Awair

Every time we hear ‘air pollution,’ we often associate it with the smoggy outdoor haze of metropolitan cities. Not once do we consider our indoor living spaces to contain polluted air. Yet, outdoor pollutants like wildfire smoke and its PM2.5 (particulate matter) can also enter our households and impact the indoor environment. Other air pollutants include carbon dioxide (C02) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as acetone from cleaning products and cosmetics. It’s important to note that any of these pollutants—above a certain threshold and within the close confines of home—can affect an individual’s health. “You would be surprised to know that even high humidity in your living space can result in recurring bouts of eczema,” comments Dustin DeVan, CEO of Awair.

Interestingly enough, Awair has uncovered many such previously unheard-of correlations between indoor air quality (IAQ) and human health issues using its proprietary environmental sensors. Bolstered by these findings, Awair now offers its smart IAQ monitoring service to homeowners and facility managers, making it easy for them to ensure improved IAQ at home, school, work, or in other indoor areas.

How it All Began

Founded in 2013, Awair is the brainchild of long-time friends and colleagues, Ronald Ro and Kevin Cho. When Ro’s daughter was born with eczema, he was told to maintain a healthy indoor environment for his daughter. This led Ro to join hands with his friend Cho— whose children were also suffering from asthma— with a common goal. They wanted to develop a solution that would inform people about the air around them and create a safer, healthier environment for their families. Using their engineering expertise, they came up with the prototype of an IAQ sensor and set it up for testing. With the help of the prototype sensor, Ro quickly realized that his indoor air quality was complicating his daughter’s health. Unbeknownst to him, he had been creating an overly humid environment with roundthe- clock humidifiers, which aggravates eczema. From that point on, he started making adjustments to the humidifiers, resulting in drastic improvements in his daughter’s health. This overwhelming relief and sense of satisfaction pushed Ro and Cho to develop custom IAQ monitors and empower other parents to create a safer environment for their children. “That’s how Awair’s flagship air quality monitor came into existence: the sheer necessity for people to “see” the invisible factors that impact their health and take action to improve the IAQ,” shares DeVan. “To me, that offers an enormous opportunity to improve people’s lives everywhere,” the CEO adds.

Today, Awair stands as a global leader in air quality monitoring and smart sensing technology. In addition to making parents aware of invisible airborne pollution in their homes, Awair’s innovative IAQ monitoring encourages organizations to safeguard occupant and employee health by assessing the IAQ of their building or facility. “As more studies confirm the serious health risks associated with indoor air pollution, we continue to advance our IAQ sensors for offering better insights and ensuring a better quality of life for people,” highlights DeVan. “We want parents to know their child’s IAQ at school; we want employees to know their IAQ data at work; we want people, in general, to have IAQ data available at their fingertips.”

Real-Time Air Quality Data and Metrics

Awair has developed two categories of IAQ monitoring devices—Awair Element and Awair Omni. While Awair Element is an entry-level device ideal for a single room and suitable for homeowners, Omni can extend its monitoring capabilities and is more suited for building owners, building tenants, and facility managers. Powered by smart IoT sensors, these air quality devices monitor the presence of five key environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, CO2, VOCs, and PM2.5 in realtime within an indoor environment.

Additionally, Omni can monitor noise and light pollution in commercial facilities. Depending on the data, the monitors alert users about changing IAQ through three different LED light colors, wherein green indicates good air quality, yellow indicates fair air quality, and red indicates poor air quality. Users also have the ability to set the focus activity of the monitors to suit their specific needs. For example, a user can select the primary activity as ‘Baby,’ and the device will zero in on the elements that keep an infant safe, healthy, and comfortable, alerting the user if the sensors detect any abnormalities that might be harmful to infants.

Today, to further advance the benefits of Element and Omni, Awair offers two connected apps called Awair Home (for Awair Element) and Awair Business (for Awair Omni). These apps collect IAQ data from the sensors and send the insights directly to users’ smartphones, tablets, or PCs so they can take control of their environmental air quality. Alongside sending notifications, the apps can also suggest simple tasks, like opening the windows or turning off air conditioners to improve the overall indoor air quality.

What takes the benefits of the Awair Business app a notch higher is its connectivity with Awair Dashboard. Awair Dashboard is an easy-to-use platform that helps facility managers track and manage IAQ data in real-time derived from the multiple Omni sensors within a commercial building. Awair is expanding the Dashboard’s visualization capability with a new feature called ‘Display Mode.’ This feature enables commercial facilities to display the IAQ data on any device format that can be connected to the internet, such as a large wall monitor in the lobby of a corporate office, a tablet at a reception desk, or even on a smartphone for an employee to check before heading to work. “We believe everyone has the right to know the quality of the air they breathe. With our corporate dashboard and the latest Display Mode feature, we are making every individual aware of the air they breathe in, even if they don’t directly use Awair devices and apps,” adds DeVan.

Preparing Workspaces for a Post-Pandemic World

If the COVID-19 pandemic has made one thing clear, it is the importance of personal health and hygiene. As we look ahead, there’s no doubt that buildings with the best IAQ will be preferred by both commercial and residential tenants. Therefore, many facilities are already strengthening their health and safety measures as they prepare to resume working from offices. And for these establishments, Awair’s IAQ monitoring solutions are becoming more crucial than ever. “With Awair Omni, even multi-tenant gated communities can meet air quality monitoring requirements,” underscores DeVan. According to the CEO, by improving the air quality using Awair Omni, the facilities can stay one step ahead in meeting different Green Building certification programs like WELL V1, LEED, Fitwel, Living Building Challenge (LBC), and RESET. At present, leading organizations and universities like WeWork, Airbnb, Google, Harvard, and Stanford University use Awair’s IAQ monitor sensors to keep their facilities optimized for employee and occupant health. “We are also partnering with HR departments of different organizations to offer our IAQ monitors to their employees at a discounted price to secure their second work location, i.e. their home. The early adopter organizations, who have already made this a part of their employee benefit plans, are now seeing a good response from their employees,” notes DeVan.

Moving forward, Awair aspires to grow by continuing to innovate its IAQ sensor hardware and software products while hiring world-class people who can drive the company forward. Alongside, the company is also focusing on improving its overall service and enriching the customer experience. “We have many plans in the pipeline like connected hardware devices that have different applications and an industrialized version of the IAQ monitor that is more portable and durable. Above all, I believe when you really hold what you do as something valuable and when you take pride in the products you are creating, then success is inevitable. And that’s precisely the understanding that constantly drives us toward our future through every of our endeavors,” concludes DeVan