Today more than ever the focus of companies is aimed at sustainability choices, where energy conservation and employee well-being prove to be a strategy for the communication and transmission of essential, effective corporate values.
The U-Earth system saves energy due to less need for air changes in offices through the attainment of a high level of indoor air quality.
In addition, a number of pilot studies, promoted and financed by the European Commission on indoor air quality, which involved 5 European countries, including Italy, found that in the air inside offices, concentrations of both PM10 and CO2 are generally higher than in outdoor air, with obvious consequences on workers’ health.
The U-Earth system is currently the most powerful on the market because it is capable of destroying 99% of indoor contaminants through biological degradation of molecules in the range between 0.003 microns and 10 microns like no other system on the market.
Therefore the introduction in public environments, such as hospitals, schools and offices, of the U-Earth systems fully embraces the statement with which the Ministers of Health and Environment of the WHO Euro countries have committed themselves to developing and promoting policies and intersectoral action to reduce health risks from exposure in indoor environments (Parma 10 - 12 March 2010).
Air pollution is a major cause of damage to human health and the materials exposed both outdoors and inside city buildings.
Urban centres are three-dimensional structures capable of trapping dust, fumes and gases inside buildings. The pollutants inside the buildings are made up of 10-40% from external pollution and 20-60% from pollutants from paints, flooring, air conditioning and bacteria and viruses generated by humans.
Offices too, in addition to typical indoor air pollution, are immersed in the urban aerosol of all the other structures and the population that uses them.
Office, business centre and operational headquarter pollutants originate from different types of sources:
- external: nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, hydrogen sulphide and carbonyl sulphide (COS), ozone, black carbon, VOCs.
- internal: nitrogen oxides from gas stoves, carbon dioxide, viruses and bacteria from people, ozone from copiers and printers, formic acid and formaldehyde from fittings and furniture, cigarette smoke, fumes from wall paints and flooring.
Current HEPA filtration systems of ambient air in offices and public areas, when present, are often not effective and cannot eliminate particles less than 0.3 microns or the bacterial contamination in the air.
Dust mites and some microorganisms such as fungi and spores, are also among the main sources of indoor allergens. In Italy, several epidemiological studies have shown that about 20% of the general population suffers from allergies.
Bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema are constantly increasing among adults as well as among children.
Particulate matter is a mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air, which vary in size, chemical composition and origin.
The diameter of the particles ranges from 0.003 microns to 100 microns.
The smaller the particles the more dangerous the dust entering the lungs which produces adverse health effects.
It is also very important that the total microbial (bacterial and fungal) contamination present in the air is closely monitored.
Nowadays, unfortunately, the possibility of an epidemiological emergency in corporate structures is a serious reality which must be taken into account.
