Air Quality Experts Across Borders Join Hands for Healthy Indoor Air Across South East Asia

Indoor air quality experts in India - ActiveBuildings joins hands with clean air technology pioneers - PureLiving to broaden the geographical reach and provide end-to-end solutions for clean indoor air.

Indian air quality tech experts ActiveBuildings and leading indoor environment consultancy and engineering firm PureLiving, officially announced a collaboration to provide clean and healthy indoor air solutions to offices and homes across South East Asia. The collaboration widens the resource pool in terms of data points, research and technology, and aims to protect more people from breathing polluted indoor air.

South Asia is home to 37 of the 40 most polluted cities in the world as per the World Air Quality Report. Over 60% of the population lives in areas where the PM2.5 levels exceed the WHO standards, increasing the risk of chronic respiratory disorders. With technology like automated air filtration and ventilation management systems that can retro-fit into existing buildings, large indoor spaces can remain free from PM 2.5, virus transmissions, odours, chemicals and elevated CO2 in the breathable air.

After the recent pandemic, the need for clean and disease-free indoor air has become a priority, particularly with the return of the work-from-office module. Abhinav Gupta, CEO of ActiveBuildings points out, “Most workspaces in India were not built keeping in mind air-borne diseases and indoor air pollution. Our data highlights that most office spaces face high CO2 and most homes have high particulate pollution. ActiveBuildings has mostly focused on air testing and offering recommendations for the space. With this collaboration we can offer end to end solutions pan Asia, from air monitoring to ventilation and filtration that can be installed on the existing systems.”

Louie Cheng, President of PureLiving, says, “Our focus has always been health, sustainability and smart buildings. We have seen great results with products like VentMate and PureQi in China and hope to bring the same impact to the Indian market for clean air. This collaboration with ActiveBuildings, opens new possibilities for both companies to continue pioneering approaches to creating healthier indoor environments.”

Indoor air quality can be over five times worse than outside air. Tobacco-smoke, incense-burning, dust, printer inks, air fresheners, deodorants, scented candles, varnishes, paints as well as human metabolism, all add to pollutants like PM2.5, PM10, VOCs, Ozone and CO2 in the indoor environment. Breathing such pollutants can cause eye inflammation, throat irritation, allergies in the short run, and lung infections, cardio-vascular diseases and cancer over longer periods of time.

About ActiveBuildings

ActiveBuildings is a tech start-up engaged in the research and development of technology that can improve the health, comfort and productivity of buildings and their occupants through Indoor Environment & Air Quality management. It has successfully developed RESET certified Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) monitoring sensors and cost-effective air filtration devices inspired by the Corsi-Rosenthal boxes. ActiveBuildings has deployed over 1000+ sensors and air cleaners across India and provided affordable low-cost air quality testing to over 7.3 million sq.ft of real estate in India and Middle East, and collected over 840 Million data points. With a mission of Clean Air For All, they are also providing 10,000 air cleaners and 5,000 sensors free of cost in various low-income communities facing high levels of air pollution as part of their community project - Sarva. For more information visit www.activebuildings.io.

About PureLiving

PureLiving is a leading indoor environmental consulting company with a simple mission: to help our clients create healthy homes and workplaces. Our expert team of building engineers, HVAC specialists, and environmental consultants advises clients on air and water quality, mold, asbestos and lead exposure issues and helps to improve their indoor environmental quality through testing to identify sources of pollution and then eliminating them. Our total range of solutions includes pollutant testing, design and installation of cutting-edge filtration systems, monitoring, and odor and chemical reduction. With operations across Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East, PureLiving is the industry’s provider of choice for assessment, engineering, implementation, and monitoring of indoor environmental quality. Find out more at www.purelivingchina.com.

10,000 Air Cleaners To Be Deployed in Maharashtra and Karnataka By Ethereum Founder’s Balvi Fund and ActiveBuildings

• Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s Balvi Fund & ActiveBuildings sign an MoU to deploy low-cost air cleaners, in Maharashtra and Karnataka
• Balvi Fund has partnered with ActiveBuildings for monitoring and filtration of air quality in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka with an initial investment of 1 million USD
• The MoU aims to cover 600,000 sq. meters of indoor spaces, with 10,000 units of air cleaners in public places of Maharashtra and Karnataka
• Deployment to focus on public spaces such as government hospitals, and schools that lack access to clean indoor air quality

In a bid to improve indoor air quality in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, Vitalik Buterin led Balvi Fund and ActiveBuidings joined forces for the next one year to deploy 5000 Indoor Air Quality monitors measuring carbon dioxide emissions and 10,000 air cleaners to keep indoor air pollution in check and to collect real-world data on indoor air quality.

Balvi Fund has partnered with ActiveBuildings with an investment of 1 million USD for executing the following :

Deploy 5000 Indoor Air Quality monitors measuring CO2, where the devices will be connected to a cloud server and dashboard to show data in real-time.

In 1500 of these devices, ActiveBuildings will also add PM2.5 as a parameter for monitoring particle pollution and aerosol pollution as it is the most lethal air pollutant for human health.

Deploy another 10,000 low-cost air cleaners, inspired by Corsi Rosenthal* boxes, across the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka at critical locations of public importance.

This contract to deploy air purifiers and Indoor Air Quality monitors and gather data is the largest such project ever undertaken in any low-medium income country, and it will serve up to 1 million Indians

The deployment will focus on government hospitals, government schools that typically do not have the budget to spend on clean air.

According to a recent study by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), there are unsatisfactory levels of air pollution in 28 of the 73 sites(locations) that were monitored. The ambient quality of the air at these sites were classified as being in the “very unhealthy or worse” category. The worst sites were found in Mumbai, followed by Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Raigad. These are all industrial regions that produce large quantities of pollution from automobiles, dust generated by the construction industry and factories.

Additionally, the same report suggested that Karnataka had the worst air quality in the whole of the south of India. It stated that polluted air was responsible for 95 deaths out of every 100,000 people. The national average is 90 per 100,000. Over 50 percent of deaths attributable to air pollution are younger than 70 years old.

Talking about the partnership, Abhinav Gupta, CEO at ActiveBuildings said, “We are glad to partner with Balvi Fund in the movement to create awareness around the fact that clean indoor air is a fundamental requirement. With the help of this partnership, we intend to cover 600,000 sq. meters of indoor spaces, that will be protected with the help of 10,000 units of the Bubble CR boxes* to public spaces like schools, healthcare facilities etc. The idea to tap such areas is to ensure access to clean breathable air to every strata of the community.”

Adding to Abhinav, Vitalik Buterin said, "Covid is primarily an airborne disease, and one of the most powerful ways to fight Covid is to improve indoor air quality and reduce airborne transmission. Air filters are very effective at reducing airborne spread of Covid and other viruses, and work entirely in the background, and CO2 sensors can detect poor air quality and suggest when filtration or ventilation might be required. ActiveBuildings' ambitious project in India will mass-manufacture and distribute monitors and air filters, paving a path toward making clean indoor air a standard in India much like clean water has become a standard in much of the world today."

ActiveBuildings through this partnership plans to drive public dialogue in India highlighting the importance of clean indoor air quality as a necessity. They aim to :

Donate Bubble CR boxes to public spaces (schools, healthcare facilities etc) that cannot afford devices that curb aerosol pollution.

To cover 600,000 sq. meters of indoor spaces, with 10,000 units of air cleaners that are inspired by the Corsi Rosenthal boxes of international acclaim.

Provide 5000 units of RESET certified IAQ sensing devices to monitor, track and analyse the impact of Bubble CR boxes in the spaces where it is deployed.

Open-source the designs of Bubble CR boxes and a simple IAQ monitoring device to provide public access to critical tools that help fight aerosol pollution.

About ActiveBuildings:

ActiveBuildings is a start-up founded by Abhinav Gupta and Priyans Murarka. ActiveBuildings is engaged in the research and development of technological products for enhancing the health, comfort and productivity of buildings and their occupants. It has successfully developed RESET certified Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) monitoring sensors and a low-cost affordable air filtration device inspired by Corsi-Rosenthal boxes. ActiveBuildings has deployed over 1000+ sensors and air cleaners across India and provided affordable low-cost air quality testing to over 6 million sq. ft of real estate in India and Middle East. In addition, the company has donated over 120+ low-cost air cleaners to local schools and health care spaces as a part of a joint campaign with a community of aerosol scientists and engineers.

*Corsi–Rosenthal Box, also called a Corsi–Rosenthal Cube or a Comparetto Cube, is a design for a do-it-yourself air purifier that can be built comparatively inexpensively. It was designed during the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of reducing the levels of airborne viral particles in indoor settings by cleaning out aerosols from the air (indoors).