Before we start this article, please take a big deep breath and think about these questions. Is air you breathe clean and safe? Can you make sure the air quality in your living area is good enough? If you cannot answer these two questions, , this article will help you understand your air quality.
In survival, the rule of threes involves the priorities in order to survive. Normally, the rule of threes[1] contain the following:
- You can survive three minutes without breathable air.
- You can survive three hours in a harsh environment.
- You can survive three days without drinkable water.
- You can survive three weeks without food.
Each point is assumed to satisfy the previous one (s). For example, if you have a large quantity of food and water yet are exposed to the environment, then the harsh conditions rule applies. Breathable air is the top priority for us to survive. Before you insist on eating only organic food or drinking only purified water, please understand that clean air is essential for our health. According to a report from World Health Organization (WHO), globally, 7 million deaths were attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in 2016. About 4.2M deaths were caused by ambient (outdoor) air pollution in both cities and rural areas in 2016.
Air Quality Index (AQI) is one of the most popular standard to evaluate the air quality. The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern[2]. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes an AQI for five major air pollutants, including particle pollution, which we will focus on in this article.
PM2.5, refers to fine particles found in the air with diameters less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers ( ). The average of a fine beach sand is about 90 micrometers diameter. The average single human hair is about 70 micrometers diameter. It means a single hair from your head is 30 times larger than the largest fine particle. The sources of PM can be various. Some are emitted directly from construction sites, fires, or unpaved fields. However, most of particles form by pollutants emitted by industry, automobiles, and power plants.
Particulate matter enters our lungs through the nose and throat. The larger particulate (PM10) is eliminated through coughing and sneezing and swallowing. PM2.5 can penetrate deeper into the lungs. It can travel all the way to the alveoli, causing lung and heart problems, and delivering harmful chemicals to the blood system.
In conventional PM2.5 monitoring approaches, extremely professional, large, and expensive monitoring stations are deployed across countries or regions. They are usually operated by the local environmental protection agency (EPA). Since the deployment cost is high (over $50K), it is not possible to deploy professional monitoring stations in every neighborhood.
How is the air quality? Can those professional monitoring stations provide us the answer? yes. However, if we revise the question to “How’s the air quality right now. right here,” they are not capable of answering. Due to the requirement of high accurate, most of the professional monitoring stations only publish the value once per hour.
Luckily, benefiting from advancements in Internet of things (IoT) technology, the development of low-cost air quality sensors has been possible. It reduces cost (about $200), increases coverage, and provides much higher levels of flexibility when compared to traditional, fixed solutions. Its easy installation and maintenance features provide a solution to build a large-scale real-time air quality monitoring system. Users will receive one data point every 5 minutes, which allows them to make any further movement immediately to reduce particle pollution.
In the past few years, there are more and more communities and governments joining to build the large-scale real-time air quality monitoring system based on IoT technology. IQAir[3] is the world’s largest free real-time air quality information platform and engage an ever-growing number of global citizens, organizations, and governments.
Clean air is critical to good health and well-being. We can all play a part in it. It is time to start following a device nearby your living area. Or you can do more, install one.
[1] Rule of threes (survival): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_threes_(survival)
[2] Air Quality Guide for Particle Pollution:
https://www.airnow.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/air-quality-guide_pm_2015_0.pdf
[3] IQAir:
https://www.iqair.com/
