Reader TTS

Market knows the truth and that is why it is already flowing with air purifiers, independent of ACs. There are many types and sizes of these air cleaners in the market, ranging from

relatively inexpensive table-top models to sophisticated and expensive whole-house systems. Some air cleaners are highly effective in removing coarse particles, while others, including most

table-top models, are much less so. Like ACs even air cleaners are generally not designed to remove gaseous pollutants or PM2.5. Some even employ introduction of ozone into the interiors to

neutralize VOCs but this is a botched approach as ozone itself is a toxin which needs to be kept at a distance (preferably high up in the sky, in ever thinning ozone layer). EMPTYING YOUR

PURSE Does your AC’s refrigerant gas leak every now and then? Is running and maintaining ACs becoming increasingly costlier? Don’t blame it merely on poor quality of manufacturing as air

pollution has a menacing role to play. High level of pollution is causing ACs' inbuilt filters to choke quicker, reducing the energy efficiency of the unit and increasing your monthly

electricity bill. Toxicity level of air has reached a stage where it is eroding the internal machinery of the ACs, evident from regular leakage of refrigerant and causing other wear and

tear. Result: more annual repair and maintenance costs. Further, the leaked refrigerant gas, mostly hydro-flouro carbons (HFCs), is adding to pollution and global warming. In fact with

falling health and increasing medical costs air pollution has already severely burdened our purses. As recently revealed in the study on safety measures in automobiles, manufacturers readily

compromise on safety features to curtail costs.  AC manufacturers are already shying away from introducing super energy efficient models, fearing poor uptake by the Indian consumer. Cost

sensitivity of Indian market will ensure that towering expenditure of adding purification technology to our ACs to actually safeguard our health will not happen so easily. Even if it does

these models will be way beyond aam aadmi’s means. FACE IT Delhi’s air is filthy polluted even if government officials argue it’s not as bad as Beijing. Being marginally better than the

worst (if we are) is nothing to seek relief in. Delhiites will still catch respiratory ailments and cancers maybe a day later than Chinese at max. Numbers have always been bad and available

in public domain but no one bothered noticing. Now media has put them on the table for the world to debate. And I’m glad that Delhi’s air is now at least being discussed. Face it! This is

not a number game or someone else’s problem, it’s yours and mine, and it won’t disappear into thin air on its own. Wake up Delhi, you need to get angry about this and not get falsely cooled

down by your AC. The air you are breathing can’t be fixed by a tin can; you need to clean it yourself and you should have sat on a dharna  yesterday itself, at least start now.