Does urban air outdoor pollution contribute to indoor air pollution?

In recent years, air quality becomes a hot topic in many countries, especially in developing countries. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, it is estimated that more than 1 billion people are exposed to outdoor air pollution annually. Urban air pollution is linked to up to 1 million premature deaths and 1 million pre-native deaths each year. Urban air pollution cost about 2% of total GDP in developed countries and 5% of in developing countries. So, what causes this serious problem? And does urban air outdoor pollution contribute to indoor air pollution? To answer these questions, we should know what cause it.

The main factor which causes the air pollution is the smog from industry. For example, the city of Beijing suffers a lot from air pollution. The main factor is the nearby factories. These factories generate huge amount of harmful emissions into atmosphere. The PM 2.5 in Beijing always rise to more than 500 which is a dangerous level may cause serious problems. In another city in India, New Delhi also is in bad situation with air pollution. The most cities in developing countries always have the problem of air pollution because of the rapidly increasing in economy and careless of environment.

Move to the question about “Does urban air outdoor pollution contribute to indoor air pollution?”. According to the research by Beijing Government, when PM 2.5 is over 300 outdoor, the indoor air quality becomes worse. If open the window, the air quality indoor will be same as outdoor in about 10 minutes. So it is clearly that air outdoor pollution has significant contribution to indoor air quality.

For being a sustainable urban city, the air quality is also an important matter which will be considered. The air pollution has huge negative impact on the environment and human health, especially in urban area because of the large number of population.

To solve this problem, the government should establish some policies to restrict development of factories. Moreover, the emissions generated by vehicle also need to be managed. 

Reference:

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