Creative Solutions to Air Quality

A positive blog

One of our vendors (not one of our readers, apparently) complained recently that air quality and air pollution were less than upbeat topics.

That’s the traditional ostrich mind set. “Oh air quality, nothing can be done.”

We beg to differ. We’ve done many blog articles about how you can use our free app and simple technologies to control your indoor air quality and fight air pollution.

But the news has filled recently with stories about how new technologies finding solutions to air pollution. For example, China is considering experimenting with new technologies to spray water from skyscrapers to bring PM 2.5 air pollution levels down to a somewhat safer 35 micograms per m3. (PM 2.5 levels were recently above that level here in Los Angeles on multiple days so maybe we should be spraying water from our downtown skyscrappers out here as well if it would help. Los Angeles is a large geographic area, however, and one wonders how effective spraying in downtown would be.)

Bird masks come of age

Although we intend mainly to offer an alternative technology for those who don’t want to invest in a second air purifier (or need to be outside), our recent satirical post about bird masks and bird flu turned out to be rather timely.

(And, for the record, we have not suddenly converted this into a fashion blog. We are not suddenly recommending wearing one of these masks or this, even as a political statement against air pollution or bird flu or because you wanted to join a protest movement but the mask store was out of Guy Fawkes masks or something.)

The government of Shanghai is considering distributing surgical masks to deal with air pollution. And China announced this week a ban on poultry trading due to another bird flu scare. So the concerns are real.

New technologies to fight air pollution

But the real story is the emergence of multiple technologies that finally promise to find creative solutions to both the PM2.5 air pollution issue and global warming issues in an economic way.

Electric automobiles offer perhaps the most promise on both of these. China reportedly gave Tesla a hard time and skimped on pollution control regulations for its cars, but entrepreneurs there have also come up with new solutions. There is Chinese Zipcar-competitor start-up Kandi, which offers small electric cars for hourly rent at rates supposedly cheaper than a taxi. The cars are literally dispensed at a facility that holds 30 cars in an automated garage with car elevator that acts as a giant vending machine.  This allows Kandi to achieve a low footprint as it opens up car dispensing stations.

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