UC Hydroponics wall at the UC health and wellness bistro.

We just planted the herbs for the UC health and wellness center Bistro.

Project Carbon, a recent research project completed at the University of Georgia, proves that plants do in fact remove carbon from the air we breathe. This study is the first of its kind to provide quantitative data of carbon removal by plants in an interiorscape setting.

• In addition to absorbing carbon, plants improve indoor air quality by removing pollutants.
• While all plants take carbon out of the air, larger, woody plants absorb and keep in their bodies more carbon than small herbaceous plants over time.
• Plants must be in healthy condition to continue removing carbon from the air we breathe.

For more information on this and other research projects supported by GPGB, visit www.greenplantsforgreenbuildings.org. For details directly related to Project Carbon, contact Dr. Bodie Pennisi at the University of Georgia. Customize your template by clicking on the style editor tabs up above. Set your fonts, colors, and styles. After setting your styling is all done you can click here in this area, delete the text, and start adding your own awesome content!

Research involving toxin-absorbing plants is LEED-ing the way for a new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design credit.

“We want to give formal LEED credits for indoor air quality by removing [volatile organic compounds] using plants,” said Svoboda Pennisi, an associate professor in the horticulture department.

She said the process for a building to obtain LEED certification was similar to a college major. An architect chooses which type of LEED certification he or she wants, and then has several credits to choose from in order to obtain that certification, she said.

“As I understand it, there is no formal LEED credit given to [indoor plants] other than something called ‘greenwalls,’ and that’s more aesthetic and not related to indoor air quality,” Pennisi said.

She said the LEED credit would be individualized for each building that wants to obtain it. All plants under this LEED credit would be phytoremediators, or plants that improve indoor air quality by reducing volatile organic compounds.

Pennisi has been working alongside Stanley Kays, a part-time professor in the horticulture department, and researchers at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, to study the effects phytoremediators have on indoor air quality.

Kays said he became interested in the project, originally started by Korean researchers, when air quality of two Athens homes was measured and discovered to be dangerous.

“Coupled with the World Health Organization’s estimate of the number of deaths caused by indoor air each year and the fact that plants have the potential to eliminate the problem, we realized that this was a research area that has tremendous health implications,” he told The Red & Black.

Pennisi said the importance of their research was multi-faceted.

“There’s a health benefit to the humans that are living or spending part of their lives in a building,” she said. “It will help agricultural producers and the economy by increasing the demand for these agricultural products.”

Kays said to determine the efficiency of reduction, a plant is enclosed in a sealed glass container, into which a known amount of five different VOCs are injected. The researchers can measure the decline of the VOCs in the container.

Pennisi said the cause of the variation in reduction has yet to be determined.

“Our theory is that it’s related to the individual metabolism of the plant,” she said.

Megan Lee, an assistant professor in the textiles, merchandising and interiors department, called the research “really innovative and extremely important.”

She said for phytoremediators, such as ivy, to be used in homes – whether LEED-certified or not – homeowners must understand the plants must still be cared for, otherwise they could work against their purpose.

“You can’t just look at it aesthetically,” Lee said. “You have to understand how to care for them.”

She said bugs and mold are potential problems for plant owners, both of which can lead to poorer air quality.

“Also, you don’t need tons of indoor plants to improve air quality,” Lee said. More clutter and less ventilation could lead to mold, she said.

Bobby Woodward, interim associate dean of students, told The Red & Black that Tate II is both LEED certified and contains indoor plants.

“While it is an honor to have a LEED-certified building, we remain committed to the idea of being sustainable and environmentally friendly,” he said. “We would entertain the idea of plants that would improve the indoor air quality of the Tate Student Center and the Tate Student Center Expansion.”

Green Plants for Green Buildings has assembled new research indicating that adequate installation of interior plants can deliver bottom-line benefits and is a solid return on investment. Findings indicate that interior plants in a modern, sealed office structure could save U.S. Companies $129 billion by improving indoor air and as much as $58 billion annually by preventing sick-building illnesses. Plants could also bring about an additional $200 billion in work performance improvements by creating offices with better indoor air, because research has indicated that interior plants reduce airborne molds in a sealed office environment by as much as 50 percent. In addition, plants can significantly lower workplace stress, decrease fatigue, and enhance productivity by as much as 12 percent. Proper selection and placement of plants can also lower heating and cooling cost by as much as 20 percent. According to the international Society of Arboriculture, the net cooling effect of one young, healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. The number of plants is dependent on many factors, but using as many plants as possible, in harmony with the given design, can achieve the best possible improvement in the indoor environment. Research has found 15 to 20 plants are enough to clean the air in a 1,500 square-foot area.

Tournesol developed an interior plant wall that moves wherever you want it to go. I love how it’s not attached to the wall so you’re not limited to where you can place it. It could even be used as a creative cubicle divider for some offices.

Jean-Pierre Sijmons of City Plantscaping created this living wall from Tournesol’s product for a long term care facility and planted one side with herbs and the other with tropicals.  It looks great!

City Plantscaping specializes in decorating the insides of homes and businesses with plants — even the edible kind. The company will install moveable walls called TerraScreens, made of wire brackets and filled to the top with potted herbs and vegetables. Part decoration and part garden, you can find green walls at a variety of businesses like Total Longterm Care, which uses one to grow tropical plants on one side for visual appeal and parsley, rosemary, thyme, cherry tomatoes, lettuce and bell peppers on the other side for gastronomical satiation. In fact, employees at Total Longterm Care pick herbs and veggies off the wall to complement their lunches. And that, we’re sure, is better than something from the vending machine.