New Year and new devices on the market. Here is the new complete list.

• Prices may vary during time.
• Some Companies don’t specify on their data sheet if their devices are capable to measure PM2.5 or PM10 and they just mention the word dust.
• Some other companies say: Our product goes beyond CO₂ by analyzing substances that directly affect your well-being by measuring VOCs. They aren’t clear if their devices have CO₂ sensor.
• The classification of the design between Bad, Good and Very Good is based on the materials (plastic, wood, glass and metal) that they have used and the aesthetic on my personal opinion.

So, I left my home 20 days ago for vacations but I left Awair (one of my Home AQI devices) ON just because I wanted to monitor the house during all that time of absence.

Every day all the values of VOCs, CO2, Temperature and Humidity were stable and normal when suddenly on 5th of January I noticed that the value of the VOCs index climbed from 1 to 2 (Awair dispays VOCs on an index values not into parts per billion). Why did that happen? Well my first thought was that someone has entered the house without my knowledge and indeed my sister in law had entered the house secretly during night to leave some presents (btw high in VOCs) for my nieces because she wanted to hide them before the The Three Wise Men day (a traditional day when Spanish people exchange gifts).

Bottom line my Home AQI device can function more than a simple air quality monitor and gives me a glimpse inside my house even when I am not present. I guess if my house had a flood problem, I could see a spike in the humidity and if a fire started, I could see a spike in CO2.

On my previous post I have talked a bit about the air problems that Greece is facing now. On this post I will talk about my experience in Italy and more specific in Rome.

Great city with great history as well. They call it the eternal city but I will call it the noise city because they are part of the mediterranean temperament. I only had the chance to visit the city and not around but I have noticed that the air quality in Rome isn’t good at all.

Smoking: From one hand people respect and they don’t smoke inside (Strong Law) but from the other hand by the time they exit a building they will smoke and smoke non stop. Cigarette Butt everywhere on the street. I couldn’t walk outside without having someone in front of me smoking.

Cars: Vehicles are a big problem there as well. In Rome they even have many mini cars (one-two seats per car) I guess because of a parking issue that they may facing.

Metro: The air quality inside Rome’s metro was horrible, unhealthy and unbreathable. I guess the ventilation doesn’t work and if it works maybe it’s time to renovate it immediately. In my opinion the metro didn’t have a good aspect at all. The price of the underground was €1.5 per journey or €7 for 24h or €24 for 7 days which I don’t find very attractive for a family and someone that goes to work every day. In Madrid for example the price of Metro is  €1.5 for a single trip but €11.20 for 10 trips which is more good if you work 5 days per week and you need two tickets per day during a labor week.

People have to realise that we need to make changes if we want a healthy future in Rome, in Athens, in London etc.

Winter holidays are here and after a long time I am back in Greece to spend them with my family. Unfortunately the crisis has affected the air quality here too.

Fireplaces: Huge problem because most houses choose them as a heating source, so they burn wood nowadays. Previously they were burning oil but its price climbed up and people tured to wood. PMs inside houses are on high values 20-40μg/m3. The threshold is below 25μg/m3. Outside values are high too with similar values of 18-38μg/m3.

Smoking: One more time Greek people disappointed me with the way they decide to behave in interior places. They smoke everywhere like in cafes, in restaurants etc. There is a law that prohibits that but they don’t follow it at all. How can we make people understand that this is a toxic air? It isn’t about them only but for all the people around them that they choose not to smoke like non smokers and kids. They are so proud smoking inside. Socialy is still something cool in Greece I guess. I asked some friends what will happen if I raise my voice. Will I find justice or will they throw me outside the places? Sadly the answer was that probably they will think I am crazy.

Cars: Yes there was a big scandal about some automobile companies that made-make car that pollute air beyond any consideration but that hasn’t affect how people think and move. People love Cars and traffic apperantly too.

Agricultural Fires: Through my trip from Sterea Ellada to Peloponeso farmers all over the countryside were burning unwanted material, from plastic to wood. I was hopping to breathe some pure air but that wasn’t the case on that trip. I know that there is a law that prohibits that action but I guess people don’t care.

If you are aware about air quality, a wearable device like TZOA is absolutely necessary in case you want to find places with good air quality in Greece or on the rest of the planet Earth.