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Department of the Environment and Energy Indoor air It is generally recognised that Australians spend 90% or more of their time indoors. Despite this, relatively little research has been done on the quality of air in our homes, schools, recreational buildings,restaurants, public buildings, offices, or inside cars. Poor indoor air quality can result in significant adverse impacts on our health and environment. Moreover, these impacts carry a significant cost burden to the economy. The CSIRO estimates that the cost of poor indoor air quality in Australia may be as high as $12 billion per year (Brown, 1998). In recent years,...

How to Change the AC Filter: STEPS TO REPLACE1. TURN OFF THE POWER. This is important for two reasons. First, there’s your safety. Don’t risk touching live voltage! The second reason is the safety of your equipment. If the unit is still running while you’re removing the clogged filter, dust and debris can get sucked into the unit. It’s important that you switch off power at the unit itself, and also at the circuit breaker.2. REMOVE THE OLD FILTER. Simply slide it out of the slot that holds it in place.3. CHECK THE CONDITION. Once you’ve taken out the filter,...

AIR CONDITIONER FILTERSThe most important maintenance task that will ensure the efficiency of your air conditioner is to routinely replace or clean its filters. Clogged, dirty filters block normal airflow and reduce a system's efficiency significantly. With normal airflow obstructed, air that bypasses the filter may carry dirt directly into the evaporator coil and impair the coil's heat-absorbing capacity. Replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one can lower your air conditioner's energy consumption by 5% to 15%.For central air conditioners, filters are generally located somewhere along the return duct's length. Common filter locations are in walls, ceilings, furnaces,...

Improve Air Quality in Your HomeIntroductionVentilation is ImportantWhere does indoor pollution come from?Why do we worry about indoor pollution?Further InformationIntroductionIt is easy to think that all the air pollution is produced outside our houses. Unfortunately, this not true. Around our homes are many potential pollutants. Even carpets and building materials can give off pollutants, reducing the air quality inside our homes. In some cases, concentrations of pollutants may be much higher inside our houses than in the outside air.What makes the situation worse is that we spend most of our time indoors (perhaps as much as 90%), at our homes...

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/states-divided-as-national-clean-air-agreement-sets-thresholds-for-air-pollution-20151215-glo0gv.html NSW will adopt air pollution standards that do not meet the levels recommended by the World Health Organisation, following a meeting of Commonwealth, state and territory environment ministers.The meeting on Tuesday, to decide on a National Clean Air Agreement, saw state ministers divided on appropriate levels of coarse-particle (PM10) air pollution, resulting in the breakaway of Victoria and the ACT to adopt stricter standards than other states.Ministers also unanimously voted on standards for dangerous fine-particle (PM2.5) emissions, however standards for these will be some of the toughest in the world."Disappointing": Doctors have expressed concern at air pollution standards in...