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Air purifier sales spike in India as its cities battle pollution

As the government fumbles over effective measures to curb severe air quality in India’s capital of New Delhi, people are increasingly looking at air purifiers for relief.

SEE ALSO: NASA reveals why New Delhi is blanketed with deadly smog

Major ecommerce businesses in India are reporting significant surge in the sales of air purifier units in the country. The product category, which has existed in India for over two decades but struggled to become a household name, has suddenly become a talking point among people on social media.

Amazon India says it sold three times more air purifiers this Diwali compared to the previous month. Almost half of all these orders came from cities such as Delhi, Gurgaon and Bangalore. Flipkart had similar findings, noting that it has seen 2.5 times growth in air purifier units sale compared to last year.

The sudden interest in air purifying products among people comes as several Indian cities report of increasingly growing air pollution after Diwali. The festival of light, which sees many people burst crackers, combined with the burning of farmlands and residual fodders in nearby states, have resulted in an unprecedented severe air quality in New Delhi and several other states in India.

Five days after Diwali, for instance, the air quality index reading of the national capital is still classified as “hazardous”. A report on UNICEF published this week found that over two billion children worldwide breathe polluted air. India and China were among the most affected countries.

Not just air purifiers, but people are also actively looking for air masks for immediate comfort. “Sales of pollution masks have jumped 6X in the last few days with customer demand being 13X over last year. The highest number of orders for pollution masks were placed by customers on Nov. 1. The demand continues to be high from northern India with most orders coming from Delhi,” an Amazon India spokesperson told Mashable India. The surge in sales happened a couple of days after Diwali, which fell on Oct. 30 this year.

While The Government Is Taking Its Own Time, These People Are Fighting For Clean Air

The conversation around air pollution is not a new one for India with several attempts being made in the past – some successful and some not as much – to educate citizen on the need to combat air pollution through the year.

Unfortunately, despite an all round effort to clean up the air, the results are bleak. With Delhi topping the chart in the country with the most polluted air. There have been some individuals who have worked against the odds to fight to the right to better air quality in the country.

Namita Gupta

Air Warrior

Namita Gupta has been surviving on antibiotics because of pollution. What bothered her even more was the discomfort her daughter, who is an asthma patient, faced. She thought of shifting to the US when the idea of making an app that could monitor pollution struck her. She decided against the plan and created an App from scratch. Her App, Airveda, helps monitor air pollution levels and is quite simple to operate.

Saurabh Bhasin

Air Warrior

Shocked by the impact of air pollution on him as well as his family, Saurabh Bhasin and his wife have launched a legal battle with the Delhi government for cleaning the city’s air. Among the plaintiffs is his 15-month-old daughter and two other other toddlers. The case has been filed in the Supreme Court stating that the poisonous air deprives them of their “right to life” as guaranteed by the Constitution.

“I don’t expect things to improve overnight, but I do want to see government bodies take cognisance of how drastic it is, and take some serious measures to make it better,” Bhasin told the media.

Swechha Foundation

Air Warrior

The Swechha Foundation has been promoting plantation drives across Delhi and promoting better eco-health in sensitive zones like the Yamuna among many others. During the monsoon months each year, the foundation conducts a “Monsoon Wooding” programme and with a target of planting 2,000 new trees each year, the foundation has already planted more than 10,000 trees in and around the capital.

Graviky labs

Air Warrior

The Bengaluru-based lab has been capturing soot from vehicular emissions and use it to extensively to remove heavy metals and carcinogens, before distilling it into this dense black ink. Soot, produced due to the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, easily enters the body’s bloodstream when inhaled at traffic signals, wreaking havoc.

“Air-Ink is formulated by industry standards. We can put it to a range of uses—regular inks, screen painting, newspaper ink, oil-based paints, alcohol-based paints, spray cans, even calligraphy ink,” says Nikhil Kaushik, one of the founders of the company.

Clean Air India Movement (CLAIM)

Air Warrior

CLAIM

Clean Air India Movement (CLAIM) is a nationwide launched campaign launched in May 2015. The campaign is speared by an air purifier company . The Clean Air India Movement is a 360° degree campaign aimed at engaging, encouraging, and educating Indian citizens to adopt air friendly measures in the interest of the country and its children. “Our campaign aim is to tell people that we are not helpless individuals when it comes to challenging air pollution. Even simple acts by individuals or sole companies such as it can make a difference when it comes to showing responsibility and care, which is why we have taken the initiative to make the call and mobilisation for action,” said Kannan .

 

Multi brand air purifier “on the black list”

The winter is coming, haze also changes with the seasons, your home air purifier safety performance? How?

Recently, the National Quality Inspection Bureau, Beijing Consumers Association and other departments concerned about the air purifier product quality performance, quality inspection report released the air purifier and the comparison of the test results. Consumers in the purchase of air purifier, safety performance not only pay attention to the product, to avoid the risk of leakage, but also from the angles of comprehensive consideration of purification efficiency of air purifier, choose their own products. Multi brand products are unsafe household appliances as air purification device, its safety performance must be guaranteed, but the 2016 air purifier national product quality supervision and inspection results of special release in the country General Administration of quality inspection in October 19th showed that many batches of product safety, EMC project failed, to touch the live parts The protection, leakage current and electric strength and working temperature, leakage current and electric project, EMC project unqualified, continuous disturbance voltage of 8 batches of substandard, continuous harassment power of 4 batches of substandard. The unqualified products related to “novowater”, “Yusana”, “sheeraire” seats “” Morrell, moral “,” refinair “,” somputon SIASUN “and other brands.

Similarly, in October 20th, Beijing City Consumers Association released air purifier comparison test results show that the air purifier samples of 50 brands of 50 enterprises in the production or distribution of the 7 samples, there are security risks.

Among them, the brand of” Samsung (Samsung) “model for” air purifier kj250g-k3026pw “(side panel pink)” sign “,” power connection and external flexible cords “project does not meet the national standard. Net U.S. official. The brand product purification efficiency of unqualified consumers in the purchase of air purifiers, are often the most attention. The purification effect of products according to the performance requirements of the national standard gb/t 18801-2015< air purifier “, is from a plurality of index to measure the overall performance. For example, the amount of clean air (called Cadr), purification efficiency, noise, application area, cumulative the amount of purified (CCM) purification, life, standby power, the release amount of harmful substances, removal of microorganisms (bacteria, mildew, bacteria). If these items are not standard, means that the product purification effect on the whole. For example, poor product quality checks the State Quality Inspection Administration issued the results show that the particles of clean air volume 2 batches of substandard particles accumulation amount of purified 1 batches of unqualified, formaldehyde purification efficiency (effectiveness) of 3 batches of substandard, noise of 5 batches of substandard. Among them, the nominal” Beijing net U.S. official Net U.S. official air purifier Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. production (trademark for the “net U.S. official mfresh”, type “m8188a 220V to 50Hz 70W”, “2016-01-25” batch production “) particles clean gas, formaldehyde purification efficiency two project failed. Beijing City Consumers Association released air purifier comparative test results showed that 14 samples did not meet the requirements of the” qualified “purification efficiency level, the brand of” SHARP sharp “, type” kc-w380sw-w “air purifier” formaldehyde purification efficiency “does not meet the standard requirements; sample measurement of noise near 1/5 over express value too much, suspected of misleading consumers.

China’s anti-pollution tech is booming, but it can’t make dirty air go away

Behind a red wooden door, down a Beijing alley, lies what is allegedly the cleanest air spot in the smog-sodden city. Numerous air purifiers gently whir in the Breathing Space Courtyard, in the Chinese capital’s Beixinqiao area.

Dotted around the courtyard’s main building, which houses the headquarters of Beijing startup Origins Technology, are small, sleek alarm clock-like monitors showing air quality index (AQI) readings. Called Laser Eggs, these 499 yuan (£53) monitors display flicking numbers that seldom go above 10, showing officially “excellent” air quality levels, according to the scale recognised by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

People walk down a street wearing masks on a heavy pollution evening in Beijing, China

Claiming to use technology “typically only found in air quality monitors priced upwards of $5,000”, the Origins Technology egg works by using a small fan to pull in air through the unit. A laser cuts through the air and is linked to a sensor which detects information about the size and number of particles in the air.

Origins Technology, which launched in 2013, doesn’t reveal precise sales figures but says it has sold “tens of thousands” of the Laser Eggs since they hit the market last July. Now sold in Apple stores across China, they are symptomatic of a sharp increase in pollution awareness across the country and a recent boom in the air purification industry.

The airpocalypse

The year 2013 is sometimes referred to by Beijingers as the “airpocalypse” year: a particularly terrible time for pollution in the city that caused many to move away or rush to buy air purifiers.

Pollution was basically “denied” in China before 2013, says Thibaud Andre, research associate at China-based market research firm Daxue Consulting, which produces market reports for foreign retail firms. But after the airpocalypse, Chinese leaders and the media started to speak about pollution. “Then in January 2015 the mayor of Beijing, Wang Anshun, said Beijing was ‘not a liveable city’. That’s a big statement,” says Andre.

In line with the increase in public awareness of the problem, the government has vowed to tackle the chronic pollution “with all our might”. Authorities have introduced a new environmental law aiming to tackle the problem at its root but critics say it is not enough. December saw “red alert” measures taken in Beijing over smog, with cars taken off the roads and factories ordered to stop or scale back production.

Domestic air purifiers were almost unheard of in China before 2013. But, according to Daxue Consulting, the China air purification industry (which includes domestic and office purification products) shot up in value to 3.5bn yuan (£384m) that year. And in 2014 the number of air purifier brands operating in China leapt from 151 to 556.

Following the 2013 boom, the air purifier market was flooded with low-quality products as companies scrambled for a piece of the action. Technology giants such as Xiaomi, Olansi which started selling air purifiers in 2014, aggressively entered the market with mass-market, low-cost products designed to undercut their more premium rivals.

 

With mist fountain and air purifiers, Delhi gears up for fight against pollution

The Aam Aadmi Party government said on Friday it will install giant outdoor air purifiers at five highly polluted locations in Delhi, unveiling more measures to battle the capital’s smog.

A mist fountain will also be set up in a yet-to-be identified location, transport minister Satyendar Jain said amid a steady spike in pollution levels, which experts say can cause several ailments ranging from respiratory problems to even cancer in humans.

Jain said the systems, to be installed by mid-December, will be placed at road intersections in Anand Vihar, ITO, Sarai Kale Khan, Kashmere Gate and IIT (Delhi) or AIIMS.

The units works on the lines of a home air purifier by trapping particulate matter, besides improving dispersion of pollutants that remain suspended just above ground in winter.

Experts, however, are skeptical about the system, which has a functional radius of 20 meters and could fail when pollution levels are too high.

Anumita Roychowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) – a Delhi-based research group — said it was not a good idea.

“Purification works in a confined space, not in the open. The government should focus on other short-term measures,” she said.

Last winter – a period when air toxicity jumps manifold -– the AAP government had twice introduced a rationing measure that allowed vehicles to ply on alternate days based on registration numbers ending with odd or even digits. The effort, however, failed to yield the desired results.

An official said the Wind Augmentation and Air Purifying Unit (WAYU) — developed by IIT Bombay and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) – can potentially reduce particulate emission by 40%-60% during peak traffic hours.

The government believes the move will indicate its intent to improve Delhi’s air quality which is expected to deteriorate with farmers in neighbouring states such as Punjab and Haryana starting their annual crop residue burning.

On Friday, particulate matter (PM) level in Delhi’s most polluted zone — Anand Vihar — touched 960 micrograms/cubic meter against a safe level of 60.

The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) also said in its Diwali forecast that PM 2.5 — minute particulates that penetrate the lungs and cause breathing ailments — would increase by up to 20%.

Sources said that open air purification is not a tried and tested measure as one system was installed in Hong Kong in April 2015 without much success.

An air purifier could make your allergies less of a headache

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Whether you’re an allergy sufferer, or just someone who enjoys breathing in fresh air, purchasing an air purifier for your home could turn out to be a great investment.

Most air purifiers on the market claim to filter out allergens, pollutants, smoke, and even household odors. But as with any other home electronic, you have to do your homework in order to find the model that fits your needs and your budget.

Some of the key considerations when shopping for an air purifier include the size of the area you’ll be using it for, how it operates, how it looks (since it will be sitting in the middle of your living room), and how it sounds.

 

 

 

Ensure safe Diwali for your pets: 7 tips to take care of pets this Diwali 2016—-Tip 6 use air purifier

Diwali is almost here, and we are sure you must be gearing up for the festival of lights. But if you are proud parents of adorable fur balls, you need to take extra precaution this time during Diwali. Though Diwali might be a perfect time for you to bond with families and friends, but your pet might have a difficult time coping with the festive season. So if you love your four-legged friends, you need to take some precautions to not stress out your pets.

During this festive season the air pollution and noise pollution shoots up leaving us all flustered thanks to the loud crackers and fire works. So given the fact that dogs have extremely sensitive ears and noses, they are subjected to much more stress  during Diwali. The pets gets stressed and confused during Diwali because of the loud festive celebrations, so it is important to keep your dog calm at home. You need to make sure of a couple of things to make sure that they are stress free. You need to keep in mind the following tips to make sure that your pet is at ease during the Diwali festivities

1.Fire crackers

The loud fire crackers and fire works are bound to stress out your dog, so make sure that you accompany your dog all the time in a quite room. It is important to keep your dog calm and stress free, so use something to cover your pet’s ears. After consulting the vet, you can also give your pet an anti-anxiety pill.

2. Keep them company

So it’s all festive and fun, but make sure that your pets are not left behind alonme at home. If will notice that your pets will become even more stressed if they are wound up on their own o on Diwali with all the loud celebrations happening outside.

3. Don’t leave your doors ajar

Sine you know that your pet is very sensitive , you have to take some precautionary measures. Don’t leave the door ajar, also try to close the windows to protect your furry friend from the loud noise. You can also play soft music to soothe your pet and make them feel safe.

4. Party with your pet

With the Diwali parties and gatherings, you will have guests flowing in and out of your home. So while making your guests feel at home, do not ignore your pets. Never lock them up in another room or put them on a leash. If you do so, your pets will become insecure. Make your pets a part of your gathering and you will realise that they will be less stressed.

5. Say no to toxic colours

Keep your pets away from the Rangoli colours. Looking at something they have never seen before, they might get excited and roll in the pretty colours, but the toxic colours can be dangerous for them. If they consume if or simply come in contact with the Rangoli colour,s they might get food poisoning or skin infection.

6. Use air purifier

Since Diwali leads to a lot of air pollution, it could be bad for your pets. If you care about your four-legged friend, you need to invest in a good air purifier to eliminate indoor air pollutants. Not only will this help you to keep  your dogs healthy on Diwali but all year long.

7. No lip smacking sweets

With Diwali, you will have a whole lot of lip smacking food preparation and sweets, but avoid feeding it to your pet. All the Diwali special rich and fried food can upset the tummy of your pets. So stick to the dog food or whatever your pet usually eats to keep your pet away from all the hassle.

What is HEPA Air Purifier?

HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air, and is a filter type that’s designed to adsorb air contaminants such as pet dander, pollen, tobacco smoke, mold, dust, and dust mites. It’s used extensively to improve indoor air quality, especially for environments that need to be scrubbed of allergens for people suffering from allergies and asthma.

HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air, and is a filter type that’s designed to adsorb air contaminants such as pet dander, pollen, tobacco smoke, mold, dust, and dust mites. It’s used extensively to improve indoor air quality, especially for environments that need to be scrubbed of allergens for people suffering from allergies and asthma.

HEPA Filter Definition:

A high-efficiency air filter designed with randomly arranged, fiberglass fibers. Also known as a depth filter, its porous design retains particulates of a specific size (depending on the filter grade), ensuring that they aren’t released back into the environment. Due to the nature of the design, these filters can hold a significant amount of waste before requiring replacement.

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High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) cleaners help scrub indoor air to remove airborne waste. Sometimes these air cleaners combine filtration methods using HEPA in parallel with activated carbon filters, UV lights, and sometimes ionizers to further clean the air.

Static Electricity: A Spark of Interest

We’ve all have experienced static electricity in one way or another. Those unexpected little shocks we get when we touch a doorknob or some other metallic object, the balloons that stick to the wall after being rubbed in the head, or hair itself standing straight when it comes close, all are produced by static electricity. Most of the time it is produced when two objects come in contact or are rubbed together.

What is Static Electricity?

All materials are made up of molecules, and all molecules have tiny atoms, with positively charged protons, neutral neutrons, and negatively charged electrons. Most of the time an atom is neutral with the same number of protons and electrons. When an atom’s proton and electron numbers are uneven, the electron dance begins. If you place two different materials next to each other, electrons will start jumping from one material to the other.

Static electricity is generated when any material gains or loses electrons and becomes positively (when it loses electrons) or negatively charged (when it gains electrons). The accumulated charges are what’s called static electricity. Conductive materials like metals and carbon hold onto their electrons tightly, whereas insulating materials, such as plastic, can be charged by friction because they easily gain or lose electrons.

In 600 BC, the Greek philosopher Thales[1] observed that some combinations of materials have more potential to make sparks fly than others. Materials can be catalogued in order of their tendency to become charged, from positive to negative. The lower an item sits on the list, the more likely it will attract more electrons and become negatively charged. Rubbing objects far from each other on the list creates a bigger charge than objects closer together. For example, polishing a glass plate with a silk scarf electrifies the scarf so that it acts like a magnet.

When you stride across a wool carpet in leather shoes, your shoes pick up extra electrons from the carpet with each step. By the time you lift your foot up off the ground, the electrons will have spread around your entire body, giving you a negative charge. The next time you put your foot on the carpet, your shoe doesn’t have any extra electrons, but your head might. So more electrons make the leap to your foot.

“As you keep walking across the floor, you become full of electrons,” said Todd Hubing, from the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory at the University of Missouri-Rolla. “Eventually more electrons don’t want to come up on you because you’re so charged up. You end up with a high voltage, about 20,000 to 25,000 volts.” That’s serious power at your fingertips, considering a normal electrical outlet on the wall is only around 100 volts[2] of electricity.

Practical Uses of Static Charges

Dust removal: There are some appliances that can eliminate dust from the air, like air purifiers. They use static electricity to alter the charges in the dust particles so that they stick to a filter of the purifier that has an opposite charge as that of the dust (opposite charges attract each other). This effect is also used in industrial smokestacks to reduce the pollution that they generate. The effect is basically the same as the home air purifier.95g58picmfk_1024.

Photocopy: Copy machines use static electricity to make ink get attracted to the areas where we need the information copied. It uses the charges to apply the ink only in the areas where the paper to be copied is darker (usually this means text or other information) and not where the paper is white, this process is called xerography.

Car painting: To make sure a car’s paint is uniform and that it will resist the high speeds and weather to protect the car’s metal interior, it is applied with a static charge. The metal body of the car is submerged in a substance that charges it positively, and the paint is charged negatively.

This process ensures a uniform layer of paint, since when there is enough negative paint in the car the extra will be repelled by the paint already in the car. It also ensures that the paint won’t fall off.

Beijing to get largest air purifier

To the bafflement of some local residents, the world’s largest outdoor air purifier arrived in Beijing to help the capital combat its persistent hazardous smog.

The brainchild of Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde, the tower is  undergoing last -minute checks in Beijing’s 751 D Park art area. The public, meanwhile, are bemused by the tower’s function and have called on authorities to curb dangerous sources of polluting particles.

The Smog Free Tower will soon be opened to the public, and will be toured across the country, the Legal Daily reported, quoting China Forum of Environmental Journalists, an NGO under China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

95g58picmfk_1024

According to the Studio Roosegaarde website, the 7-meter-tall tower can capture about 75 percent of PM 2.5 and PM 10 particles in its vicinity and then release purified air to create a “bubble” of fresh air around it. The tower can clean 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour through its patented ozone-free ion technology.

Liu Guozheng, CFEJ secretary-general, told the newspaper that bringing the tower to Beijing is intended to warn  authorities never to forget their duty and encourage the public to pull together to combat the smog.

Beijing has been plagued with heavy smog since the beginning of October. The city’s environmental authorities issued a yellow alert for air pollution Tuesday afternoon.

Netizens expressed their frustration over the tower. “The so-called divine smog cleaner is more like a piece of performance art, which makes almost zero difference to cleaner air in the city. It devours the polluted air and exhales fresh air, but so little it won’t make any difference. The air will stay polluted,” said one Sina Weibo user.

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