Does Radon Really Cause Lung Cancer?
In a recent article on the result of my radon test, I referred to the US EPA's work on the health effects of radon. They claim that about 21,000 people in the US each year get lung cancer from indoor…
In a recent article on the result of my radon test, I referred to the US EPA's work on the health effects of radon. They claim that about 21,000 people in the US each year get lung cancer from indoor…
For the past couple of years, I've carried my Aranet4 carbon dioxide monitor* with me when I travel. For much longer than that, I've been checking the ventilation in hotel rooms. What I've found is that it's rare to see…
When you turn on an exhaust fan, it blows air from inside the house to the outdoors. That air leaving the house will be matched by an equal amount of air coming in from outside. The more airtight the house…
OK, it's time to spell this out in black and white because there seems to be some confusion. Monitoring carbon dioxide (CO2), as I've been doing with my Aranet4 portable CO2 monitor* for the past couple of years, is a…
Tis the season for pumpkin spice. It began with pumpkin pie and then later spread to fancy coffee drinks. Starbucks introduced the pumpkin spice latte in 2003 and turned it into a trend. Now everyone knows it even by its…
Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, indoor air quality has become a subject of great concern. IAQ and infectious disease scientists discovered early on that COVID is airborne. That means removing virus-laden particles from the air or deactivating…
The past 2.5 years of the COVID pandemic have put a big spotlight on indoor air quality and the spread of infectious disease. I've been writing about various aspects of indoor air quality since I started this blog in 2010,…
Humidity control is becoming a bigger deal than it used to be. As Joseph Lstiburek, PhD, PE said to me one time, "the gap between stupid and hurt is narrowing." Building codes and best practices are getting better, which is…
In our HVAC design work, we get sent projects where the client sometimes wants the impossible. They've read enough to know they want the mechanical systems in conditioned space, so they put a tiny little closet somewhere in the house…
The quote below is a classic from the 1893 book, Ventilation and Heating, by John Shaw Billings. The imagery of wearing someone else's dirty underwear may shock you, but Billings makes a compelling point. We essentially do something worse whenever…