I was looking forward to review this mask as it has a unique design to adjust around the face. They call it 360º Facial fit with zero glue and zero Formaldehyde. It is supposed to protect you from the dead ends on both sides of the nose and chin, allows to better fit the facial contours as seen on the picture below.Read More »
I recently came across an article in Science focus where they discuss “How environmentally friendly are electric cars?”
They also have a chart on the article with the CO2 emission each technology Petrol, Hybrid, Electric and Hydrogen produces. I fundamentally believe that this chart can create wrong impressions to the average driver who lacks knowledge on how energy is produced and what emissions are.
Elon Musk needs money for his projects, so he decided to sell a flamethrower and apparently everyone is so exited about this useless device. A huge hype for a device that doesn’t complete any purpose.
Of course, my real worries aren’t whether the flamethrower has a purpose or not but what consequences will have to the environment. A device which throws flames everywhere and is capable to destroy forests, houses and burn habitats. More importantly, we suppose to fight against global warming and yet we create more devices which burn oxygen and generate carbon dioxide CO2 and air pollution.
This is a new kind of Air Quality Monitor list, here you can find all the outdoor AQ Monitors. These kind of monitors are suitable for outdoor air quality monitoring and most of them feature weather protection.
Not everybody can afford an AQ Monitor or simply not everybody wants to spend money on a AQ Monitor. That’s fine because here are 17 Free/Paid apps for you to check the outdoor air quality in your area. Some of them can notify you when the Air Quality is poor and guide you on breathing cleaner air. Unfortunately some apps don’t support some regions, this is because some developers face difficulties to obtain data from local authorities. (The public air quality stations in my region suck!)
Caliope is an air quality forecast system for Spain, developed at Earth Sciences Department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS). The app supports all Spanish regions and the website version supports most European countries. Available data O3, NO2, SO2, PM10 and PM2.5. Maps and Pollutants. The website is available in English and Spanish.
The EPA AIRNow was designed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Although the agency has access to all the US AQ stations and a huge amount of data, the app is plain and with a very poor design. There is nothing special about this app. Even the icons are pixelated. They should be ashamed, the app looks like an internet page from 1999.
AirVisual provides a free app for their device Node/Pro but it also works without it. You can have access on a huge amount of outdoor AQ Stations around the globe. With a history browsing for all the pollutants, maps, ranking and news. The data are from public stations but also from their devices around the globe.
Wunderground is basically an advance weather forecast app but they also provide air pollution data if you are lucky enough, which means depending the weather station they use to get the data for your area. If the weather station in your area has air quality sensors then they will provide you with the data.
Plume Labs has design this app to help people avoid air pollution. Their app offers an air pollution forecast. It is a simple but a complete app. You will see an Air Index at the home screen, weather conditions and the activities that they recommend you to do depending the air quality at that time. They use public AQ stations but they will also combine the data from their devices in the near future. It supports notifications.
CleanSpace focuses on Carbon Monoxide air pollution. On the home screen you can see the “current” air pollution from your device but if you don’t have a device you can also browser their air pollution map. They also provide some weather data from the local weather station. A bit limited on the pollutants.
The app exist on the app store with 2 different icons but the same name, by the same developer and the same interface. It is a very nice app with plenty of data. The app has some nice animations and a clean design.
This app is for the Chinese citizens because only supports Chinese cities. Super Clean design and some funny icons and quotes.
BreezoMeter will help you get to the point of the air quality immediately. They support a map but the elephant will let you know if your outdoor air quality is safe and it will give you some advice. It will also tell you which is the dominant pollutant in your area.
Netatmo is mainly a weather forecast app but it also provides some simple air quality data. Nothing fancy regarding the air data.
The Air Bubbles app indicates the air quality with colour-coded bubbles. Not many info available.
Air Matters provides air pollution data, weather data and allergy data. If you suffer from allergies from a specific tree or plant like mugwort or olive trees etc, it will provide you with all the useful data. History browsing is also available and maps. Very clean and good design.
Awair has a small and basic tab with the outdoor air quality and weather conditions which allows you to compare them with the indoor air quality in case you have their device.
Air Checker is very simple, you just type your city and it tells you the air quality plus the pollutants. I compared the data with others and they didn’t correlate at all. So I am not very sure about the accuracy.
Aerium is a weather forecast app but if you upgrade the free app it will also give you air quality info.
Kaiterra is a free app for the Laser Egg 2 but it also provides outdoor air quality data. Simple design with an AQI and a histogram for the air pollutants.
Foobot has a basic tab with the outdoor air quality index for the outdoor location of the indoor device.
Do you remember this DIY Low cost DIY PM Monitor, there is a new and better version available.
The new version offers a low cost housing and the software is more mature now. The software is open source, on github, and there are some pre-built images on their website.
A great new feature is the ability to store of a few days of data on the device which makes it more robust to internet outages and usable for periods away from wifi access, and it records every sample from the PMS5003 sensor which is more that one per second to better capture quick changes and better for mapping walking around.
You can find all the instructions on their website.
Have you ever noticed that the water tastes different when you leave it in a glass on your nightstand overnight?
In general during the 8h sleep, CO2 is built inside the room. Especially in winter when we don’t ventilate as frequent and CO2 can reach levels higher than 2,000ppm inside the house. CO2 is a soluble gas and water is the perfect solvent. As a result a process called Acidification is occurred naturally and the PH lowers during that process. That gives your bedside glass of water a horrible taste.
Do you think the current PM (Particulate Matter) monitors are too expansive or too risky to leave them outside? Do you need proofs for convincing your local authorities to take actions against air pollution?
Then it’s time to build your own personal outdoor PM DIY Monitor. It won’t cost you more than €32 and it can feed your community with valuable data about the air quality. Use that data to prove how bad is the air quality in your neighborhood or community.
In my recent visit in New York and in other USA cities I decided to take with me a portable carbon monoxide device and measure the air quality across the cities during my trip.
The CO Sensor was placed on a net pocket that I had sewed on my backpack. I am quite the craftsman! The experiment had to be done correctly to ensure that the air flowed easily and the measurements were taken correctly and constantly.Read More »
This time I had the opportunity of getting a half face mask by Cambridge Mask Co. and of course I wrote with pleasure a review on my blog.
Cambridge Mask offers the N99 respirators (Not oil resistant), a three layer mask with a Military Grade Carbon Filter layer, and the Three-Ply Micro Particulate layer. An exhale valve is present as well to ensure that moist won’t build up. These respirators also filter 99.6% of viruses and 99.77% of bacteria.Read More »
See The Air 