IQAir sent this helpful email with a display showing the EPA's changes to #AQI classification. I had seen news about it, but this visual representation makes it obvious what the changes are. #AirQuality
Check your masks and run the air filters, #Minnesota.
(A side effect of having lived in California: Telling the air quality by the color of the Sun).
QT MN Air Quality Index @mpca_aqi
2024 May 12
An air quality alert for Red/Unhealthy for All continues for all of Minnesota. Smoke has reached St Cloud/ Marshall, and will soon reach the Twin Cities. The smoke is following a cold front moving from north to south and will linger overnight. #mnwx#aqi
"Katowice z najlepszą jakością powietrza od dekady! 🌬️ ❤️
Z roku na rok poprawia się jakość powietrza w Katowicach. Dane Głównego Inspektoratu Ochrony Środowiska pokazują, że rok 2023 charakteryzował się najlepszą jakością powietrza w porównaniu do lat ubiegłych.
Dla wskaźnika PM10 (parametr określający ilość zawieszonych w metrze sześciennym powietrza cząsteczek o średnicy nieprzekraczającej 10 mikrometrów) średnia miesięczna w ubiegłym roku wyniosła 24,3 podczas gdy w roku 2022 było to 28,5, w 2021 – 31, w 2020 – 29, w 2019 – 32,2, w 2018 – 40, a w 2017 – 41, natomiast w 2010 r. średnioroczny wskaźnik PM10 wyniósł 52.
Porównując rok 2023 i 2022 ilość pyłu zawieszonego PM10 spadła o blisko 15%, a w ciągu ostatnich 10 lat o ponad 42%."
#AQI in the US is⬇️, 2 in 5 breathe unhealthy air:
>131M ppl: exposed to harmful ozone & particle (PM 2.5) pollution -reps an 11.7M⬆️from the previous yr.
Exposure to these pollutants can raise the risk of lung & heart disease, asthma attacks...
Since 1970 -combined emissions of 6 widespread air pollutants incl. PM 2.5 dropped by 78%. In recent years, #pollution from wildfire smoke has reversed the improvements to air quality stemming from fed protections.
*Mitigates all airborne diseases at the same time w/o requiring changes to individual behavior. Airborne diseases: #Covid, influenza, RSV, & tuberculosis.
*Will help prevent future pandemics. Airborne viruses -typically spread more easily.
*Reduces the spread of disease -fewer ppl in any given indoor space are contagious than before, further⬇️transmission. Can result in “exponential decay.” -infected person infects <1 -on aver-.
Changed out the Corsi Rosenthal filters at the house... this is not filter material, this is a thick layer of drywall dust. Wore an N95 and removed these outside, it was nasty. 😬 #aqi#airquality#PM2point5
I’ve always been interested in monitoring indoor Air Quality. I think the itch to monitor indoor Air Quality grew over the years as the wild fires started getting worse, here in California. I even have a dedicated Watch (Apple) face that includes the Air Quality Index (AQI) complication.
Indoor Air Quality
Monitoring air quality typically includes monitoring Carbon dioxide (CO2), Particulate Matter (PM2.5 – represents particles that <= 2.5 microns in diameter), Temperature, Humidity, and Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC). Some monitors include a few other stats, but these are more common.
There are many monitors available online that monitor these. Most of them are either bulky, wired, fugly, or just inaccurate.
After some research, earlier this year, I found 2 very good indoor air quality monitors.
One is from Awair, called the Element. It monitors all of the above, but it’s wired. Even though it looks cool, it’s slightly bigger than what I wanted. So, I went with the other one that I liked, the SAF Aranet4 Home.
This one is wireless, replaceable battery operated (2 AAs), has a cool E Ink display but it doesn’t include PM2.5/TVOC monitoring. It’s apparently quite accurate and the best part is that it’s tiny.
1000 ppm to 1400 ppm – brain cognitive function decreases by 15%
> 1400 ppm – brain cognitive function decreases by 50%
CO2 levels are expressed in ppm – parts per million
So yeah, I was shocked to know we were living in conditions where we had 50% less brain cognitive function. Maybe this explains all the dumb shit I do ☺️
One way I could think of lowering this number was by improving ventilation and that’s by opening up the windows and doors. This improved the CO2 level very quickly. After monitoring it for a couple of days, I’ve gathered the CO2 data and how proper ventilation affects the value.
The green region shows an uptick and that’s because I moved the monitor into the hall. Opening bedroom windows seemed to lower the overall indoor CO2.
Possible ways to improve indoor CO2/Air Quality
There are a number of solutions to fix different aspects of indoor air quality.
Improving ventilation – Simplest way is to open the windows and balcony/patio doors to let the air circulate around. I’ve been using this technique and it has been working wonders.
Air Purifier – These are not cheap, at least the good ones. These are great when the outside air quality is poor or during winters, when you can’t really open your windows while it’s cold outside.
Indoor Plants – Plants need CO2 to function. Naturally, these are great to help improve indoor CO2 levels.
Replace AC’s Air filters – Replace air filters to improve your indoor air quality.
I suspect my home AC’s air filters. They might need to be replaced. I will monitor the data from my sensor for another week and see if it indeed does require a replacement. I will report back my findings soon.
In the past, I tried using a PM2.5 monitor with my Raspberry Pi. It worked wonders but having the Pi run all the time seemed like a hassle for this use case.
And still the average dipshit white colonist Motherfucker in south central WI is lighting VANITY fireplaces, smoking up the entire county.
Like, I get it, Im a cis het white colonist asshole too, but at least I'm not engaging in behaviors intended to impose hardship, harm, and lung damage on my neighbors.
I hate this shit fucking timeline of melting ignorant ass brains around me.
Terminally ill selfish polluting primates. Do better.
"The rise in poor #AirQuality threatens to reverse the health benefits that followed [the 1970 Clean Air Act] and to hurt the U.S. economy
The number of unhealthy #AQI days is likely to grow in the coming decades due to #ClimateChange, First Street projected. Worst hit could be the Western states, but Eastern states aren't immune."
PSA: If you have one of these Temtop Air Quality Monitors that has stopped measuring CO₂ levels at “Sensor preheating”, don’t throw the unit away! It just needs a new button battery.
The CO₂ sensor that this device uses is designed to return a usable reading only after three minutes of preheating. Because the sensor itself doesn’t have an indicator for when it’s ready, the main firmware has a three-minute timer that must elapse before it displays the CO₂ reading.
The main device uses a battery-powered real time clock to count the three-minute time interval. But for whatever reason, this RTC is not powered by the main rechargeable battery, but by a separate CR2032 battery. When the battery dies, not only do you lose the date/time on the device, but the preheat timer never counts up.
So pop that case open, and replace that battery. It’ll be good as new.
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...AIR QUALITY ALERT IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT PST THURSDAY NIGHT...
The South Coast AQMD has extended a mandatory wood-burning ban for residents in the South Coast Air Basin for Wed Dec 27th through Thurs Dec 28th.
No-Burn days are declared to protect public health when levels of fine particle air pollution in the region are forecast to be high.
Smoke from wood burning can cause health problems. Breathing high levels of pollution from wood smoke can cause breathing problems (including asthma attacks), worsened lung and heart disease symptoms, and may even increase emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
I blame human affinity for burning wood even with air quality alerts to the deep ancestral instinct of humans to huddle around burning campfires in the African Savannah, protection from lions and the embrace of the tribe... #AQI#campfires#wood#burning
I believe I have tracked down the strange surges in PM2.5 being detected by my indoor air sensor: pet dander! Kept seeing strange spikes, and I think it correlates to the dog shaking when he gets up from wherever he is lying. 🤔 #AQI
Redeployed new Corsi Rosenthal boxes on low speed. Things are dry, but no harm in sucking up any remaining dust from demolition, any mold and mildew spores that might be lurking. These things are great! For wildfire smoke, COVID and influenza, mold spores... cat litter smells! MERV13 is specified, equal to FPR10+. #air#quality#aqi
How a construction boom led to toxic air in Mumbai
Government incentives have led to a spike in construction projects in the city. Residents are suffering from the resultant increase in pollution levels.