Cyclists, motorcyclist and pedestrians but even people inside their houses (depending where they live) get exposed to direct air pollutants like Hydrocarbons (HC), Nitrogen oxides (NOx), Particulate matter (PM1.0-PM2.5-PM10), Carbon monoxide (CO) and Sulfur dioxide (SO2) from the vehicles’exhaust fumes everyday.
The solutions can be limited. A half face filter mask for example is the only solution for those that move around the city. Two are the factors that will determinate if the mask is worth using it. Firstly if it is efficient enough to block all the harmful pollutants out of our lungs and secondly if it is elegant enough to use it in public.
Right now there are many masks in the market that offer these kinds of protection, for now I will list some on them below but later this year I will review some of them here on #seetheair blog and I will let you know if they are efficient and elegant for your everyday usage.
Our lives dependent upon our breath but many people including myself don’t know how to breathe properly.
Clean fresh air is an important key for a better breath. There are hundreds of studies about the importance of fresh clean air. In cities with high air pollution, people struggle with asthma, infections and breathing difficulties and they are quite common issues. We need clean air for our health.
Be aware of each breath, which mean to breathe into your abdomen using deep, rhythmic belly breaths. Many people including myself are surface breathers, meaning that our inhalation of air is shallow and it isn’t even noticeable, as a result not efficient. Deep belly breathing calms the central nervous system right away. The breaths help in establishing the connection of our mind to our body.
Focus on your breath. Breathe in and breathe out. Notice your belly filling with fresh air, and exhale. Stay present. Knowingly sending the breath deep into your belly then fill up the lungs. Feel the air inside you. Experience the exchange of gases (O2-CO2) inside you, and witness the calming down of the body. That’s it, you did it. Now remember this steps each time you catch yourself breathing shallow and of course practice.
There are some apps for smartphones and smartwatches that can help and remind you to breathe properly. For example, Apple watchOS 3.0 includes an app with breathing techniques. Available Fall 2016 for free
Search for a “breathe or meditation” app on iOS or Android store. You can find free and paid ones like:
I have had the opportunity to have two Awair devices for a short period of time because the old device had a defective PM sensor (that can happen with all electronic devices), so the company was kind enough to sent me a replacement unit, as a result I took this opportunity to compare the sensors between them except the PM sensor as the old one was defective before sent the old unit back to the company.
I took screenshots of the timelines of each sensor and placed them one on top of the other. This way it is very clear and easy to understand the correlation between the old unit and the new one.
Temperature sensors: High correlation.
Humidity sensors: High correlation.
CO2 sensors: High correlation but offset by ∼70ppm.
VOC sensors: Good correlation (VOCs are measured in ppb (parts per billion) and then converted into index value which means that even a small change in the ppd value can affect the index result).
All in all both devices give the same readings, remember that I didn’t make the test inside a lab but in my house and this was a practical test.
I have purchased a little environment tracker which tracks Humidity, UV light and Temperature. I wanted to write a review about it because I find it really cute cloud-shaped device which I can place it in any place I want and measure HUT and I think it worths its money ($25-$55) in my opinion.
Build
The device’s case is made of plastic and on the box it mentions that it is drip, slash and sweat resistant IPX4. However I wouldn’t mind paying more for an anodised aluminium case.
It comes with a Stand in case you want to place it on top of you night stand, table, bookcase, etc and with a Lanyard in case you want to carry it with you. It also has a nice physical feature which is a magnetic back, not enough strong to hold itself but if you own a small neodymium magnet you can combine them and use it on your fridge or placing it on your clothes like a wearable…
Design
As I mention before I find its cloud-shaped form really cute but it doesn’t make it really attractive to the general public or formal enough to wear it with you everywhere.
Energy
It works with a coin-sized Lithium battery CR2032 and it claims that can operate up to 6 months on normal usage. Although I would love if it had a small Solar panel on the front next to the UV sensor, infinity energy.
Sensors
Temperature: The temperature sensor is quite accurate but don’t expect high precision±2ºC. I have compared it with 3 more devices and they mostly coincide.
RH Humidity: It’s less accurate than the temperature sensor by ±5% based on my experiment, but it is Relative Humidity as its name says it is relative!
UV: A bit disappointed about it to be honest and I will explain why. I think the way they have place it on the device isn’t the optimal way to read always the correct UVI value from sun. You see sun’s rays hit the earth on an angle and the device must be on 90º angle with those rays if you want the device to tell you the highest value (highest=right value). One more thing that I don’t like is the frontal face because it can cast a shadow on the sensor and as a result no UVI reading.
UVI 4 by holding the device on the right angle outside.
App UI
The iOS app that I have been using is super nice, but with some small bugs in the history tab. The app is divided into 4 Tabs. The first calculates the time you should be exposed on UV rays to avoid sun burns, the second is the History tab with Day-Week-Month overview of the HUT, the third tab is the main tab with all the current stats plus a little plant that tells you if it’s confortable or not and the last one is a social tab with a camera integration.
Connectivity
It uses Bluetooth 4.0 technology and it works with iOS 6 or newer devices and any Android 4.3 or newer.
P.S The device is under the brands Adam Elements CliMate and Rooti CliMate.
Clean your apartment’s floors and the furnitures twice a week.
Clean the pre-filters from your Air Conditioners or your purifiers every one-two months.
Clean or refresh your linens once a week.
Guide
Vacuum. Pollutants can accumulate in the house. By using a vacuum with a HEPA filter you can reduce concentrations of lead, dust and dust mites in your house. Mop. Mopping picks up the dust that vacuuming leaves behind. Avoid soap and other chemicals and just use water and a blend of essential oils like Tea Tree, Lemon and Pine, trust me it works! (Don’t over mopping due to excess humidity). Dust. Remove dust from the furnitures with a mixture of water and few drops of an essential oil blend (Lemon-Lavander) inside a bottle spray and with the help of a rag.No shoes. Put a floor mat at every door. People track in all sorts of chemicals via the dirt on their shoes. Finally ask your family members to walk around the house without shoes.
Clean the pre-filters inside your shower cabin with the shower telephone and then mix in a bowl 3 cups of warm water, 1 tsp of baking soda and 4 drops of tea tree essential oils and scrub gently the filters to disinfect them and give them a fresh scent.
Your linens can accumulate a big amount of dust, so remember to clean them by washing or by hanging them outside in the sun for a few hours or by vacuuming them in case there isn’t available any of the options above like sofas, armchairs, etc.
This summer I decided to design and hopefully build a DIY Air purifier. I came up with three designs and I need your vote to help me choose one of the three.
Maybe one of the simplest DIY purifier equipped with a fan, a HEPA / activated carbon filter.
This one allowes more aire to flow from the bottom to the top thanks to its cone shape again with a HEPA / activated carbon filter but it takes more space.
A wooden purifier, equipped with two smaller fans and a HEPA / activated carbon filter.
Vote by leaving a comment bellow. In case you have any suggestions I would love to read about them as well.
It has been quite some time now since I have had 2 devices with VOC sensors and I want to express my honest opinion about them. I am not going to talk about the brands but only I will discuss my opinion if the VOC sensor have a value to the user.
One of devices displays the measurments in ppb and the other one displays an index value from 1 to 5. At the beginning I was thinking that ppb is a better way to display pollution inside the house “more accurate” but after a while I understood that it doesn’t matter because index values are a greater and easier way for the avarage users to understand that.
VOC sensors measure a variety of harmful chemical compounds with carbon atoms (aka organic) like Acetone CH3(CO)CH3, Benzene C6H6, Ethylene glycol C2H6O, Formaldehyde CH2O, Toluene C7H8,Xylene C8H10, etc… but also other non harmful VOCs as well, for instant when I clean my house I use distilled water and organic essential oil, tea tree to be more exact. Tea tree’s components are Terpinen-4-ol C10H18O, γ-Terpinene C10H16, Aromadendrene C15H24 etc… all with Carbon atoms which they trigger the VOC sensor. As you can understand if you don’t have the chemical knowledge for each particle in the air, you might get confused by the alerts your VOC sensor gives you.
Many users have told me that they indeed feel confused by the readings the VOC sensor gives them. The researchers on the other hand say that at least you know the concentration of some organic gas is higher than normal, and you can start thinking about why that occurs.
I am not in favor of researchers’ opinion, the user has to know excaly what isn’t going well with his air quality and not guessing.
Interesting DIY projects for Weather-Air devices. Sure there are many Brand devices out there that measure air pollution or weather conditions but prices can get high, so if you have the skills to solder then you can design a device for your own needs. There are a lot of DIY projects out there, so choose the best for you and your wallet.
1. Easy IoT weather station with multiple sensors by Ingenerare
Air Purifiers that use various ideas and technologies to clean the air from VOCs to PMs. As you can see on the green column I have mentioned the best and the cheapest way to improve air quality indoors, it’s a reminder for those that can apply this principle.
Prices may vary during time.
Some Companies don’t specify on their datasheets some of the infos.
There are hundreds of air purifiers out there I have just included some of them, if you want to suggest another one please feel free to mention it on a comment below and I will be happy to add it.
The classification of the design is based on my personal criteria, what’s aesthetically nice or not.
See The Air 