Indoor air quality monitor price guide: How much should you spend?

When the Covid-19 pandemic took the world by storm, the way people approached their health and well-being changed dramatically. This went beyond masking up and frequent hand-washing. People became increasingly concerned about the quality of the environment they inhabit.

As the threat of airborne transmission of Covid-19 in enclosed spaces loomed, people also began to invest in indoor air quality monitors and other interventions to assess and clean up the air in their homes and offices. As everybody rushed to purchase such interventions, the topic of indoor air quality monitor prices also became more talked about.

It’s not like air quality wasn’t a concern pre-Covid-19; it wasn’t like air quality monitors were novel in the Covid era. Still, the air quality conversation before the pandemic was largely focused on outdoor pollution. As industrial emissions, vehicular emissions, construction and demolition-generated pollutants, and forest fires sent dust and smoke up into the air, this outdoor focus was natural.

The thing with outdoor, or ambient, air pollution is that the onus of measuring it and improving it is on public authorities and private corporations. Since individuals and households don’t bear the burden of improving outdoor air quality, they weren’t investing in air quality monitors as much as large institutions and public agencies were. When it comes to indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring and management, however, the picture is quite different.

Market segmentation: The effect of device category on indoor air quality monitoring device price

The air quality monitoring system market in India is booming. A report by Expert Market Research forecasts that the market size will grow at a CAGR of 14.8% from 2024 to 2032. Within this market, there are several categories. Each device on the market is situated at an intersection of two or more of these segments. The indoor air quality monitor price will depend on which segments it is a part of, in addition to other product features like quality, accuracy, and number of sensors.

For starters, to reiterate a segmentation we have already addressed, the air quality monitor market may be categorised by product type – indoor monitors, wearable monitors, and outdoor monitors. While the first segment can be further divided into fixed and portable IAQ monitors, the latter segment can be further segmented into portable, fixed, dust and particulate matter, and air quality monitoring (AQM) stations.

The market can also be divided by pollutant type. Both outdoor and indoor air quality monitoring device prices may be affected by whether the device measures chemical contaminants (like ozone, carbon monoxide, lead, etc.), physical pollutants (like suspended solids), biological contaminants (think bacteria, mould, and pollen), or a combination of these.

To a large extent, indoor air quality monitor price in India is also determined by the IAQ sampling methods used. The air quality monitoring market in the country is broadly segmented into active or continuous monitoring, intermittent monitoring, passive monitoring, and stack monitoring.

While stack monitoring is largely limited to manufacturing facilities and industrial chimneys, passive monitoring involves using settle plates to collect microbes and other biological contaminants. In most residential and commercial spaces, however, intermittent and active/continuous monitoring are the go-to IAQ solutions. Intermittent monitoring, as the name suggests, is non-continuous – such monitoring devices use filters, sorbents or other sampling tools to provide a snapshot of indoor air quality at a given point in time.

The best, most effective air quality monitors are continuous monitoring systems. They provide 24×7, real-time insight into the quality of your air. The benefits of continuous operations and data collection, management and display systems are compounded by the economical continuous indoor air quality monitoring device price. Even if you do have to shell out a little more for a sophisticated variety, the data and insight you get from such a device make it well worth the investment.

Finally, the air quality monitoring market in India is also segmented based on end-use – residential, commercial, and industrial. As governmental regulations and public awareness increase, there has been growth across these use cases.

Factors affecting indoor air quality monitor price in India

Regulatory grade monitors currently used to measure ambient air quality are fairly expensive – they can each cost north of Rs 20 lakh. Recently developed low-cost monitors for ambient air are significantly more economical. Even at a cost of around Rs 60,000 each, these devices have been shown to have an accuracy of 85 to 90% compared to their more expensive counterparts.

Needless to say, these high costs are a prohibiting factor. While even public agencies are limited by the multiple-lakh worth of regulatory monitors, individual homes or buildings would also hesitate to install the low-cost kind.

For smaller enclosed spaces like homes and offices, or even entire buildings or corporate campuses which have multiple smaller rooms, special indoor air quality monitors are better choices. Given the smaller budgets of households and the large number of rooms that a corporate office has to monitor, the market for IAQ monitors is still price-sensitive. Nonetheless, the product range starts at a much lower price point.

A quick Amazon search will reveal that the indoor air quality monitor price in India can be as low as a few thousand rupees. It can also cost upwards of a lakh. So how do you decide which of these options you should go for? How do you decide what indoor air quality monitor price is justified?

Assessing the following benefits against the cost of an IAQ monitoring system can help you make a decision.

1. The number of sensors. Less More is more when it comes to sensors. Indoor air quality is a complex concept, which encompasses levels of carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, sulphur and nitrogen oxides, temperature, humidity, and more. The more sensors your monitor has, the easier it is to justify the indoor air quality monitoring device price.
2. Sensor accuracy. A large number of sensors is no substitute for sensor accuracy. Regardless of how many sensors your monitor has, you want them to have high accuracy levels. Accuracy data can be found from third-party testing agencies, the IAQ monitor manufacturer, or the sensor manufacturer.
3. The area to be monitored. A single monitor can only measure air quality within a specified area around it. To measure IAQ in a larger space, you will need multiple strategically placed devices. In this case, your overall IAQ monitoring system price will increase with the number of devices.
4. Data management systems. Particularly with continuous air quality monitors, all the data that is collected needs to be transferred and stored securely. You will also need to access historical data to identify trends over time. All of this requires a top-quality data management system and dashboard, which may add to the indoor air quality monitor price.
   
   

At the end of the day, nobody else can decide how much you should spend on your IAQ monitoring device. It is a matter of personal preference and budget and the requirements of your space. Nevertheless, you would do well to assess the indoor air quality monitor price against the benefits it offers to ensure that you get your money’s worth.