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The Problem

When it comes to air pollution, there’s bad, and then there’s Beijing bad. The air quality was so poor in the major Chinese city during the fourth quarter of 2016 that officials took the unusual step of grounding air flights from the Beijing airport. The reason: Pilots couldn’t see the runway on landing approach, even from only a few hundred feet in the air.

Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The Cause

Officials attributed the heavy smog to a number of factors, including automobile exhaust, a drop in temperatures that resulted in increased use of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, a spike in humidity that kept smog in place, and the coal-burning factories and plants in the area.

Worst yet, Beijing wasn’t the only hotspot. In the Sichuan province, more than 20,000 people were stuck at that local airport one day after flights were grounded because of heavy smog.

The Solution

In an effort to limit these instances, Beijing is experimenting with as new police force, which is tasked with tracking down environmental offenders. So, the new squad will be on the lookout for people burning garbage, organic fuel like wood or moss or barbequing in the open. In addition, the local government has pledged to close the city’s coal-fired energy plant, reducing coal consumption by 30 percent. Officials also want to removed older vehicles from the road, and improve some road conditions, which kick up dust from use.

Still, issues remain. In the region, regulatory violations are openly flaunted by companies, with industries continuing production even when told to cease because of pollution concerns. There’s no word whether the new police squad will enforce industrial regulations.

All this comes at a time when Chinese workers are becoming more anxious about pollution levels, with sales of personal filtration masks and novelty “fresh air” canisters at an all-time high.

Credit: The Washington Post

AeraMax PRO combats bad air

To this end, AeraMax Professional has redoubled efforts to bring commercial-grade air filtration systems to more Chinese companies, in a move to improve overall indoor air quality. AeraMax Professional air purifiers have been proven to remove up to 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants from indoor spaces, making them a perfect way to combat bad air coming in.

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Gun range air quality problems ?

That old adage: “guns don’t kill people, people kill people?” Turns out it was wrong. Guns do kill people, albeit slowly and from an unlikely source.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently conducted a study of air quality in gun ranges, taking blood samples from people who frequently attend the firing ranges, like law enforcement personnel. Then, the CDC compared the blood samples to people who don’t go gunning.

The Results

The finding: people who frequent ranges have elevated levels of lead in their blood. The lead is the result of inhaling lead dust, lead vapor and associated fumes, the byproduct of a gun’s discharge. Lead poisoning and long-term exposure to lead dust can result in severe abdominal pain, vomiting, seizures and even organ failure. The gun range air quality can kill you?

Clearly, gun ranges should consider indoor air quality and focus on improvements—like perhaps installing AeraMax® Professional commercial-grade air purifiers in common areas. These air purifiers remove up to 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants from enclosed spaces and employ hospital-type filtration with True HEPA filters.

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It’s become a common sight—small helicopter-like devices buzzing in the air above parks and open spaces, with operators controlling them from afar. Indeed, drones are even taking over commercial applications, with Amazon testing the delivery of packages via drone copters, and military operations, with drones used for airstrikes.
Now, governments are taking the technology into new vistas. The Polish city of Krakow recently outfitted aerial drones with pollution monitors in an effort to understand where air pollution is being emitted.

According to drone maker Pawel Kalisz, his creations include a 34x optical zoom, pollution sensors and thermal imaging technology, so operators can see via tablet-based controls where illegal burning of toxic material is being done. The city has had a problem of residents disposing of all sorts of rubbish in their fireplaces and stoves, causing spikes in pollution levels. So, the drones would be used to determine where scofflaws are burning toxic materials and would aid in inspections and fines to reduce violations.
The drones operate in the morning hours and at night, when most violations occur. Data readings will be analyzed and correlated to imagery taken during flights, to pinpoint where scofflaws are burning refuse.

This type of technology would be a boon in developing countries, where infrastructures aren’t well established to warrant developing permanent air sensor towers in towns and villages. Additionally, factories spring up in rural areas, and often flaunt pollution restrictions and regulations, so the use of portable and mobile drones would help governments regulate unchecked growth and stave off violations without significant capital outlays.

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Some people seek out restaurants based on their exotic preparations. And some for exemplary service. And some folks even look for restaurants that provide lo-fi fare—comfort food that is no frills, no waiting.

But now, in Delhi, India, you can seek out a restaurant that features purified air. That’s because several restaurants have installed air purifiers as a point of differentiation in this heavily polluted city.

“A few (guests) who are allergic to pollutants noticed the change immediately, thanks to the air purifiers that we have installed in our restaurant,” said Randip Dhingra, owner of the Twist restaurant. “People are very conscious (about this) now and they appreciate it when we tell them that we have air purifiers. We decided to install air purifiers because the city has been battling pollution and we knew it would only get worse.”

To that end, the restaurant and others capitalizing on the trend have taken to social media to tout the fresh air available. “We are coming up with creative to be displayed on our social media pages to promote the fact that one can breathe fresh air here,” Dhingra said.

That’s echoed by Noah Barnes of the restaurant The Hungry Monkey. “Through our social media page, we are letting people know that we have air purifiers and the response we’ve been getting is very good,” he said.

So, one can only wonder if “served fresh daily” will take on greater meaning in the Indian restaurant industry soon.

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It’s no surprise that China has some of the worst air quality in the world: rapid industrialization, unchecked and unregulated factory growth, a spike in automobile traffic in cities and a dependence on coal-fired energy has made most days in metropolitan areas a dim haze of sooty air and unhealthy conditions.

In August of 2015, for example, the Chinese government ordered the shutdown of factories and limited cars in Beijing for several days to produce a picture-perfect environment for a parade commemorating the end of World War II. So, for several hours, the downtown area featured piercing blue skies—and immediately went back to a dull brown once the parade’s photo op was over.

Since China is among the worst in terms of outdoor pollution, it was only a matter of time before an enterprising company tapped consumer concerns for healthier commutes. Now, Xiaomi is manufacturing (somewhat) stylish masks with tiny air purifiers built in, so commuters can breathe a modicum of clean air on their way to and from work.

The masks resemble the shape of surgical masks and feature a gray, hand-woven flexible material. On the right side of the mask, a small air purifier and airflow fan capture PM2.5 particulate from the air.

PM2.5 refers to a designation from the Environmental Protection Agency for airborne particulate matter—dust, dirt and pollutants—that are two and one half microns or less in length. For reference, there are approximately 25,000 microns to an inch, so 2.5 microns is incredibly small and can easily be inhaled into one’s lungs.

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Powering the fan and filtration system on the mask is a small, lithium ion battery that can be recharged in three to four hours via USB. So, someone could come to work, take off the mask and recharge it so it’s ready for the commute home.

But what about the air quality while all those commuters are indoors at the office? Well, AeraMax Professional can take care of that. The complete line of commercial-grade AeraMax Professional air purifiers remove up to 99.97 percent of airborne pollutants, including germs, bacteria, allergens and volatile organic compounds from indoor air, using a unique four-stage HEPA filtration system.

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