[HN Gopher] Observations from carbon dioxide monitoring
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Observations from carbon dioxide monitoring
Author : coloneltcb
Score : 37 points
Date : 2026-03-27 12:56 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (grieve-smith.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (grieve-smith.com)
| jmclnx wrote:
| Very interesting article, but remember, making a room more airy
| will not mitigate the long term effects of CO2 on the Earth.
|
| Older people may remember the push to make your house more energy
| efficient. So, seems you have a choice, higher energy bills or
| higher indoors C02.
|
| So what is needed, move off fossil fuels. I remember seeing
| during the covid lockdown, C02 Levels did not raise for the first
| time in decades and I think they may have fell a little. That is
| because auto traffic decreased a lot. Right now I believe we are
| on our way to +2.5C :(
| Thorrez wrote:
| >So, seems you have a choice, higher energy bills or higher
| indoors C02.
|
| An HRV or ERV can help with that.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_recovery_ventilation
| wiml wrote:
| The tension between an energy-efficient building and a well-
| ventilated one is real, but energy-recovery ventilation (ERV or
| HRV) is a thing and apparently works pretty well. Some kinds
| use counter-flow heat exchangers, some use an oscillating flow
| over a thermal mass (sometimes also a sorbent to keep moisture
| in or out).
| piskov wrote:
| What is wrong with you?
|
| You literally breath co2 out.
|
| The reason it is high is because you fucking breath out in a
| closed room. Fossil fuel my ass.
|
| That's why at least in my part of the world the recommended
| standard of what is considered great ventilation (meaning in
| and out) is at least 1 cubic meter of fresh air per minute for
| every person inside.
|
| Half a cubic meter (or something around that) per minute per
| person is considered an absolute minimum. Less than that and
| the room is considered not valid for any working conditions.
|
| 1000+ co2 and you get fatigue, slow brain, drowsiness, heavy
| head, etc.
|
| But be my guest, eco-brain yourself to a slowpoke IQ.
| nmlt wrote:
| Your reply is unrelated to the article which discusses
| measuring CO2 in order to gauge pathogen transmission risk.
| bonyt wrote:
| The article linked in the first paragraph is almost more
| interesting to me[1]. Some of these places, like the subway, have
| air frequently circulated that can filter aerosols but leave CO2;
| this limitation makes me somewhat doubt its usefulness as a proxy
| for disease transmission risk.
|
| Apart from disease transmission, since I've gotten a CO2 monitor
| in my apartment I've noticed that running the gas stove or oven
| for even a little while will make a _huge_ spike in CO2.
|
| [1] https://grieve-smith.com/ftn/2026/02/so-you-want-to-
| monitor-...
| jadbox wrote:
| Gas stove, oven, and clothes dryer with polyester/nylon will
| all cause my air quality sensor to go into the red.
|
| Some takeaways:
|
| - be very careful of what oils you're using when cooking food
| to ensure they are not turning volatile
|
| - try to avoid using a dryer for non-natural poly clothes and
| use hang drying instead
| jeandejean wrote:
| The problem isn't to breathe CO2, it's pumping it in the
| atmosphere... This article really misses the point.
| snibsnib wrote:
| The article has nothing to do with atmospheric CO2, it is about
| using CO2 as a proxy measurement for virus transfer.
| marginalia_nu wrote:
| Elevated CO2 levels reduces your cognitive abilities fairly
| significantly.
| mgilroy wrote:
| Nightingal, and Robertson before her, argued for better designs
| in hospitals to overcome these issues. We are over 150 years on
| from this arguement which has already been proven.
|
| Using a digital sensor isn't required. The spread of various
| Corona viruses and others increase during colder weather and are
| more likely to spread in enclosed environments with limited air
| flow.
|
| Cafe door shut, no air exchange in place, it's winter and half
| the clientele are reaching for hankies. Your probably catching a
| cold.
| MetaWhirledPeas wrote:
| Buying a (relatively expensive) CO2 monitor is one of those
| purchases that I was pensive about at first, but have zero
| regrets about a few years later. I was ignorant of a lot of
| things related to air quality, CO2 in particular. We were
| foolishly running a gas stove in a house with no ventilation,
| which probably had us up in the 1500+ range every time. This may
| seem like an obvious no-no to most of you but it was not a lesson
| we had ever learned.
|
| You also get to see some other interesting observations, like how
| local construction digging up dirt on your street can cause
| elevated radon levels for months on end.
| jerlam wrote:
| I've got an Aranet4 and started tracking CO2 and submitting it to
| IndoorCO2Map (via https://whn.global/indoor-co2-map-
| co2-monitoring-and-data-co...), but after a short period of time,
| there aren't really any surprises. Carrying a CO2 detector
| everywhere seems like mostly a way to give yourself anxiety.
|
| If it's crowded now, or was recently, the CO2 is going to be
| high. If the building is old, or low volume, the effect will be
| worse.
| woeirua wrote:
| Am I the only person here confused by the line the author draws
| between high CO2 levels and high transmissibility of viruses. I
| think they're confusing correlation for causation here.
| davorak wrote:
| > In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic I learned that we
| can estimate our level of risk by checking the concentration of
| carbon dioxide in the air, because when infected people breathe
| out virus aerosols, they also breathe out CO2.
|
| The above is from the author early on. So they go out of their
| way to point out that it is an estimate and also point out the
| mechanism that allows it work as an estimate in some
| conditions. "when infected people breathe out virus aerosols,
| they also breathe out CO2."
|
| The article does not reenforce this through out the article
| though and leaves it to the reader to keep in mind.
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(page generated 2026-03-29 23:00 UTC)