TED talks: Researcher and activist Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.

1. Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens)

• Works well in the day time
• Great for living areas
• One needs about 4 shoulder high plants/person
• Needs to be put outdoors once every 3-4 months
• The leaves of the plant need to be wiped everyday in Delhi and perhaps once a month in a cleaner city
• The soil used should be of vermi manure or use hydroponics

2. Mother-in-law’s Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata)

• Converts CO2 into O2 at night
• One requires about 6-8 such waist high plants per person in the bedroom
• Leaves need to be wiped in the same way as the Areca Palm
• The soil used should be of vermi manure or use hydroponics

3. Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum)

• Excellent for removing Formaldehyde and other VOC’s
• Best grown using hydroponics

How do we know this works?

We have tried and tested these plants for 15 years at Paharpur Business Centre and Software Technology Incubator Park (PBC™ – STIP) in New Delhi, India. It is a 20 year old, 50,000 ft2 building, with over 1,200 plants for 300 building occupants.

PBC™ – STIP is rated the healthiest building in Delhi by the Government of India.* Their study found that there is a 42% probability of increasing blood oxygen by 1% if one is inside the building for 10 hours.

Also, compared to other buildings in Delhi, the incidence of eye irritation reduced by 52%, lower respiratory symptoms by 34%, headaches by 24%, upper respiratory symptoms by 20%, lung impairment by 10-12% and Asthma by 9%. As a result of fewer sick days — employee productivity also increased.

* Study published on September 8, 2008 by The Govt. of India, Central Pollution Control Board and Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata, India

We conducted another experiment and sealed all fresh air and exhaust from the building for 6 weeks and found that that the air quality inside the building was better than outdoors.

We saved over 15% in energy costs as we did not have to inject 15-20 cfm of fresh air in to the building as suggested by ASHRAE – an industry standard.

You can check on today’s indoor air quality at http://www.pbcnet.com