What We’re Doing This Earth Day
Happy Earth Day! As a company that cares deeply about the environment and the health of our customers, we’re committed to reducing our carbon footprint and minimizing our impact on the planet in as many ways as we can.
You might have already heard about our journey to reshore our manufacturing and make our air purifiers in the United States. It’s a journey that we’re incredibly proud to be making great progress on.
With this effort, we’re not only bringing jobs back to the US — we're also able to significantly reduce our carbon emissions from shipping and transportation, which is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. By producing our air purifiers domestically, we're able to support the local economy as well. It’s just one of the many steps we're taking to be more environmentally friendly.
Another way we're reducing our impact on the planet is by minimizing the need for our employees to commute. As the debate about remote work continues, we've built a team of work-from-home employees across the country.
By doing so, we're reducing carbon emissions from all those cars that would otherwise be on the road every day. We're improving the work-life balance of our employees and creating a more sustainable work culture. It also means we have great Customer Service team members across the nation who can help our customers. We see it as a win-win-win.
There are other ways we try to limit our carbon footprint, right down to our product as well. If you can believe it, there are still some companies that are not making certified energy efficient air purifiers in this day and age. So what gives?
ENERGY STAR is the trusted, government-backed symbol for energy efficiency that shows a product is independently certified to save energy and help protect the climate. For air purifiers, ENERGY STAR serves two purposes:
- It certifies that each product saves energy and won’t burden you with an expensive addition to your electrical bill.
- To be considered for ENERGY STAR certification, air purifier companies must share their certified air cleaning performance. This number is called CADR or the clean air delivery rate. The CADR is a measure of the volume of contaminant-free air an air purifier creates and correlates with the room size each air purifier can clean. This provides a way for consumers to compare air purifier performance by model and all of this information is available on the ENERGY STAR website.
Of course, there are other considerations when buying an air purifier, like how expensive the replacement filters are and how often you’ll need to replace them. We think warranty is a pretty important factor as well and can be a great indicator of what’s reliable and what’s likely to end up in a landfill quickly.
Something that feels like it would be good for the environment are washable filters. We get it. Throwing away a filter when it gets dirty doesn’t feel like it’s being as green as possible. Here’s the thing, the reality is that they just aren’t effective.
This is because washable filters are not able to capture small particles like dust, mold, and bacteria, which can lead to respiratory issues and other health problems. Which means they ultimately end up in the landfill when the problem they were bought for persists.
On the other hand, a high efficiency air filter made of HEPA filter based media is the only trusted filtration method when it comes to air purification. HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air, and these filters are designed to capture particles as small as 0.3 microns. This includes common allergens like pollen and pet dander, as well as more harmful pollutants like smoke and smog.
By using a high efficiency air filter, especially a reliable one that lasts, we minimize the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill.
And because HEPA filter based media is so effective at capturing pollutants, they actually help to reduce the overall amount of pollution in the air, which is a huge benefit for your lungs.
With so many companies greenwashing their products and trying to appear more environmentally friendly, it feels important for us to bring as much transparency as possible to the ways we’re trying to uphold our commitment to the environment and the health of our customers.
And if you have any questions, our work-from-home Customer Service team is just a phone call away.
