Annual Ecological Engineering Conference to Reveal Environmental Value of Interior Plants.

News & Feature Editors/Environment Writers

COLLEGE PARK, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2003

From May 29-30, the distinguished Biological Resources Engineering Department of Natural Resource Management at the University of Maryland will host the 3rd Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society (AEES). In keeping with this year's timely theme, "Designing Green Partnerships of Nature and Humanity," the conference board selected B.C. "Bill" Wolverton, Ph.D., Environmental Scientist from Wolverton Environmental Services, Inc. of Picayune, Mississippi, to present the keynote address. Wolverton's address, "Ecological Engineering: Integrating Natural Processes with Conventional Technologies to Clean the Environment," will reinforce the valuable role interior plants play in overall Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ).

As a former NASA scientist, Wolverton helped to create a better understanding of the way plants and their root-associated microbes can serve as one of nature's most powerful tools for cleaning the environment. In the early 1980s, NASA began studies using biological processes to improve indoor air quality in tightly sealed structures. Research revealed that interior plants and their microbes in the rhizosphere could biologically destroy toxic chemicals present in the ambient air. Today, technology exists that can increase a plant's airborne toxin removal capacities by 200 times. With continuing indoor air quality problems in energy-efficient buildings, increasing energy costs and the threat of bio-terrorism, simple indoor plants and plant-based filtering systems are poised to play a more integral role in improving today's indoor environment.

The national educational campaign, Plants at Work, has collected a large body of critical findings which clearly support the inclusion of interior plants, a point of credit to those seeking the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI). In addition to the indoor air-cleaning benefits that will be discussed by Dr. Wolverton, Plants at Work points to studies verifying that interior plants are proven to reduce cases of "Sick Building Syndrome," lower workplace stress, boost employee productivity, enhance workstation privacy and reduce noise.

The Biological Resources Engineering Department of Natural Resource Management at the University of Maryland examines the relationships between mankind, other living things and the environment. For more information on the conference, please see http://www.bre.umd.edu/aees2003.

Plants at Work is a national educational campaign dedicated to informing professionals and the public about the many benefits interior plants can bring to the workplace. For more information on these benefits, please see http://www.plantsatwork.org, or contact M.J. Gilhooley at [e-mail].