How I’ve built an oxygen calculator for indoor plants
When I moved to Bangkok, I found myself that I started to care more about air quality. I wanted to breathe clean and oxygen-rich air to improve my concentration, sleep, and overall health [1][2].
A quick search revealed that plants are particularly good at producing oxygen and removing CO2.
I found a list of the most oxygen-producing plants, but I could not find any numbers about approximately how much oxygen they can produce per hour. I wanted specifics — for example how much oxygen does the plant produce while I sleep?
To answer these questions, I began building a small list of the highest oxygen-producing plants, delving into factors that affect their output such as the amount of light they receive and the total leaf area. As photosynthesis is the key to oxygen production, these factors play crucial roles in determining the plant’s oxygen yield.
I standardized my research to plants of size 30cm x 30cm x 50cm tall. I looked at leaf counts, average leaf sizes, and used these data to calculate total leaf areas. I then used the Rate of Photosynthesis (liters of O2 per square meter per hour) to estimate each plant’s hourly oxygen production.
I thought it could be helpful to others too, so for each plant, I AI-generated image and then I created a simple HTML website.
Btw. Did you notice that image of the snake plant at the beginning is AI generated?
If you are curious about how much oxygen your plants produce, or you just want to get more oxygen to your room and offset your CO2 footprint then check it out at: https://growingoxygen.com
References:
- Scholey, A. B., Moss, M. C., Neave, N., & Wesnes, K. (2019). Cognitive performance, hyperoxia, and heart rate following oxygen administration in healthy young adults. Physiology & behavior, 71(1), 113–119.
- National Institute of Health. (2011). Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Understanding-Sleep
