The device is small. If it weren’t for the cables that stuck out the back of it and ran down the trellis, it wouldn’t even be noticed.
When Angela Thomas lived in Calgary she hung the IQAir device off her apartment balcony. There it sat and detected the air quality, sending alerts through the app on her phone if the air was too thick with smoke.
Before she decided to shell out for the device, which is no bigger than a cue card, Thomas relied on iQAir data that was shared and collected from different pinpoints across the city. When the owner of the nearest device moved and it stopped transmitting up to the minute air quality data, she bought her own.
“It’s about making sure I understand how bad [the air] is outside,” said Thomas. In April, Thomas moved to the Precedence Hill area of Cochrane. She fastened the device to her patio trellis in the backyard, and since then, her device has served as one in a number of growing data points across southern Alberta.
IQAir sells indoor and outdoor air quality monitors and air purifiers. The monitors, once they’re connected to its app, transmit data-- air quality, weather patterns, and forest fire monitoring-- to all its users.
“I had the free app and it got to the point where I would actually like a station,” she said, recalling what inspired her to purchase outdoor and indoor air quality monitors. “It makes it so I’m more aware. I don’t have to check the forecast necessarily to know when the smoke is going to be heavy…I don’t care about looking stupid [while wearing a mask outside] I want to live longer.”
A nearby IQAir station can tell an app user what the Air Quality Index is for their town, neighbourhood, house, even down to the room they’re in. It detects smoke and other pollutants, and even pollen levels in the air. A quick view of the app’s map shows there to be countless data points dotting the map all across North America, Europe, and Asia. Calgary is heavily populated with the app's data points, and there are (as of right now) only two stations set up in Cochrane.
Because of her lung health, Thomas was always aware of how good or bad the air quality was, but having access to actual data has made her more aware of air quality levels, even within her own home.
“Cooking just decimates your indoor air quality,” she said. “When I cook [the monitor] would get purple immediately…by cooking, we were making the air quality just as bad as if there was a massive forest fire raging outside. It was eye opening.”
Air quality has become a pressing issue of concern, particularly in the summer and spring when smoke from wildfires chokes the air with nasty particulates. Being aware of the quality of air has given Thomas a greater feeling of control over her lung health, she says.
“Even if you don’t have asthma you are going to screw your lungs,” she said. “I think air quality is one of those hidden things that is easy to overlook, but it’s easy to learn about.”
