If your home is too energy-efficient, you might be keeping cancer-causing radon from escaping.
I think most of us agree that it’s wise to conserve on energy usage. Wasting any resource is not a good idea, and besides, you can usually save money in the long run by using energy-efficient appliances. I think we can also agree that we don’t like being told by environmentalists to behave in a certain way, nor do we enjoy being forced to buy certain energy-efficient appliances in order to remain compliant with the law.
The problem with some energy-efficient measures is that they can sometimes do more harm than good. If you seal up your house too well, for example, you’ll succeed in keeping heat inside your home during the winter and cooler air inside your home in the summer, but you might also reduce a healthy air exchange.
Fox News recently reported that sealing up a house too well can trap radon inside and may lead to a higher risk of lung cancer. Radon is present in many homes in varying amounts. Nobody wants a drafty house, but the opposite is apparently not healthy, either. It’s estimated that radon contributes to approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year.
If you’ve sealed up your home in order to keep hot air from escaping in the winter and cool air from leaking in the summer, you’ve done a good thing. But, you need to check for radon levels and make sure you have an adequate ventilation system. The EPA says that states in the Midwest and New England tend to have the highest radon levels.
How do you feel when the government tries to force you to use only energy-efficient appliances? Do you agree with them that it’s for your own good, or do you resent the intrusions that are based on their perception of what’s right for the environment? Feel free to chime in on this subject.
Sealing up the old castle to the point where the air goes stale is a disaster waiting to happen. The resulting high levels of mold, bacteria & virus found in tightly sealed homes simply lowers your resistance to illness. Adequate fresh air is a prime ingredient for good health.
My sister died of small cell lung cancer – most likely due to the high levels of radon in their Wisconsin home. They didn’t realize, until they went to sell their house, that the radon was off the charts. Moved to a southern state, and a few months later was diagnosed with the cancer. She died about a year after that.
Your information, while partially correct, overlooks HORMESIS, the fact that LOW DOSE radiation from radon PREVENTS cancer. The LINEAR HYPOTHESIS was proven false by actual measurements of radon in houses several years ago. An entire issue of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine’s “Access to Energy” publication was devoted to reporting these results, but I do not recall the issue.
For more information, see http://www.oism.org or call them in Oregon 541 592-4142. Or please see the first three items by Dr. Bernard Cohen at http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/
Radon is a gas which decays to a radioactive particle that will lodge in your lungs. That, in turn, decays by emitting alpha particles (energetic helium nuclei) which do great damage to lung cells. The dose to surrounding cells is NOT LOW. If you think hormesis will help you via internal exposure, you might as well take up smoking cigarettes or drinking radium water. Radium water will lead to bone cancer, but smoking leads to lung cancer – – just like radon gas will, but different radionuclides. I have an earlier post here, also.
If you live in South Carolina you can get a free Radon test kit by contacting DHEC in Columbia.
http://www.scdhec.gov/radon/RequestaRadonTestKit/
We aere realtors in Virginia, 50 miles from DC, and have been getting Radon evaluations for at least the last 10 years. We are noticing that the tighter the seal on the house, the better the cahnce of high Radon levels. We are also seeing that the new whole house ventilation systems used in crawl spaces are raising levels to the danger point where before that wasn’t a problem.
Fox News recently reported that sealing up a house too well can trap radon inside —- it is legal to lie on news — wonder how many foreclosed homes Fox News owners own now and wanting to sell ??? Radon is very hard to keep in a home in which doors are opened and closed at all, and yes many energy-efficient appliances are being pushed on us by gov regulations which were put in place so markers can time life of appliance to be replaced with new one
Some new energy efficient, energy star rated, appliances are junk with a higher price tag. Take for instance the refrigeration/freezer industry. Their new compressors are rated energy efficient because they are smaller, or cannot do the job for the long run that they need to do. A new frig nowdays, even though more expensive usually only lasts @ 7 years, maybe 10. I specifically bought an older model with a high energy rating. It is a Magic Chef and runs great! It wasn’t cooling and running all the time. I searched on the internet and 90% of the time it is a cooling fan motor. I replaced it and the small defrost timer motor and I have ice again. It hardly ever runs and cooling better than ever. All this for @ $50.00 in parts and @ 3/4 hour of my labor. I learned to do this from a video on the internet.
Determining radon level is a lot more complex than picking up a test kit at your local big box store. Levels fluctuate widely in the typical home, depending on many variables – – including some that one can not control. A long-term average level measurement of air concentration is needed, and is what is relevant to assess the risk of developing lung cancer from radon. The EPA has a pamphlet on radon in the home. One’s state radiation control agency should also be able to provide information. As a career Health Physicist now engaged in real estate, I would never recommend, or rely on, a “radon check.”
Thanks for the insight, Lynn. I’m off to do more research!!