In his article for The Mission Tony Miller, CEO and a co-founder of Entanglement Technologies, argues for ‘developing an arsenal’ air quality sensors that can quickly ‘identify hazards and keep people out of harm’s way.’
Paul Dawson, Dyson’s VP of Health and Beauty, agrees. However, collecting better data is only part of the solution. ‘Larger arrays mainly inform people about spikes in pollution from events like rural wildfires, or peak urban traffic times,’ he explains but ‘we also need to learn from existing data sensors and build a better network of the quality of the air where people actually spend the majority of their time,’ he continues.
‘I have worked to help create air quality detectors and purifiers for over three years. In that time I have seen the debate about air pollution go from being a little discussed consequence of the motorcar industry to a global issue.
‘And it really is a global issue, from choking smog in Delhi to volcanic eruptions in Iceland, each country faces its own challenges when it comes to combating the adverse effects of unclean air. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that exposure to air pollution, contributed to the deaths of over seven million people and that 92 percent of the world’s population now lives in areas that surpass safe air quality limits.
‘Dyson now has nearly 400k connected purifiers spread throughout homes and offices across the globe, and which have collected approximately 20 billion data points. This is one the largest international networks of indoor air quality monitors in the world.
‘The data we collect from outdoor arrays will only account for the 10 percent of time people outside of their homes. But the thousands of litres of potentially deadly air you breathe remain mostly untracked. This must change.’
‘We can only create a smart network by using this information effectively. Our team of data engineers are analysing this data to identify trends, but more needs to be done to educate consumers of what’s inside their homes.’
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Paul Dawson is Dyson’s VP of Health and Beauty, and has spoken at length about the need for a better understanding of air quality since 2014 when he began developing their first air purifiers.
