Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Lifestyle

When There’s Smoke, Getting Indoors Isn’t Enough

Some interiors are quite protected from air pollution. Others aren’t.

Smoke in an apartment.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As the Northeast endures one of the worst wildfire days in recent history, the advice has been pretty simple: stay indoors, filter your air. And chances are, people who can follow this advice are getting it.

Marshall Burke, an economist at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability who has been remarkably helpful to this publication, has looked at past examples of severe smoke events and found there isn’t any big demographic gaps in who is seeking out information about what’s going on and how to respond. “On days like this, we actually see evidence that most folks are seeking out information,” Burke told me, “We can look at Google searches in English, we can look at Spanish, we can look in different zip codes. And we see pretty similar searches. Folks notice that things are bad, and they search for information.”

What people can do with that information is where the disparities start to show up.

There are essentially two levels of response to the kind of smoke New York is experiencing now or California has experienced in the past few years: whether you’re inside or outside, and what’s happening to the air inside your home or another building.

Burke’s research has shown that even indoor air quality can still be quite bad during a wildfire — something that is at least anecdotally confirmed today (I am writing this from my bedroom. My office and living room have older, leakier windows and have been abandoned to the smoke).

“Indoors, especially at the levels that New York City is seeing today, you'll see substantial infiltration of smoke into indoor environments. And so you need active mechanical filtration to get the rest of that smoke out,” Burke said.

Citing data from indoor air monitors sold by Purple, which then creates maps of air quality, Burke warned that “right now in New York, I was just looking, they're quite high,” referring to particulate concentration, “so I think that should make us pretty worried about how much of this stuff gets inside and for those who can to really double down on filtration.”

That’s typically achieved by buying air filters, which can run up to hundreds of dollars per device and may require multiple devices in a single home. There can also be runs on these devices during smoke events. My local hardware store, for example, was out of them and Amazon wasn’t delivering several recommended brands until Friday.

Get the best of Heatmap delivered to your inbox:

* indicates required
  • When Burke and a team of researchers analyzed air quality data in the Bay Area in 2020, they found that concentrations of particulate matter inside homes were not related to how smokey it was outside. The homes they looked at "experienced nearly identical daily outdoor concentrations" on bad smoke days, but indoor pollution was "starkly different." Some homes saw concentrations of particulates more than five times the World Health Organization recommended limit while others were able to keep the concentration levels at one third the WHO limit.

    Burke and the researchers found that wealthier households “can more easily stay home, are more likely to seek information on protective technology, and are more likely to own indoor pollution monitors.” In short, the public health advice you’re hearing now from elected officials is more likely to be followed — and easier to follow — for the wealthy.

    Burke pointed to programs in California that provide air filters to low-income households as well as to ways people could construct their own filters. All you need is a fan and some MERV filters. “it works surprisingly well,” Burke said.

    He also pointed to the need to outfit schools and homeless shelters with filtration. “We're going to need to make those investments. Of course, we can't do that today. But this will happen again, and we could be more prepared.”

    Yellow

    You’re out of free articles.

    Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
    To continue reading
    Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
    or
    Please enter an email address
    By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
    Texas and Oklahoma
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    State legislatures are now a crucial battleground for the future of renewable energy, as Republican lawmakers seek massive restrictions and punitive measures on new solar and wind projects.

    Once a hyperlocal affair, the campaign to curtail renewable energy development now includes state-wide setbacks, regulations, and taxes curtailing wind and solar power. As we previously reported, Oklahoma is one of those states – and may as soon as this year enact mandatory setback requirements on wind power facilities, despite getting nearly half its electricity from wind farms. According to a Heatmap Pro analysis, these rules would affect 65 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Q&A

    Why Offshore Wind Might Survive in the South

    A conversation with Katherine Kollins of the Southeastern Wind Coalition

    Katherine Kollins
    Heatmap Illustration

    This week’s conversation is with Katherine Kollins of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, an advocacy group that supports offshore wind development in the American Southeast. I wanted to talk with Katherine about whether there are any silver linings in the offshore wind space, and to my surprise she actually had one! Here’s to hope springing eternal – and Trump leaving Coastal Virginia intact.

    The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Hotspots

    Renewables Developers Get Sweaty Palms Across America

    Here are the week’s top conflicts around clean energy in the U.S.

    Map of renewable energy conflicts.
    Heatmap Illustration

    1. Barnstable County, Massachusetts – The SouthCoast offshore wind project will now be delayed for at least four years, developer Ocean Winds said on Friday, confirming my previous reporting that projects Biden seemed to fully approve were still at risk from Trump.

    • Biden’s Interior Department had said in December the SouthCoast project was “approved.” But according to this federal permitting data clearinghouse, the project still needs clearances from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers. We previously reported the Army Corps of Engineers had all but frozen wetlands permitting for wind projects. Jury’s out on whether that has changed.

    2. Albany County, New York – A judge in this county has cast a cloud over tax abatement calculations for essentially all solar and wind projects in the state.

    Keep reading...Show less