Chamaedorea
Caryota
Kentia Palm
Rhapis excelsa
Phoenix roebelini
Strelitzia nicolai
"How Live Plant Surroundings Enhance Your
Business Success"
Below are excerpts from the "Green Plants for Green Buildings" website...
• Plants offer a means to decrease stress while enhancing
productivity by 12%.
It is widely known through the respected research done by Dr. Roger S. Ulrich of Texas A&M University, Helen Russell of Surrey University, England, as well as the recent studies conducted by Dr. Virginia Lohr of Washington State University, that plants significantly lower workplace stress and enhance productivity.
• Interior plants lower Operations and
Maintenance costs while contributing to “Green
Building” design considerations.
Plants cool by a process called transpiration, which, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, decreases air temperature in offices by ten degrees.
• Plants in the workplace attract, retain and enhance
the attitude of today’s selective employee.
Surveys conducted by Unifi Network, Westport, Conn. report numerous factors that assist in managing today’s competitive workplace market. The data indicates that in order to attract and retain top employees, the workplace must include aspects of what inspires employees during “off” time. Gallop polls indicate that two-thirds of the American work force cite gardening as their favorite hobby.
• The dramatic aesthetic value inherent in indoor
landscaping has continued to be the #1 return on interior plant investments.
As reflected in the 2001 BOMA/CEL Tenant Satisfaction “A-List Award” (Building Owners and Managers Association), “appearance and condition of the property” is a top category of evaluation among tenants.
• Plant energy helps avoid “Sick Building Syndrome!” which helps with bottom line savings on mounting sick leave expenses.
“Sick Building Syndrome” develops into a serious and expensive liability when these toxins become concentrated inside sealed office buildings. NASA reports that the syndrome is widespread in these energy efficient buildings. The problem is that these sealed energy efficient buildings do not exchange stale indoor air for fresh outdoor air.
• Plants help reduce distractions due to office noise.
Strategically placed plants quiet down an office. A small indoor hedge placed around a workspace will reduce noise by 5 decibels.
NASA and Dr. Bill Wolverton Ph.D
NASA studies have shown that plants remove many indoor toxins from the air. Dr. Bill Wolverton, Ph.D conducted more than 30 years of research as a civilian scientist with the U.S. military and as a Senior Research Scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In 1984 NASA first published studies demonstrating that interior plants could remove VOCs (volatile organic chemicals). As a result, NASA realized that indoor air pollution in any tightly sealed structure could present health-related problems and should be addressed. In 1989, the EPA reported to the U.S. Congress that they had detected more than 900 VOCs in the air of public buildings.
