The health benefits of better air • Hacker News Board

Re: The health benefits of better air

#41

Post by briefcomment » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:28 AM UTC

curiousgeorgio wrote: post #34

Having lived in Central America, I can tell you that almost none of the recommendations[1] here are relevant, at least in relation to the kind of air pollution that kills the numbers of people shown in those graphs. Smoky fires (mostly for cooking) inside small huts are everywhere in much of the world, and very few of the affected people understand the risks. Even if they did, they rarely have any viable alternatives…

It's not just about life expectancy, but life quality. I think we'll one day be surprised just how many mental health and chronic illnesses are significantly attributable to air pollution, in all its forms.

Re: The health benefits of better air

#42

Post by clairity » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:29 AM UTC

PurpleFoxy wrote: post #26

briefcomment wrote: post #14

This is a good list. One other important thing to do if you can help it is to never live near a road. Any road, even infrequently driven on ones. If there's only one car per day on a road, but you live ten feet from it, and occasionally the wind blows the exhaust in your direction, you're breathing that in. Walls don't help. Live at least one mile in a straight line from highways.

Ironically, following this advice makes the problem even worse as you now require a car to do anything. IMO, cities should just ban almost all car traffic from the centres so people can live car free without being poisoned.

put urban roads (and parking) underground, and use industrial scrubbers at air exchange. expensive but worth it. tax fossil fuels/carbon to subsidize this and internalize the environmental costs.

Re: The health benefits of better air

#43

Post by simondotau » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:29 AM UTC

tehnub wrote: post #21

ahaucnx wrote: post #9

Thank you for this extensive resource on air quality. Yes, it needs to get more attention as it is one of the main drivers of mortality of environmental risks. One thing one has to bear in mind is that often when you optmize your home for low PM (e.g. with air purifiers and fixing of air leackage) your CO2 will get very high causing headaches and reduce cognitive performance. So it always makes sense for indoor air q…

In practice, how does one try to achieve a balance between CO2 and PM? Do you open the windows for a while when CO2 is up and PM is down, and then close them and run your purifiers when CO2 starts to go back down? Is it possible to keep both low with HEPA filters on the windows?

The best case solution would be a passive house with MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) and incoming air filtration. This means your home has a steady flow of fresh, low-CO2 air that is filtered for pollen and other particles (depending on the air filter chosen).

Re: The health benefits of better air

#44

Post by briefcomment » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:30 AM UTC

clairity wrote: post #42

PurpleFoxy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, following this advice makes the problem even worse as you now require a car to do anything. IMO, cities should just ban almost all car traffic from the centres so people can live car free without being poisoned.

put urban roads (and parking) underground, and use industrial scrubbers at air exchange. expensive but worth it. tax fossil fuels/carbon to subsidize this and internalize the environmental costs.

I really hope we get to mag lev highways or something similar in the near future (electrically powered of course). No burning, and no friction

Re: The health benefits of better air

#45

Post by eli » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:31 AM UTC

modeless wrote: post #28

I'm surprised this doesn't mention gas stoves and ovens. Gas is the "high end" option, yet creates totally unnecessary PM2.5 pollution in your home. Children growing up with gas stoves have higher rates of asthma.

Some California cities were banning gas hookup on new homes. It’s all gonna be electric in the future.

Re: The health benefits of better air

#46

Post by PurpleFoxy » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:31 AM UTC

clairity wrote: post #42

PurpleFoxy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, following this advice makes the problem even worse as you now require a car to do anything. IMO, cities should just ban almost all car traffic from the centres so people can live car free without being poisoned.

put urban roads (and parking) underground, and use industrial scrubbers at air exchange. expensive but worth it. tax fossil fuels/carbon to subsidize this and internalize the environmental costs.

The cost would be so insane that no one would bother. Just park at the perimeter and take a tram or walk to the last part of your destination.

Re: The health benefits of better air

#47

Post by curiousgeorgio » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:32 AM UTC

briefcomment wrote: post #41

curiousgeorgio wrote: post #34

Having lived in Central America, I can tell you that almost none of the recommendations[1] here are relevant, at least in relation to the kind of air pollution that kills the numbers of people shown in those graphs. Smoky fires (mostly for cooking) inside small huts are everywhere in much of the world, and very few of the affected people understand the risks. Even if they did, they rarely have any viable alternatives…

It's not just about life expectancy, but life quality. I think we'll one day be surprised just how many mental health and chronic illnesses are significantly attributable to air pollution, in all its forms.

That's a fair point, though I'd still wager that for those of us not cooking over open fires, those effects are likely very minimal - at least in contrast to the people mentioned earlier.

Re: The health benefits of better air

#48

Post by eli » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:33 AM UTC

clairity wrote: post #42

PurpleFoxy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, following this advice makes the problem even worse as you now require a car to do anything. IMO, cities should just ban almost all car traffic from the centres so people can live car free without being poisoned.

put urban roads (and parking) underground, and use industrial scrubbers at air exchange. expensive but worth it. tax fossil fuels/carbon to subsidize this and internalize the environmental costs.

Wouldn’t electric trains and busses make a lot more sense?

Re: The health benefits of better air

#49

Post by MattGaiser » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:33 AM UTC

ahaucnx wrote: post #9

Thank you for this extensive resource on air quality. Yes, it needs to get more attention as it is one of the main drivers of mortality of environmental risks. One thing one has to bear in mind is that often when you optmize your home for low PM (e.g. with air purifiers and fixing of air leackage) your CO2 will get very high causing headaches and reduce cognitive performance. So it always makes sense for indoor air q…

I am interested. Do you ship to Canada (happy to pay the difference/wait for you to figure out the postage rate)?

Re: The health benefits of better air

#50

Post by datlife » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 4:33 AM UTC

cubicmeter wrote: post #40

Unless the author is not only a scientist but a really good one, I cannot personally believe any of this material. If particles were as essential to health as claimed, smokers would have a much much shorter life expectancy.

Agree. S/he is selling air filters, so the intention is obvious to me here.

Anyways, it's an interesting read but I'll take it with a grain of salt.