Environmental awareness is becoming more and more significant in everyday life, not just for individuals and the general public but also for local communities. It is no accident that the fight against air pollution, a major cause of health issues, has gained much focus as part of the newest smart city initiatives.
Highlights
- Air pollution is an unmonitored, yet significant part of health and environmental issues.
- Federal and state governments rarely have the resources to address it at the local level – that’s where local organizations and communities come in.
- Pittsburgh, one of the cities with the highest air pollution levels in the U.S., has its own “Breath” camera system that allows interested citizens to get live updates on the situation.
- A project in Chicago led to the installation of 140 new sensors throughout the city, contributing to numerous studies and environmental protection measures.
- There are several smart city solutions currently in the pilot phase and even operating on a larger scale to use the data captured by fixed and mobile stations.
The importance of air quality
Air pollution
In 2021, 8.9 million people died from air pollution, making it one of the leading causes of death, according to Our World In Data. WHO estimates that 52% of deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution, while indoor air pollution is responsible for a similar proportion (48%) of these tragedies. It has been connected to diabetes, neurological disorders, coronary heart disease, and stroke. In children, it has been associated with asthma and respiratory infections.
Unlike gases and bigger particles, which tend to settle, fine particles from contaminated air stay in the atmosphere for a very long period. They land on the nasal mucosa after we inhale them. The tiniest particles can then go from there into the blood circulation and then into the interior organs. Air pollution and fine dust were deemed hazardous in 2013 by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
“Air pollution is a threat to health in all countries, but it hits people in low- and middle-income countries the hardest,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the leader of the World Health Organization. “WHO’s new Air Quality Guidelines are an evidence-based and practical tool for improving the quality of the air on which all life depends. I urge all countries and all those fighting to protect our environment to put them to use to reduce suffering and save lives.” The WHO guidelines, last updated in 2021, will support countries and local governments in how they can mitigate air pollution.
What is the source of air pollution?
Although outdoor cases can also be attributed to natural sources such as volcanoes, gasses from permafrost warming, or even gasses produced as a byproduct of livestock farming, human activities are the main reason for the rise above the health threshold.
In addition to activities such as industrial manufacturing, transportation, combustion, and the operation of power plants, the decline of vegetation, which plays an important role in binding pollutants, has also contributed to the steady deterioration of air quality since the first industrial revolution (from around 1780). Surprisingly, residential garbage incineration, including the disposal of plastic waste, accounts for more than 50% of air pollution in many nations across the world (particularly in developing regions).
Alongside national governments, an increasing number of local government organizations are also paying particular attention to this issue. But to reduce air pollution, accurate measurements and data are needed – only then is it possible to change the mindset of citizens and businesses.
Understanding air pollution
Governmental air quality monitoring – from past to present
After World War II, air pollution from industry, households, and traffic increased so much that huge clouds of smog formed over cities in late fall and winter when the wind was not blowing enough. However, it took nearly 20 years after the infamous Donora smog incident in 1948, which sickened thousands and killed at least 20 people, for the U.S. to pass the Air Quality Act. This enhanced research on air pollutant emission inventories, monitoring, and control methods, as well as enforcement processes for the interstate transit of air pollution – and with it, created the foundation for the modern air quality monitoring we have today.
There are two fundamental forms of monitoring:
- Monitoring of ambient air quality involves gathering and analyzing samples of air contaminants to assess the state of the atmosphere in comparison to historical data and clean air standards.
- At specific stationary sources of emissions, measurement data (or other information) is gathered and used in stationary source emissions monitoring (i.e., facilities, manufacturing plants, processes, emissions control device performance, or to verify work practices).
But why is it important for local governments and other organizations to worry about the quality of the air? Because the EPA collects data on a national level, its scale and structure are entirely different. In comparison, a local monitoring system can create a much more detailed system that takes into account local needs and habits. Local solutions can then be created from this. Let’s examine a few instances.
The Breath Collaborative
Pittsburgh is a sad pioneer of poor air quality, but since 2011, the local community has been mobilizing hard to improve the situation. The Breath Project, a coalition of 58 civic and municipal organizations, has been operating successfully for 11 years – to the delight of the city and the state of Pennsylvania. The organization has a variety of missions, including major outreach and education efforts, and has developed tools that can be used by residents and businesses.
This includes the “Breath Cam,” a network of high-resolution, zoomable live feeds made available 24 hours a day on the Pittsburgh skyline, Mon Valley, and Ohio River Valley. The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has recognized the success of the first four Breathe Cams and joined the program with its own device. It was pointed at the Shenango Coke Works factory for a long time and witnessed its disastrous implosion in 2018.
An array of Things – The Chicago case
In 2012, a senior computer scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, Charlie Catlett, had been collaborating with experts from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to comprehend how air pollution affected Chicago’s citizens’ health.
However, there were just twelve air quality sensors in the city of 2.7 million people. Catlett envisioned a far larger system of inexpensive sensors that could track anything from noise pollution to the urban heat island.
The city was planning to set up 300,000 new lamps that were perfect to house the sensors. Catlett’s team developed a set of cameras, audio recording devices, as well as sensors for humidity, vibration, magnetic fields, temperature, air pollution, and barometric pressure over the following ten years with $12 million in financing – altogether 140 new sensors were integrated into the measurement network. To provide the necessary computing power, this Array of Things was outfitted with an Nvidia graphics processing unit (similar to what you have on your PC or game console).
As a result, the nodes have been used to monitor pedestrian crosswalk traffic, evaluate the safety of at-grade rail crossings, and find floods along the Chicago River. In research on public health, one of the team members examined environmental data from the sensors and discovered higher asthma rates in areas where the sensors identified greater air pollution.
Air Louisville
In 2012, another impressive environmental protection initiative was launched: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest civilian funder of public health, supported the launch of a measurement and monitoring program. Air Louisville was born out of a partnership between the city government, local environmental organizations, and Propeller Health.
Under the program, the community can use free air quality monitors to help identify neighborhoods with poor air quality. This information is especially important because the city is one of the highest air areas in the US, with asthma rates nearly twice the national average.
The objective is to provide thousands of people with sensors for their asthma inhalers so they can monitor when, where, and how frequently they are used. It can also assist municipal officials in making deft choices on how to maintain clean enough air to prevent asthma attacks in the first place.
Introducing mobile sensors
While stationary sensors were the main focus in the 2000s, the smart cities of the new era are now relying on mobile sensors. And some municipalities are not shying away from more extreme solutions:
- The city of Dublin equipped 30 bikes with air sensors to measure carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, smoke, and particles as part of an experiment in 2014.
- Google’s air monitoring project debuted in Denver, where the popular Street View photo cars were equipped with sensors to measure NO2, CO2, black carbon, and more. This not only identified thousands of gas leaks but also produced an unprecedented street-level map of Denver’s air pollution status.
- Yes, you have read it right – In 2016, 10 pigeons were fitted with air quality sensors in London to measure the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and other volatile substances.
Smart cities with a clean breath
How the measured data is used
Measuring air quality has become a process that involves more and more interested and active stakeholders. But data alone is not enough to make our world a better place. Here are some examples of smart city solutions that are improving air quality around the world.
- The port of Hamburg, the most significant transportation center in Germany, has been able to lower traffic and emissions by 9% through optimizing its current infrastructure of highways, crossings, and bridges that are regulated by traffic lights. The local government was working with Fujitsu.
- Another busy port (Montreal, Canada) became a pilot to streamline operations uniquely by employing AI. After the success of the pilot, the automatic system will be integrated into the entire city system. The new AI technology guarantees that Montréal can make knowledgeable judgments and supports the city in acting swiftly and decisively to prevent traffic-related problems before they arise. As a result, there will be less traffic, fuel use, and air pollution during travel.
- The city council of Cork decided to test and buy 5 special “trees”. These artificial plants are devices that absorb 80% of the fine dust particles in the air around them, making the surrounding air much healthier and cleaner. After the 2021 pilot, the city now plans to acquire an additional 1,300 new robot trees.
Considerations
Air pollution is becoming an increasingly important issue, but in 2022, industry and outdated technologies are still typically blamed for the dire catastrophic situation. Fortunately, there are a growing number of NGOs and local governments that are making serious efforts to understand the level of pollution, even at the street level.
If you don’t know of such a project in your city, it’s worth looking into it – you can probably do something about it yourself, either as a sponsor, by hosting a measurement unit, or by promoting a smart city solution.