Level Orange warnings are given out when ozone pollution is predicted to reach unhealthy levels, usually between 101 and 150 on the Air Quality Index.
Read more...Orange County looks to improve Internet speed
Broadband access in Orange County is currently confined largely to the towns of Orange and Gordonsville and the densely populated neighborhoods in the county’s eastern end.
Read more...Glenn County’s air quality receives an 'A'
Glenn County received an "A" for its air quality by the American Lung Association — recording no unhealthy days in 2011. The group this week released its State of the Air 2012 report, reporting that ozone and particulate pollution are on the...
Read more...Tehama County receives F for air quality
Tehama County received an "F" for its air quality by the American Lung Association. The group this week released its State of the Air 2012 report, reporting that ozone and particulate pollution are on the decline. The Tehama County grade is based on...
Read more...EPA, Lung Association cite improvement in Evansville air quality
Air quality in Vanderburgh County is improving, according to findings of the American Lung Association and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency trumpeted by local authorities Thursday.
Read more...Air Pollution Watch also issued for Thursday
GREENVILLE — The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has issued another Air Polllution Watch (the first this year was issued for today) for Hunt County and parts west for Thursday, due to expected ozone levels as a result of the humid conditions, warming temperatures and lack of winds.
Read more...Season's first air quality alert issued for Knoxville
TDEC issued an alert for ozone for all of Friday for Metro Nashville and a dozen surrounding counties. A similar alert was in effect from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday for 10 counties around Knoxville.
Read more...Washoe County gets barely passing grade for air quality
How they graded • The American Lung Association used the number of days in the three-year stretch that either ozone or air pollution particles approached the danger level or were in the danger level.
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