AirGradient: From Thai Wildfires to Open Source Hardware feat Achim Haug

Discover the origins of AirGradient, which began as a volunteer project in Northern Thailand during the harsh "burning season" of 2019. Learn how this effort evolved into a company focused on providing open source air quality hardware, measuring critical metrics like PM 2.5 and CO2 to safeguard classrooms

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha206

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

01:04 Meet Achim: From Siemens to Thailand and a Wildfire Crisis

03:20 Burning Season 2019: The School That Sparked AirGradient

07:50 DIY to Open Hardware: Arduino, ESP32, PM2.5 + CO2, and Dashboards

12:24 Values: Repairability, Ownership, and CC BY‑SA Licensing

16:40 Global Takeoff: Hacker News, Jeff Geerling, and the Kit Era

20:16 ESPHome vs Native: Building the Official Home Assistant Integration

32:26 Works with Home Assistant Platinum: Local‑First and Privacy by Default

36:40 Open Culture, Community, and Academia: Why Sharing Pays Back

41:45 UNICEF Laos: ML Air‑Quality Forecasts + Open Map Integration

44:55 Roadmap: Larger Displays, Portable Monitors, and More Pollutants

46:27 Safeguarding the Mission: Foundation Plan (Switzerland)

49:45 Achim’s Home Assistant Setup: Z‑Wave, ESPHome, Geofencing

56:16 Real‑World Use Cases: Factories, Schools, and Ventilation Control

01:01:58 Accuracy Matters: Calibration, Pitfalls, and Transparent Limits

01:05:19 Wrap‑Up and Where to Buy

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy