The Plants and their Benefits

There are several books about natural air purification. The best one we found is "How to Grow Fresh Air" by B.C. Wolverton. This book is a great resource because it ranks the plants by effectiveness and ease of care. It gives care information and tells you about what kind of chemicals it removes from the air. We used it to choose the plants for our system. We chose the golden pothos, several kinds of dracaena, snake plant, dumb cane, ferns, and several kinds of palms. When creating an air purification system it is important to balance the kinds of plants you include for optimal oxygen transpiration and so that you are removing the chemicals you are bringing in from your air. Golden pothos are the power house of VOC removal. They metabolize most of the chemicals new plastic, new carpeting, electronics, and dry cleaning emit. A lot of people experience respiratory irritation when they go inside a building. This is called Sick Building Syndrome. It can be very severe, especially in new buildings and for people with preexisting respiratory illness. Pothos can be a great way to combat some of these symptoms. The best way to create a small scale system is to put the plants where you spend the most time, for example, near your bed or desk. A plant can clean the air most effectively in a 6 to 8 foot radius around it. So putting them where you spend the most time and then having good air circulation will be most beneficial and cheapest if you are working on a budget.