As I’m writing, it’s a warm and sunny afternoon without a cloud in the sky. This seems like a lovely day. Yet checking the environmental index, I find that air pollution levels are indeed “very dangerous”, and there may have more than 10,000 doctor visits resulted from Hong Kong’s filthy air.

Some people are susceptible to air pollution: the elderly, the children, the sickness and those who are pregnant. While air pollution in Hong Kong is obviously a serious and even a lethal problem, the government seems to give little concerns to the issue given that there are more urgent domestic matters to handle (e.g. housing, social protests).

So, what can we do to protect ourselves? One apparently effective measure is to use an air purifier. This item has gained popularity on the mainland. Even China’s leaders are using air purifiers, revealing a more proactive attitude to air pollution than do Hong Kong’s leaders.

Home air purifiers include devices that apply electrical charges to attach particles to surfaces or one another. But these filters can also create ozone, which is itself harmful to health. Other purifiers remove gases from the air but may only target relatively few chemicals. Others mainly filter out particulates, the best being high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, and these may be the preferred option for reducing air pollution at home.

For those who suspect the effectiveness of domestic air filters, there have been some studies on use of air filters for fighting air pollution. In Canada, portable air cleaners were shown to reduced particulates in homes, and there were improvements to residents’ blood vessels, suggesting the filters might actually decrease the risk of health effects. Another Danish study found that HEPA filtration removed more than half of the ultrafine, fine, and coarse particles in homes of elderly people living near highways.

Portable or domestic air purifiers are relatively affordable, given their usefulness of safeguarding our health. I’m convinced to install it at home and the result is so far satisfying. If you’re also bothered by filthy air, give a shot to air purifiers too.

Smoke Cabin

Smoke Solution develops a set of efficient filtering system that can remove most of the airborne pollutants. There is an automatic motion sensor installed in each of the cabin and alternatively regulates the speed of the filtering system according to the movement inside the cabin. For their filters, Smoke Solution uses its own produced CO 2 neutral coconut charcoal. The harvest of the coconut shells is in a sustainable manner, without posing any harm to palm trees, animal habitats or the environment.

The ashtrays of the smoking cabins are fireproof and self-extinguishable. Lighted cigarette thrown into the ashtray will be extinguished and thus remove the risk of fire. Smoke cabins are modular and freestanding, they can be resized and relocated to fit in different locations, and follow the user patterns.