Zap! U.S. EPA Uses Solar Power to Fight Indoor Air Pollution
The U.S. EPA has found that a simple, inexpensive rooftop solar panel can provide enough power to run a fan and remove toxic fumes from homes sitting on contaminated ground. The EPA gave solar-powered venting a test run on several homes earlier this year, in a Superfund action aimed at tricholoroethene (TCE) vapors in a Grand Prairie, Texas neighborhood. The pollution had been traced to a site occupied by the now-bankrupt Delfasco Forge company.
Compared to conventional remediation that involves weeks, months or even years of work along with a potentially huge carbon footprint for transporting or capping soil, the solar-powered exhaust systems took mere hours to install and resulted in an immediate 95% reduction in TCE vapors within the homes. The EPA plans to extend the program this fall to other homes affected by the Delfasco site.
