[cmews]

My wife has severe astma and when traveling this is something that worries me all the time. At home we have blue air machines and plants to filter the air, but astma attacks still happen (when she didn't use her medicines enough) when she travels from work to home on bad air quality days in Amsterdam. The astma medication is something that comes with a lot of trade-offs/health complications if you use it too much. Hope this will improve in future, but prevention would be even better.

I looked up the amount of people in the Netherlands that have health issues connected with air quality and it isn't negligible at all (1+ million on a 17,53 million population), but I don't understand why politically it doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Unfortunately I can't create this kind of machine (software eng, no hardware skills), but I think there is a very big market for portable masks with safe air to breath temporary when you are outside. Especially with all the research that has been done on how much air quality impacts your health.

[stinos]

I don't understand why politically it doesn't get the attention it deserves

Same as the obesity pandemic, the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis: there are no clear immediate effects for the general population (consequences of that in turn lead from claims that it's fake to 'yeah sure whatever I don't care doesn't affect me' and everything in between), dealing with it will in the short run cost lots of money, not enough momentum to get anything long term going, sprinkle some lobbyism on top. Sounds cynical, I know, but: I've yet to see this proven wrong.. The wait for the tipping point has started.

[cmews]

I agree with you, however historically the move from leaded fuel to lead-free fuel proved that we could do it or the protection of the ozon layer (one of the few times in history that we took collectively action against something damaging humanity, but it doesn't happen often enough). Curious what would cause a tipping point for improving air quality or any of the other multiple crises you mentioned and if we could learn something from history.

[AstralStorm]

The only worked because we had a ready replacement in place. (Different comparable gasoline additives, different comparable refrigerants, alternative motive gasses for pressured containers.)

And even today, leaded gas is still used for aircraft.

The problem with fossil fuels is we really do not quite have anything as energy dense and useful, not even lithium. (Which there is too little of, not to mention mining issues.)

As such, it will require a major change not just a tweak.

[mistrial9]

a wise activist once said -- it takes an immediate crisis to move the needle in public action

[earlyam]

> Same as the obesity pandemic, the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis

That and almost every problem is a political party's solution. Get the voter base whipped up about any attempts to do anything and get reelected for obstructing it. Rinse, repeat.

Politicians don't care about issues, they care about getting reelected; to do that they must exploit and perpetuate problems they're supposed to fix.

[schiffern]

>Unfortunately I can't create this kind of machine (software eng, no hardware skills), but I think there is a very big market for portable masks with safe air

You may not need to DIY (much).

I recently posted my experiences and tips with the AirPro mask,[0] and the response was at least entertaining! Tl;dr it's a wearable HEPA device that pipes 99.97% filtered air into any N95 mask. Besides improved filtration, this also prevents the hot humid mask feeling that some people dislike.

You might consider adding a carbon prefilter (look for sheet filter medium and cut to size) for the HEPA unit, and pairing that with a carbon N95 mask (eg 3M 8247). This should filter several pollutants of concern you mentioned, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and ammonia. Sadly CO is nearly impossible to filter.

For indoor filtration, you might find some MERV-13 filters[1] and make a Corsi Box[2]. No engineering skill required, just a bit of duct tape.

Maybe something here will help! Cheers and good health

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34378478

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34797981

[2] https://cleanaircrew.org/box-fan-filters/

[cmews]

This comment made my day! I'm going to give it a try and will convince my wife to test it to see if it helps :)

[schiffern]

Glad to hear it. :)

A couple tips I forgot, some of which may increase the all-important "wife acceptability coefficient":

- carbon tends to get saturated pretty quick, so in regular use I would replace the (cheaper) prefilter at least weekly, mask every 2-3 weeks

- testing may show you can get away with a non-carbon N95 and just the carbon prefilter; cheaper and the look may be found more acceptable

- carbon will immediately start adsorbing pollutants from ambient air, so keep all unused carbon in a sealed jar or sealed original packaging

- have fun with it! At Starbucks and pizza places I'm either Mr Snuffleupagus or Discount Darth Vader :D

- Corsi Boxes can be loud, so I use Low if people are around (High only for unoccupied space); shrouding or draping with fluffy towels can help too (hint: not the good towels)

- if you have forced air HVAC you might start out just using a MERV-13 filter in there; I prefer Filtrete 1900, but in general anything with many pleats = low pressure drop is better; most HVAC is not rated for large pressure drops across the filter

- I've had good success making an experimental "Carbon Corsi", taping two cheap 20x20 filters together with ~2 lb of replaceable aquarium carbon in the middle (change every ~two months) and taping that on top; this filters gaseous pollutants in the home, and can further muffle the box fan

(sorry, I swear this list was two items long when I started...)

Hope she can find some relief via your mutual efforts! Severe asthma can feel almost like a prison, so it's important to be extra kind and patient. Best of luck you guys

[rladd]

> portable masks with safe air to breath temporary when you are outside

With regard to PM2.5, that already exists and is called an N95 mask.

[cmews]

Unfortunately those masks are not protecting you against gases and vapours like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide which do impact asthmatic people a lot or are the cause of developing asthma.

[AstralStorm]

Well, a mask with an activated carbon filter actually does, to an extent, except for carbon monoxide.

(There are other more specialized filters that are more effective against SOx and NOx too, but carbon is also good against VOC.)