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This past Saturday (7^th September) was the UN’s International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. The day was designated by the UN General Assembly as a means of encouraging everyone – from individuals to governments, civil society, and corporations – to invest in clean air for all. To mark the occasion, we’ve delved into our library to identify five of the most exciting clean air innovations from the past few months.

What do we mean by air pollution?

Air pollution is a slightly different but closely related issue to climate change. CO2, the most commonly discussed greenhouse gas, is not toxic to humans, except at very high concentrations. Pollutants like particulate matter, ground-level ozone, and nitrogen oxides, on the other hand, have a significant impact on people’s health every single day – and this is typically what is meant by ‘air pollution’. Many air pollutants arise from the same human activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions. For example, transport and power stations are significant sources of nitrogen oxides, just as they are for CO2. Meanwhile, a category of air pollutants called short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) act as a driver of both near-term warming of the planet and human health problems. These SLCPs include the common greenhouse gas methane, as well as black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons.

What is the impact of air pollution?

Experts typically distinguish between indoor and outdoor air pollution. Indoor, or ‘household’, air pollution is particularly associated with dirty cooking practices using open fires or inefficient stoves – although there are also other drivers of poor indoor air quality. In total, the World Health Organization estimates that household air pollution is responsible for 3.2 million deaths per year. Outdoor, or ‘ambient’ air pollution, meanwhile, affects both rural and urban areas and is estimated to have caused 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019.

How are innovators tackling air pollution?

Photo source Ecosafi

CLEAN COOKING FOR HOUSEHOLDS IN AFRICA

Over 2.1 billion people, or around 26 per cent of the global population, still lack access to clean cooking today. They rely instead on open fires, charcoal, or low-grade biomass such as crop waste or even dung. As well as being unsustainable, contributing to deforestation and emitting significant carbon pollution, these fuels also lead to significant health impacts and safety issues. Ecosafi is a biofuel energy utility provider addressing this problem through affordable, eco-friendly biomass solutions. The company’s cutting-edge cookers are delivered and maintained as part of a fuel subscription package. They even come with a lifetime warranty. The startup’s ‘EcoMoto’ fuel, meanwhile, is a pellet briquette that uses 100 per cent waste biomass (made of compressed materials like sawdust and agricultural remains) to burn hotter and cleaner than traditional fuels and stoves. Read more

Photo source Air Aware Labs

BREATHE EASIER WITH PERSONALISED AIR QUALITY INSIGHTS

Inspired by a shared passion for air quality and improving public health, Louise Thomas and William Hicks founded Air Aware Labs. This UK-based startup helps people take control of their health and protect themselves against polluted air with GPS-linked, real-time air quality modelling. The company has created a Strava integration that provides users with personalised air pollution insights after every outdoor run, hike, or bike ride based on the levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrous oxide pollution. Once they have this data, users can make changes to mitigate exposure to harmful pollutants during their daily exercise. Read more

Photo source Butterfly Air

A BUTTERFLY-INSPIRED BREAKTHROUGH IN INDOOR AIR QUALITY MONITORING

Butterflies are an indicator species due to their rapid and sensitive responses to subtle habitat or climatic changes. This means that their presence or absence in a habitat is a sign of environmental change. Butterfly Air was inspired by the insects to develop an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) monitoring system. The startup’s IAQ system contains a sensing chamber, dubbed LaminAIR, which controls the sample airflow to ensure the devices consistently update key measurements to meet the latest international WELL V2 standards for building air safety. The sensors measure levels of different particulate matter, including levels of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10. The real innovation, however, is that the device is shaped like a butterfly and the wings and e-ink display on the antenna are engineered to glow when users wave at the device, allowing them to see, at a glance, if the air quality has changed. Read more

Photo source © Khunkorn via Canva.com

CUTTING-EDGE TECH CAPTURES POLLUTION FROM VEHICLE BREAKS

When vehicles slow down, brake pads press against the brake discs, emitting a fine dust of particulate matter. The dust is a major source of air pollution and is highly damaging to lung tissue. Ironically, because electric vehicles are heavier – and so take more braking force to stop – they actually contribute greater amounts of this toxic, braking-related particulate matter than fossil fuel equivalents. Tallano Technologies is one company working to tackle this problem. Its TAMIC system can capture fine particulates emitted by braking systems, including the brakes of cars, heavy goods vehicles, and trains. The technology consists of a suction and filtration system that prevents fine particles from being dispersed into the air by retaining them at source. Read more

Photo source Enso

ECO TYRES ENHANCE EV RANGE AND MINIMISE MICROPLASTICS

Around 50 million vehicle tyres are sold or supplied each year in the UK. Wear and tear on car tyres has been found to be responsible for around 28 per cent of the microplastics found in the ocean. On top of this, there is increasing scientific concern about “the chemical cocktail” that goes into tyre manufacture, which releases heavy metals like copper, lead, and zinc into the environment. There is clearly a need for more sustainable tyres, and this is where Enso (“circle” in Japanese) comes in. Founded by entrepreneur Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, the startup focuses on developing tyres that not only reduce pollution but also improve durability, performance, and cost-effectiveness – particularly when used on electric vehicles. Erlendsson told Springwise that, in contrast to conventional tyres, Enso’s tyres are “precisely calibrated to enhance durability and reduce particulate pollution by 35 per cent.” Read more

Written By: Matt Hempstead