According to a recent study published by the journal TheLancet, air pollution (indoor and outdoor) is responsible for 6.7 million premature deaths worldwide. Air quality is therefore a major health and environmental issue, especially for large cities.
What impacts air quality? Natural phenomenon (volcanic eruptions, forest fires, etc.) and human activities (industry, transport, agriculture, heating, etc.) impact air quality because they emit gases and fine particles into the atmosphere. Thus, air quality depends on the more or less high concentrations of these pollutants in the atmosphere. These pollutants have negative impacts on human health (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory disorders, etc.) or on the environment (degradation of buildings, drop in agricultural yields, etc.)
1.Outdoor air pollution, a health and environmental issue
Beyond the impact on our health, outdoor air pollution also has an impact on:
- Agriculture: Production and quality of crops
- Natural ecosystems: Plant growth, eutrophication, acidification
But how do you measure outdoor air quality? Suppliers have developed systems to monitor and analyze it:
- France : Meersens – Envea – eLos – Waltr – Rincent air
- Germany : Hawa Dawa – Breeze Technologies
- Poland : Airly
2. Pollutants also present in indoor air
We spend 90% of our time indoors: at school, at work, at home… Indoor air is 8 times more polluted than outdoor air.
It therefore seems important to measure the quantity of pollutants present in indoor air in order to implement solutions to improve air quality.
Une surveillance de la qualité de l’air intérieur est désormais obligatoire dans certains établissements recevant du public :
- Depuis le 1er janvier 2018 : dans les lieux d’accueil des enfants de moins de 6 ans (crèches, écoles maternelles…) et écoles primaires ;
- Depuis le 1er janvier 2020 : dans les collèges, lycées et accueils de loisirs
Step 1: Measure indoor air quality
Companies offer measurement systems to monitor indoor air by measuring the amount of pollutants present. Below is the selection of suppliers registered on our Takagreen platform:
- France : Pod2byrubis – ELsi – Ethera – QuosAir
- Italiy : Nuvap
- Ukraine : Carbominer
Step 2: Purify Indoor Air
To clean the air, there are devices called air purifiers. Equipped with filters, they capture most atmospheric pollutants. They can also be equipped with detectors for fine particles, VOCs, formaldehyde, etc.
- France :
Air purifiers with filters : Airpur , OberA, Preventilife, QuosAir, Epure Air
Purifiers without filters and without ozone production : Ikibox – Tequoya – ETT.
- Ukraine : Carbominer
Sources
https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/pollution-lair-origines-situation-et-impacts