Potted plants do not improve indoor air quality

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-019-0175-9

by gk1 • 7 years ago

44 13 7 years ago

mooman219• 7 years ago

From the abstract, this is a meta study. It recognizes that potted plants do improve indoor air quality, but the amount is extremely insignificant. The paper notes that it rather see studies focus on other areas that indoor plants might be actually beneficial at like reducing VOCs and providing basic bio-filtration instead of cleaning air in general.

dwd• 7 years ago

They do remove VOCs, but you basically need to be living in an indoor jungle with 10-1000 plants per square metre.

Back in the 80's I remember visiting the home of the town mayor that had a lounge room sized atrium overflowing with ferns in the centre of the house (basically an indoor greenhouse) that could be accessed from each room. Doesn't sound like that will do as much as you might hope for.

chrisseaton• 7 years ago

I thought a result that was 'insignificant' meant that it was not possible to tell if it was an improvement or sampling noise?

pkaye• 7 years ago

Somebody better tell this guy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWvH9NF-lyc

m0llusk• 7 years ago

Kamal Meattle's primary result was demonstrating increased blood oxygen levels in occupants of buildings with large numbers of plants. This is consistent with the results of the study finding pollutants not filtered from the air. Additionally it is worth noting that achieving that result required not only large numbers of plants, but extensive care for the plants. The requirement that the plants be frequently cleaned of dust to keep their pores open may also be involved with the results. In any case, all these studies agrees that large numbers of plants are required to generate detectable results.

BasicObject2• 7 years ago

So these findings contradict Kamal Meattle and the NASA Air Study?

https://www.ted.com/talks/kamal_meattle_on_how_to_grow_your_...

gabetax• 7 years ago

Have you read that NASA study? It involves air being run through an activated carbon filter, and the plants using that carbon filter as its growing medium. From the paper:

This air filter design combines plants with an activated carbon filter as shown in Figure 1. The rationale for this design, which evolved from wastewater treatment studies, is based on moving large volumes of contaminated air through an activated carbon bed where smoke, organic chemicals, pathogenic microorganisms (if present), and possibly radon are absorbed by the carbon filter. Plant roots and their associated microorganisms then destroy the pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and the organic chemicals, eventually converting all of these air pollutants into new plant tissue.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/199300...

This isn't how most people setup their house plants.

BasicObject2• 7 years ago

Thank you for this. I wasn't aware of the filter. I had heard of which plants were most beneficial for the compound they remove and that Kamal recommended growing the plants hydroponically.

smoovb• 7 years ago

More studies on the topic with microscopic images: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624768/

22c• 7 years ago

I don't have full access to the article, but it would seem as though the headline has been editorialized. CADR and air quality are not exactly the same thing, the latter being somewhat ill-defined.

A better title is probably "potted plants do not make good air filters", but I guess that doesn't sound as exciting.

fargle• 7 years ago

Crap! I totally misread the title. Thought it said Pot Plants do not improve indoor air quality. Never mind...

johnday• 7 years ago

Oh, I see what you mean! In the UK, "potted" plants are actually called pot plants more often than not.

cellular• 7 years ago

Seems like the soil's mold and microbes would be detrimental too.

Potted plants do not improve indoor air quality

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