You Can Just Buy Far-UVC

December 13th, 2025
airquality, uvc
Far-UVC is something people have talked about for years in a "that would be great, if you could buy it" sort of way. Coming soon, once someone actually makes a good product. But the future is now, and it costs $500.

Many diseases spread through the air, which is inconvenient for us as creatures that breathe air. You can go outside, where the air is too dilute to spread things well, but it's cold out there, and sometimes wet. You can run an air purifier, but cleaning lots of air without lots of noise is still the world of DIY projects. Ideally you could just shine some light, perhaps in the 222-nm range, which would leave people alone but kill the viruses [1] and bacteria. Yes, let's do that!

Last year if you asked "if far-UV is so great, why isn't it everywhere?" one of your answers would be:

There are very few providers, and hardly any of them sell an off-the-shelf product. You usually can't just buy a lamp to try it out—you have to call the company, get a consultation, and often have someone from the company come install the lamp. It's a lot of overhead for an expensive product that most people have never heard of.

This has changed! You can buy an Aerolamp for $500, shipped. Proudly displayed at Thanksgiving:

Here are five four silently cleaning a whole lot of air at a dance I help organize:

At $500 this is out of (my) Christmas gift range, but I think we're now at the point where dances, churches, offices, rationalist group houses, schools, etc. should consider them.

(I have no stake in Aerolamp and they're not paying me, I'm just very excited about their product.)


[1] Ok, yes, I know viruses "can't be killed" because they're "not alive", but far-UVC causes them to become unable to infect and replicate which is close enough to "killed" for me.

Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, the EA Forum, mastodon, bluesky, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Ozy at LessOnline!

I will once again be a guest at LessOnline, alongside many other writers whom you no doubt like less than you like me: Scott Alexander, dynomight, Georgia Ray, David Friedman, Nicholas Decker, Jacob Falkovich, Kelsey Piper, Alicorn, Aella, etc.

via Thing of Things March 23, 2026

Daycares and the Brown School

As someone in Somerville I notice that there are quite high prices regarding childcare. The average family in Somerville pays $1,100 to $3,500 for daycare per month, and I want to make the costs more affordable. I have also noticed that housing is quite …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 22, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

more     (via openring)