This device is designed to provide a readout of the radon levels inside a building such as a home. If you don’t know what radon is, it is a radioactive gas that come up out of the ground from the decay of uranium. As you may have guessed, it is odorless and invisible. Surprisingly , it is found all over the world, but higher concentrations are found in the northeast United States.

That is where a radon detector is useful. Radon gas is radioactive and dangerous to humans and animals. There are estimates by the environmental protection agency that says maybe thousands of deaths each year are due to radon exposure. radon gas will cause cancer just like any high radiation source. It is the long term and repeated exposures that does it. In fact, it may shock you to learn that radon gas is only second to cigarettes in the cause of lung cancer, so the use of a radon detector is wise. No levels of radon are judged as safe, but below .4 picoCuries per liter of air is the limit proposed.

Outside air in our normal living environments contains about .4 picoCuries. It is because our houses are so airtight that the concentration builds up.

That is why a radon detector is a life saving device to keep your family safe from this gas. Air purifiers, such as the BlueAir 501 system, will not remove radon gas. To get rid of this gas, you need a radon mitigation professional to come to your house and install some equipment. In the long term, this is the best way to solve this problem.

• cleaner air in the working environment.
• cleaner air going into the computer, which would prolong the life of the computer components inside.
• less maintenance on the computer, no need to open it up to clean the inside.
• less sick days used for workers due to a cleaner environment to work in.

Okay, some of the cons to such a device.

• extra cost for the systems themselves, so more cost up front.
• more power use, due to the increased resistance of the fans. This is sort of technical, but by putting a HEPA filter in place the fan would have to work harder to move the same amount of air
• may actually increase the noise of the fans, due to the extra restiction of the HEPA filter.
• HEPA filters would have to be replaced periodically.

So we do have both pros and cons to implementing this idea.  There are also some pluses that may be hard to quantify.  I think the people working in the office may actually feel better knowing that the air is getting filtered all the time.  I know in my current office there is a problem with mold.  At least there is a perception that we have a mold problem.  Some people get sick and blame it on the poor air quality of the office.  If we had little air purifiers running all the time, at each persons’ desk, we may have less complaints about the air quality.

This idea should be investigated further with some serious development.  If you want to pursue it, be my guest.  If you make a million bucks on it, give me 10%.  Thanks.