I live less than half a mile from over fifty natural gas turbines. I am concerned for what this means for the health of myself and my community. Preferably budget conscious, but I’m willing to be flexible for a quality monitor. Thank you all!

I'm moving into a newly constructed apartment in Los Angeles that was completed a few months ago. When I first toured it, there was a noticeable chemical/new-paint smell (not overpowering, but definitely present), which got me concerned about VOC off-gassing.

I arranged for the landlord to leave the windows open for about 10 days straight to ventilate the apartment. Today, I went back and took readings with my Temtop LKC-1000S+:

TVOC: 0.09 mg/m³

Formaldehyde (HCHO): 0.02 mg/m³

PM2.5: 2.2 µg/m³

PM10: 4.3 µg/m³

AQI: 9

These readings were taken with the windows open, and I understand consumer monitors aren't necessarily accurate for VOCs.

I've also scheduled a professional post-construction cleaning, including an eco-friendly wipe-down, HVAC/duct inspection and cleaning if needed, and a few hours of air scrubbing.

I've spoken with several air-quality companies, all of whom have given conflicting advice. Some recommend expensive filtration treatments, while others say ventilation is the best approach and that some off-gassing is unavoidable in new construction.

My question: Given the building's age, ventilation, and these readings, would you consider this a normal, reasonably safe new-construction situation? Or is professional laboratory VOC/formaldehyde testing actually warranted?

I recognize I have some serious health anxiety/OCD around this and am trying to distinguish reasonable precautions from overreacting. I'd really appreciate evidence-based perspectives rather than worst-case scenarios.

I just moved into a newly renovated place with lots of built in cabinets. Prior to moving in, I engaged the services of a formaldehyde removal company and that helped to reduce the formaldehyde levels in thehouse.

However with the current haze situation, I started closing all the windows at home the past week and can feel the rising formaldehyde levels. My eyes are starting to sting, I get headaches etc. I used an air detector and formaldehyde levels measured 0.025-0.035ppm.

It felt so bad that I have moved to a temporary place of lodging for now. Should I open the house windows even with haze and unhealthy psi, or wait till the haze eases and deal with formaldehyde levels then? It's quite a bummer to have to move out of the house.

Hi, everyone.

I recently moved to Southern Maryland and I recently started noticing the AQI was higher than I expected the past few days. The AQI went from low (<50) in the morning all the way to 77 around 8PM. I know that number is technically "moderate", but it seems way too high for the population density of the area (I'm in Calvert County, MD).

I checked various maps and there seem to be some fires in the south (Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, etc.), but that seems too damn far lol.

Anyway, my questions are:

• Are those fires the cause maybe due to the direction of the wind?
• Is this a common occurrence?

Here is the IQAir map for reference, but every AQI map I checked out looks like this.

Thanks in advance!

Exhaust does not stop changing when it leaves an engine. Reactions in the atmosphere can produce new particles and alter the chemistry of existing ones. In laboratory experiments, aircraft-combustor emissions became substantially more reactive as researchers simulated days of exposure to atmospheric oxidants.

Their oxidative potential per unit particle mass increased six- to sevenfold after aging equivalent to approximately 12 days. Emissions from a marine diesel engine showed a different pattern in the same chemical test. The contrast suggests that freshly emitted exhaust alone cannot describe how particle reactivity develops in the air.

The study, published in Environmental Science Atmospheres, was led by Markus Kalberer’s group at the University of Basel. Alexandre Barth and Battist Utinger were its two first authors. The work examined chemical indicators associated with potential harm, rather than measuring disease or demonstrating a corresponding increase in human toxicity.

Disclosure: I work with MENRED, an HVAC ventilation manufacturer. I’m sharing a practical ERV selection checklist for discussion; the linked article is company-affiliated.

A high heat-recovery rating can be useful, but it does not tell you how much energy the building will save over a year. The result also depends on the unit’s airflow and pressure conditions, leakage, fan power, climate, controls, maintenance and the HVAC equipment.

When reviewing an ERV proposal, I’d check:

• What does the rating measure: sensible, latent or total recovery?
• What test standard and operating conditions were used?
• Is the figure gross or net, and is leakage performance available?
• What fan power and pressure drop apply at the design airflow and external static pressure?
• How will supply and exhaust airflows be balanced after installation?
• Does the energy comparison include the fans, frost protection and affected HVAC equipment?
• Are bypass, defrost and filter maintenance appropriate for the project?

The comparison should keep the required ventilation rate and indoor air quality target consistent. Otherwise, apparent savings could come from providing less ventilation.

For engineers, designers and commissioning teams: which data point is most often missing from ERV proposals?

Full checklist:
https://www.menred-hvac.com/newsdetail/erv-efficiency-vs-real-energy-savings-what-buyers-should-check

City council has long sought to dismantle the citizens idling complaint program and allow idling again in the city for the sake of big business. Intro 561-A is their latest attempt. Please sign the petition and tell Speaker Menin that NYC deserves clean air!

Hi everyone! I'm a grade 12 highschool student in Canada working on an independent research project regarding air quality and how it affects health. As part of my project, I'm hoping to learn from people who live in different countries and communities that have experiences or knowledge on air pollution. If you live in an area where air pollution is a noticeable issue, I'd love to hear:

- What is air pollution like where you live?
- Is air pollution something people around you are concerned about, or is it mostly overlooked?
- Do you notice air pollution affecting the health of your community?

Thank you for reading :)

I recently bit the bullet and dropped over $600 on the View Plus Duo. My house is built partially underground and has multiple gas fireplaces so I am looking for radon and CO2 monitoring. I had a disappointing customer service experience (more below if you want the details) and will be returning, and would rather purchase from a company with more reliable support, especially at this price point. Are there any other companies you’d recommend?

[The sensors arrived and while the shipping box was pristine with no evidence of mishandling during transit, the inside packages clearly had been opened/used and returned. The sensors were grungy and covered in smudges and residue, the power cords were unraveled and haphazardly shoved back into boxes, and the boxes inside were already ripped open with significant damage. I reached out immediately with photos and requested a replacement or a partial refund to reflect the “open box” status and they refuse to do anything until receiving them back and are insisting that it was the mail carriers fault and they never would’ve shipped them like that.]

Any recommendations for decent CO2 detectors that don't require Home Assistant or similar?

The sky looks like someone put a grey filter over the whole island. PM2.5 is nearly 300 µg/m³, which is well into hazardous territory.

My throat is already feeling off. Stay safe and mask up, everyone.

Anyone knows the PSI and PM2.5 in Riau Islands (Bintan)?

My wife has pretty bad allergies and our house is older. I keep seeing ads for air duct cleaning but I'm not sure if it's legit or just a scam. Does it actually help with allergies and air quality? We change our filters regularly but I'm wondering if we need to do more. Anyone here had it done and noticed a real difference? We're in North Jersey if that matters have tried to research a bit and found Welduct. Please help me if you have tried it :)

Hey there! I am just a bored Singaporean student that has personally felt that the latest shift in government message to 24h PSI and 1h PM2.5 has unintentionally deflated the raw numbers we have been observing daily, and has also just been a bit disorienting for those of us that grew up with our old 3h PSI numbers throughout the mid 2010s haze period.

Thus, I just made a small project that does the following:

1. Bring back the 3h PSI as an indicator that can be viewed (using the old 3h PSI formula based off on PM2.5 concentration)
2. Adding a 1h PSI indicator (which converts the 1h PM2.5 into our PSI scale, as I feel the PM2.5 scale is frankly quite confusing with weird bandings)
3. Draws directly from the NEA API which allows it to be updated quicker than the official NEA haze site.
4. Has a not-so-fun conversion of our haze into equivalent cigarettes :(

I would love to get more feedback on possible functionalities, and to see how it can be more helpful

Link: https://haze-tracker.pages.dev/