The Awair AQI Map Beta is a new feature in the Awair Home app that gives you a quick glance at the PM2.5 indoors and the neighborhood time-weighted averages outdoors. In the image below, the number on the top in the larger circle is the average outdoor AQI in your area. The smaller number represents the neighborhood average indoor air quality in the same area.
If you manage a building, then you know how powerful it is to have actionable, accurate data about your indoor air quality (IAQ). Especially today with the focus on effective ventilation as a part of a COVID-19 prevention strategy.
While it’s easy to visualize “air pollution” as images of cars idling or toxic gases coming out of smokestacks, the indoor environment can also be impacted in subtle ways. Since air quality is largely invisible, it’s crucial to monitor its effects at home and in businesses because pollutants can come from inside sources, such as household cleaning chemicals and upholstery polishes, or outdoor air can enter buildings and impact human health. The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has said that “Americans, on average, spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.” Everything from aerosol sprays to building materials can play a role in releasing harmful byproducts that pose threats to health, safety, and comfort.
While it can be easy to view extreme weather events as only impacting the outdoor space, this is far from the truth. When natural disasters hit, they affect our indoor air quality (IAQ) and can increase the risk of health conditions. In fact, in 2020, “36 counties in Washington, Oregon, and California experienced very unhealthy air quality ratings due to particulate matter from wildfire season,” according to NPR’s analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.
As the summer months roll on, some teachers and parents have back to school on their minds. Earlier this year, there were a mix of K-12 classroom dynamics as the vaccine was being distributed across states. Many schools reopened in some capacity, but others were in a completely remote or hybrid format. Now, as younger age groups are waiting for the “green light” for the vaccine, school officials are faced with classroom health and safety questions.
If there’s one lesson that employees and employers have learned over the last year, it’s to never take health for granted. One factor that continuously contributes to individuals' daily health and wellness is indoor air quality (IAQ). Whether at work or at home, IAQ can impact sleep patterns, productivity levels, and overall comfort.
Awair’s dashboard subscription now integrates with Autodesk Construction Cloud™, a portfolio of software services that combines advanced technology, a builder’s network, and predictive insights to drive efficiency for construction teams across the globe.
I realized the impact indoor air quality could have on health for the first time years ago while renovating our new home. We were not sleeping well and getting sick often. Then I read about the effects fine dust and air pollution can have on the human respiratory system, both near-term and over a lifetime.
We recently interviewed UK-based Residential & Commercial Technology Integrator, UNITY® Technology, to learn more about their company and their unique perspective on ways to use and integrate with Awair.
How often are school absences due to asthma? Unfortunately, the answer is: it's very common.
In December, I joined Awair as a key advisor and board member. I first became interested in the company after meeting its founders and hearing about their dedication to studying and improving indoor air quality. While they started the company to improve their children’s lives, their products can help anyone measure indoor air quality in real time. To me, that creates an enormous opportunity to improve people’s lives everywhere.
It’s been a tough year for parents and school kids. Both have endured a historic disruption of the education system, and rapidly shifted to virtual schooling. Many parents set up a place to work from home, whether at the kitchen table, on the couch, or creating an office in an extra room, while also creating space for their children to learn remotely. The kids have not had it easy either and are well aware that they are missing many traditional rites of passage during lockdown, such as proms, sports, and extracurricular activities.