In January 2013, PhD student Thomas Talhelm was shocked by how much air purifiers cost. He bought a HEPA filter, strapped it to a fan, and ran some tests using a particle counter he bought. He published the results on his blog Particle Counting.

A few magazines wrote about Thomas’s “rediscovery,” and then the Beijing Energy Network suggested he lead DIY workshops to help concerned Beijingers build their own.

When people said they had trouble finding the right type of fan and a trustworthy HEPA, Thomas and his friends Gus and Anna launched Smart Air to ship fans and filters at an affordable price, to people all over China.

We believe that the purifier business can be honest and transparent. If everyone had access to opensource data and testing, we’d all know effective purifiers don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.

OUR MISSION

Smart Air is a social enterprise set up in 2013 to fight the health effects of air pollution. We’re not driven by investors or huge profits, but by the urge to improve the world we live in.

Education

When we found out all air purifiers are made from the same two basic components – the fan and the filter – we were shocked. Air purifier companies were trying to hide the truth, and make us believe we had to pay big bucks for clean air. On top of this, we found misconceptions about air pollution and air purifiers were widespread.

Smart Air set up with a mission to dispel the myths around air pollution, and teach people that clean air is simple and available to everyone. Ever since set up, we’ve been running air pollution workshops and providing open source data and research on air pollution to help achieve this mission.

Honest & Affordable Purifiers

After seeing how much purifier companies charge for air purifiers, and the reality on what they should cost, Smart Air set about creating real affordable and effective air purifiers. Don’t take our word for it: the simple, no-nonsense air purifiers we created are backed by thousands of hours of research and open data.

Blast - Air Purifier Manual