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Measure Air, Change Air

March 2019

During the Industrial Revolution, humanity adopted the mantra, “Ignorance is bliss.” Collateral damage went unobserved. Side effects were not on the radar. We built this world inconsequentially.

In the modern age, societally, we have turned towards awareness. Droves of people have come to the forefront of development in order to remedy years of ignorance that have led to a sickening of humanity and our one and only Planet. Perhaps, we were truly ignorant in the past, or perhaps, we can forgo our ignorant perspective because now we have the means to change. But, how do we enact this change?

Public Health Policy & Law

Research from Jamie Chriqui, Jean O’Connor, and Frank Chaloupka, produced in 2011, evaluated the necessity of policy for public health awareness. Their article, “What Gets Measured Gets Changed: Evaluating Law and Policy for Maximum Impact,” uses examples of tobacco, obesity, and vaccination policy to demonstrate how change takes effect. In their review, they noted the importance of public health policy and law surveillance. In order to enforce behavioral change the “policy inputs” must be measured. In-depth analysis of policy provides information about what does and does not work.

A critical focus of the article concerned the “feedback loop” in making law and policy. In a sense, policy making is a bit of trial and error. Public health policy and law are the tools for change. The results of the implemented policy affect the on-going modification of that very policy. It is important to remember that policies evolve over time.

Ultimately, it is not enough to simply observe a problem, enforce a policy like a bandage, and call it a day. Implementing change is only half the battle. “We must ‘measure’ or evaluate the nuances of a given policy by evaluating its breadth and depth in a systematic and reliable fashion,” write the authors. Continuous surveillance allows policymakers to recognize where policy is successful and where it needs improvement.

Smart Air Manager

In the modern age of awareness, we need to evaluate the spaces where we spend our time as components of health. What’s more, we need to observe the invisible forces at work that affect our lives. We spend 90% of our time indoors, and yet there is little research on how indoor climates affect our health. FutureAir is designing a product to observe our indoor air. This monitoring system will allow us to work smarter to protect our health.

SAM™ is FutureAir’s Smart Air Manager that measures and reports air quality information in real time. SAM™ reports the levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂), particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH₄), temperature, and humidity. We already know that these chemicals can create toxic environments. SAM™ tells us when these components reach harmful levels, and it initiates action to improve air quality.

The dashboard above is an overview of a complete week of data generated by SAM™. The bottom axis represents the day of the week, and the line graphs the particles per million of each element in the air (or, in the case of temperature and humidity, the graph shows the degrees and percentage respectively). The graph is also color coordinated for easy reading of the air. When the line is red, the air quality is dangerous–blue indicates air within the normal parameters, as defined by international agencies such as the EPA. The gray shadow map represents the previous day’s measurements for easy comparison.

On this particular graph, the VOC’s and CO levels were hazardously high during the latter half of the week.

SAM is a real-time air quality manager that brings awareness to the invisible problem of indoor air pollution and our health. One day, SAM’s measurements could affect policy and law change.

FutureAir is a means to policy and lawmaking. FutureAir is an investment in public health. Only through opening the door of the great unknown can we change it. “What gets measured gets changed” is the adage for the modern age.

Written by Mollie Wodenshek for FutureAir

References
Chriqui, James, O’Connor, Jean, and Chaloupka, Frank, “What Gets Measured Gets Changed: Evaluating Law and Policy for Maximum Impact,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 2011.

Coolant Chemicals in the Courts

August 2017

On August 8, ​the​ United States Court of ​Appeals​ ​ruled against restrictions to ​products​ ​that contain​ ​hydrofluorocarbons​ ​(HFCs)​​.​ ​HFCs​ ​are​ ​a​ ​harmful​ ​greenhouse​ ​gas​ ​that​ ​trap​ ​heat​ ​in​ ​the atmosphere.​ According​ ​to​ Inside​ ​Climate​ ​News, ​​the​ ​ruling​ ​was​ ​in​ ​favor​ ​of​ ​two​ ​foreign HFC​ ​manufacturers (Mexichem Fluor and Arkema),​ ​holding​ ​that​ ​the​ ​“EPA​ ​had​ ​no​ ​authority​ ​to​ ​regulate​ ​the​ ​gases​ ​under the​ ​Clean​ ​Air​ ​Act.” This was bad news for Honeywell International and Chemours, companies that have been manufacturing less harmful coolant chemicals called hydrofluoroolefins.

The​ ​court​ ​ruling​ ​“​shows​ ​that​ ​at​ ​least​ ​some​ ​judges​ ​think​ ​the Environmental Protection​ ​Agency​ ​needs​ ​more​ ​specific​ ​authority​ ​from​ ​Congress​ ​to​ ​act​ ​on​ ​HFCs.”​ ​The legal​ ​loophole​ ​in​ ​a​ ​nutshell:​ ​the​ ​EPA​ ​has​ ​authority​ ​to​ ​regulate​ ​ozone-depleting​ ​gases,​ ​but not​ ​other​ ​harmful​ ​substances.​ ​HFCs​ ​were​ ​the​ ​alternative​ ​to​ ​the​ ​older​ ​chemicals​ ​that​ ​were harmful​ ​to​ ​the​ ​ozone​ ​layer.​ ​And​ ​though​ ​HFCs​ ​don’t​ ​deplete​ ​the​ ​ozone,​ ​they​ ​are​ ​still considered​ ​greenhouse​ ​gases​ ​that​ ​are​ ​incredibly​ ​impactful​ ​on​ ​climate​ ​change.​​ ​“Congress has​ ​not​ ​yet​ ​enacted​ ​general​ ​climate​ ​change​ ​legislation,”​ ​Judge​ ​Brett​ ​Kavanaugh​ ​wrote.​ ​In response,​ ​“Judge​ ​Robert​ ​Wilkins,​ ​an​ ​Obama​ ​appointee,​ ​dissented,​ ​saying​ ​that​ ​the​ ​EPA was​ ​due​ ​deference​ ​for​ ​what​ ​he​ ​said​ ​was​ ​a​ ​reasonable​ ​interpretation​ ​of​ ​the​ ​statute.”​ ​

Chemical and Engineering News states that “the EPA rule would have banned the use of HFC-134a as an air conditioner refrigerant in most cars and trucks sold in the U.S. starting with model-year 2021.” All avenues​ ​for​ ​appeals​ ​to​ ​this​ ​ruling​ ​are​ ​being​ ​explored.

The​ ​original​ ​Obama-era​ ​ruling​ ​was​ ​an​ ​important​ ​piece​ ​of​ ​the​ ​puzzle​ ​to​ ​meeting the​ ​Paris​ ​Climate​ ​Accord​ ​goals,​ ​and​ ​would​ ​have​ ​significantly​ ​cut​ ​our​ ​carbon​ ​emissions. This​ ​commitment​ ​to​ ​phasing​ ​out​ ​HFCs​ ​was​ ​furthered​ ​by​ ​meetings​ ​in​ ​Kigali​ ​in​ ​2016, when​ ​the​ ​Montreal​ ​Protocol​ ​was​ ​updated.​ ​The​ ​Montreal​ ​Protocol​ ​was​ ​a​ ​treaty​ ​signed​ ​in 1987​ ​that​ ​successfully​ ​phased​ ​out​ ​an​ ​older​ ​generation​ ​of​ ​refrigerant​ ​gases​ ​that​ ​are harmful​ ​to​ ​the​ ​ozone​ ​layer.

As​ ​the Inside Climate News ​article​ ​states,​ ​“the​ ​Trump​ ​administration​ ​has​ ​given​ ​no​ ​indication​ ​of whether​ ​it​ ​intends​ ​to​ ​bring​ ​the​ ​Kigali​ ​amendment​ ​before​ ​the​ ​Senate​ ​for​ ​ratification.”​ ​But there​ ​was,​ ​and​ ​still​ ​could​ ​be,​ ​hope​ ​to​ ​maintain​ ​the​ ​Obama-era​ ​rulings​ ​during​ ​the​ ​Trump administration.​ ​Chemical​ ​manufacturers​ ​that​ ​have​ ​worked​ ​with​ ​Trump​ ​are​ ​investing​ ​in more​ ​climate-friendly​ ​alternatives​ ​to​ ​HFCs.​ ​Climate​ ​change​ ​ingenuity​ ​and​ ​the​ ​bottom​ ​line are​ ​by​ ​no​ ​means​ ​mutually​ ​exclusive.​ ​The​ ​way​ ​we​ ​cool​ ​ourselves​ ​could​ ​be​ ​a​ ​bipartisan issue.​ ​American​ ​companies​ ​have​ ​the​ ​potential​ ​to​ ​act​ ​as​ ​leaders​ ​in coolant technology.​

Our Deep Dependence On A/C

August 2017

Air conditioning has become a convenience that we take for granted across the United States. It is responsible for the comforts of modern living beyond just room temperature. And it is connected to almost every industry in ways that aren’t always visible. But it wasn’t always that way. A recent New York Times article titled “How Air Conditioning Conquered America (Even the Pacific Northwest),” by Emily Badger and Alan Blinder, tracks our dependence on air conditioning since the 1950’s—and it goes much deeper than you might expect.

Air conditioning has made economic growth practical in the hottest regions of the United States. “It made possible industrial work like printing, food processing and electrical manufacturing that would be hard to manage in sweltering heat. And it created the possibility for white-collar jobs in mechanically cooled office buildings.” Imagine production and progress being feasible in the humid south without central air.

Cooling technologies have everything to do with infrastructure and city planning. Sprawl is viable, and traffic is tolerable, because of air conditioning in cars. It made places like Phoenix, which is considered a relatively new city, possible. Types of building designs are also informed by air conditioning in regions like the Southwest, where wood housing is now used instead of just concrete construction.

Of course, these kinds of design decisions are problematic and unsustainable. “‘With the advent of air-conditioning, we lost a lot of the common sense,’ said Kirk Teske, the chief operating officer at HKS Architects, with headquarters in Dallas. He worries that regions like the Northeast may lose it, too, setting up future challenges for office workers and residents when blackouts or other natural disasters come.”

And individual air conditioning use is on the rise as global temperatures increase (which in turn contributes to global warming in that disastrous loop). Even regions that historically never relied on air conditioning are now closer to the consumption of hotter regions like the South. In the Midwest, central air is built into 94% of new single-family homes. And across the US, window units are used in older buildings. In the Pacific Northwest, where there have been record-breaking heat waves this summer, more and more households are purchasing these units. “In 1990, just a third of households there used central air or window units. Now twice as many do.”

Air conditioning is connected to all of our modern conveniences, the infrastructure of our cities, and the economic growth of our country, including our digital lives (cooling is necessary for server farms and data centers). Our reliance on air conditioning isn’t going to shrink, but we can think more conscientiously about our use and design, and create a new kind of common sense.

Want Energy Solutions: Fix Air Con

July 2017

The irony that air conditioning contributes to global warming is hard to miss: as temperatures increase, the more we use air conditioning—and the more we use air conditioning, the more we heat the planet. And yet this piece of the puzzle is largely missing from the climate change dialogue. According to this New York Times article by Lisa Friedman, one reason is that coolant chemicals (refrigerants) don’t make for a very sexy dinner party conversation.

In 1987, the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances, namely CFCs, that are responsible for ozone depletion, was signed. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) became the alternative. While HFCs are less directly harmful to the ozone layer, they are still greenhouse gases and, according to the EPA, are designated as having “high global warming potential (GWP).”

An amendment to the Montreal Protocol was reached in Kigali last year, geared to eliminate the use of HFCs. Another NYT article, reporting on the deal, states that HFCs “function as a sort of supercharged greenhouse gas, with 1,000 times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide.” Phasing out HFC’s could mean “avoiding an estimated half degree Celsius of warming by 2100.” The richest countries, including the US, are supposed to freeze HFC consumption by 2018. But the United States’ relationship to this amendment is unclear at this point.

Reimagining cooling is essential to approaching the problem of climate change and one of the major factors that could lead to emission reduction. If we change how we cool ourselves, we could significantly lower our potential warming from the predicted 4 to 5 degree increase.

The Montreal Protocol caused such a shift in the production and science around cooling, motivated by our clear impact on the environment, that it gives this writer hope another agreement like it can be reached. The new amendment is one step of many, but it is a big step.

Factories that manufacture air conditioners are also a large contributor to carbon emissions. Friedman’s article goes on to discuss the efficiency of air conditioning production: demand for air conditioning is increasing, which means the energy needed for production will increase as well. “1.6 billion new air-conditioners by 2050 means thousands of new power plants will have to come on line to support them.”

The demand for air conditioning is growing rapidly. Without innovation, this will only contribute further to global warming, and hence to an even greater demand for cooling technologies—an endless loop. That’s why these issues of cooling chemicals and efficiency are starting to be approached in creative, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive ways, across the interconnected fields of science and design. Innovation and policy changes go hand-in-hand when it comes to air products, which, to me, is a pretty sexy dinner party topic.

How air conditioning shaped architecture

June 2017

Air conditioning and modern architecture are more connected than what you think and the article “How air conditioning shaped modern architecture – and changed our climate” proves it. The writer, Patrick Sisson, provides us with an entertaining and didactic tour around architecture, technology and air. What we found very exciting about this piece is that while Sisson demonstrates how numerous building typologies adapted to the sudden freedom provided by air conditioning, he also emphasizes that artificial cooling has fueled today’s energy and environmental crisis.

In other words: yes, air conditioning allowed architects to design towers without atriums or light wells; yes, air conditioning “meant workers didn’t need to sit near a window and hence “offices could suddenly have larger floorplates, encouraging collaboration and denser construction”; yes, air conditioning made sealed buildings possible –hence, receiving no city dirt and dust through open windows. But of course, all these “advantages” had a flipside: “The adoption of the “windowless wall” created the fluorescent-lit, dull and dim office spaces many workers abhor” and major health implications were derived from the unhealthy air quality inside closed-off buildings. But what’s even worst: “the most damaging part of this shift has been the cost, in energy and carbon emissions, of our cool new world. By 2014, 87 percent of U.S. homes had some form of air conditioning”. The cooling of buildings and vehicles in the United States “contributes to half a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year. We consume more energy for residential air conditioning than all other countries combined, although, with other countries such as China and India in pursuit of glass-walled visions of modernity, that is going to change, and not in a good way. Due in large part to indoor climate control, buildings utilize half of total U.S. energy consumption”.

All in all, we certainly agree with Sisson when he states: “Air conditioning promised a cooler, more modern environment indoors. But unless architects and designers continue to develop more green, efficient ways to keep our buildings cool, it will be increasingly difficult to escape the warming environment outside”.

For the complete article click here.

Photo Credit: “Curbed”

Revisiting Indigenous Air Cooling in Jaipur

August 2016

Located just outside of Jaipur, India, the Amer Fort, also known as the Amer Palace, was built in 1592 by Raja Man Singh, and remains in pristine condition today. Like many Indian palaces, buildings, and urban dwellings, the Amer Fort still benefits from some of the most traditional and exquisite air cooling technologies. By creating different rooms and places for different climates and temperatures, the Fort’s architects planned for the seasonal use of varying spaces throughout the palace grounds. For example, the “Pleasure garden” is located in the center of a lake and is used for exceptionally hot summer days. If the palace’s dwellers or visitors become uncomfortable outdoors, they can migrate to the center of the lake to cool off. Similarly, inside the Amer Fort movable screens and curtains were used to keep spaces like the emperor’s throne as cool as the open lake. As Vinod Gupta, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the School of Planning & Architecture in New Delhi, writes, “It is said that in summer there were three sets of screens used, two of them grass mats kept wet by sprinkling of water. Heavy quilted curtains were suspended in place of these screens in winter.” Additionally, one of the most fascinating air cooling technologies employed at the Amer Fort are the apertures, some of which are no larger than one centimeter, designed to let in air which then gets cooled within the larger structure of the building by filtering through an underground (and therefore shaded) tunnel where air flows over shaded water (pictured) to keep it cool.

While beginning to write this post I found myself struggling to employ the appropriate lexicon to describe the concept of air cooling without air conditioning, an area of study important to FutureAir but still somewhat obscure to an average city dweller like myself. As Gupta writes, the energy crisis has spurred the accumulation of a vast body of literature about “passive cooling systems,” or technology that cools air naturally and sustainably, but he argues that the strategies employed by indigenous Indian builders and architects remain the most developed. According to Gupta, “When [modern] architects talk of passive cooling, it is as if the maintenance of certain specified temperatures in a building is an end in itself. On the other hand, the indigenous builder could not care less if the building was cool or warm so long as people could be comfortable within or without the building.” Without electricity indigenous Indian architects used their knowledge of physics and the climate in which they lived to strive for comfortable and utilitarian structures, which are, as a result, quite beautiful.

REFERENCES
“Amer Fort.” Jaipur: The Pink City, August 24, 2016. http://www.jaipur.org.uk/forts-monuments/amber.html.
Gupta, Vinod. Energy and Habitat: Town Planning and Building Design for Energy Conservation. John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd, 1984.

Toward an Aesthetic of Air

August 2016

Mika Rottenberg’s work, The AC Trio, 2016 displayed at the Palais de Tokyo’s summer exhibition, Happy Sapien, inverts her viewer’s daily relationship to air conditioning by displaying the back end of three units inside the gallery space. By installing what most air conditioner users would consider to be the uglier side of their units which usually hang out of windows and always leak, Rottenberg isolates the grotesque aesthetics of the appliance by removing its usual function. With a small planter sitting atop the third unit in the trio, Rottenberg pokes fun at a meager attempt at integrating flora into the street-side of urban life. Below Rottenberg’s trio sit two pans atop hotplates and another plant. The filthy drip that every city dweller has experienced falls onto the pans that cook our food and the plants that hydrate our earth. The viewer may even begin to imagine the heat of the hotplates rising up into the units. By appealing to her viewer on a visceral level, calling to mind the use of daily objects and the flow of liquid, sound, and heat between them, Rottenberg begins to create an aesthetic of that which is omnipresent and yet invisible, air.

Ceiling Fan Composition #2, 2016, another of Rottenberg’s works displayed in Happy Sapien, is comprised of the colorful and vibrant display of the four fans behind the gallery wall. Like disco-balls rotating to an unseen rhythm, Rottenberg’s fans become mesmerizing, each illuminated by a different color of neon light. While the AC trio slowly drips filth, pushed out of someone’s window and spilling over into the gallery space, the fans spin together external to the gallery space in a neat composition. By encasing her fans outside of the room in which the viewer resides, Rottenberg, once again, removes their usual function. In so doing, she opens a space for the viewer to interact with air on an unusual level; aesthetically, rhythmically, and hopefully, with an eye toward the future of air.

Written by Tess Gruenberg and Francesca Michel

Sensor Spotlight: FutureAir at Atelier Ten

May 2016

Earlier this month, FutureAir partnered with Atelier Ten, an international environmental design consultant and engineering firm, to install one of our pilot air quality sensing platforms into their New York office. Atelier Ten is highly committed to sustainable design in the built environment and as a result see the value in increasing indoor thermal comfort and air quality, making them an ideal pilot location.

FutureAir’s lab setup at Atelier Ten involves measuring temperature, humidity, particulate matter, and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). By analyzing the data behind trends we see in the environment, we can develop meaningful and actionable insight. In addition to placing our sensing platform at Atelier Ten to collect data, we are also connected to the ceiling fans and will eventually connect to their Nest device. This will provide the control system needed to regulate the environment based on readings from the sensor, creating a full feedback loop for optimal thermal comfort and indoor air quality.

How Does Indoor Air Quality Affect You?

March 2016

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

Photo credit: TechCrunch

Taking on Indoor Air

February 2016

From a short visit to a remote village in South America emerged the seed of an idea.

In an otherwise exquisitely designed yet simple home, I experienced the unexpected and fantastic feeling of no temperature at all, of perfect comfort. A combination of natural airflow and a simple ceiling fan made this happen.

Nevertheless, the conventional ceiling fan above was a visual eyesore in contrast with surrounding well-designed interior space. The ceiling fan, still a basic propeller form, was dated and old-fashioned.

At FutureAir, we are reimagining indoor air. Our mission is to improve indoor air quality comfort and energy efficiency.

On the FutureAir blog we will share a collection of ideas, news and research to keep you informed on all things air related to design, science, technology and the environment. We’ll also give you an inside look into what we are working on and thinking about at FutureAir.

If you want more information, have a question or there’s something you’d like us to write about, just leave a comment on one of our posts. We’d love to hear from you.