San Francisco, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/06/2019 --Those who live in urban environments often struggle to maintain healthy air quality in city apartments and homes due to pollution from the city's busy streets. Not only that but many areas are also quite humid, which can amplify pollution and make it feel even hotter. During humid times, air conditioners have to work twice as hard to keep the space cool.

While houseplants do help a bit with air quality, the amount of plants required to purify even a small space would require a lot of maintenance and care, making this approach undesirable for many people. Due to busy schedules or simply a lack of gardening knowledge and experience, many people have difficulty keeping houseplants alive successfully.

Urbie Air aims to solve all of these problems with a single device. It is an Air Purifier and a Dehumidifier that is equivalent to about 10 plants in terms of purifying ability. It is also capable of automatically watering a mid-size plant using the water extracted from the air. The device utilizes eco-friendly biofiltration to remove VOCs, allergens, dust, smoke and other harmful compounds from the air. What's more, the filter never needs to be replaced, saving it from ending up in a landfill.

The plant and its soil enhance these air-purifying efforts even further. Microorganisms in the soil break down pollutants into safer componds. Urbie Air also comes with activated carbon powder, which users can add to the soil to eliminate even more pollutants.

Throughout the day, the Urbie Air will monitor the air quality in a space spanning about 250 square-feet. Whenever the humidity gets above a set point, the dehumidifier will activate, pulling excess moisture from the air. This is important because allergens, mold and dust mites can thrive in damp environments. The device then stores that water, using it to water the plant whenever it detects that the soil is getting too dry. During dry seasons, users can simply fill the water tank manually with filtered water to keep the plant hydrated.

The plant itself, as well as its soil, also detoxify and purify the air and water. Urbie Air is programmed to accommodate a variety of different plants that are known for their air-purifying properties. It is calibrated for the specific needs of those particular plants, so users may not get the best results with plants outside that list.

Urbie Air also includes a mobile app to help users gain even more information about their air quality. With the app's reporting capabilities, users can track their air quality over time and learn how to better manage it throughout the day.

To help bring Urbie Air to the marketplace, its creators have launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. The campaign will run for 40 days and will have a funding goal of $25,000. Funding will go toward the initial production run, as well as marketing and shipping expenses.

About Urbie
Urbie is a positive social and environmental impact startup, the founders plan on planting 5 Trees for every Urbie Air sold as part of an initiative to reduce outdoor pollution and fight climate change. They plan on doing so with the help of their NGO www.rootsupsolutions.org