Top Quality Air Purifiers and Healthy Home Solutions that You Can Trust

As we learn to work with new technology, we have to look at the environmental impact and how it affects us in our communities.

This is often an issue when some new digital advancement comes along. One of the most prominent examples is cryptocurrency, where bitcoin mining and other similar blockchain practices use a lot of energy. Specifically, as of 2022, scientists estimated that the practice of mining Bitcoin uses up to 127 terawatt-hours annually, which was roughly equal to the total energy consumption of Norway at the time. To put this in perspective, the average American home uses an estimated 861 kilowatt-hours per month!

It turns out there’s also a significant footprint for ChatGPT and other similar models that we use for search, creativity, professional development, etc.

Just like most pollution, you don’t see the effect right around you. Instead, it builds up. In the case of ChatGPT, the change happens at remote data centers far away from where you’re typing in your parts of the interaction with the neural net.

So what is the actual impact?

Models and Carbon Dioxide Emissions

In terms of carbon dioxide, scientists estimate that ChatGPT emits about 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

However, when you compare that to one person’s output, it’s about double. So you can imagine that in a total year, ChatGPT only emits as much carbon dioxide as one roving couple of aging nomads in a Volkswagen van.

Or, pick your metaphor.

The point is that taking in the big picture, this isn’t really a lot of carbon dioxide emissions.

Water Use for ChatGPT

The issue becomes a bit more urgent when you consider water use.

Those data centers need a lot of water to operate. Operators need to cool rack after rack of hard-working hardware, that is generating a lot of heat, while consuming those corresponding massive amounts of power. 

Here’s where ChatGPT’s footprint is sizable.

Experts estimate that for every 20 to 50 queries you ask ChatGPT, it uses the equivalent of a single bottle of water, around 500 cL.

That means the total water usage is sizable.

You also have to take into account how the energy to power data centers is generated. If it’s generated far from the data center itself, energy is lost in transmission. If it’s from coal burning, that has its own footprint.

This resource from Maricopa Community College makes the distinction between renewable and non-renewable energy sources, showing how they have differing impacts on the environment.

“Renewable energy sources can be replenished within human lifespans. Examples include solar, wind, and biomass energy. Non-renewable energy is finite and cannot be replenished within a human timescale.”

At the same time, many of these renewables also have zero emissions. That is not true, though, of wood, where natural wood combustion creates quite a bit of contamination.

The Air Around You

On a very general level, we have to be cognizant of air pollution, because it can affect our health.

In addition to carbon dioxide, you have factory fumes, particles from wood smoke, and emissions from vehicles, each of which carries its own burdens of PM 2.5, NO2, and other pollutants.

On the blog, you can find a lot of updates about how governments and communities are handling air pollution. You can read about where it’s coming from, for instance, wildfires and their responses all over the globe.

But you can also start trying for cleaner air at home with an air purifier appliance that will scrub out a lot of these pollutants, as well as many others.

As we’ve pointed out, you’re dealing with a range of air pollutants. Some of them are synthetic chemicals, and others more natural. Air purifiers can work on things like mold, dust mites, and pet dander or pet odor. They can also work on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde and benzene, and they can work on PM 2.5 from wood or coal combustion, or vehicle exhaust.

One good way to start is using an air monitor to see what’s lurking in your indoor air.

Then you can use a whole home or floor-standing air purifier to remediate the issue and get clean, livable, breathable air.

Sometimes it’s the little things – details that you would never think about can have an impact on your health.

Everybody views this a different way. Some people would rather not know about these little issues –but to other people, knowledge is power, and they want to understand the science of what happens around them.

If you're in that second set of people, though, you can look at interesting new research about no-flame scented candles and other aromatherapy products.

Aroma and Health

On the one hand, aromatherapy can be great for stress and mental health.

It can help you sleep better, reduce your tension and lighten your mood.

But if the materials have caustic chemicals and pollutants, there’s a negative effect, too.

Flame-Free Candles and Scented Items: Studies

In some studies, scientists are finding that some of the items that seem safe might actually be a little more harmful than how they are presented.

For example, check out this article where scientists at Purdue University are subjecting no-flame scented candles and similar objects to trial tests. They're finding that they’re releasing higher levels of things like benzene and terpenes than anyone would have suspected. That's troubling.

This opens up the issue to a debate about how harmful some of these products are.

Thinking About Scenarios

Think about this basic question. Can you cancel out the pollution from a scented candle (flameless or otherwise) with an air purifier in the same room?

Imagine you’re the spouse of someone who goes to Bed, Bath and Beyond routinely and burns scented candles in the bedroom (more on this later). You might also have an air purifier machine going. You want to cleanse the air. How much will that air purifier cancel out the effect of the candle?

Science for the Win

Now, if you are interested in this conundrum, you can check out this Reddit thread. Here, a very scientifically minded poster goes through a lot of the physics involved, breaking down what happens.

That’s going to show the reader what’s going on in the room down to a very granular level, depending on where those items are placed, and when they are burned.

“You light a candle on one side of the room, and you put the air purifier on the other,” writes one poster in a theoretical proposition. “The candle gives off its vapors, so you can smell it. The air purifier filters out the vapors. The vapors could not be removed from the air until crossing the entire room and going into the air purifier. So as long as the candle is lit, there will be vapors between the candle and air purifier. It would reduce the total accumulation of vapors but not totally remove all of them.”

More on the Science

Another poster weighs in.

“There will be more vapors near the candle and less near the air purifier, so you can smell the candle stronger the closer you are to it,” they write. “If you stand next to the air purifier, you might barely be able to smell it. If you start walking towards the candle you'll be able to smell it more and more. This is called a gradient. According to Fick's law, the vapors will move from the candle to the air purifier by Diffusion, which is just a fancy word for spreading out. If you stand still, the smell stays the same because the candle and air purifier are producing and removing the vapors at the same rate.”

Here's more on something called “forced convection.”

“This works even if the air purifier is right next to the candle. It (won't totally eliminate) the vapors (which) get sucked into the air purifier. This is called forced convection. That just means pushing the air. The vapors also rise along with the air near the candle. That's because it's hotter than the rest of the air in the room. This is called natural convection. Some of the vapors will escape the air purifier's ‘sphere of influence’ by natural convection, and fill the room by diffusion.”

You can read the rest on the site as posters continue to game this out. It’s important to note something, though,. Given a theoretical where the air purifier is working fast enough, and adsorbing particles at a particular rate, it will be removing much of the vapor product from the candle. 

Checking Your Air

Now, if you can’t get lab analysis of these aroma products, one thing you can do is actually check the indoor air in your home.

You won’t just find whether scented candles are releasing toxins. You’ll find natural items like:

• Dust mites
• Mold
• Pet dander

As well as chemical elements like:

When you’ve done this analysis, you can figure out how to use an air purifier to get cleaner, more breathable air in your home. The AurPura C700DLX is a good model for this kind of use - you can also look for other similar models with a HEPA filter and carbon that will effectively work against the desired range of contaminants. 

Get the best technology, and let US Air Purifiers LLC help you with all of your design questions.

We have a great track record of assisting customers getting the best air purifiers for their needs.

Be sure to check out space ratings, and everything else, to make sure you have the right amount of power for your indoor space, and be confident about the air you breathe on a regular basis.

In the search for solutions to a global air pollution crisis, leaders around the world are looking everywhere for fixes that will provide populations with healthier results.

Part of that equation involves green public procurement. That's something recommended by the European Environmental Bureau. It's a practical step. It has to do with changing the way that public departments buy.

“Public procurement is a relatively new but rapidly growing tool for decarbonization, emerging as a global strategy in recent years,” say spokespersons in a document created this month focusing on recommendations for strengthening public procurement and making it climate-neutral. “These laws have the potential to drive environmentally and socially responsible procurement, create lead markets for decarbonised products, spur innovation, support rural development, empower small-scale farmers and subject matter experts, and generate meaningful green jobs.”

First of all, what is decarbonization? The writer is referring to a process of reducing or eliminating carbon emissions in order to fight climate change. Here, there are two goals. One is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The other is actively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

That idea of sourcing better implementation in public administration is just one aspect of this.

The science seems to support green public procurement, too.

Scientific Analysis

In Elsevier, a scientific journal, you can read about a study from various authors looking at how this works.

Green public procurement (GPP) is regarded as a vital tool for achieving energy conservation and emission reduction,” study authors write. “It remains unclear whether GPP can genuinely improve corporate environmental performance.”

They also mention strategic moves to improve things:

“The study points out that increasing the transparency of information disclosure, enhancing procurement efficiency, and maintaining the stability of procurement relationships all contribute to strengthening the environmental performance incentive effect of GPP. This article helps to deepen the understanding of the ‘proactive government’ promoting the development of green economy and also provides theoretical reference for the breakthrough of corporate green transformation under the target of ‘dual carbon.’”

Now, some of the language in this study is pretty high-flown. For example, take this:

“Due to the negative externalities of environmental pollution and the positive externalities of corporate environmental responsibility, the costs and uncertainties associated with improving environmental performance conflict with the goal of profit maximization for firms.”

That’s quite a fancy way of saying that companies don’t have inherent incentives to go greener.

In any case, this is one direction that public figures are looking into from a community perspective.

But what about at the household and individual level? How do you clean your air? It might be easier than you think.

The Real Effects of Air Pollution

When you’re talking about real people and real families, you’re talking about different kinds of health impacts from having various contaminants floating around in your air. Some people cough. Or you might sneeze. Some have more extreme allergies. Others may just view this as a nuisance.

Let’s take indoor air pollution that happens in our homes and workplaces where we live and spend time.

Over time, you might notice that your throat is often scratchier than it used to be, or you’re coughing and sneezing more. You might see redness, itchiness, or irritation around your eyes, or a skin rash. These are annoying, troublesome symptoms – but they can also point to something deeper.

In particular, many of these small microbes affect our respiratory systems, where you can have more difficulty in breathing and decreased quality of life in general.

If you recognize some of these symptoms, you might want to think about whether they’re related to allergies. You might consider sensitivity to a particular natural substance. Think about reactions to harmful chemicals and residue from combustion or industrial processes.

Let’s take the example of wildfire combustion, which is a growing problem in some parts of the country.

As we’ve mentioned so many times, wildfires release something called PM 2.5, particles with diameters around 2.5 microns.

These can get embedded in the lungs and cause respiratory issues.

But there are also different kinds of contaminants called volatile organic compounds. They're a problem. These can be in all kinds of consumer products, from furniture down to candles or other scented products.

Scientists sometimes talk about ‘nanoparticles’ and how they can infiltrate your airway.

Evaluate all of this when you’re looking at what impacting your health in your home or in your workplace

Evaluate Your Air

The place to start is with an air monitor tool that you can use to see what’s in the air around you on a regular basis. Why?

Remember that this air is largely enclosed or trapped in your building or space. That’s especially true with newer buildings that have more modern windows, and are better sealed for energy efficiency. That’s a double-sided coin, because as you weatherize your house, you’re also trapping that air, to a larger extent, and eliminating some of the air movement that could theoretically cut down on contaminants.

But there is a solution: a modern air purifier machine that will cycle the air through it, and take a lot of contaminants out of your indoor air.

And then there's this: when you choose the right machines with the right ACH (air changes per hour) and special features, you can get clean, breathable air in your building, and benefit from lower risks of respiratory conditions and other health problems.

A standard HEPA filter removes 99.97% of small particles down to .3 microns, and a Super HEPA can do even better. Activated carbon can help trap troublesome VOCs. Some machines use PECO or a different technology to introduce healthy bacteria into the air..

Let US Air Purifiers LLC help with all of your questions on design, planning, performance, and everything else. We have an excellent track record of assisting our customers and giving them the real details on how to optimize this kind of purchase! Get confidence about the air you breathe day to day - you deserve it. 

How do we sleep with air purifiers? It’s a big question for some people who are looking at new air purifier designs. They want to know if they will sleep better with these machines running at night.

A bedroom is one of the best places to keep an air purifier working. This is where many of us spend a lot of our time. Sure, we’re asleep, but we’re still breathing and utilizing the space inside of the closed room.

If you think about the time that you spend in the bedroom, compared to the time that you spend in the bathroom or the kitchen, you see why the bedroom is so important.

Here are three considerations about sleeping with an air purifier that can help inform your decision.

The Value of White Noise

Practically speaking, you can ask a lot of people who use air purifiers at night, and they’ll tell you that they sleep better.

This is often specifically because of the white noise that the machines generate.

Some manufacturing materials will explain how the white noise tunes out disruptive noise like:

·        Loud neighbors

·        Dripping faucets

·        Normal house sounds

Having a lower and consistent level of sound can be extremely conducive to better sleep. And better sleep is important, too. Resources from the Yale School of Medicine suggest that better sleep helps with memory consolidation, emotional regulation, immune system support, heart health and weight management. Those are five solid reasons to try to catch better “Zs”.

Filtering Out Bad Air Contaminants

This next point goes to a particular psychology around keeping your air cleaner and more breathable.

Knowing that your air is cleaner can be effective in helping you sleep better. Over time, it can mean a better respiratory result. There’s no direct link between air contaminants and the use of CPAP machines for sleep apnea, but people generally feel that clean air helps. 

And obviously, it helps during the day, too!

Get The Right Noise Level

While some report that they sleep great with an air purifier, others note that the appliance can keep them up. That’s often because it’s too loud.

Getting the right sound setting is important when you’re shopping for air purifiers.

You can look for models with whisper-quiet operation, or versatile models that will change settings based on the user’s preference.

How you use the settings is up to you - different people have different preferences. But having the range of settings available is a big plus. The key is that you want a customizable model, if this is a concern to you. You want to be able to change the settings during the day and night.

Changeable Settings

It’s sort of similar to how you would use a thermostat. Think about this:

Some people want it warmer in the bedroom at night, to sleep better. Others don’t need to change the thermostat dynamically at a certain time of day or night.

In addition to white noise settings, air purifiers have a lot of other customizations.

You can buy according to the specific contaminants that you’re worried about. You might want to be filtering natural things like:

·        Mold

·        Dust mites

·        Pet dander

On the other hand, you might be concerned about volatile organic chemicals or things like PM2.5 that come from industrial pollution or woodsmoke.

So that goes into your consideration when you’re shopping for a modern air purifier. Take a look at the IDEAL AP80, or a Molekule Pro model with PECO and HEPA filtration, two great technologies to have in your living space. 

Think about this, too: you can get a medical grade HEPA filter that is 99.97% effective for particles down to .3 microns. You can also get super HEPA models that will strain indoor air even further, rated for 99.99% of particles down to .1 microns.

US Air Purifiers LLC can help you to find the models that work best for your space, and help you sleep better every night. We can provide good authoritative input on design choices, and what’s being built into today’s machines to offer more to the user. Get confidence about the air in your home, all day, and all night.

People in the city and the port of Oakland, CA are getting together to think about how to improve local air quality.

It’s a city program that will probably influence other communities to act over time. American communities are getting serious about how to address this problem.

We deal with a wide spectrum of air pollutants every day. Some of these issues are getting worse. Wildfires are just one example. Yes, they destroy homes and take lives, but they also release a lot of potentially harmful particles into the air. Their impact casts a wider net than what some people would think.

In this context, we can learn from what’s happening in those communities. People are more proactively addressing the need for clean air.

What Is Fugitive Dust?

In newspaper coverage of Oakland’s meetings on the issue, you see an interesting word that represents a category of pollutants that locals are trying to decrease.

“Fugitive dust” is kind of what it sounds like. Particles from organic and inorganic materials that get released at places where these materials are disturbed. That could be a construction site, a roadwork project, or some kind of excavation, for example.

The basic idea is that you control the fugitive dust by putting physical safeguards in place during construction or other processes.

“These small dust particles can enter the body and cause heart and lung problems,” writes Callie Rhoades for Oaklandside, a local publication, about work on Oakland’s Community Emissions Reduction Plan. “The question before the group was how to reduce this type of dust and how best to report it to the air district.”

Public Awareness

“Fugitive dust” has a certain ring to it. It catches the eye. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know what it means.

Covering the series of meetings where people brainstorm about Oakland‘s project, Rhoades notes that stakeholders tried to figure out how to advertise. They looked at whether they should put something in a newsletter or broadcast it on social media. They also considered using other channels to reach people who don’t understand how fugitive dust impacts their lives.

That’s just one of various sorts of insights that you get reading the press coverage and thinking about what’s actually going on in those rooms. Rhoades notes a lot of the dynamics in the group conversations, without specifically quoting people a whole lot.

Unlikely Partners on Air Quality?

Rhoades mentions that having representatives from the local airport and the nonprofit clean air group made for an “interesting dynamic” because there are lawsuits in play.

Rhoades didn’t quote people on anything they said to each other that was adversarial – but did provide this quote:

“I don’t think this is inevitable,” rebutted Gabrielle Sloan Law, a community steering committee member for the CERP effort, in regard to the airport’s proposed expansion. (Confusingly, “Law” appears to be a part of the individual’s name, and not a designation of legal business position.) “Number one, because there are multiple lawsuits. Number two, because we’re going towards a recession. And number three, because as far as I know the airport has not funded this project.”

Litigation does have a role in some of these processes. But it’s only one part of a bigger picture. We should ask: how do we improve the quality of our air as a whole? That’s important because it is a shared resource. But it really can’t be compartmentalized in the ways that other resources can. Air, in a sense, is everywhere.

Air Quality in Your Home

It’s fairly impossible to control the air quality outside of your house.

However, inside the house where you spend much of your time is another story.

It’s a relatively straightforward process to get an air monitor and use it to see what your indoor air looks like – what’s lurking in your rooms and spaces? How much of those contaminants from outside have made their way in? And what sorts of contaminants are being released from your furniture and things that you bring into your house?

After you’ve answered all these questions, you can install a whole house or floor standing air purifier that will routinely take the air in, run it through a filtration process and other technology, and remove not only fugitive dust, but all kinds of other small things like:

Mold

Dust mites

Formaldehyde

Benzene

Pet dander

The list goes on – And all of this can be accomplished with one machine – a modern powerhouse that hums along in the background, and keeps you and your family in better health.

That’s a pretty compelling reason to get a state of the art air purifier for your home and your workspace. At the same time, we do have to continue to try to improve the outdoor air, as it has a collective effect on everyone. What we shouldn’t do is try to ignore a growing need for clean air and clean water.

Help with Air Purifiers

If you need help shopping for an air purifier, US Air Purifiers LLC can help you with all kinds of questions on design, function, etc. We have a good track record of helping our customers to get the most for their money and get the specific models that they need for their space and situation. You’ll feel better knowing you have this kind of protection in place, in the places where you live and work.