Another similar company I want someone to start is one that produces inexpensive, self-installable far UV lamps. My understanding is that far UV is safe to shine directly on humans (as opposed to standard UV), meaning that you don’t need high ceilings or special technicians to install the lamp. However, it’s a much newer technology with not very much adoption or testing, I think because of a combination of principal/agent problems and price; see this post on blockers to Far UV adoption.
Beacon does produce these $800 lamps, which are consumer friendly-ish. I bought one for the Manifold office, but due to a variety of trivial inconveniences (figuring out where to mount it; the mobile app not syncing with my phone) it’s still not active. I think a competent operator in this space could make a device that’s somewhat cheaper & easier to use, and hit a tipping point for widespread/viral adoption.
(If you or someone you know is interested in doing this and is looking for funding, reach out to me at austin@manifund.org!)
I’m not convinced that far-UVC is safe enough around humans to be a good idea. It’s strongly absorbed by proteins so it doesn’t penetrate much, but:
It can make reactive compounds from organic compounds in air.
It can produce ozone, depending on the light. (That’s why mercury vapor lamps block the 185nm emission.)
It could potentially make toxic compounds when it’s absorbed by proteins in skin or eyes.
It definitely causes degradation of plastics.
And really, what’s the point? Why not just have fans sending air to (cheap) mercury vapor lamps in a contained area where they won’t hit people or plastics?
Hm, I expect the advantage of far UV is that many places where people want to spend time indoors are not already well-ventilated, or that it’d be much more expensive to modify existing hvac setups vs just sticking a lamp on a wall.
I’m not at all familiar with the literature on safety; my understanding (based on this) is that no, we’re not sure and more studies would be great, but there’s a vicious cycle/chicken-and-egg problem where the lamps are expensive, so studies are expensive, so there aren’t enough studies, so nobody buys lamps, so lamp companies don’t stay in business, so lamps are expensive.
Another similar company I want someone to start is one that produces inexpensive, self-installable far UV lamps. My understanding is that far UV is safe to shine directly on humans (as opposed to standard UV), meaning that you don’t need high ceilings or special technicians to install the lamp. However, it’s a much newer technology with not very much adoption or testing, I think because of a combination of principal/agent problems and price; see this post on blockers to Far UV adoption.
Beacon does produce these $800 lamps, which are consumer friendly-ish. I bought one for the Manifold office, but due to a variety of trivial inconveniences (figuring out where to mount it; the mobile app not syncing with my phone) it’s still not active. I think a competent operator in this space could make a device that’s somewhat cheaper & easier to use, and hit a tipping point for widespread/viral adoption.
(If you or someone you know is interested in doing this and is looking for funding, reach out to me at austin@manifund.org!)
I’m not convinced that far-UVC is safe enough around humans to be a good idea. It’s strongly absorbed by proteins so it doesn’t penetrate much, but:
It can make reactive compounds from organic compounds in air.
It can produce ozone, depending on the light. (That’s why mercury vapor lamps block the 185nm emission.)
It could potentially make toxic compounds when it’s absorbed by proteins in skin or eyes.
It definitely causes degradation of plastics.
And really, what’s the point? Why not just have fans sending air to (cheap) mercury vapor lamps in a contained area where they won’t hit people or plastics?
Hm, I expect the advantage of far UV is that many places where people want to spend time indoors are not already well-ventilated, or that it’d be much more expensive to modify existing hvac setups vs just sticking a lamp on a wall.
I’m not at all familiar with the literature on safety; my understanding (based on this) is that no, we’re not sure and more studies would be great, but there’s a vicious cycle/chicken-and-egg problem where the lamps are expensive, so studies are expensive, so there aren’t enough studies, so nobody buys lamps, so lamp companies don’t stay in business, so lamps are expensive.