Did you know that the Green Building Council of Australia has a system called Green Star that encourages and recognizes the installation of indoor plants in any office interior to improve environmental quality? Per a press release published in April from the USGBC, representatives from Australia’s "Green Star” rating system along with the UK’s BREEAM rating system and USGBC’s LEED have agreed to work together to develop metrics and alignment tools to create consistency in measuring and ...

benefits result from the interior plant’s capacity to produce cleaner air, their demonstrated provision of feelings of pleasure, calm and relief from attention fatigue; decline in sick-leave absences by 60%, a substantial increase in productivity, improved performance on test computer tasks, card-sorting and creative thinking tests, classroom reduced illness absences among primary-school children, as well as reductions in pain perception, anxiety, depression and feelings of hostility.

Investing in the energy efficiency of buildings represents a powerful and strategic energy and climate solution that combined with other non-transportation initiatives could reduce the nation's energy consumption by 23 percent by 2020, save the U.S. economy $1.2 trillion, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.1 gigatons annually, according to a study released July 29 by McKinsey & Company.

More and more people are joining the home based bandwagon and to get you started, your prime consideration will have to be your home office. Here are top tips to help you place the home office equipment you will need.

Green Plants for Green Buildings (GPGB) is in full throttle this month with many projects underway and in the planning phase.

The chlorophyte—also known as the St. Bernard’s lily, zebra grass or spider plant—has got to be the most ideal houseplant on the planet.

GPGB remains unshakably focused on the objective of securing those ever-evasive LEED points. It also has formed committees to address two related fronts—establishing sustainability standards and building a network of New Market Media infrastructure channels.

In keeping with the heightened need to quantify the carbon footprint of businesses, buildings, and even individuals, two researchers from the University of Georgia, Bodie V. Pennisi, Associate Professor, and Marc van Iersel, Professor, are now mid-study on the subject of the ability of green plants to assimilate indoor carbon, with results anticipated by year's end. Their methodology has included a two-pronged approach: first, initiating an assessment of photosynthetic rates of ...

Learn which indoor plants clean home and office air, promote good health, and prevent sick building syndrome. Plants add life to an office space. Whether they are in a home office or a cubicle, having plants in the office relaxes people and may even make them more productive. During photosynthesis, plants also add oxygen to the air. Office Plants Clean the Air Office plants are also important in the maintenance of healthy indoor air. People who work in enclosed office ...

Patients had fewer intakes of postoperative analgesics, more positive physiological responses evidenced by lower systolic blood pressure and heart rate, lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue, and more positive feelings and higher satisfaction about their rooms when compared with patients in the control group. Findings suggested that plants in a hospital environment could be noninvasive, inexpensive, and an effective complementary medicine for patients recovering from surgery.

The potted-plant microcosm represents innovative technology for solving indoor air pollution, which can cause a range of adverse health effects, including building-related illness. This portable, flexible, attractive, low-cost technology can be used in any building. To ensure sustainability of the urban environment, satisfying the ‘triple bottom line’ of environmental, social and economic considerations, indoor plants can be expected to become standard technology for improving air quality.

Overseas studies have shown that indoor plants can improve indoor air quality in a number of ways: by reducing nitrogen and sulfur oxides & dust, stabilising humidity, and reducing noise levels.

What if there were homes that shared in the “take only what you need,” model; that utilized the wind and sun to its fullest extent?

Conducted as a post-occupancy evaluation (POE), this study examined how green space (a garden area) within a hospital site affected users.

Either 3 or 6 of the large floor standing pot plants significantly reduced TVOC levels, see figure 1. The results also showed that when TVOC loads in the unplanted offices were over 100 ppb (9 of the 18 weeks), levels in planted offices were lower by up to 50–70%.

This shift in practice towards green and healthy buildings is fundamentally consistent with the core value of health care professionals – first, do no harm. To this end, healthcare practitioners should assume a public health oriented position relative to the facilities in which they operate, and ensure that these buildings do not degrade the health of individuals or of the general public by implementing sustainable design, operation, and maintenance practices.

Interviews and surveys evaluated public preferences, perceptions, patronage behavior intentions and product willingness-to-pay in relationship to varied presence of trees in outdoor retail environments. Consumer response is positively associated with streetscape greening on all of these dimensions.

The aesthetic value of indoor pot plants is easily seen. However, the unseen ability of indoor plants to improve indoor air quality has never been conclusively shown or, until now, quantified. This Nursery Paper explains what the latest research has shown regarding indoor pot plants. Research at the University of Technology, Sydney, has shown that indoor pot plants do improve air quality and demonstrated how this occurs. As a result, clear claims can now be made as to how indoor pla

Research at the University of Technology, Sydney has shown that indoor plants do improve air quality. As a result, clear claims can now be made as to how indoor plants improve air quality, and development of varieties with an even better capacity for improving indoor air can begin.

A crossover study was conducted among 51 offices over two-years. When plants were included in the offices, study participants were exposed to 13 commonly used foliage plants. The score sum of 12 health symptoms was 23% lower during the period when the participants had plants in their offices. This translated into a 14% decrease in absenteeism.