CRI听力:China's First Indoor PM2.5 Research Report Released

Qinghua University released the indoor PM2.5 research report, the first of its kind in China.

Researchers and more than 400 volunteers collected 110,000 hours of data from 7,700 indoor locations across Beijing over a period of two and half months.

Zhang Lin is an associate professor from the Department of Electronic Engineering of Qinghua University.

"We used mobile internet and big data technologies and equipped every volunteer with our self-developed Pimi airbox, which, with the assistance of volunteers and cloud-based big data, is capable of monitoring the indoor PM2.5 level almost as a professional instrument does."

The survey has found one third of all the days that were surveyed were polluted.

The research results show an average indoor PM 2.5 level of 82 micrograms per cubic meter, slightly above the standard of good air quality, which is 75 micrograms per cubic meter.

Zhang Lin says when the outdoor air is clean, opening windows will help maintain a good indoor air quality, and it will be otherwise when the outdoor air is polluted.

"When the outdoor air quality is poor, especially when it's severely polluted, the indoor air is always better than the outdoor air, which shows the protective effect of buildings."

The results also show office buildings have a better air quality than residential buildings, with the 17th floor and above enjoying cleaner air than lower floors.

And the indoor air quality of buildings 500 meters or farther away from main streets is better than those within 500 meters.

China's major cities have all set up monitoring systems for fine particulate pollution. The results are now disclosed on a regular basis.

However, urban residents rarely know the indoor air quality because monitoring equipment is either too big or expensive to access.

Zhang Lin and his team hope to enhance people's awareness about indoor air issues and further their research in the field.

He said in the future, cloud computing technology will be applied to handy electronic appliances at lower costs, so it won't be hard for ordinary families to know the air quality around them.