Building Better Air Quality Sensors
The better your air quality, the better your well-being. Right now, most of us don't know what we're breathing in when we're at home, or what it’s doing to our health. That's why we take air quality so seriously. At Birdi, part of our mission is to help you breathe a bit easier.
Have you ever been in a room that started out comfortable, but quickly turned stuffy? This happens, in part, because the longer we stay in a room, the more oxygen it loses and the more carbon dioxide [CO₂] builds up, causing what’s known as stale air. One feature we've been putting a lot of work into is stale air. As the CO₂ builds up and stale air lingers, you can start feeling groggy and even a little disoriented. Note: Don’t confuse CO₂ with poisonous carbon monoxide [CO] gas, which is deadly and also detectable by the Birdi Smart Detector.
For example, here at Birdi headquarters, stale air CO₂ build up is especially apparent in our conference rooms. Taking a glance into the Birdi iPhone app, shows exactly what happens during our weekly engineering meetings if we don’t circulate the air in the room.
The rise in stale air CO₂ is steady throughout the room, peaking at about 2200 PPM, which is not hazardous but still problematic. This can mean growing drowsy, getting headaches, or having trouble functioning - definitely not feelings you want in the office or at home. At this point, most people start reaching for more coffee, when what they actually need is more fresh air. The result is not just a health impact, but also productivity.
For indoor air quality, stale air CO₂ can also act as a surrogate for indoor pollutants and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These organic chemicals are widely used as ingredients in household products like paints, cleaning products, cosmetics, carpets and furniture. As air gets stuffier, there’s less circulation and the chemical exposure increases the chance that the health is impacted. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, levels of several organics average 2-5x higher indoors than outdoors, and can be up to 1000x higher after activities like painting. Without fixing the levels of stale air CO₂, this can have serious health consequences.
The air situation can get so bad that there's a name: sick building syndrome. The National Institute of Health lists symptoms of sick building syndrome as Headache, dizziness, nausea, eye, nose or throat irritation, dry cough, dry or itching skin, difficulty in concentration, fatigue, sensitivity to odors, hoarseness of voice, allergies, cold, flu-like symptoms, increased incidence of asthma attacks and personality changes.
So if it's a problem, why isn't stale air CO₂ tracking more widespread?
One reason: cost. At Birdi, we’ve built our own sensor to make it affordable for the very first time. We want to make it easy for everyone to bring this experience and safety precaution into their homes. Another reason Stale air CO₂ isn’t talked about more is due to the lack of quality monitors. A number of devices claim to be air quality monitors, but aren't properly calibrated, so the data is meaningless. Because Birdi is a certified life safety device, we calibrate and test our systems and sensors before they leave the factory, creating a baseline of information that we operate from. Not only does Birdi provide more meaning to curious homeowners, we can also start looking at data from a bird's eye view, gaining insight into neighborhoods and more.
In the Birdi iPhone app, we go further than just diagnosing an issue. We provide actionable tips on how to improve air quality, and explain the changes needed to improve home health. After all, knowing is only half the battle.
It's an exciting new time for air quality research and we're proud to help push the envelope for what's possible. Stay tuned as we dive deeper into our sensors as we break down the necessity and convenience of monitoring with Birdi.
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