3 ms·

I love this article. But the article misses the use of plants to improve air quality! HEPA air filters can't filter out nano-sized pollutants

graeme 5y ago
Are they actually effective in anything but a sealed space shuttle? Nasa is the source of the plant air quality experiments people reference. In anything but that air exchange will happen much faster than a houseplant can grow. I love plants but I can’t imagine they do much unless you have an absolutely massive quantity.
- angry_octet 5y ago
  You need a vast number of house plants to make even a small difference. Basically you'd have to live in a greenhouse.
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    If it could be fairly dry, that might not be bad.
  - nitrogen 5y ago
    You would need to live in a biodome. The only way to remove all the CO2 you exhale would be to grow all the food you eat. Carbon in equals carbon out. Plants still look nice though.
- jostmey 5y ago
  HEPA filters cannot remove nanoparticles and ionizing filters ionize the air, and well, ozone is not good for us. So plants are far superior in this regard to air purifiers, which are useless
- hderms 5y ago
  Wish I could remember where I read it but the conclusion was that having indoor plants solely to increase air quality isn't a good idea. Obviously it's somewhat better than nothing but so minor as to be largely insignificant given how much air exchange there is with the outside world when you aren't on a shuttle
- owenversteeg 5y ago
  The other issue with plants is that having them in any decent numbers means you’re likely to have at least some with a mold/fungus/pollen issue, so they actually reduce air quality. Outdoors that’s not so much of an issue because there’s airflow and the mold/fungus/pollen is dispersed, while inside your room it’s limited to a very small amount of still air.
carabiner 5y ago
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/indoor-plants-clean-air-best-none-them/584509/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/indoor-p... > The science is clear: Indoor vegetation doesn’t significantly remove pollutants from the air
- randomsquared 5y ago
  and doesn't filter CO2 in any way measurable. You would need your entire place filled with the right plants to make a difference. I tried, and failed at this when I realized I'd have to get way more plants.

graeme 5y ago

Are they actually effective in anything but a sealed space shuttle? Nasa is the source of the plant air quality experiments people reference. In anything but that air exchange will happen much faster than a houseplant can grow. I love plants but I can’t imagine they do much unless you have an absolutely massive quantity.

angry_octet 5y ago
You need a vast number of house plants to make even a small difference. Basically you'd have to live in a greenhouse.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  If it could be fairly dry, that might not be bad.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  You would need to live in a biodome. The only way to remove all the CO2 you exhale would be to grow all the food you eat. Carbon in equals carbon out. Plants still look nice though.
jostmey 5y ago
HEPA filters cannot remove nanoparticles and ionizing filters ionize the air, and well, ozone is not good for us. So plants are far superior in this regard to air purifiers, which are useless
hderms 5y ago
Wish I could remember where I read it but the conclusion was that having indoor plants solely to increase air quality isn't a good idea. Obviously it's somewhat better than nothing but so minor as to be largely insignificant given how much air exchange there is with the outside world when you aren't on a shuttle
owenversteeg 5y ago
The other issue with plants is that having them in any decent numbers means you’re likely to have at least some with a mold/fungus/pollen issue, so they actually reduce air quality. Outdoors that’s not so much of an issue because there’s airflow and the mold/fungus/pollen is dispersed, while inside your room it’s limited to a very small amount of still air.

carabiner 5y ago

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/indoor-plants-clean-air-best-none-them/584509/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/indoor-p... > The science is clear: Indoor vegetation doesn’t significantly remove pollutants from the air

randomsquared 5y ago
and doesn't filter CO2 in any way measurable. You would need your entire place filled with the right plants to make a difference. I tried, and failed at this when I realized I'd have to get way more plants.