Improve your decision making by improving your air quality

We know it’s important for developers to build greener homes to preserve our planet, but what about to maintain the health of our own brains?

In 2015, a new study targeting air quality and our brain revealed that people who work in well-ventilated spaces with lower levels of indoor pollutants and carbon dioxide have significantly higher cognitive function. In other words, the better the air quality, the easier it is for us to think, strategize, and remain productive throughout the day.

Can air quality affect the way you think?

There are a number of studies on the importance of sunlight, colour, green spaces, and even bodies of water to our mental health. However, we often forget to consider an element we can’t always see - air quality.

Researchers at Harvard, SUNY-Upstate Medical Center, and Syracuse University recently conducted an experiment to understand how air quality affects cognitive scores. Participants in the experiment spent six full work days (9 am - 5 pm) in an environmentally controlled office, and were exposed to different air qualities depending on the day.  

On some days, the participants were exposed to high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are organic chemicals that have a high vapour temperature, or more simply, the chemicals found in body odours, automobile exhaust gas, cleaning products, and countless other household objects. VOCs aren’t necessarily toxic, but they do have compounding long-term health effects. On other days, the 24 participants were exposed to low VOC concentrations, and environments that mimicked a green building with a high outdoor air ventilation rate.

Researchers studied the cognitive skills with high outdoor ventilation (low VOC levels) and artificially elevated carbon dioxide levels (high VOC levels). They found that participants’ cognitive scores were, on average, 61% higher on the low-VOC days, and 101% higher on the days when the air quality resembled a green building environment.

Clean air, clear brain function

The experiment not only reveals the importance of air quality on our brain’s ability to function, but also the importance of green indoor environments. It’s common knowledge that a space without natural light has negative psychological effects, but now we know that air quality is equally influential on our brain’s ability to stay focused and remain efficient.

“We spend 90% of our time indoors and 90% of the cost of a building are the occupants, yet indoor environmental quality and its impact on health and productivity are only an afterthought,” says Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Building Program at the Harvard Center of Health and the Global Environment and lead author of the study. “[The study’s] results suggest that even modest improvements to indoor environmental quality may have a profound impact on decision-making performance of workers.”

In extreme conditions, poor building ventilation can lead to high levels of VOCs, which can result in “sick building syndrome.” This syndrome occurs when an individual’s health and comfort is affected by a building’s environmental conditions, particularly poor air quality. Symptoms include irritation in the nose, throat, and eyes, headaches, asthma-like symptoms, and skin irritation.

Reid's Heritage Homes' Net Zero home

The future of superior air quality: The Net Zero Home

If we spend so much time indoors, how do we build environments that ensure we are using our brains to their maximum potential? Builders like Canada’s own Reid’s Heritage Homes are currently pushing the boundaries of green development and ensuring that our homes not only keep us warm, but healthy too.

This year, Reid’s Heritage Homes made history and built Canada’s first Net Zero Energy home. Nestled in Guelph’s Westminster Woods community, this home produces at least as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis.

The Net Zero home must meet strict criteria in order to qualify for the title. The home has to pass the Natural Resources of Canada’s EnerGuide Rating System, and prove to be well insulated, airtight yet well ventilated, and heated by renewable energy sources like wind or solar power. ENERGY STAR qualified homes must achieve an 83 on the scale, while Net Zero homes must achieve a perfect score of 100.

Reid’s Heritage Homes’ revolutionary home passes the test, and is equipped with an air ventilation system that “acts as the lungs of the home.” The energy recovery ventilator (ERT) uses high performance motors that lower the energy costs. As air passes through the core, the ERT absorbs heat and moisture from the air streams.

During the summer months, the heat and humidity of the fresh air from outdoors is transferred outside of the home, keeping it cool inside. During the winter, the home retains the heated air to keep the home’s humidity levels balanced and residents comfortable. This efficient system not only manages air temperature, but also keeps the home’s air quality high.

The Net Zero home’s insulation and triple pane windows also seal the home, keeping it airtight and ensuring that pollutants from outside cannot leak into the home. The home is equipped with CertainTeed’s AirRenew IAQ Drywall, which “captures and converts formaldehyde - found in everyday items like candles, paint, perfume, hair spray, carpet, flooring - into inert compounds so that it cannot be re-emitted into the air.”

According to Reid’s Heritage Homes, the technology, materials, and efficiency standards necessary to build a Net Zero home are at least “15 years ahead of the where the building industry is today.” So the industry needs to step it up! As builders like Reid’s Heritage Homes continue to raise awareness and advance the science behind sustainable building practices, we will continue to get better at creating environments that keep our brains healthy.