4 ms·

You'd need hundreds of houseplants to mitigate the co2 created by one person completely, I am not sure if a few would be better than nothing.

sooheon 8y ago
There are more variables at play than just co2, humans are not perfectly elastic spherical CO2 emitters ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/greengood.aspx https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/greengood.aspx
- gyrgtyn 8y ago
  Do you know a chart of how fast a plant turns over carbon dioxide? I'm trying to search, but the results are mostly global warming related.
  - thisisweirdok 8y ago
    It varies by plant type, health, and other factors. So it's hard to be specific. https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-many-plants-would-i-need-in-an-airtight-room-to-be-able-to-breathe/ https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-many-plants-would-i... >back-of-an-envelope calculations suggest you’d need around 400 houseplant-sized plants.
    - nanomonkey 8y ago
      Or you can grow spirulina or other microalgae which is much more efficient at converting CO2, and at absorbing the available sunlight. I believe you need about 5 m2 of southern facing window in a bioreactor that is 6 inches deep to convert the 1 kg of CO2 that a person creates. Can't find the citation sadly.
      - MikeTV 8y ago
        I'm casually experimenting with this too, to improve AQ in my home office. Do you recall the surface area in the 6-inch-deep bioreactor (or total volume)? The only hard numbers I've found are from the Russian BIOS-1,2,3 experiments, which suggest 18L/person of Chlorella will 75-100% compensate for a person's CO2. I have 18L of Spirulina, which appears to be having some effect, though not anywhere near a complete offset. Though, my setup is quite sub-optimal, and I've seen articles that suggest Chlorella is a couple times more efficient at biofixation than Spirulina. Continuing to tinker :)

sooheon 8y ago

There are more variables at play than just co2, humans are not perfectly elastic spherical CO2 emitters ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/greengood.aspx https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/greengood.aspx

gyrgtyn 8y ago
Do you know a chart of how fast a plant turns over carbon dioxide? I'm trying to search, but the results are mostly global warming related.
- thisisweirdok 8y ago
  It varies by plant type, health, and other factors. So it's hard to be specific. https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-many-plants-would-i-need-in-an-airtight-room-to-be-able-to-breathe/ https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-many-plants-would-i... >back-of-an-envelope calculations suggest you’d need around 400 houseplant-sized plants.
  - nanomonkey 8y ago
    Or you can grow spirulina or other microalgae which is much more efficient at converting CO2, and at absorbing the available sunlight. I believe you need about 5 m2 of southern facing window in a bioreactor that is 6 inches deep to convert the 1 kg of CO2 that a person creates. Can't find the citation sadly.
    - MikeTV 8y ago
      I'm casually experimenting with this too, to improve AQ in my home office. Do you recall the surface area in the 6-inch-deep bioreactor (or total volume)? The only hard numbers I've found are from the Russian BIOS-1,2,3 experiments, which suggest 18L/person of Chlorella will 75-100% compensate for a person's CO2. I have 18L of Spirulina, which appears to be having some effect, though not anywhere near a complete offset. Though, my setup is quite sub-optimal, and I've seen articles that suggest Chlorella is a couple times more efficient at biofixation than Spirulina. Continuing to tinker :)