“Contra Binder on far-UVC and filtration” by jefftk

“Contra Binder on far-UVC and filtration” by jefftk

From LessWrong (30+ Karma) by LessWrong

April 28, 2026 · 7 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the argument for prioritizing air filtration over far-UVC for pathogen control, highlighting cost, noise, and performance considerations.

Damon Binder recently wrote up an argument for prioritizing air filtration over far-UVC for pathogen control: UVC and filtration are close substitutes—both deliver effective air changes per hour, both reduce airborne pathogen concentrations by the same amount per eACH—and on current pricing, filtration is cheaper. There's a lot of good stuff in his analysis, but I see [1] three considerations that really change the bottom line: Cost is actually much lower. Noise is a serious issue. Performance is dramatically higher in larger rooms. Cost is straightforward. Binder priced far-UVC based on the high-quality Care222 lamp with the Krypton-11 at $2,500, but there's a much cheaper option, the Aerolamp at $500. It's also moderately higher output. Binder analyzes a 30m2 room with a 2.5m ceiling. I'll assume this means 6x5x2.5. If I configure Illuminate with an Aerolamp in one corner pointed 0.5m above the far corner the installation is within TLVs and I get a median effective number of hourly air changes (eACH) of 11.6. The lamp degrades approximately linearly over Binder's 11,000 hour evaluation period down to 70% capacity, so we're averaging an eACH of [...] --- First published: April…

People in this episode

Host: jefftk

Guest: Damon Binder

Topics covered

  • air filtration
  • far-UVC
  • pathogen control
  • cost analysis
  • room performance

Keywords

  • air filtration
  • far-UVC
  • pathogen control
  • cost
  • performance
  • noise
  • Aerolamp

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Care222, Krypton-11, Aerolamp

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