Impact assessment of houseplants on indoor environmental status in the residential buildings
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Date
2007
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MPUAT, Udaipur
Abstract
Flora is the nature’s most precious gift to man. In ancient times, regard and love for flora was so great that this kindred relationship was extended even to houseplants. Man is destroying and ravaging that greenery, which is so essential for mental, physical and moral health and spiritual sublimation of man. Nature has been unable to keep pace with and compensate for the huge loss, which is being continuously inflicted by exploitation of vegetation and greenery by urban people.
The objectives of the present investigation were to collect information on the varieties of common houseplants available in Udaipur city, to standardize the utilization of houseplants and study their impact on indoor environmental status in various areas of the residences and to develop the guidelines on “houseplants and their role in improving the environmental status”.
The study was conducted in three phases. In phase I, information on varieties of houseplants available in Udaipur city was collected through survey of various nurseries within Udaipur city. In phase II, Indoor Air Quality in the selected rooms, i.e., drawing rooms and dining/ living rooms of the 10 west facing residential buildings along with the National Highway- 8 in polluted zone, was analyzed through its physical, chemical and other characteristics. Four varieties of foliage and succulent plants were kept in one, two or four suitable corners with four different habits, viz., Opened and Closed windows and fan in ON and OFF mode. To find out the existing IES, all the experiments were done without any houseplants on day 1 in selected rooms. The houseplants were kept on day 2 to judge the impact of houseplants on IES and again houseplants were removed on day 3 to know the retention of impact of houseplants on air quality. On the basis of collected information on the varieties of common houseplants available in Udaipur city, results of experiments and literature available, the guidelines on “houseplants and their role in improving the environmental status” were developed in phase III.
Data were analyzed through coding, tabulation, Arithmetic mean, Standard Deviation, Analysis of variance and Paired-t test. The major findings of the study were as under:
1. In phase I, the data collected was arranged in the form of inventory which comprised of the five categories of plants, viz. Foliage plants, Flowering Plants, Creepers, Cacti & Succulents and Ornamental trees available in nurseries of Udaipur and information related to common names, botanical names, price range per plant and type/ season in which they survive. There were 152 varieties of plants of various seasons with the price ranging from Rs. 10/- to Rs. 1500/-.
2. In phase II, results of experiments are as follows: Among the houseplants selected, it was found that both the selected plants were efficient in improving the physical (room temperature, RH, air flow rate, SPM), chemical (oxygen, carbon dioxide) and other characteristics (sound level) of the air quality. Outcome of the results state that-
a.) The succulent plants are advisable in the following conditions:
• To reduce the greater Room temperatures,
• To absorb the higher Suspended Particulate Matter,
• To decrease greater Carbon dioxide level, and
• To accoust the Sound disturbances.
b.) On the other hand, the foliage plants are advisable in the following conditions:
• To regulate the required level of relative humidity,
• To maintain required Air flow rate,
• To enhance the concentration of Oxygen in indoor air.
3. The developed guidelines are a comprehensive resource material to acquire knowledge on the various aspects to grow, maintain and utilize the houseplants as per their requirement in homes to improve the IES.
Description
Impact assessment of houseplants on indoor environmental status in the residential buildings
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Citation
Asnani and Singhvi, 2007