Probably, almost everyone will find the so-called "dust collectors" - trinkets that only attract dust to themselves, and it's a pity to throw them away. But besides them, there are many more factors that negatively affect the microclimate of our home - from floor cleaners to fireplaces. What is the cause of dirty air in the apartment and how to clean it? Let's figure it out.
Bad mood and no performance? It is not surprising if the room has musty, stale air. The quality of the air in your home can affect your health and the health of your family members. "Bad" air can cause coughing, tightness in the chest, sore throat, itching, shortness of breath, and even chronic. Potential sources of pollution can be found in almost every room, but don't despair, most of them are easy to get rid of.
Causes of Air Pollution
Pollutants in the home can be divided into several categories.
combustion products- gases or particles of substances that are formed during combustion - for example in stoves, gas stoves or fireplaces, which are either improperly ventilated or not ventilated at all. The type and quantity of contaminants produced depend on the health of the instrument, the ventilation system and the fuel used.
Volatile organic compounds- various organic substances that are released as gases from certain solids or liquids. They are widely used in household products such as paints, varnishes, cleaning products, building materials and furniture, pesticides and synthetic fragrances.
asthma triggers and- usually it is mold, dust mites, passive (and not only) smoking, pollen or pet excretions. Mold growing on a shower curtain, mites in textiles, or cat hair on sofa upholstery can stop you from enjoying every breath at any moment.
10 steps to completely clean the air in the apartment
We figured out the causes of pollution, but how can we eliminate them now? We consider a variety of ways and methods: from household solutions to technical innovations.
Step 1: Clean regularly
Vacuum cleaners, of course, are a remarkable achievement of science and technology, but not all of them are of high quality air purification: bags of classic devices let fine dust through. Therefore, in addition to "dry" cleaning, the room also needs wet cleaning. However, now there are premium vacuum cleaners with an aquafilter and such models will give odds to the army of rags and mops.
Also remember: when was the last time you had your carpet cleaned? But this is a very necessary procedure: carpets and rugs are breeding grounds for dust, bacteria and mites. Therefore, you need to periodically knock them out or take them to dry cleaning.
Step 2: Ventilate
Of course, in order to have a healthy microclimate, it is necessary to ensure air circulation in the apartment. But open windows are not the best solution. Outdoor air contains the by-products of car emissions, industrial pollution, and dirt and mold. Here, one of the most useful devices for purifying the air in an apartment will come to the rescue: a three-stage filtration system will allow you to supply clean air to the house, and the built-in heater will prevent you from freezing in winter.
Step 3: No smoking
Smoking is another cause of pollution. Even if you don’t smoke yourself, you may unwittingly turn out to be a passive smoker: it will be difficult to clean the air in the apartment if your household smokes nearby or. And in the case of neighbors, there are only two options: either agree amicably, or understand, forgive and install a breather so that unpleasant odors do not penetrate into the house.
Step 4: Get rid of chemicals in your home as much as possible
If you decide to update the furniture, then be careful: from low-quality furniture, a sharp unpleasant odor is quite possible due to abuse. In addition, formaldehyde can be released from decoration materials, toys, stationery, and more. Therefore, it is necessary to choose trusted stores. Even in the case of buying the “right” product, it is necessary to clean the air in the house and regularly.
Also, as we said earlier, the purity of the air can spoil the substances contained in cleaning products or air fresheners. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to organic or hand-made products.
Step 5: Get rid of dust mites
These tiny pests are a common cause of house dust allergies. As a rule, they "hide" in pillows, mattresses, upholstered furniture and carpets. Dust mites love humidity, so the level in the room should not be excessively high. You can measure the level of humidity using the smart microclimate system - it will also allow you to track other air indicators and control climate equipment. As a preventive measure against ticks, wash bedding once a week in hot water.
Step 6: Be smarter about pets
Pet hair also adds more dust. Especially dangerous animals (namely, the protein they secrete) can be for. Therefore, you must always wash your hands after you have stroked your pet, and also comb it (especially during molting) so that the wool does not spread around the apartment.
Step 7: Kill the Mold
Another enemy of clean air is mold. It spreads in warm and humid places, such as the bathroom, and is toxic to the human body. Therefore, a good one is needed. Also, do not abuse humidifiers: high humidity can cause not only mold, but also a deterioration in well-being. In addition, it is important to timely fix plumbing problems.
Step 8: Pay Attention to Your Humidifier
Although we said in the previous paragraphs that excessive moisture does not bring any benefit, it is no better. The level of humidity mainly depends on the climatic conditions in the region of residence and the frequency of ventilation. A humidifier or air washer will help maintain the desired level of humidity. You can find out more about humidity standards in an apartment, office and nursery.
Step 9: Choose a room air purifier
Every day we inhale a huge amount of harmful substances that lead to various diseases. It is not always possible to change the situation radically - to move from an unfavorable area or change jobs. But take care of clean air in your own home we are quite capable!
The air mass that surrounds us contains nitrogen, oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide. Nature has always maintained their balance, while all odors, even unpleasant ones, are environmentally friendly under normal conditions. But the last decades of scientific and technological progress, in addition to convenience and comfort, "gave" mankind a variety of harmful chemical compounds. Nature can no longer cope with such a load, and as a result, due to polluted air, we get a decrease in immunity, allergies and other inadequate reactions of the body. As a result, our immune system spends 80% of its resources on neutralizing harmful environmental factors. But can you help her? How to make the air clean at least at home - where we sleep, eat, raise our children?
Simple Ways protect your home from harmful contaminants, chemicals and germs:
1. No products of combustion. Wood burning fireplaces are a magical part of the interior and a romantic place for lovers. They make the house more comfortable and help to relax psychologically after a hard day. But, as it turned out, they are harmful to our health, because they release solid particles that enter the lungs and make it difficult to breathe.
2. away from smokers. Smoking as such is the cause of a large number of diseases. Therefore, you should make sure that you are not a passive smoker in your own home. Smokers poison the air not only around them, but also harm their neighbors, relatives and household members. If you stop smoking in time and thereby clear your apartment of smoke, you can significantly improve air quality.
3. Dealing with dust mites. Dust mites, which live mainly in human housing, can cause an allergic reaction - tick sensitization.
The size of ticks ranges from 0.1-0.5 mm. There are about 200 species widely distributed throughout the world. These arachnids live in mattresses and carpets and feed on dead skin particles, which a person loses annually in the amount of 350-400 g. Ticks leave behind feces, the latter and can cause severe allergic reactions in people.
To get rid of dust mites, you need to use mattress covers and pillowcases that create a barrier between humans and ticks. It is also recommended to sleep on pillows made of foam rubber, not goose down or feathers, and wash clothes in hot water at least once a week.
4. Reducing the use of chemicals. Almost all household chemicals are harmful. But with the use of chemicals, the situation is not simple. On the one hand, we are forced to use them to do a full cleaning in the house, wipe the dust and collect pet hair. But the more effective the remedy, the stronger it smells and spreads more toxic substances around itself, and this is already dangerous to health.
In order not to walk around the apartment in a protective mask every time after cleaning, replace chemicals with plain vinegar or soap. In this case, those substances that do not have aroma are safer for the human body. This also applies to hairspray, perfumes, glues, paints, air fresheners - they all pollute the air we breathe.
5. Pets are a source of allergens. The main trouble from pets is their hair, which fills the apartment, as a result of which the amount of dust increases and you have to clean up much more often. But pet dander is actually much more harmful than fur. Despite the fact that the particles of this dandruff are quite large and cannot get deep into the respiratory tract during breathing, they are also the cause of many diseases. Especially the presence of animals in the house is dangerous for allergy sufferers, who are “contraindicated” in dogs, cats and even birds.
If you already have a pet, then be sure wash your hands after petting him. It is also better to keep your pet away from the bedroom - where you sleep and spend most of your time, it definitely does not belong.
6. Artificial air purification. Various electronic purifiers, ionizers and humidifiers can significantly reduce the amount of small particles that hover around us and enter our lungs. The main thing is not to forget clean filters regularly these devices.
7. Keep your windows closed. With street dust, various allergens enter our lungs. Especially a large number of them in cities and industrial areas.
To protect yourself from their effects, it is recommended to keep the windows in the apartment closed for most of the day. However, periodically open windows and it is necessary to ventilate the apartment, especially if you just cleaned your house and the environment smells strongly of chemicals found in cleaning products.
8. Fight against mold and mildew. Mold is ubiquitous. Basically, extensive colonies of mold grow in warm, humid places, in a nutrient medium. Many molds produce mycotoxins, which have pronounced toxic properties and which can cause poisoning.
A variety of pathogenic fungi provoke in humans dermatoses, diseases of hair, nails, respiratory and genital tract, oral cavity.
Both mold and fungi can help a good ventilation system in the bedroom and bathroom. It is also necessary to maintain a certain level of humidity in the apartment (about 40%). To do this, do not abuse humidifiers. Increased humidity and air temperature can also lead to a violation of the balance of heat transfer and metabolism.
9. Cooking and ventilating. Gas stoves are also fraught with danger. During the combustion of gas, harmful substances fill the air: carbon oxides, sulfur dioxide, and others.
To reduce the harm from a gas stove, it is recommended to ventilate the room more often during cooking or keep the window always ajar. It's also better to keep kitchen doors closed while the cooking process is in progress, and install a hood that will draw out not only combustion products, but also toxic substances released during cooking.
10. We dose physical activity. Oxygen is involved in almost all chemical processes of our body, plays an important role in metabolism, improves blood circulation and the absorption of vitamins and minerals. Any physical activity increases its consumption, which contributes to prevention of chronic lung diseases and allergies. But doctors warn that if you have already been diagnosed with a disease, then you should not overexert yourself - this will knock your breath and increase the manifestations of the disease.
Prepared Olga Kulinkovich, Zvyazda newspaper, February 11, 2011.
Original in Belarusian: http://zvyazda.minsk.by/ru/archive/article.php?id=74210&idate=2011-02-11
Basically, problems with clean air prevail in big cities. The air is polluted by exhaust gases, various fumes and dust, emissions from enterprises, etc. This air enters our homes, accumulates in the premises, people breathe it, sometimes not even suspecting that their health is gradually beginning to deteriorate precisely because of the polluted atmosphere. Most people do not even know that a simple air purifier, bought or made by oneself, can solve this problem.
So, in order to get rid of the small particles present in the air, many methods of cleaning it have been invented. But one thing unites them all operating principle: the flow of polluted air is sucked into the unit, passes through a filter (it can be water, electrostatic, carbon or other) and is blown out by the fan already cleaned of impurities.
The figure below shows the principle of operation of an air purifier, in which several purification phases are combined, where the air passes through a coarse filter, an ionizer and a UV emitter. Further, the air flow collides with water, which takes away dust particles, and leaves the unit already humidified, clean and with negatively charged oxygen ions.
There are a large number of devices on sale, both of complex design and simpler ones, which successfully purify indoor air. But for some consumers, the price of them may seem very high, and therefore they are prone to improvisation and making such devices with their own hands. You are unlikely to be able to design an electronic device at home using high technology. But it is quite possible for a home master to assemble some simple models of air purifiers.
Air purifier options
First of all, it should be understood that its design also depends on the conditions under which and for what purposes the air purifier will have to be used. For example, if the room has normal humidity, but dust is flying in the air, then you can remove it by making car filter cleaner like in this video.
Air purifier for dry rooms
In rooms with low humidity, in addition to cleaning from dust, it is required to raise this humidity to values at which a person will feel more comfortable, namely up to 40-60%.
A simple device for these purposes is easy to assemble yourself, and it will consist of a plastic container and a cooler from a computer. This is done simply.
Wet room cleaner
High humidity in the room also brings a lot of problems: the reproduction of pathogenic bacteria, the rapid growth of mold fungi on the walls, damage to furniture and musical instruments, etc. Also, high humidity is harmful to the garage, or rather to the car in which you keep it. To dry and purify the air, you will need the use of materials that can absorb excess moisture. The simplest material is ordinary salt.
Before using for these purposes, salt should be roasted in the oven for several hours. Only in this case it will most effectively absorb moisture from the air.
A home-made apparatus for cleaning and drying air is done in exactly the same way as for humidification, but with slight differences:
- high fan speeds are not required (salt will scatter over the container), so charging from a phone with a 5V output will be enough;
- instead of water, a thick layer of salt 3-4 cm is poured onto the bottom of the container.
However, technological progress does not stand still, and a more effective, moisture-absorbing material has been found - this silica gel. You met him when buying shoes - these are bags with small balls.
Silica gel is a non-toxic substance composed of silicon dioxide.
Caution should be exercised if there are small children in the house. Make sure that the child does not eat this substance, as cobalt chloride may be present in its composition - poison if taken orally.
Silica gel can be bought in different packaging in Chinese online stores. The advantage of this tool over ordinary salt is that a much smaller amount of it will be required for the efficient operation of the unit.
Some types of silicon dioxide have special coloring as shown in the following photo.
This dye acts as an indicator: when the crystals are dry, it is blue, but when the substance absorbs maximum moisture, it turns pink. To restore the crystals, they are placed in the microwave for 8 minutes at the lowest power. Based on these data, silica gel works more efficiently in devices that purify the air from moisture.
Purifier with carbon filter
The use of activated carbon for air purification is indicated if it is necessary to remove unpleasant odors from it, for example, when it is necessary to get rid of tobacco smoke. Charcoal is also effective in removing some of the toxic substances dissolved in the air. A simple charcoal cleaner can be made from plastic pipes, but first you need to prepare the necessary materials:
- two meter sewer pipes (sewage), diameters 200/210 mm and 150/160 mm;
- adapter (ventilation) - with a diameter of 150/200 mm;
- plugs for 210 and 160 mm;
- metal mesh (you can use a paint mesh, with a small mesh size);
- clamps;
- agrofibre;
- aluminum tape;
- about 2 kg of any activated carbon;
- drill with nozzles;
- sealant;
- large needle and kapron thread.
The figure below shows what the adapter, plug and pipe look like.
Below is the algorithm for performing work.
- Cut the outer pipe (200/210 mm) to 77 mm and the inner pipe (150/160 mm) to 75 mm, remove all burrs.
- Turn the inner tube thick side up and cut off the piping so it fits better on the plug.
- It is necessary to drill as many holes as possible on the inner pipe. In this case, the drill diameter is 10 mm.
- Drill holes in the outer pipe using a 30 mm hole saw.
- Do not throw away the circles left after drilling, they will still be useful for spacers.
- Both pipes should be covered with agrofibre and sewn with nylon thread.
- Next, wrap the outer pipe with a masking net and sew it together using 2 clamps 190/210 for convenience. They will ensure a good fit of the mesh to the pipe. It is required to stretch the mesh first from the thick side of the pipe.
- Sew the mesh along the entire length with a slightly curved needle with nylon thread, rearranging the clamps as you sew.
- Remove the protruding ends of the mesh with wire cutters, and excess agrofiber with scissors or a blade.
- The inner pipe should first be wrapped with a metal mesh, and only after that with agrofibre.
- Fix the edges of the pipes with aluminum tape.
- Insert the inner pipe into the plug exactly in the center, using spacers from the circles, then fix it with either mineral wool or foam.
- Insert the inner tube into the outer one.
The next step in the manufacture of the filter will be filling it with charcoal. It is recommended to use coal with a fraction of 5.5 mm grade AP-B. But another one is also possible, for example, the one that is used to purify water with a fraction of 2.5 mm.
Before refueling, the coal must be sieved through a sieve to remove fine dust from it.
Coal is poured slowly so that voids do not form. It will take about 2 kg of coal to fill. When filling, it is required to knock the pipe on the floor from time to time so that the filler fills the entire space evenly.
When the space between the pipes is completely filled, put on the adapter, which will serve as a cover that holds the coal. After that, using a sealant, cover a small gap between the adapter and the inner pipe.
At this stage, the assembly of the air cleaner is completed. After the sealant has dried, a duct fan can be inserted into the adapter so that it draws air from the filter and blows it into the room. Also, this filter can be applied to the house by embedding it into the ventilation duct.
Thanks to him, clean, odor-free air will enter the house.
The change in the gas composition of the atmosphere is the result of a combination of natural phenomena in nature and human activity. But which of these processes prevails at the present time? In order to find out, we first clarify what pollutes the air. Its relatively constant composition has been subject to significant fluctuations over recent years. Let's take a look at the main problems of emissions control and air cleanliness using the example of this work in cities.
Does the composition of the atmosphere change?
Ecologists consider the change in its average indicators collected over a long period of observation. They occur as a result of many types of society's impact on the environment, as well as due to natural processes. For example, substances that pollute the air and change the gas composition of the atmosphere are formed as a result of respiration, photo- and chemosynthesis in the cells of living organisms.
In addition to natural, there is anthropogenic pollution. Its sources can be emissions from any production facilities, gaseous waste from the domestic industry, and transport emissions. This is exactly what pollutes the air, threatens human health and well-being, the state of the entire environment. The main indicators of the composition of the atmosphere should remain unchanged, such as in the diagram below.
The content of some components in the atmosphere is insignificant, but it is taken into account when deciding which substances pollute the air and which are harmless to living organisms. The table below, in addition to the main ones, also includes constant components of the air environment, the content of which increases in the process of volcanism, economic activity of the population and nitrogen, methane).
What doesn't pollute the air?
The gas composition of the atmosphere over the oceans, seas, forests and meadows, biosphere reserves changes less than in cities. Of course, substances also enter the environment above the above natural objects. Gas exchange in the biosphere is ongoing. But in ecosystems, the process that does not pollute the air prevails. For example, in forests - photosynthesis, above water bodies - evaporation. Bacteria fix nitrogen from the air, plants release and absorb carbon dioxide. The atmosphere over the oceans and seas is saturated with water vapor, iodine, bromine, chlorine.
What pollutes the air?
Compounds dangerous for living organisms are very diverse; in total, more than 20,000 pollutants of the biosphere are known. In the atmosphere of megacities, industrial and transport centers there are simple and complex gaseous substances, aerosols, small solid particles. Let's list the substances that pollute the air:
- carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide (mono- and carbon dioxide);
- sulfuric and sulfurous anhydrides (di- and sulfur trioxide);
- nitrogen compounds (oxides and ammonia);
- methane and other gaseous hydrocarbons;
- dust, soot and suspended particles, such as ores at mining sites.
What are the sources of emissions?
Harmful substances polluting the atmospheric air enter the atmosphere not only in the gas and vapor state, but also in the form of tiny droplets, solid particles of various sizes. Accounting for pollution coming from enterprises and transport is carried out for specific compounds, their groups (solid, gaseous, liquid).
The concentration of constant and variable components of the air varies during the day, according to the seasons. When calculating the content of pollutants, atmospheric pressure and temperature are taken into account, since meteorological conditions affect the composition of the surface layer of the atmosphere. Changes in the concentrations of most components, such as carbon dioxide, occur not only during the year. An increase in the amount of CO 2 has been noted in the last hundred years (greenhouse effect). In some cases, changes in the concentrations of substances are due to natural phenomena. These can be volcanic eruptions, spontaneous releases of toxic compounds from underground or water in certain areas. But more often, human activity leads to adverse changes in the composition of the atmosphere.
What pollutes the air on Earth? Natural and anthropogenic sources of emissions of harmful compounds. The latter are stationary (pipes of enterprises, boiler houses, fuel dispensers of gas stations) and mobile (different types of transport). We list the main objects from which substances polluting the air come:
- operating enterprises of many industries;
- quarries where mining is carried out;
- automobiles (they pollute the air when burning fuels derived from oil, gas and other carbon-containing substances);
- refueling stations for gaseous and liquid fuels;
- boiler houses using combustible fossils and products of their processing;
- landfills and landfills, where air pollutants are formed as a result of decay, decomposition of industrial and domestic waste.
Agricultural lands, such as fields, gardens, orchards, also contribute to the negative change in the composition of the atmosphere. This is due to the work of machinery, fertilization, spraying with pesticides.
What is the main source of air pollution?
Many harmful compounds enter the atmosphere during rocket launches, waste burning, fires in populated areas, in forests, fields and steppes. In densely populated regions, the most significant contribution to the change in the composition of the surface layer of the atmosphere is made by motor vehicles. According to various estimates, it accounts for 60 to 95% of all gaseous emissions.
What pollutes the air in the city? The population of urbanized countries is particularly affected by toxic products of fuel and fuel combustion. The composition of harmful emissions contains solid particles, for example, soot and lead, liquid and gaseous compounds: sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and their derivatives.
Factories pollute the air in industrial regions where industries processing metal ores, salts, oil, coal and natural gas are developed. The composition of emissions varies depending on the set of industries in a particular region of the country. Polluted air in cities often contains many carcinogens, such as dioxin. Smoke appears as a result of forest, steppe and peat fires, burning leaves and debris. More often, tree plantations and wastes burn in the vicinity of cities, but it happens that even directly on the streets they set fire to foliage and grass.
What substances contain industrial and transport emissions?
What pollutes the air in the city? Industrial, transport, municipal and construction enterprises operate in industrial centers. Each object individually and collectively has a technogenic impact on the environment. Often pollutants interact with each other. Most often, non-metal oxides dissolve in water droplets - this is how "acid" fogs and rains are formed. They cause irreparable damage to nature, human health and architectural masterpieces.
Gross emissions of pollutants in cities reach hundreds and thousands of tons. The largest volume of toxic compounds comes from the enterprises of the metallurgical, fuel and energy, chemical, and transport industries. Factories pollute the air with toxic substances: ammonia, benzapyrene, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde, mercaptan, phenol. The emissions of a large industrial enterprise contain from 20 to 120 types of compounds. To a lesser extent, harmful compounds are formed at food and light industry plants, in educational, health and cultural institutions.
Are organic waste combustion products hazardous?
In cities, it is forbidden to burn fallen leaves, grass, branch cuttings, packaging, building materials and other industrial and domestic waste. Acid smoke contains substances that pollute the air. They harm human health and generally worsen the quality of the environment.
It is alarming that individual citizens and employees of enterprises do not understand that they are violating the rules for landscaping, aggravating the already unfavorable environmental situation when they burn garbage heaps and manure on their plots, and set fire to waste in containers in the yards of multi-storey buildings. Very often in the garbage there are plastic bottles, film. This smoke is especially harmful due to the products of thermal decomposition of polymers. In the Russian Federation, there are penalties for burning garbage within the boundaries of a settlement.
During the combustion of parts of plants, bones, animal skins, polymers and other products of organic synthesis, carbon oxides, water vapor, and some nitrogen compounds are released. But these are not all substances that pollute the air, which are formed during the combustion or smoldering of waste, household garbage. If leaves, twigs, grass and other materials are wet, then more toxic substances are released than harmless water vapor. For example, when smoldering 1 ton of wet foliage, about 30 kg of carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) is released.
Standing next to a smoldering garbage heap is the same as being on the most gassed street in a metropolis. The danger lies in the fact that it binds blood hemoglobin. The resulting carboxyhemoglobin can no longer deliver oxygen to the cells. Other substances that pollute the atmospheric air can cause disruption of the bronchi and lungs, poisoning, exacerbation of chronic diseases. For example, when carbon monoxide is inhaled, the heart works with an increased load, since not enough oxygen is supplied to the tissues. In this case, cardiovascular disease may worsen. An even greater danger is the combination of carbon monoxide with pollutants in industrial and transport emissions.
Pollutant concentration standards
Harmful emissions come from metallurgical, coal, oil and gas processing plants, energy facilities, construction and utilities industries. Radioactive contamination from explosions at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and nuclear power plants in Japan has spread on a global scale. There is an increase in the content of carbon oxides, sulfur, nitrogen, freons, radioactive and other hazardous emissions in different parts of our planet. Sometimes toxins are found far away from the place where the enterprises that pollute the air are located. The situation that has arisen is an alarming and difficult to solve global problem of mankind.
Back in 1973, the relevant committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed criteria for assessing the quality of atmospheric air in cities. Experts have found that the state of human health is 15-20% dependent on environmental conditions. Based on many studies in the 20th century, acceptable levels of the main pollutants that are harmless to the population were determined. For example, the average annual concentration of suspended particles in the air should be 40 µg/m 3 . The content of sulfur oxides should not exceed 60 µg/m 3 per year. For carbon monoxide, the corresponding average is 10 mg/m 3 for 8 hours.
What are Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MACs)?
The Decree of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation approved the content of almost 600 harmful compounds in the atmosphere of settlements. pollutants in the air, compliance with which indicates the absence of adverse effects on people and sanitary conditions. The standard specifies the hazard classes of compounds, the magnitude of their content in the air (mg / m 3). These indicators are updated when new data on the toxicity of individual substances become available. But that's not all. The document contains a list of 38 substances for which a ban on release has been introduced due to their high biological activity.
How is state control in the field of atmospheric air protection carried out?
Anthropogenic changes in the composition of the air lead to negative consequences in the economy, deteriorating health and shortening the life expectancy of people. The problems of increasing the entry of harmful compounds into the atmosphere are of concern to both governments, state and municipal authorities, and the public, ordinary people.
The legislation of many countries provides for before the start of construction, reconstruction, modernization of almost all economic facilities. Rationing of pollutants in the air is being carried out, measures are being taken to protect the atmosphere. The issues of reducing the anthropogenic load on the environment, reducing emissions and discharges of pollutants are being addressed. Russia has adopted federal laws on the protection of the environment, atmospheric air, and other legislative and regulatory legal acts regulating activities in the environmental sphere. State environmental control is carried out, pollutants are limited, and emissions are regulated.
What is PVD?
Enterprises that pollute the air should make an inventory of the sources of harmful compounds entering the air. Usually, this work finds its logical continuation when determining the need for obtaining this document is related to the regulation of the technogenic load on atmospheric air. On the basis of the information included in the MPE, the company receives a permit to release pollutants into the atmosphere. Data on regulatory emissions are used to calculate payments for negative environmental impact.
If there is no volume of MPE and a permit, then for emissions from pollution sources located on the territory of an industrial facility or another industry, enterprises pay 2, 5, 10 times more. Rationing of pollutants in the air leads to a reduction in the negative impact on the atmosphere. There is an economic incentive to carry out measures to protect nature from the ingress of foreign compounds into it.
Payments for environmental pollution from enterprises are accumulated by local and federal authorities in specially created budgetary environmental funds. Financial resources are spent on environmental activities.
How is the air cleaned and protected at industrial and other facilities?
Purification of polluted air is carried out by different methods. Filters are installed on the pipes of boiler houses and processing enterprises, there are dust and gas trapping installations. Through the use of thermal decomposition and oxidation, some toxic substances are converted into harmless compounds. Capture of harmful gases in emissions is carried out by condensation methods, sorbents are used to absorb impurities, catalysts for purification.
Prospects for activities in the field of air protection are associated with work to reduce the release of pollutants into the atmosphere. It is necessary to develop laboratory control of harmful emissions in cities, on busy highways. Work should be continued on the introduction of systems for trapping solid particles from gaseous mixtures at enterprises. We need cheap modern devices to clean emissions from toxic aerosols and gases. In the field of state control, an increase in the number of posts for checking and adjusting the toxicity of car exhaust gases is required. Energy industry enterprises and motor vehicles should be switched to less harmful, from the point of view of the environment, types of fuel (say, natural gas, biofuels). When they are burned, less solid and liquid pollutants are released.
What role do green spaces play in air purification?
It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of plants to the replenishment of oxygen reserves on Earth, to the capture of pollution. Forests are called "green gold", "lungs of the planet" for the ability of leaves to photosynthesis. This process consists in the absorption of carbon dioxide and water, the formation of oxygen and starch in the light. Plants emit phytoncides into the air - substances that have a detrimental effect on pathogenic microbes.
Increasing the area of green spaces in cities is one of the most important environmental measures. Trees, shrubs, herbs and flowers are planted in the courtyards of houses, in parks, squares and along roads. Landscaping the territory of schools and hospitals, industrial enterprises.
Scientists have found that plants such as poplar, linden, and sunflower absorb dust and harmful gaseous substances from the emissions of enterprises and transport exhausts best of all. Coniferous plantations emit the most phytoncides. The air in pine, fir, juniper forests is very clean and healing.
