Delhi seems to be a lucky city – Some days back, it became first city in India to get remote controlled street lighting system, Now it becomes first city to get the first Public Air Purifier System.
Air pollution is bad for humans, there are no two ways about it. It is one the primary reasons for development of cardiovascular diseases. The health of a human being gets endangered by increased exposure to air pollutants by way of noxious gas and other minute particles in the air. One of the biggest contributors to air pollution is combustion of fuels in automobiles and industrial pollution in form of smoke and other acidic pollutants.
The pollution levels in Delhi are on the upswing again after being under control for a few years. Every other year is turning up with a thicker blanket of smog during the winter season in the capital city of India increasingly raising chances of symptoms for diseases related to asthma and other respiratory disorders.
According to a report in the Telegraph, India has turned on the switches at its very first installation of public air purifier systems outside Pallika bazaar market in New Delhi on an experimental basis in order to control and purify air pollution in cities with high smog levels. The manufacturer of this air purifier system is Systemlife from Italy.
Systemlife claims that this sophisticated system can purify 10,000 cubic meters of air every hour while it scrubs out pollutants such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide. This machine could also be used in other Tier 1 and 2 cities on trial basis if the experiment on the busy streets of traffic-clogged New Delhi is found effective.
The monitoring of the effectiveness of performance of this machine would be done under the control of state environmental agency. The air purifier machine costs about Rs.25 million. This sophisticated machine is expected to be on the street for an experimental period of three months.
According to P.K.Sharma, the health chief of the New Delhi Municipal Council:
“It is the first such project in India and if it works, then we would acquire a number of them and place them at strategic locations. The machine works as a vacuum cleaner, sucking in air and releasing it in purified form from a roof vent.”
It would be a revolution if such air purifier systems work efficiently in removing different chemicals, particles, gases and odours from the environment. The system should also be able to function efficiently with consistency and immediate cleaning of air from the pollutants present in the air.
That apart, the authorities also need to be ensuring that the source of purifying air – the air purifier itself – does not prove out to be a major pollutant while shedding various forms of sludge as a residual output during or after the process of purification.
It would also be desirable if the machine operations and functions are easily customizable and be able to be tweaked as per the circumstances depending upon the area’s pollution levels.
Can such Air purifiers go a long way in maintaining the Environmental decorum of highly polluting Emerging markets?