



This page is an extension of the talk presented at:

Index: The Discovery | The Plants | The Proof | Buildings & Climate Change | The Future



The Discovery:

With only three varieties of plants, we can “grow our own fresh air” indoors, to keep us healthy.

Join the GreenSpaces Challenge *

A conservation community working to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment. A conservation community working to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment.



Which are these plants?

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.

Our experience points to an amazing increase in human productivity resulting from using these plants to be >20%, and energy costs to reduce by an extraordinary >15%.

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



Buildings and Climate Change

World energy demand is expected to grow by 30% in the next decade.

Buildings consume 40% of the world’s energy.*

In another 15 years, more than 60% of the world’s population will be living in cities of over 1 million inhabitants.

There is a growing trend of having air-conditioned living and working areas, resulting in the increased need for fresh air which needs to be heated or cooled.

ASHRAE rules require 15-20 cfm of fresh air per person for a healthy non-smoking building.

By “growing” fresh air indoors we can reduce the supply of external fresh air needed by air-conditioned buildings, while still meeting industry standards (ASHRAE) for healthy indoor air.By reducing the supply of external fresh air, we achieve significant reduction in energy needed for heating and cooling buildings.

*source: United Nations Environment Program, March 2007



The Future – GreenSpaces:

We’re now replicating this concept in a much larger 1.75 million ft2 building. We intend to use over 60,000 indoor plants!

GreenSpaces has a very eminent Hon. Advisory Board of 13 members and has a large number of Fortune 500 firms as its Technology Partners including General Electric, Carrier, Otis, IBM, ITT, and others.

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