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Instead of fabric softener, use white vinegar as a liquid fabric softener in your washer. It will make your clothes smell fresh - not vinegary.
That scent that comes off of clothes that are treated with scented detergents and softeners is air pollution.
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What is the health impact, in quantifiable terms of those "nasty VOCs?"
It's hard to say, there's evidence some are carcinogenic. E.g. formaldehyde. Studies are lacking, so I prefer to err on the safe side. Especially since buying natural furniture that releases less VOCs is not limiting. In fact, it will last longer as materials are of higher quality.
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thanks! i had not seen that particular tweet, though i'd heard dhh was into this stuff generally. i'm a little less concerned about accurate co2 levels, since mitigation is straightforward (open a window). even imperfect co2 readings are good enough to signal when to open a window (around 800-1000 ppm, or ~2x ambient co2 levels). voc's and particulate matter are more my nemesis, as my lungs are more sensitive to that…
Thanks! Got a link to that report you mentioned on the foobot, incidentally?
and this is the study that foobot themselves reference: https://cdn-foobot.pressidium.com/wp-content/themes/foobot/a...
The narrative in this article is heavy, but basically if I understand this right..cooking food indoors pollutes the air, and because you are in your kitchen indoors, you're polluting your own living space's air?
The kitchen exhaust fans in American homes are very weak (at least, every one I've lived in, and visited...). When cooking, you can smell what people are cooking, so it's not really doing its job of pulling the air out. I upgraded begrudgingly to a Chines brand called Fotile. It's expensive and I fought tooth and nail with my wife because my natural instincts was not to trust Chinese brands I never heard of. Admitted…
I'm tempted to get a proper range hood just because this infuriates me so much, but the cost of redoing the whole cabinet above the stove is steep.
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It's hard to say, there's evidence some are carcinogenic. E.g. formaldehyde. Studies are lacking, so I prefer to err on the safe side. Especially since buying natural furniture that releases less VOCs is not limiting. In fact, it will last longer as materials are of higher quality.
The limiting factor is they cost a lot more than most people can afford.
IKEA has a whole range of raw solid pine furniture (without stain) that is incredibly cheap. E.g. an Ingo dining table costs ~$50. Last time I checked, it was manufactured in Poland, and it's pretty awesome quality for the price.
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I've recently borrowed a similar device, and this one also measures formaldehyde. To be honest I'm quite anguished by it, because I can't find any indoors object with formaldehyde concentration less than 0.1ppm, which is the "safe" (by some legal standards) margin. Only outside or in a room with a wide open window it comes down under. It's even borderline higher in buildings not recently renovated. I've tried researc…
What device measures formaldehyde? I've ordered an awair, I think it does vocs but not sure it does them in any specificity. And I think the only real solution is venting. Open a window. Other than identifying the source and removing it of course. But in many places I think it's wall materials, furniture, etc Dhh had a talk on indoor air quality you may find useful.
https://www.amazon.com/Air-Pollution-Formaldehyde-Detector-T...
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Thanks! Got a link to that report you mentioned on the foobot, incidentally?
sure, this was a helpful less-scientific study: https://cleantechnica.com/2016/07/09/home-indoor-air-quality... and this is the study that foobot themselves reference: https://cdn-foobot.pressidium.com/wp-content/themes/foobot/a...
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What causes depressurized houses?
Most often the stack effect (warmth in the house causes air to rise & leak out the attic which sucks in replacement air down low- like a chimney), but also potentially overpowered range hoods, bath fans, clothes dryers, open flue gas appliances, wood fireplaces, etc.
Typically it's around 300CFM before you should consider a mechanical make-up air device (gravity activated or a makeup air fan tied to the hood activating).
> CTRL+F "smoke" > CTRL+F "smoking" > 0 results The dominant source of air pollution for almost all of human history has been smoke of one sort or another (see: historical dramas that show indoor light/heating with candles and fireplaces, https://samharris.org/the-fireplace-delusion/ ), to the extent that I personally doubt banning secondhand smoke indoors would have made much difference to non-smokers' health before…
But as far as I can tell, nicotine doesn't cause lung cancer. That's from the smoke itself - any smoke.
The narrative in this article is heavy, but basically if I understand this right..cooking food indoors pollutes the air, and because you are in your kitchen indoors, you're polluting your own living space's air?
The kitchen exhaust fans in American homes are very weak (at least, every one I've lived in, and visited...). When cooking, you can smell what people are cooking, so it's not really doing its job of pulling the air out. I upgraded begrudgingly to a Chines brand called Fotile. It's expensive and I fought tooth and nail with my wife because my natural instincts was not to trust Chinese brands I never heard of. Admitted…