A Cure For Sick Buildings? June 1, 1998

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A Cure For Sick Buildings?

by Dan for " The Futurist "

A cure for " sick building syndrome " may be in sight. Canadian researchers

and business people are testing an environmentally friendly air-cleaning

system nicknamed the " breathing wall. "

Although it looks more like a modern art installation than an air-filtering

system, the breathing wall is actually an indoor ecosystem composed of

rocks, plants, fish, and microorganisms. In effect, it inhales dirty air and

exhales clean air.

Modern buildings with closedair ventilation systems have a nasty habit of

circulating stale and polluted air throughout the office. Workers who

breathe fumes, dust, fibers, and biological contaminants day after day could

use some relief.

" In outdoor environments, nature takes care of cleaning air, so we applied

this same approach to develop an air-cleaning system for indoor

environments, " says Wolfgang Amelung, president of Genetron, an

Ontario-based company that develops and installs bio-filtering systems.

Breathing walls come in all sizes. The structure being tested in downtown

Toronto's Canada Life Assurance Company is a five-foot high, 15-foot-long

sheet of moss and fern-covered lava rock. The wall is constantly moistened

and supported by large aquariums filled with fish and aquatic plants. Fans

located behind the structure draw room air across plants and water and

through the wall, absorbing airborne contaminants in the process.

The Canada Life breathing wall is being monitored to see if it releases

spores or allergens into the building. Tests so far have recorded no such

negative byproducts from bio-filtering and no unpleasant smells. Natural air

cleaning also shows a significant cost advantage over

conventional methods, according to Mike Dixon, a horticultural scientist

from the University of Guelph in Ontario.

Today's energy-conserving buildings are closed systems that rely on

ventilators to draw fresh air into a structure in order to improve air

quality. This can be an expensive process because of the additional energy

required to heat cold incoming air in the winter and to cool

warm summer air. In Toronto, for example, approximately half of the annual

cost of circulating fresh air through a building is incurred during the 30

hottest and coldest days of the year, says Dixon. Biofiltering systems are

entirely self-contained and avoid such energy costs.

THE NEXT PHASE

Researchers in Ontario are planning to construct a prototype rooftop

greenhouse on a building at Queen's University in Kingston. Scientists

expect this larger-scale ecosystem to generate filtered air for the entire

building when it is connected to the existing ventilation infrastructure.

The greenhouse experiment could help bioengineers and architects find the

most-efficient design for bio-filtering systems of the future. Mike Dixon

has another project in mind.

" I want to grow a rose on the moon, " says Dixon, who believes that lunar

colonies are sure to be built now that water has been detected on the moon.

Bio-filtering systems, along with advanced engineering practices that

minimize the use of construction materials that release

toxins into the air, could help to create and maintain a hospitable

environment for lunar colonists.

Space-related research in biofiltration has been under way at the University

of Guelph since 1993. In Ontario, Allied Signal Aerospace is applying the

research to its sensor technology in order to improve the quality of

nutrient solutions for growing food plants. And NASA

is following the experiments at Guelph and Genetron for their potential

application to its advanced lifesupport program and to the development of

the international space station.

Added material

Sources: Wolfgang Amelung, Genetron Systems, Inc., 4801 Keele Street,

Unit 34, Downsview, Ontario M3J 3A4, Canada. Telephone 1-416-665-

8155; fax 1-416-665-8779.

Mike Dixon, Department of Horticultural Science, University of Guelph,

Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. Telephone 1-519-824-4120 X2555;

e-mail mdixon@....

A three-story " breathing wall " under construction for Club Monaco, a

clothing company in Ontario, Canada, will combat dust and biological

contaminants.

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

Reproduced, with permission, from THE FUTURIST, Published by the World

Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, land

20814