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Home > News > Where there’s smoke
San Francisco skyline seen through brown haze

Where there’s smoke

Berkeley Engineer magazine cover Fall 2021
November 15, 2021
This article appeared in Berkeley Engineer magazine, Fall 2021
  • In this issue
    Illustration of hourglass, containing plastic transforming into compost

    Back down to earth

    Photo illustration of Michael Yartsev and a flock of bats

    Right off the bats

    Leaping squirrel

    Leaps and bounds

    Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu with Oski and students on Wozniak Terrace

    Dean's note: Engineering better health

    Upfront

    • Where there's smoke
    • Block by block
    • The language of probabilities
    • Put to the test
    • New aerospace major launched
    • Super cool
    • Dream on
    • Awesome agility

    New & noteworthy

    • High school named in honor of alum
    • The art of engineering
    • Farewell
    • With flexibility comes possibility
  • Past issues

When there is wildfire smoke in the air, local residents are told to stay inside. But how much does this actually protect people from hazardous air? In a study that used air sensor data from the crowdsourced PurpleAir network, Berkeley engineers found that by taking steps like closing up their houses and using indoor filtration, residents of the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas cut the infiltration of PM2.5 particulate matter to their homes by half on wildfire days. The researchers also used the real estate website Zillow to estimate the characteristics, age and types of buildings in the sensor network, as well as the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood, and found that newer homes and those with central air conditioning were significantly better at keeping wildfire smoke out. Current graduate student Yutong Liang (M.S.’15 CEE) was the study’s first author; Allen Goldstein, professor of environmental engineering and of environmental science, policy and management, and Joshua Apte, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public health, were senior authors.

Learn more: How much wildfire smoke is infiltrating our homes? (Berkeley News)

Topics: Civil engineering, Health, Sustainability & environment
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