Air Quality In China

[HCCB]

Hi, 

 

My name is Henry, I am a final year Product Design student at Loughborough Univeristy in England. For my final year design project I am developing a domestic appliance for the Chinese market. More specifically I am developing a product that targets the Air Quality issues that China suffers from.

 

I am at a stage in the project now that I am desperately in need of some insights from people living (or who have lived) in China. I have created a survey that is literally 9 multiple choice questions that will take less than 1 minute to answer. If you have a spare minute it would be really helpful if you could fill it out. All answers are completely anonymous.

 

<Admin Note: Link removed, see comments below>

 

Alternatively, if you have any insights on the following topics that you would prefer to just talk about then that would also be very helpful!

 

- Air pollution in China, how bad is it? which areas suffer most? Whats being done to reduce it? What are the health risks?

- Humidity levels in China

- What products do you use in your home that improve air quality

- If you don't use any products, why is this? (for example; too expensive, not effective....)

- Do you use vacuum cleaners?

- If you do not use vacuum cleaners, why is this?

 

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it!!

 

Henry

[imron]

Hi Henry,

 

Welcome to the forums.  I've temporarily removed the link to your survey.  The main reason being that we get a lot of 'drive-by surveys' posted on the forums where the poster mentions some interesting research they are doing on China/the Chinese language, and then they never come back and post about the results or participate in discussion.  It's all take and no give, and it's tiring to see the same pattern repeated again and again because it runs contra to the type of site that we are trying to run, which is a discussion forum.

 

So, before allowing you to post a link, I'd like you to stick around for a bit for any discussion that happens in this thread - if you can make it past 5 posts (the threshold for moderation) feel free to link away.  It'd be nice as well to get some sort of assurance that you'll come back and share the results of your research - and maybe even info on the final product once you have finished it (though based on past experience I don't hold out much hope for that).

 

Regarding insights, it might help to share what you have already discovered, or if you don't want to introduce any sort of confirmation bias to the discussion, perhaps at least mention which other threads on the forums you have read on this topic - there are quite a few, you'll find the search bar in the top right corner of the page, and in them you should find links to sites that monitor pollutions levels in China and more.

[ChTTay]

Air pollution in China, how bad is it? which areas suffer most? Whats being done to reduce it? What are the health risks?

 

This is an easy one to search for yourself. There's loads of information out there and topics on these forums. North of China is generally pretty polluted but there are pockets elsewhere. You could even just download an iPad/Phone pollution app for China and see for yourself. The one I have by 'air fresh ideas' has a map.

 

What products do you use in your home that improve air quality

 

I recently bought a Phillips Air Purifier for my bedroom. I makes a noticeable difference to the air but tends to dry me out quite a lot. None of my friends use air purifiers but a few of them turned their homes into near-gardens with the amount of plants they have. They say this also makes a noticeable difference and also has the benefit of looking nice.

 

If you don't use any products, why is this? (for example; too expensive, not effective....)

 

It's hard to say why people don't use anything. One factor is that the majority of foreigners are just passing through for 6 - 12 months. They don't see that much harm coming to them in that time frame. I think that's a big factor for my friends and for people where I live. Many foreigners don't even wear pollution masks on bad days. For Chinese people, I'm the wrong person to ask.

 

- Do you use vacuum cleaners? If you do not use vacuum cleaners, why is this?

 

Not sure where this question fits in. Does your project have something to do with this?? I sweep my apartment, so do most Chinese and Western people I know.

[Angelina]

 

 

- Air pollution in China, how bad is it? which areas suffer most? Whats being done to reduce it? What are the health risks?

 

It is really bad. One forum post is not enough to describe the whole situation. You can read about recent measures to reduce air pollution here

http://www.ibtimes.com/apec-blue-skies-over-china-vanish-restrictions-designed-give-summit-clear-air-cease-1724419

 

One woman died while taking the subway, that's how overcrowded public transport was.

 

Health risks? Very serious. 

 

 

- Humidity levels in China

 

China is a big country and different parts have different humidity levels. Xi'an is much less humid than Shanghai.

 

 

 

- What products do you use in your home that improve air quality

 

I have a bamboo charcoal bag and a houseplant. The houseplant is starting to bloom again (开花）so it is much more fun than having an appliance.

[ChTTay]

The houseplant is starting to bloom again (开花）so it is much more fun than having an appliance.

 

 

Perhaps not quite as effective though!

[Angelina]

That's why I have the bamboo charcoal 

[HCCB]

Hi Imron,

 

I appreciate why you have removed my survey link and I respect the 'discussion forum' style that you are trying to give the site.

 

Although I can't give you a full outline of my project at the moment I am happy to provide research outcomes and information on my final project in the future.

 

My aim is to backup the research that I have already uncovered with real life insights.

 

Here are some my findings so far on the matter;

 

- I use aqicn.org to monitor the air pollution levels in Chinese cities, particularly Beijing.

- I found a report on 'China's Home Air Purifiers Market Research' which was carried out by PIM LTD Industrial Market Research and Acquisition Advisory (I can link anyone to the report if they have further interest on the matter). This report has a lot of very useful information for my project but I am also still required to get primary validation from surveys etc. Some of the interesting information I found in this report includes;

     - Of the 74 monitored cities in China, around half of them are suffering from some degree of air pollution and PM2.5 and PM10 (particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers and 10 micrometers) are the main pollutants in 70 of 74 cities.

     - Areas in the north of China and down the eastern coast appear to be the worst effected by Air Pollution.

     - China's household air purifiers market size grew in 2012 at 50% by sales volume at a value of 0.43 billion USD.

     - Interestingly they carried out a customer survey with 68 people and 91% had not used air purifiers at home, however, 89% showed interest in buying air purifiers in the future. I'm trying to understand fully why people haven't bought an air purifier in the past. They have listed the reasons that the consumers had stated but I'm not going to disclose because I don't want to bias people. This seems like quite a small sample anyway to be able to say it is representative of the population. 

     - From current Air Pollution, Formaldehyde, benzene, TVOC and PM2.5 could be harmful to human health when concentrations exceed a certain level. among the current technologies, there is no single one that can solve all of the air pollution problems.

 

Also I have been reading through a few of the other forum posts on air quality in China and I have picked up a few interesting things;

 

     - Many people I have spoken to in person have said this as well: A large proportion of the population are oblivious to air pollution because that is all they know. This could be a potential area to design for; providing feedback on how polluted the indoor air is...? I guess the real issue is getting someone to believe there is a problem in the first place and pushing them towards buying a product to reduce the issue.

     - The air is very dry in China and Air Filtration devices further dry the air which is why humidifiers are used.

     - It is interesting the different health effects that Air Pollution has on foreigners that live in China (minor health issues such as sore throats, red eyes, rashes & skin issues etc). I worked at an appliance company in the UK last year on placement for 12 months and they manufactured in Suzhou, many of my colleagues regularly visited the manufacturing facilities and they experienced some of these minor health issues during their visits.

[HCCB]

Hi ChaTTay and Angelina,

 

Thank you for your input, I appreciate it. 

 

ChaTTay,

 

You say your Air Purifier dries the air out, do you use a humidifier to combat this?

How long do the filters in your Phillips Air Purifier last? do you replace them quite often?

 

Yes, I understand from my research that a lot of the foreigners are just passing through and it would be hard for them to justify the purchase of a product for such a short period of time.

 

The vacuum question is a bit of an addition really, I realised it was quite out of place. Basically the primary function of my product is most likely going to tackle air quality issues, however, I am also considering providing other functions to the product and for that I need to understand other appliances that people have in their home, one of which would potentially be a vacuum cleaner. I don't suppose you know why people just choose to sweep their apartment? Is it because the task doesn't require a vacuum cleaner, or is it to do with storage space for a vacuum cleaner or?

 

Angelina,

 

Thank you for your input, I will research further on measures to reduce air pollution. From that article it looks like the Chinese Government put in short term measures when required to show China's air quality in its best light. I'll have a look to see if there's any long term measures put in place.

 

The bamboo charcoal bag sounds good, I'll have a look at the product online.

 

Once again, thank you both for your input!

 

Henry

[imron]

I appreciate why you have removed my survey link and I respect the 'discussion forum' style that you are trying to give the site.

The problem is not you, it's the dozens of people before you posting similar 'please fill out my survey' topics and then never coming back or discussing things further.  You just happened to be the one I decided to try something different with.  Anyway, I don't expect a full outline of your project, but some follow up when you have finished would be nice.

 

Also, generally speaking, the more context and information you provide, the more likely people will be to help.

 

A large proportion of the population are oblivious to air pollution because that is all they know

This is so true.  I used to live in a town by the sea, and everyone would be like 'oh the air is so clean here, unlike Beijing which is so polluted' and yet compared to anywhere where I'm from (Australia) the pollution was absolutely horrible.

[Angelina]

I live in Hangzhou and according to aqicn.org, PM 2.5 levels are 168 (unhealthy), PM 10 -  86 right now. Pollution levels don't go as dangerous as it has happened in Beijing, but it does not mean that it is not dangerous.  

 

 

 

 

 

I worked at an appliance company in the UK last year on placement for 12 months and they manufactured in Suzhou

 

The reason why I am not planning to buy an air purifier and would rather rely on natural products. 

[Lu]

It's really really bad. But I'm sure you've seen pictures and numbers elsewhere already. I was living in Beijing (2010-2013) and at some point a friend and I made a road trip to Datong in Shaanxi. On the way, we stopped for gas in a small town in I think Shanxi. We got out of the car and the coal dust just hit us in the face. It was multiple times more dirty than Beijing on its worst days. Imagine raising children there...

The organisation I worked for at some point provided air purifiers to staff. I didn't have one before that for several reasons: the cost; I was only there temporarily; I didn't have the time/energy to research which one to get, where, when, etc. I never wore a face mask because I detest wearing them; most of them don't have any effect anyway; and again, I was only there temporarily.

On the other hand, I do have a vacuum cleaner and had one in Beijing as well. I don't like sweeping and vacuum cleaners aren't very expensive.

Another issue is the dryness of the air. A health inspector who visited Beijing for our organisation said it's actually better than wetter air, because it doesn't hold as much pollution/the pollution doesn't come into your lungs as much (I forgot the details, but I'm sure that's something you can research). Still, the dryness + the pollution messed up the inside of my nose to the extent that I'm still having small nosebleeds several times a day, a year and a half after returning.

[imron]

and would rather rely on natural products

Surely for industrial/man-made pollutants which haven't been around long enough for nature to evolve adequate filtration for, industrial/man-made purifiers might be slightly more reliable.

[Angelina]

I have a question. How much pollution do air purifiers producing factories generate? 

[HCCB]

Hi Lu,

 

Thank you for your input.

 

Out of interest, why did you hate wearing the face mask? I think personally for me wearing a face mask is annoying because of comfort; obviously your breath makes it very warm, humid and moist around your mouth etc...

 

Did you notice proportions of people that wore face masks, could you put a general % on the proportion of people wearing face masks when you were walking down a street on a smoggy day? Did you notice whether foreigners avoided using face masks and it was mainly locals that did use them?

 

Instead of wearing a face mask would you ever be inclined to use a portable air purifier that say you could have in the car with you if you were going on a road trip? Or take into work with you if you new there wasn't any air purifier there?

 

 

 

A health inspector who visited Beijing for our organisation said it's actually better than wetter air, because it doesn't hold as much pollution/the pollution doesn't come into your lungs as much (I forgot the details, but I'm sure that's something you can research)

 

That's interesting. I have had a quick research on this and found that "many pollutants are water-soluble, and as air conditioners remove water from the atmosphere, they remove these pollutants". There appears to be quite a few studies on this as well so I will look at them for my project. Thank you for drawing my attention to that.

 

 

 

On the other hand, I do have a vacuum cleaner and had one in Beijing as well. I don't like sweeping and vacuum cleaners aren't very expensive.

 

Did you live in quite a spacious or small home in Beijing? What kind of vacuum cleaner did you have? was it compact and easy to store or quite big?

 

 

Hi Angelina,

 

 

 

I live in Hangzhou and according to aqicn.org, PM 2.5 levels are 168 (unhealthy), PM 10 -  86 right now. Pollution levels don't go as dangerous as it has happened in Beijing, but it does not mean that it is not dangerous.

The air purifier market research report I mentioned above speaks about Hangzhou as one of the sampled cities and goes into pollutant %'s in the air if you're interested at all.

 

 

 

I have a question. How much pollution do air purifiers producing factories generate? 

Unfortunately I don't have that information but I understand your point.

 

Thank you for your inputs,

 

Henry

[Johnny20270]

I think personally for me wearing a face mask is annoying because of comfort; obviously your breath makes it very warm, humid and moist around your mouth etc...

 

 

For me its just such an unfamiliar thing to do. Also might be the fact that its almost like a confirmation that this is no way to live your life and start to thing to myself "why am I here!" 

 

 

Did you notice proportions of people that wore face masks, could you put a general % on the proportion of people wearing face masks when you were walking down a street on a smoggy day? Did you notice whether foreigners avoided using face masks and it was mainly locals that did use them?

 

 

 

Just walked home, Sunny day today. At a guess I'd say its only about 3-5% wearing a mask. On a smoggy day like a few weeks ago. I'd hazard a guess at 15-20% 

 

 

Instead of wearing a face mask would you ever be inclined to use a portable air purifier that say you could have in the car with you if you were going on a road trip? Or take into work with you if you new there wasn't any air purifier there?

 

 

Problem is: open the car window for 2mins and you have undone the 'cleaning process'. Same if you open the car door.  Even the good (small) air purifiers have a low flow rate compared to say a centrifugal bathroom fan. So for example, take a shower and see how long (even) a top of the range fan takes to change the air and compare that to leaving a window wide open. 

[Simon_CH]

The reasons people don't use air purifiers is certainly not because of a lack of products on the market. Prices are very rapidly declining too, and bear in mind that research that is 1-2 years old when it was published is very likely to be outdated now. The market for air purifiers, once a luxury reserved for expats, has exploded in recent times. The technology is also surprisingly simple as most people realize. A fan and a HEPA filter does the job just fine, as DIY air filter guys have proven in different tests. 

 

So I suggest you look on tmall.com and other ecommerce websites and look what's on offer nowadays. A problem is that the Chinese gov and media admit that it is a problem, but they are extremely reluctant to give sound advice on what people should do to stay healthy. Staying indoors for example without an air filter is a terrible suggestion. So while Chinese middle-class consumers are increasingly trying to educate about the matter the majority of Chinese don't know very much about air pollution, air filters and the like. 

[Lu]

Out of interest, why did you hate wearing the face mask? I think personally for me wearing a face mask is annoying because of comfort; obviously your breath makes it very warm, humid and moist around your mouth etc...

Like you say: it's warm and humid (which is great in winter and a pain in summer), and it makes it hard to breathe.

Did you notice proportions of people that wore face masks, could you put a general % on the proportion of people wearing face masks when you were walking down a street on a smoggy day? Did you notice whether foreigners avoided using face masks and it was mainly locals that did use them?

I never counted, I'm afraid. You also need to keep in mind that there are various reasons people wear face masks: apart from pollution, it can be because of cold weather, the wearer having a cold and not wanting to pass it on, dust in the air...

Instead of wearing a face mask would you ever be inclined to use a portable air purifier that say you could have in the car with you if you were going on a road trip? Or take into work with you if you new there wasn't any air purifier there?

I don't drive. In an office, it would only work if I'd keep the door closed all day. I don't think I'd do that, I would feel too shut in.

Did you live in quite a spacious or small home in Beijing? What kind of vacuum cleaner did you have? was it compact and easy to store or quite big?

An apartment of about 100 m2, so pretty big. The vacuum cleaner was pretty small, and it was European style, not the American 'lawnmower' type. A small 'body' that contained the bag and had wheels, and then a hose ending in a pole. Easy to store.

[HCCB]

Thanks for your input everyone, i really appreciate it!

 

Henry

[imron]

@Henry, congratulations on your 5th post.  You are now out of moderation, feel free to link to your survey now.

[Angelina]

 

 

goes into pollutant %'s in the air if you're interested at all.

 

Sure, I would not mind taking a look