Do Plants in Offices promote Health?
Prof. Dr. Tøve Fjeld,
Agricultural University of Norway, Ås/Oslo

Reports from the nineteen-eighties indicate that house plants are able to reduce the level of chemical compounds in the air. Both the leaves and the stems and roots participate in this cleansing process, together with micro-organisms which live in the root zone and the soil. Plants therefore offer an opportunity to improve the often polluted air indoors. They might therefore be able to ameliorate the negative effects on health caused by the atmosphere in public and private spaces.

A Case for Plants

Mr. Ron Wood, a research associate with the Environmental Quality Group at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, provides a comprehensive list of reasons why interior plants are key to cost effectively improving indoor environmental quality while contributing to sustainable, green building designs:

• Plants are cheaper to use than powerful air filter systems.
• Plants can easily be moved or relocated.
• Plants are environmentally friendly.
• Plants offer aesthetic stimulants to the people in a room.
• Plants do not cause acoustic problems.
• Plants do not interfere with ventilation systems that are already installed.
• With professional care, plants provide high results at relatively low maintenance costs.
• Plants support good motivation by creating a balanced working environment.
• Plants can be used as attractive room dividers in open plan offices.
• Plants reduce tiring of the eyes by reflecting the yellow/green spectrum.
• Introducing plants requires no change to the structure of a building.
• Plants can discretely solve an environmental problem.
• Plants possibility of a sudden breakdown is relatively low.