United States. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted, through the Committee on Indoor Air Quality, an investigation that identified in copper a useful material to control the emission of fungi in HVAC systems.
To improve indoor air quality and thus avoid the polluting microbes that are transported by air conditioning in more habitable buildings, they found that with the properties of copper, bacteria, viruses and fungi can be eliminated as soon as possible.
Researcher Michael Schmidt, vice dean of Immunology Microbiology at the University of South Carolina, conducted some tests with HVAC systems in which he used copper and aluminum in the barracks, replacing collection trays and heat exchangers.
It was there that the researchers found that concentrations of aerial fungi were much lower in the copper barracks than in those with aluminum, and there was no evidence of any bacterial layer formation in the copper heat exchanger.
Schmidt recommends that research continue to explore the impact of copper weatherization on inhabited spaces, as well as those on the effects of copper in reducing bacteria levels.
