Posted: Aug 28, 2021, 8:27 AM
Enhanced indoor air quality can be a critical factor in a healthy environment for visitors and employees at the Bossier Parish Courthouse and all parish facilities, and the Bossier Parish Police Jury will be making a significant investment to help ensure cleaner air.
“We have researched various air quality technologies in an effort to provide cleaner air and we believe needlepoint bipolar ionization is our preferred method for enhancing indoor air quality,” said Jim Firth, Bossier Parish Purchasing Agent and Director of Facilities.
“We will be investing approximately $50,000 in the courthouse project,” he said.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air quality can contain two to five times higher concentrations of pollutants than outdoor, whether it’s bacteria, viruses, odors, molds, cleaning chemicals or others. Indoor air quality can often be the cause of respiratory diseases and disorders.
“In bipolar ionization, the positive and negative ions surround air particles,” Firth explained. “This added mass helps the air particles fall to the floor and be pulled towards the building’s air filter to be removed from the air.”
Additionally, as the positive and negative ions surround air particles that include pathogens (e.g. viruses, bacteria, mold spores), the ions pull hydrogen away from the pathogen, he said.
“In the case of a virus, the hydrogen is pulled away from its protein coat, or capsid. The hydrogen is a key component to the actual structure of the viral protein coat, and without it, the virus cannot infect,” Firth said.
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