3,000 gallons.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that’s how much air we each breathe in a day. You would think that taking in that much of anything into your body would be worth pausing to consider. And yet, even though breathing is one of the most vital and fundamental functions of life, we rarely give much thought to the air that envelops us.
When people do stop to think about air pollution, what comes to mind is outdoor pollution, acid rain, or images of the Beijing skyline hidden beneath smog. However, air pollution also manifests indoors through wood, oil, household cleaners, and building materials, and can be anywhere from 2 to up to 100 times the outdoor level. And since we spend 90% of our time indoors, could this potentially have a major effect on our health and productivity?
This is what Aclima, an environmental health startup, aims to measure and discover. In 2015, Aclima announced a partnership with Google to monitor not only outdoor but also indoor environmental air quality using a network of sensors. 500 sensors are connected across 21 global Google offices in order to measure 500 million data points a day including temperature, humidity, noise, light and air pollutants. The data collected can update and monitor realtime air quality information through backend software. The ability to measure these factors can lead to decision useful information in designing workspace and promoting the comfort, welfare and productivity of employees.
Resources:
Environmental Sensor Startup Aclima Is Studying The Air Googlers Breathe
https://aclima.io/blog/posts/aclima-google-map-air-quality/
http://www3.epa.gov/air/basic.html
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