How to grow fresh air | Kamal Meattle
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters cite it in threads about indoor air quality, CO2 and houseplants as a cheap, low-tech approach.
What it is
Researcher Kamal Meattle describes how an arrangement of three common houseplants placed in specific spots can measurably clean the air in a home or office. It is a short TED talk based on his work in a plant-filled building.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2016 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Recommends internaut · 2016-07 · on “How Trees Calm Us Down”
If you want to know more you may be interested in these: Japanese researcher describes (with control group) the interesting affects of walking in a forest. [LINK] Indian researcher describes side affects of indoor plants on health esp. air quality. [this video] I'm incorporating some of these concepts into my tiny house design e.g. a terrarium and an hinoki ofuro, together with natural daylighting.
Recommends patrickk · 2016-07 · on “Mercedes-Benz shows off the first fully electric heavy urban transport truck”
When I flew into Heathrow last year, I was amazed by how visible the pollution was- over central London, there were no clouds (there were clouds around the outskirts) but this vague, blue haze was quite noticeable. Although compared to Shanghai, London is really clean, if you live in Shanghai you keep your windows permanently shut and run an air purifier 24/7: [LINK] > I'd recommend anyone living in a city to invest in a good air purifier from BlueAir or IQAir (if you can afford it). Another, more environmentally friendly option: [this video] Also basil plants are a natural mosquito repellent, might not be an issue in the UK though.
Recommends internaut · 2016-09 · on “Air pollution a risk factor for diabetes”
From this thread "How Trees Calm Us Down": [LINK] Japanese researcher describes (with control group) the interesting affects of walking in a forest. [LINK] Indian researcher describes side affects of indoor plants on health esp. air quality. [this video] I'm incorporating some of these concepts into my tiny house design e.g. a (truly ingenious design using mirrors!) terrarium and an hinoki ofuro, together with natural daylighting. A poster called mantesso offered up this interesting paper: Here's the original study from NASA, Interior Landscape plants for indoor air pollution abatement : [LINK]
Cites nelsonic · 2018-10 · on “Ask HN: Which plants can be planted indoors and easily maintained?”
Here is the list of house/indoor plants which promote cognitive function in order of ease of maintenance: Areca Plam (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens AKA Dypsis lutescens) [LINK] Mother-in-law's Tongue / Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) [LINK] Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum) [LINK] Boston Fern (Nephrolepis Exaltata) [LINK] Peace Lilly (Spathiphyllum) [LINK] Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii) [LINK] Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) [LINK] English Ivy (Hedera helix) [LINK] Take the list of plants to your local plant nursery to see how many of them they have in stock. Buying them already established is much cheaper/easier than growing them from seed/cuttings. According to Allen et Al 2015 (se
Cites diimdeep · 2023-10 · on “Global CO2 Levels”
I meant high tech gadgets, but sure How to grow fresh air | Kamal Meattle [this video] [LINK] On a second thought, indoor DIY growbox is probably can be considered as such device.
Cites schainks · 2026-07 · on “CO2 overload, detected in human blood, suggests toxic atmosphere within 50 years”
Uh, do you mean house plants? There is also a Ted talk about taking this to an extreme, which does seem to anecdotally work: [this video]