Bangkok Air Pollution 2020

[seb2015]

I thought i'd share this brilliant piece of work by Worasom Kundhikanjana. 

 

https://towardsdatascience.com/identifying-the-sources-of-winter-air-pollution-in-bangkok-part-i-d4392ea608dc

https://towardsdatascience.com/identifying-the-sources-of-winter-air-pollution-in-bangkok-part-ii-72539f9b767a

 

[blackcab]

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

4 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

Looks like they got the poster all wrong.

 

 

Conclusions

The PM 2.5 level has a complex relationship with various factors: number of fires, weather patterns, and traffic. But this analysis confirms the suspicion that many people have — agricultural burning is the root cause of PM 2.5 pollution in Thailand. Burning activities as far as 720 km away from Bangkok, an area which extends into Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, can cause air problems in Bangkok.

[edwardandtubs]

On 1/22/2020 at 3:53 AM, Misty said:

Yes, doing interval workouts my heart rate gets above 150 - trying to keep pedal speed between 80-120 RPM, depending on the resistance settings. (I put a cheap Cateye bicycle computer on it to track pedal speed.)

 

The spinning bike came free with the treadmill which we purchased around 15 years ago.  I think the list price for the bike alone was about 1/5 of the treadmill.  Not sure the name of the fitness shop (husband bought it) but I think it was on Thonglor and has closed since then.  You could probably find them at Central or Emporium sports centers, or these days maybe even Lazada.

 

Spinning bikes are mechanical only, so there's no electronics to mess them up. Ours has needed no maintenance, whereas we've had the treadmill serviced a couple of times over the years.

The thing is you can get them super cheap from Lazada but I'm not sure they would give me the resistance I need. The ones in department stores seem overpriced.

[edwardandtubs]

On 1/22/2020 at 8:46 AM, Pravda said:

Has anyone replaced Mi 2S filters?

 

I see the non brand filters on Lazada are over 60% cheaper than the original.

 

Are they ok?

The originals are cheap enough. They don't need to be replaced when the indicator suggests. Just change them when you see they're getting less effective.

[Misty]

14 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

The thing is you can get them super cheap from Lazada but I'm not sure they would give me the resistance I need. The ones in department stores seem overpriced.

Could be, the one we own predates Lazada by a decade or more.  But it looks like Central Supersports is having a good sale on spinning bikes, perhaps you could try one out to see if it's a good fit. Pricing on many models around Bt7,900, down from around Bt21-25k.

 

[seb2015]

So it looks like we're getting a nice break from the burnings over the weekend, thanks to the Chinese new year.

On the other hand , news from the virus outbreak in Wuhan sound very alarming.

[Yom]

This is Phrae - aqicn.org

 

Only unhealthy now, this morning it was a bit higher:

Phrae today   09:19                        10:28

 

2 hours ago, seb2015 said:

So it looks like we're getting a nice break from the burnings over the weekend, thanks to the Chinese new year.

On the other hand , news from the virus outbreak in Wuhan sound very alarming.

Break.  -  I think it might be the western winds?

Up North its bad at night and most of the day, becomes better only in the afternoon.

You might have a look at the ChiamgRai-Forum.

[edwardandtubs]

4 hours ago, seb2015 said:

So it looks like we're getting a nice break from the burnings over the weekend, thanks to the Chinese new year.

On the other hand , news from the virus outbreak in Wuhan sound very alarming.

Agricultural workers don't care much about Chinese New Year. It's only a thing for people with Chinese ancestry.

[MaxYakov]

3 hours ago, Yom said:

This is Phrae - aqicn.org

 

Only unhealthy now, this morning it was a bit higher:

Phrae today   09:19                        10:28

 

Break.  -  I think it might be the western winds?

Up North its bad at night and most of the day, becomes better only in the afternoon.

You might have a look at the ChiamgRai-Forum.

A bit higher? The Max PM2.5 is shown as 375 around 9 AM!

[ExpatOilWorker]

9 hours ago, Yom said:

This is Phrae - aqicn.org

 

Only unhealthy now, this morning it was a bit higher:

Phrae today   09:19                        10:28

 

Break.  -  I think it might be the western winds?

Up North its bad at night and most of the day, becomes better only in the afternoon.

You might have a look at the ChiamgRai-Forum.

How do you actually live through numbers that high, stay indoor next to an air purifier?

I must be so bad you can clearly smell the burning, right?

[seb2015]

15 hours ago, Yom said:

Break.  -  I think it might be the western winds?

Up North its bad at night and most of the day, becomes better only in the afternoon.

You might have a look at the ChiamgRai-Forum.

Yes I think you're right , I had not seen the rest of the AQI map ..

[Yom]

@   ExpatOilWorker

How do you actually live through numbers that high, stay indoor next to an air purifier?

I must be so bad you can clearly smell the burning, right?

 

Hate to be indoors, but it seems to be better these days. At least some time.

 

I'm only here for family reasons.

I am particularly sorry for the children. - What a shame.
Many people cannot see the problem at all.
And many do not have the means to buy air purifiers etc. 

 

The particulate matter doesn't smell most of the time,

unless it comes from burning wood, plastic ...

 

You might find some info there:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1143398-phrae-pm25-numbers-2020/

 

 

 

[Pravda]

I was so very happy last night with reading of 50AQI in bangkok, but I'm revolted again.... 

 

[MaxYakov]

50 minutes ago, Pravda said:

I was so very happy last night with reading of 50AQI in bangkok, but I'm revolted again.... 

 

Right now the general situation in Bangkok is "Moderate/Yellow". You don't seem to understand that there are "outlier" sensors the readings of which are to be ignored in lieu of considering the majority of the sensors. Some sensors may have failed or be in an unusual, local situation. So, don't worry. Be Happy and wear a mask just in case! ????

 

 

[Yom]

Today I and a lot of people here in Phrae would be very happy with one-five-five...

Some private pics from this morning.

 

[MaxYakov]

43 minutes ago, Yom said:

Today I and a lot of people here in Phrae would be very happy with one-five-five...

Some private pics from this morning.

 

Well, I guess 155 is better than 354, which is what I'm seeing on RTAQ right now. But 155 is still unhealthy!

 

Anyway, I got the Lat/Lon of Phrae and went to the NASA FIRMS (Fire Information Resource Management System) site and saw that it is in an area where there so many fires that it looks like what the Australian bush fires must have looked like (or maybe still look). Maybe you should call Coulson Aviation and get air tankers in to take care of the fires (or least scare the arsonist-growers)?

[edwardandtubs]

There a good article in the Bangkok Post today titled 'Greed for sugar profits worsens PM2.5' which shows it's the current government's own policies that have caused the increase in pm2.5.

[Yom]

1 hour ago, MaxYakov said:

Well, I guess 155 is better than 354, which is what I'm seeing on RTAQ right now. But 155 is still unhealthy!

 

Anyway, I got the Lat/Lon of Phrae and went to the NASA FIRMS (Fire Information Resource Management System) site and saw that it is in an area where there so many fires that it looks like what the Australian bush fires must have looked like (or maybe still look). Maybe you should call Coulson Aviation and get air tankers in to take care of the fires (or least scare the arsonist-growers)?

It's unhealty, you're so right.

 

Now a screenshot from Phrae valley with Phrae and the airport in the center. 72 hrs.

Not too bad?

Zooming out 5 steps::

 

But I'll save this link. Thanks.

 

[Chrysaora]

The recent survey here showed that only 6 percent had an air purifier.  

I have 3.

 

Foolish people.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/27/2020 at 4:07 PM, Chrysaora said:

The recent survey here showed that only 6 percent had an air purifier.  

I have 3.

 

And they're still sold out right now in a lot of stores....

 

[MaxYakov]

On 1/27/2020 at 4:07 PM, Chrysaora said:

The recent survey here showed that only 6 percent had an air purifier.  

I have 3.

 

Foolish people.

I have three also, but two of the three are modified or built from scratch (aka "home made") and all three are using modified Hatari (alleged) HEPA filters.

 

One of them is a modified PerfectBrandz PBC-333 evaporative cooler that I slapped an older Hatari (alleged) HEPA filter on it's intake and made the unit as air-tight as possible with packing tape. The only modification to the filter was that I removed the carbon granule layer to reduce airflow restriction. The thing about the PBC-333 is that it has a relatively powerful squirrel cage fan since it was designed to be a cooler that had to pull air through a layer of circulating water dispersal material. So it serves as both a cooling fan and an (alleged) HEPA filter. I also placed a single layer of 3M Filtrete filter material over its Hatari filter as a pre-filter to lengthen its lifespan. I paid only 600 baht for the filter years ago and it will cost quite a bit more than that nowadays.

 

Another is a fabricated air purifier (of sorts) that's based on a currently-available Hatari (alleged) HEPA filter that I've placed in one of my two bathroom windows and driven with a 12 inch exhaust fan in order to ventilate my bathroom with relatively clean/cool outside air while bathing or to ventilate my entire apartment (by leaving the bathroom door open and cracking one of my windows on the other end of the apartment). The fan I selected was actually intended as a room exhaust fan but I reversed it to drive into the filter with outside air. The carbon granule layer of the filter was also removed from this filter in order to reduce air flow restriction.

 

My other bathroom window is entirely sealed with clear food wrap to provide daytime lighting. When running the filter fan, I crack this window to allow exhaust air to leave the room. This setup works very well. The Hatari filter also has a single layer of 3M Filtrete filter material on the input side to, ideally, lengthen its lifespan. Filtering Bangkok air directly (rather than with a relatively sealed room) leads to more frequent filter replacement. It took me forever to implement this bathroom intake fan, but when I did it was amazing how much improved the bathroom became. I highly recommend this bathroom modification.

 

My third filter is a bottom of the line (and second hand) Hitachi air purifier unit with a modified Hatari filter installed and also with a protective/sacrificial, single-layer of 3M Filtrete pre-filter. Pretty straightforward setup and done this way because the Hitachi filters had to be ordered from Japan and were relatively expensive to boot (quoted by Hitachi at more than twice the price of the Hatari filters).

 

I have two PM2.5 measurement devices and both of the are registering 0.0 PM2.5 and PM10 at last measure a few minutes ago in my bedroom, which is well-sealed. So I guess my Hatari (alleged) HEPA filters are doing a pretty good job, even if they may not be REAL HEPA-level or HEPA-capable filters.

 

Just because I always wear an effective dust/fume mask (that is also pre-filtered) when I'm outside my 0.0 PM2.5/PM10 bedroom (aka my "clean room") doesn't mean that I'm fanatical about particulate pollution (heh, heh). No really, I'm running my modified PBC-333 right now with the A/C turned off and (home made or not) it's doing a pretty good job of both cleaning and providing cooling (skin evaporation) air flow and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. In fact, my whole setup was more labor time than material/equipment costs.

 

My electricity bill last month was only 495 baht @ 5 baht/kWh because I didn't run my A/C that much due to the cooler weather. I avoid inefficiently using both electricity and water even though I could easily afford to do so.

 

I know, I know - more than anyone would ever want to know one person's approach to dealing with Bangkok pollution. I'll keep the next one short (I promise).

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Today was one of the worst PM2.5 days in BKK that I can recall in a quite a long time. 

 

 

Can't breathe the air. Can't make out with the Chinese tourist girls...

 

Life here is just going down the toilet big time!!!  And then there's my old uncle....  

 

Almost enough to make me forget about the prospect of contracting the coronavirus.

 

And today was a SUNDAY!  So obviously the authorities' proclaimed efforts at halting farm fields burning are little more than a farce! 

[TerraplaneGuy]

Well they were bragging that they pulled 200 smoky vehicles off the road.  Good, except there are almost 10 million vehicles in BKK and something like 1,000 are added every day.  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

In the top 10 again as of 10 pm tonight courtesy of AirVisual.com, and probably would have been even higher if measured earlier in the day/afternoon when levels were at their peaks in the mid 170s AQI:

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

Well they were bragging that they pulled 200 smoky vehicles off the road.  Good, except there are almost 10 million vehicles in BKK and something like 1,000 are added every day.  

 

Right now, 99% certain, it's a burning thing more than a cars and vehicles thing.

[Yom]

12 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Right now, 99% certain, it's a burning thing more than a cars and vehicles thing.

I really appreciate what you're saying.

Agricultural burning, burning of rubbish, fumes of cars/vehicles, unfiltered power plants

and a windy thingy from India and China, sometimes too, I think.

 

I've regarded the situation since Jan 15 in/around Phrae, up North.

It's pretty bad...

If you like, have a look here:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1143398-phrae-pm25-numbers-2020/page/4/#comments

 

 

 

 

 

[TerraplaneGuy]

29 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Right now, 99% certain, it's a burning thing more than a cars and vehicles thing.

Maybe that's true although I wonder how you come to that conclusion.  I've read several reports where experts say that vehicles contributed 60%-70% of BKK's air pollution.  Even if that's an exaggeration, I find it hard to believe vehicles aren't an important part.  I suspect that vehicles create a baseline, call it maybe 50% of the pollution, which is fairly constant, and then other factors like burning and weather are what push us into the orange and red.  In the end it hardly matters, the government is not going to fix either the vehicle or the burning problem (or any other factor) anytime in the next few years.  I've decided I'm not spending another winter in this city.  It's insane.  Today I couldn't go anywhere to enjoy my Sunday.  What's the point of all these great cafes and restaurants and malls if you have to wear a mask the whole time?  Let alone the outdoor pool which is just a health risk ...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

Maybe that's true although I wonder how you come to that conclusion.  I've read several reports where experts say that vehicles contributed 60%-70% of BKK's air pollution.  Even if that's an exaggeration, I find it hard to believe vehicles aren't an important part.  I suspect that vehicles create a baseline, call it maybe 50% of the pollution, which is fairly constant, and then other factors like burning and weather are what push us into the orange and red.  In the end it hardly matters, the government is not going to fix either the vehicle or the burning problem (or any other factor) anytime in the next few years.  I've decided I'm not spending another winter in this city.  It's insane.  Today I couldn't go anywhere to enjoy my Sunday.  What's the point of all these great cafes and restaurants and malls if you have to wear a mask the whole time?  Let alone the outdoor pool which is just a health risk ...

 

There have been a lot of studies on the subject of source... and the mix of sources tends to vary between the wet season (more vehicle based) vs. dry season (more burning based), along with weather and other factors...

 

But the way I look at it overall is this: the vehicles are a baseline. With few exceptions, the traffic is ALWAYS bad in BKK and there tend to be pretty much the same levels of vehicles on the roads. And yet this time of year, the smog is absolutely the worst, which more than just happens to coincide with the agricultural burning season.  When the morons out there are not burning their fields (whether it be Thailand or adjoining areas), the smog in BKK never gets to the levels like it is right now.

 

[TerraplaneGuy]

5 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

...  When the morons out there are not burning their fields (whether it be Thailand or adjoining areas), the smog in BKK never gets to the levels like it is right now.

 

News reports suggest these people aren't actually morons, they're just trying to make a living in a market where the price of sugar (the main culprit crop) is very low owing to a global over-supply (and possibly Thai government pricing policies).  Burning is the cheapest way to harvest and farmers can't afford a cleaner method.  Personally I would favour strict prohibition of burning, and taxing sugar to help subsidize cleaner harvesting or switching to other crops.  Thais consume far too much sugar anyway and a tax might help reduce that.  But none of this and no other fix will happen.   Incompetence, inertia and negligence are too deeply ingrained.   We can analyze the problem all we want but what's the point ...