I started thinking about this question a lot because I was living in Beijing, and the “airpocalypse” struck: I had a cough I couldn’t shake for weeks, so I started doing research into air purifiers. Unlike another answer here, I wasn’t concerned about allergens like pollen. I was concerned about the very small particles […]
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How Accurate is the Huawei Air Quality Monitor? New Test!
When I started building DIY air purifiers in Beijing to protect my lungs from this… …I wanted to test the air in my home, but particle counters were really expensive. Most cost around $1,000 or $2,000 dollars. But then there was the Dylos, which I bought for about $260. […]
How do people in Beijing exercise with such bad air pollution?
I’m in Beijing right now, and I’m going to exercise today. So what can I do when the world outside my window looks like this? Would exercise do more harm than good? 1. The point where exercise becomes harmful Researchers at Cambridge analyzed studies on the benefits of exercise and the harms of air […]
3 Things You Need to Know About Formaldehyde Part Three
OK, I’ve got formaldehyde in my home. What can I do about it? There are two serious ways of getting rid of formaldehyde at home, plus one not-so-serious method. Method 1: Open a window, since outdoor air has virtually no formaldehyde. Even in developed urban areas, outdoor concentrations of formaldehyde are near zero. […]
Would Living in a High Rise Protect Us From PM2.5?
Living on the 20th floor of a high rise building isolates people from the world. Cars, trucks, shaokao vendors—they’re all farther away. So does that mean PM2.5 is lower on the higher floors of buildings? The Test Tristan from the Smart Air team tested this by taking laser particle counters from floor 1 to […]
Beijing’s air quality improves whilst New Delhi’s PM2.5 levels worsen
Beijing and Delhi often hit the news as two of the most polluted cities in the world, with PM2.5 levels often soaring to tens of times the WHO annual limit (10µg/m3). Smart Air plotted the PM2.5 data from the US Embassy in Delhi and the US Embassy in Beijing to compare how the air quality […]
Can pollution masks help with India’s air pollution?
Every year when winter rolls around, a billion people in India are left breathing toxic, polluted air when on the streets. Be it in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata or Hyderabad, everyone is forced to become experts in a complicated scientific question to cope with the pollution: Do pollution masks work? I’ve heard doubts from smart, skeptical […]
Is being in a high pollution city like Delhi India really like smoking a pack a day healthwise?
Comparing air pollution to smoking is a dangerous question. Honest observers (like Richard Saint Cyr MD and Richard Muller) have come up with wildly different answers, from 1/6th of a cigarette a day, to four a day, to claims of 21 cigarettes a day. Here’s why they’re all right. Two Fundamentally Different Ways of Asking the Question One of the points […]
Can we measure air pollution simply by looking at the sky?
Sometimes I hear people say air pollution is invisible. But after years of living in Beijing and Delhi, I’ve been amazed at how well we can detect air pollution with our eyes. But it’s a bit complicated. If you’re not thinking about it, it’s easy to overlook. I discovered that when I spent […]
IQAir Atem Review – Is this portable air purifier effective?
The IQAir Atem is a personal, portable air purifier that’s new on the scene. Recently, we were asked by Vincent to review the IQAir Atem – which IQAir calls “the most effective personal air purifier.” Here was Vincent’s question: Being the data nerds that we are, we decided to get some data on the question, and […]