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 […]
Author: Paddy Robertson
Paddy graduated in aeronautical engineering from Bristol University, and now runs Smart Air's operations from Beijing. He's an advocate for open data, free information and transparent business.
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 […]
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 […]
Are Cheap Particle Counters Accurate?
When I first started making DIY purifiers, the particle counters I could buy were a US$260 Dylos or crazily expensive particle counters that costed thousands of dollars. Since then, the market has exploded with new particle counters as cheap as 99 RMB. But are they any good? Putting Particle Counters to the Test To […]
Can I Clean or Wash HEPA filters? – Supplemental Data
This post contains supplemental data for the post “Can I Clean or Wash HEPA filters?“. It includes detailed information about the testing method, and the original data, open-sourced for all to view. Click here to view the original article Open Data Particle Capture Tests For the particle capture tests, CK used a Met One GT-531 […]
What Eats Airpocalypse For Breakfast and Doesn’t Cost Thousands of Dollars?
Four years ago, I was coughing through a Beijing winter and wanted some clean air. But all the purifiers I could find cost hundreds of dollars, so I strapped a filter to a fan I had at home and made my first DIY purifier. It wasn’t pretty, but I tested it with a laser […]
Winter is Coming
Another year, another winter. As winter arrives in Beijing and soon in Shanghai, I got to wondering: how much worse is winter air in Beijing? To get to the bottom of it, I analyzed the last eight years of US Embassy PM 2.5 data for Beijing and Shanghai. I found that the capital’s air has […]
How accurate are common particle counters?
When I started Smart Air in 2013, I wanted to buy an air quality monitor. I had basically two options. I could buy a US$260 Dylos or spend thousands of dollars on the crazy expensive particle counters. Since then, the market has exploded with new air quality monitors as cheap as 99 RMB. But are they […]
US Embassy Beijing reads AQI of 0! Are the summer skies always clear?
Map of today’s pollution levels across China – 9th September 2016. Source：http://aqicn.org What a glorious day in Beijing! Right now, the US Embassy in Beijing is giving a PM2.5 value of 0. Is summer normally this good? And what’s the pollution like in other parts of China right now? (Short answer: not good! Long answer: read […]