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First, second or third in the rankings matters little. Milan is among the most polluted cities in Europe and the world. A fact to discuss and which raises a big question about the quality of the air we breathe. According to the Swiss site IQAir, which measures air quality in the world based on the American US AQI index, on Sunday 18 February Milan was among the most polluted cities with a score of 199, preceded only by Dacca in Bangladesh and Lahore in Pakistan and Delhi in India. Things are no better for other areas of our country: from 2019 to 2020, the three most polluted cities in Europe were Nowy Sacz (Poland), Cremona (Italy) and Slavonski Brod (Croatia). This is stated in the visual map of the EEA, the European Environment Agency, which classifies cities from the cleanest to the most polluted, based on the average levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) over the last two years. A degradation that is directly reflected on what enters our homes and that we can measure in some way. Through specially designed objects or simply by apps that collect data from authoritative sources to warn when it is time to open the window, or perhaps close it, to prevent pollution from further lowering the quality of the air that enters the lungs.
An example is the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor (79.99 euros), which helps to understand the quality of the air by monitoring the 5 factors that influence the air inside the house. The indicator light provides an instant idea of current air quality, while the Alexa app returns specific values for particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, humidity and temperature. The mix of information creates a unique numerical value that allows you to establish whether the quality in your home is good, moderate or poor, with red, yellow or green colors. Combined with compatible objects, you can even create routines to ensure that when the level drops too much, Alexa turns on the air purifier or dehumidifier, to lower this or that parameter. In these “difficult” days for the Milan area, we have tried to keep the windows open a little during peak hours, noting that by letting in more air the general quality situation does not improve, on the contrary it tends to worsen, albeit slowly. If pollution is present inside your rooms, it means that things are not going well outside at all. The Netatmo Weather Station is a good starting point, also because it provides two modules, one external and one internal, with which to receive very precise data on the situation. The interesting thing is that the combination allows you to cross-reference the information to understand how the quality trend changes depending on the weather. From the Netatmo app it is possible to take a look at the trends of the last few days, obtaining not only information on the macro forecasts but also on the amount of rain expected and how this could cause CO2 and humidity levels to vary. Then there is the Moniqua website, which reports the air quality values published and validated by the Regional Environmental Protection Agencies (ARPA) located throughout the country and made available through the websites of the agencies themselves. The platform, created by the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Pisa and the CINI National Smart Cities Laboratory, also allows access to the data of the individual city stations, with the history of changes in values and the visualization of the major pollutant in a reference period. The aforementioned European Environment Agency also has its own application for Android and iPhone, called European Air Quality Index, with the possibility of viewing the concentration of various pollutants on the maps, exploiting real-time data from over 3500 monitoring stations . There aren’t many cities but you have to rely on the stations closest to yours to take a look at the index. But receiving data may not be enough if you don’t get concrete advice on how to act from this. And that is precisely what the Agency’s app does, in a section with health recommendations, which differ depending on the area and the index detected. With a significant concentration of pollutants, it reads “consider reducing intense outdoor activities to avoid symptoms such as irritated eyes, cough or sore throat”. Given the presence of updated statistics and the opportunity to insert other findings, the EEA app is a basic point of reference for both expert and more sensitive users, towards a central theme today and critical for the future.