The World Health Organization reports that 9 out of 10 people breathe polluted air. But what most people don’t realise is that the air inside our homes can be just as polluted as it is outside. Fortunately, IKEA is here to provide a typically affordable solution to monitoring air quality in your home. VINDSTYRKA is a new smart sensor that measures and monitors indoor air pollutant levels, making people more aware of the air quality they breathe in their homes. Combined with its suite of air purifiers and smart home devices, IKEA wants us all to breathe a little better.
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IKEA VINDSTYRKA | Image: IKEA
Soon to be made available starting in April 2023, VINDSTYRKA complements the existing IKEA range of smart home solutions with another gadget that offers real-world benefits. VINDSTYRKA, like any smart home air sensor, monitors the particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air. For those unfamiliar with PM2.5, according to a press release, they are the most harmful pollutants. What’s worse is they can’t be seen with the human eye, making them almost impossible to detect without a smart air sensor like VINDSTYRKA.
“Although we spend most of our time indoors, many of us tend to forget about indoor air pollution,” says Henrik Telander, product owner at IKEA of Sweden. He highlights the importance of having clean air at home and mentions how “small everyday activities like cooking or cleaning can contribute to poor air quality just as much as industry or traffic.
“With VINDSTYRKA, our ambition has been to create an affordable, high-performing air quality sensor to help our customers become more aware of the quality of the air they breathe in their homes,” says Henrik.
With real-time humidity, temperature and TVOC (total volatile organic compound; the measure of the pollution load of various gaseous pollutants) measurements, VINDSTYRKA makes indoor air quality levels easily accessible from the device itself or in the IKEA Home smart app. But that’s just the tipping point of this new device. Users can enable VINDSTYRKA to trigger other smart devices through the IKEA Home smart app, making air quality levels actionable when connected to IKEA’s new smart home hub, called DIRIGERA.
IKEA VINDSTYRKA | Image: IKEA
DIRIGERA is a Matter-ready device, and IKEA has stated that the hub will be updated to function with the new smart home standard. Indoor air quality sensors will be included in the next Matter release later this year, indicating that VINDSTYRKA may see further collaboration and features implemented, opening the door to enable connectivity with other smart home systems like Apple Home, Alexa and Google Home.
VINDSTYRKA can also enhance the capabilities of IKEA’s smart air purifier STARKVIND by automatically adjusting the fan speed in correlation with the amount of PM2.5 in the air. IKEA also recommends combining VINDSTYRKA with the smaller FÖRNUFTIG air purifier. If you’re not a fan of smart home connectivity, you can still get the “dumb” VINDRIKTNING air monitor, which costs only AUD$19. However, it only monitors PM2.5, with an LED light that visually indicates air quality rather than using a screen or app.
IKEA aims to combine smart technology with design to enable better awareness of one’s indoor air and provide solutions that improve the quality of the air we breathe, allowing everyone access to clean air.
“We want to work for positive change and know that there is no single solution to solve indoor air pollution. We strive to offer a variety of products and smart solutions that increase awareness of indoor air pollution and allow people to make the right changes for a home with cleaner air”, says Henrik.
Although pricing information is currently unavailable, VINDSTYRKA will hit stores across all IKEA markets starting in April 2023. Here’s hoping there’s a black version because as clean as all white is, black is just cooler.
