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 […]
Category: Indoor Air
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 […]
Should purifiers have the filter on the front or back?
When I made my first DIY purifier, I put the filter on the front: It turned out that I wasn’t the only one interested in breathing clean air in China, so I started a small social enterprise called Smart Air to ship these low-cost purifiers to fellow-air breathers who don’t have $1,000 to blow on […]
Is Molekule really better than similarly priced air purifiers already on the market?
Over this last Christmas, I was at home on the couch, and my dad asked me if I’ve seen this new purifier he saw an ad for. He asked not because he’s interested in purifiers, not because I’m some PhD in fluid mechanics (I’m a cultural psychologist, not a physicist), but because I’ve […]
Does Closing the Windows Starve Us of Oxygen?
Air purifiers work best in a closed room environment and this worries some who are concerned that there wouldn’t be enough oxygen coming in when all doors and windows are closed. Yet recent tests in a real apartment — with as many as seven people in a small room — show less than 1% change in oxygen […]
Which Gym in Beijing has the Safest Air?
Even though PM2.5 levels fell in 2017, years of bad air pollution across China has led to many people installing air purifiers in their homes. Most of us are now breathing cleaner air at home, but what about when we are in public spaces? What’s the air like in that gym we go to, or […]
Is PM2.5 Worse on the Subway?
I wear a pollution mask in Beijing, and I’ve always taken it off when I get into the subway. That’s because I’ve always assumed air in the subway is better than outside. But am I right to take it off? I’ve heard a lot of Beijingers debating whether air in the subway is any better […]
Smart Air Indoor Air Quality Audit in 3ESpace
Date of audit: 27/05/2017 Audit conducted by: Yap Choon Khin Paddy Robertson Air quality monitor: Dyloc DC1700 Pro AirVisual Node Audit location: 3ESPACE, Beijing Jiaodaokou, Xinhua New Culture Building, 5th floor Air quality measurement outside premises: 115 µg/m3 Corresponding Air Quality Index (outdoors)[1]: 182 Air quality inside premises: 70 µg/m3 Corresponding Air Quality Index (indoors): […]