Alaska Native Village Air Quality Fact Sheet Series
Indoor Air
EPA910-F-100-08
April 2014
United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 10
Why care about indoor air?
The air inside your home is often more seriously polluted than
outside air. Because people may spend up to 90 percent of their
time indoors, the risks to health can also be greater from poor
indoor air quality than from outside air.
Elders, children, pregnant women and people with heart and lung
conditions, such as asthma, are most at risk from indoor air pollu-
tion. Asthma may be triggered in young children by wood smoke,
mold, and certain toxic chemicals in the home. Asthma attacks
tend to increase along with the amount of pollution in the air.
Why may risks from indoor air in Alaska
be of particular concern?
In cold climates, people tend to spend even more time indoors and
in homes and buildings made air tight to save heat and keep out the
cold. However, without fresh air and adequate ventilation, indoor
pollutants and humidity can rise to unhealthy levels.
Smoke from woodstoves, fireplaces and steam baths contributes
pollution to air indoors, as well as outside. Fumes and toxic pollut-
ants from equipment, fuels, and chemicals kept in homes to prevent
freezing, can escape into the confined air. Smoke from cigarettes
and other tobacco products may also become more concentrated
indoors where climates are harsh.
What causes indoor air to become
unhealthy?
Some common sources of air pollution that are found within homes
and buildings include:
• Burning oil, gas, kerosene, coal, and wood products.
• Smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products indoors.
• Wet or damp carpet and moisture buildup within walls and
attics that leads to mold growth.
• Diesel and other petroleum fuel products and equipment; and
• Aromatic products for household cleaning and maintenance,
personal care, or hobbies.
If outdoor air pollution levels are high, this can also contribute to
poor indoor air quality. Outdoor sources of air pollution common
in rural Alaska include: road dust, burning solid waste, woodstove
smoke, diesel exhaust, and forest fires.
Tips for Healthier
Indoor Air
Ensure adequate ventilation
Keep pollution outside
Clean without toxic
chemicals
Burn safely and efficiently
Protecting air quality inside
homes sealed tightly against the
cold is particularly important.
Other ANV Air
Fact Sheets
Diesel Fuel Use
Road Dust
Solid Waste Burning
Wood Smoke
For these fact sheets and
related videos, visit:
www.epa.gov/regionlO/
tribal/air/alaska. html
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What can you do?
Ensure adequate ventilation
• Maintain and use your home's ventilation sys-
tem to bring in fresh air to replace damp or pol-
luted air.
• Use bath and kitchen fans to eliminate excess
moisture and toxic fumes.
• When you weatherize for energy-efficiency, en-
sure that there is still adequate ventilation.
Keep pollution outside
• Don't smoke indoors; and ask others not to do
so.
• Avoid storing fuels and chemicals inside; if they
must be kept indoors, seal containers tightly.
• Never burn household garbage in or near homes
or steam baths.
• Don't idle vehicles near ventilation intake, doors
or windows.
• Use green building materials (fiberboard, insula-
tion, carpeting, paint) to reduce off-gassing.
Clean regularly and without
toxic chemicals
• Clean regularly to reduce asthma triggers, dust,
toxins, animal dander and mites.
• Use green cleaning agents rather than toxic
chemicals.
Burn safely and efficiently
• If burning wood for heat, use the best burning
practices to minimize smoke and increase ener-
gy efficiency. See Fact Sheet on Wood Burning
in this series.
• Use carbon monoxide alarms if using wood
stoves, fireplaces, or heaters to help prevent
deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Region 10 Contacts:
Erin McTigue
(206)553-1254
mctigue.erin@epa.gov
EPA Region 10 Main Number: (800) 424-4372
Who can protect indoor air?
It is up to building occupants, home owners, tribal
housing departments, clinics and others in the
community to all work together collaboratively
to ensure that indoor air quality is as healthy as
possible, at all times.
If people are aware of the importance of clean
indoor air, they can take action to keep it healthy
to breathe. Outreach and education helps to spread
this understanding and can empower community
members to work together toward safe and healthy
home environments. Every community member
can help, if they know what to do!
In Alaska Native Villages, environmental staff,
housing departments, health clinics, and other
community groups need to work together toward
protecting health from indoor contaminants. Non-
profit organizations, state and federal agencies may
also contribute to these efforts. These may include
organizations and agencies such as:
• Northwest Tribal Healthy Homes Working
Group: www.thhnw.org
• Indian Health Service/Alaska Native Tribal
Health Consortium: www.anthctoday.org
• HUD Office of Native American Programs:
www.hud.gov/offices/pih/ih/codetalk/onap
• US Dept of Energy:
http://appsl.eere.energy.gov/tribalenergy
• American Lung Association-Alaska:
www.lung.org/associations/states/alaska
Learn more on the web
General indoor air quality information:
www.epa.gov/iaq/is-imprv.html
Asthma and its triggers in the home:
www.epa.gov/asthma
Carbon monoxide poisoning:
www.epa.gov/iaq/pdfs/co_factsheet_en.pdf
Environmental tobacco smoke:
www.epa.gov/smokefree
Household cleaning and personal care:
www. epa.gov/iaq/voc. html
Mold: www.epa.gov/mold
Radon: www.epa.gov/radon
Wood burning stoves:
www.epa.gov/burnwise/woodstoves.html
School air quality:
www.epa.gov/iaq/schools
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