Beijing, China ; Air Quality

This blog unfolds in a new chapter, after a long delay.  Much has happened since the last post, but it had not been recorded.  In this modern world of endless streams of media and real-time content, I cannot hope to catch everyone up to every detail that has occurred since the last post. But I can embrace the ephemeral nature of the new world, and just start blogging again.

Here is the quick re-cap: (very quick!)

I am now living in Beijing. I just moved here last week.  I am in love, and planning to get married to Miss Judy Jia, who I've known these past two years. We met in Singapore, we kept in touch while I was in India for two years. She is originally from Beijing.  We moved back to her home town for work and for family.  It is nice, and I am happy about that.  I'll be looking for interesting environmental related work in China.  China is a very polluted place right now.  Should be lots for me to do.

Air Quality in Beijing 

Today is Friday the 13th, 2015. And I want to talk about Air Pollution. You probably have heard about the air pollution problems in China.  There are many news items about it, and many reports.  I am learning about it myself -- the technical details, the causes, the solutions. But that, you can read in other sources. Here, I will just update you on my own personal experiences with Air Pollution in my first week in Beijing. 

What does it look like?  Here are some photos taken yesterday from the China World Trade Center in Beijing's central business district. Taken from the 17th floor, at the World Bank's office (Judy is working for the World Bank).  That fog, is smog.  The quality of air is indicated on a scale called the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI).  The score is a numeric value following into these ranges of health effects:

Up to 50:     Good

Up to 100:   Moderate

Up to 200:   Unhealthy

Up to 300     Very Unhealthy

Above 300:  Hazardous

The pictures you see from Beijing had a PSI score of about 220.  And that is fairly normal for this time of year. And expected to get worse as the winter season closes in.  Most of China's air pollution comes from coal smoke (for generating electricity, and heating buildings).  Winter requires a lot of heating, and so pollution gets worse in these months.

So, what can we do?

Wear a mask!

Outdoors, you absolutely have to wear a mask to block the air pollution.  Though many/most Beijingers don't wear one.  I guess it is the habit, or a sense of inconvenience.  And there are many kinds of masks to choose from.  Best thing to do is to ensure the masks are made from material that can filter the small and dangerous pollutant particles in the PM 2.5 size.  Many masks claim to be able to do this, but not all actually do. So we make sure to buy reputable brands. A great Beijing medical blog has some tips.  It also comes down to fit and personal comfort, so we are in the process of trying out a number of high quality masks.

Monitor the PSI

It is good to know what the outdoor air quality reading is at all times. These days it is possible with data streams that come from the US Embassy or other private sources.  Generally, the China Government data is not considered the most reliable or complete.  The US Embassy PSI data can be read in real-time from their website, and can be added to the Chrome browser, as an always-on extension that gives the PSI reading on your desktop. 

On the go, I use an app on my smartphone.  I found the China Air Quality Index app to be well designed and reliable. But there are others you can use too. This pulls PSI readings from US Embassy and other data points, and presents it to you easily on the go. 

Filter your air

Indoor air is not always perfectly safe either.  Air pollution is tiny particles that float in the air and can easily seep through window and door cracks. So you should take care to clean and filter the air in your home.  There are many products available to do this: home air filters. We live in an apartment here in Beijing (more on that in some later post).  So we want a free-standing air filter that can manage the size of the space. The products range from really top of the line imported filter units from Switzerland, to locally produced filter units.  Not all are of reliable quality.  And again, I turn to the excellent Beijing medical blog for guidance on how to buy an affordable and effective filter.  Judy and I decided to buy the disruptive Xiaomi Air Purifier.  Xiaomi is the company well known for their well-designed smartphones, to rival iPhone and Samsung, but at a very low cost point.  It is an interesting company, and they are expanding into many products that work together in a Smart Home.  Once nice feature of the filter we bought is that it can be controlled remotely via smartphone app, so we can turn on the filter before we get home, to make sure the air is safe by the time we arrive.

The filter unit arrived yesterday, and we set it up.  So far so good, and we are breathing safe and fresher air inside our home now.

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So, we are making our way in Beijing by wearing masks, monitoring the air quality, and filtering the air in our home.  This should keep us safer in Beijing as we live and work in fields that help to solve these China environmental problems over the longer term.