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Why Air?

"I want to
breathe cleaner air"

9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe polluted air every day

Air pollution kills 7 million people every year

Indoor Air Pollution can be 5x worse than outdoor air pollution

On average we spend 90% of our time indoors

Source: WHO

What is air pollution?

Air is considered polluted with its concentration of gases and particles are at an unnatural and harmful concentration. This can occur both indoors and outside. Soot, smoke, mold, pollen, methane, and carbon dioxide are a just few examples of common pollutants.

As the world gets warmer and crowded, our engines continuously pump dirty emissions into our air. Some fortunate have access to clean fuels, technologies (e.g. electric stoves, energy saving lightbulbs or green energy), whereas half the world does not. This impacts all of us. The very air we all breathe is continually growing to become more dangerous polluted: now nine out of ten people breathe polluted air.

Air pollution is hard to escape. It is all around us. Microscopic pollutants in the air can slip past our body’s defences, penetrating deep into our respiratory and circulatory system, damaging our lungs, heart and brain.

Which one affects more: indoor or outdoor air pollution?

The difference between indoor and outdoor air pollution is that one is experienced outside with constant change of air concentration, whereas indoor air pollution occurs in confined spaces such as a room, an office or public transport.
Indoor pollution is often considered more dangerous, although it also can correlate to outdoor conditions.

According to EPA, indoor the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations and in some scenarios, these levels can exceed 10 times that of outdoor levels of the same pollutants.
The main cause why indoors often sees a spike in pollution is inefficient fuel combustion from rudimentary appliances used for cooking, heating and lighting. Also consistent pollution from poor building materials, cleaning products, and the outdoor air decrease the cleanliness off the air. In other words, often the air inside can be more harmful than the air outside.

What are the health consequences of air pollution?

Air pollution increases the risk of respiratory and heart disease in the population. Both short and long term exposure to air pollutants have been associated to health impacts. People with prior conditions or who are weak from illness, very young or old age etc. are affected more severely.

Air pollution is a major environmental health problem affecting everyone. Whether in Manila, Sao Paolo or London, air pollution is a problem everywhere regardless the source -  cars exhausts, domestic combustion or factory smoke.
From smog hanging over cities to smoke inside the home, air pollution poses a major threat to health and climate.  Ambient air pollution accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths per year due to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

Particulate matter is a pollutant of special concern. Smaller-diameter particles (PM2.5 or smaller) are generally more dangerous than larger particles. The ultra fine particles (one micron in diameter or less) can unnoticeably penetrate tissues and organs, posing an even greater risk of systemic health impacts. Many studies have demonstrated a direct relationship between exposure to PM and negative health impacts.

What is Ultraviolet (UV) light?

According to the International Ultraviolet Association  “Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is on the short- wavelength side of the electromagnetic spectrum, occupying the range from 100 to 400 nm. The UV range is further subdivided into four categories: UV-A (315 nm to 400 nm), UV-B (280 nm – 315 nm), UV-C (200 nm – 280 nm), and vacuum UV (100 – 200 nm); vacuum UV wavelengths are so-named because of their strong absorption, even by air.
UV light is commonly used for disinfection. It inactivates microorganisms (including viruses) by degrading their genetic material and structural molecules so that they are no longer infectious. UV light is commonly used for disinfecting water, air, and surfaces; however, the wavelengths that are most effective at inactivating microbes are also considered damaging to human skin and eyes.”

Reference
How does the neoCube filter viruses and bacteria / aerosols from the air?


The air is sucked in from a fan into the neoCube, passed through a H13 Hepa filter, then it is swirled inside a chamber, directly passing the UVC light and getting disinfected. After this treatment the clean air is pushed out of the cube. We use four state-of-the-art 280nm pure UVC LEDs in the neomorpho cube, which are ultra-safe, durable, and are RoHS compliant with Directive 2011/65/EU.

Reference
What is UVC light and what is the ‘germicidal range’ of ultraviolet light?

High-energy, short-wave radiation in the wavelength range from 200 to 300 nm is referred to as UVC light. UVC radiation renders viruses harmless by destroying the nucleic acids.According to the International Ultraviolet Association:  “The portion of the UV spectrum (the ‘germicidal’ region) that is important for the disinfection of water and air is the range that is absorbed by DNA (RNA in some viruses). This germicidal range is approximately 200-300nm.”  The germicidal range is known to extend beyond 280nm and is now generally thought to extend to 300nm, although this too may change with more research. Scientists have proved that wavelengths between 280nm and 300nm are germicidal and can be used for disinfection and sterilisation.”

Reference
Is the neoCube safe?

UVC rays, same as visible wavelengths of lights, travel in a straight line and decrease in intensity significantly (inversely proportional to the square) with increasing distance from the source. As the neoCube is designed as a product with a fully enclosed housing with a separate uvc-light chamber, covering the UVC-LEDs in full, it therefore never can pose a direct hazard.
In case the neoCube breaks our you open the cube for the filter exchange, it automatically cuts its power supply and switches off the UVC LEDs so that they cannot do any harm to you.

Reference
Is the neoCube certified?

The neoCube will get tested by Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, Hermann-Rietschel-Institut für Energietechnik and Luftfiltertechnik, led by Prof. Dr. Martin Kriegel. All testings will be documented in a bachelor thesis at Technische Universität Berlin, an elite university of excellence with a high reputation globally.

neoCube is "Made in Germany", fulfilling the highest quality standards. We carefully chose the air filter, UVC-LEDs, battery and fan, paying attention to the suppliers' quality standards, sustainability and certifications. We took a deeper look into each data sheet and only picked those spare parts with the highest quality standards.

The air filter is a patented Hepa filter class 13, filtering 99.97% of particles.


The UVC LEDs are RoHS compliant with Directive 2011/65/EU as stated by the supplier
The RoHS (Restictions on Hazardous Substances) Directive 2011/65/EU is a European Directive and falls within the scope of CE Marking. It lays down the rules on the restriction of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)
Directive EU2011/65/EU (direct links)

Your Safety Matters To Us!

Air pollution causes many deaths every day

7

%
of lung cancer deaths

18

%
of pulmonary disease deaths

20

%
of stroke deaths

34

%
of heart disease deaths

Check the BreathLife webpage for knowing more about air quality