The 13 by 20 metre glass greenhouse includes banana trees, tanks of aquatic plants and an engineered marsh, all of which transform sewage into water. Full implementation is scheduled for 1997. As the weather gets colder, people tend to spend more time indoors with windows sealed shut. Some have theorized that one of the possible reasons for the steady rise in childhood asthma, a severe form of allergic disease, since the 1970s, may be the increase in energy efficient buildings which allow little exchange of outside air. This, coupled with the increased amount of time spent indoors, causes an increase in exposure to indoor allergens.
Dust mites are the biggest cause of allergic reactions in the home.
A member of the spider family, mites thrive in warm, humid conditions. Nearly 100,000 dust mites can live on one square yard of carpet and thousands share your bed and bedding every night. The culprit for allergic reactions is a protein found in their minuscule waste pellets. Mites can survive vacuuming because they stick to surfaces. Vacuuming may remove mite residue, as does washing.