EarthSense and Trinity College Dublin Join Forces to Create an Educational Air Quality Tool for Dublin City Centre
Air quality expert, EarthSense is integrating its Zephyr® air quality data into a new educational air quality tool developed by researchers at Trinity College Dublin. The venture aims to enhance engagement with students, visitors and members of the public and raise awareness of air quality on the University campus in Dublin.
Funded by the Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering at Trinity College Dublin, EarthSense’s Zephyr® air quality sensor has been deployed on campus in the city centre, to help provide real-time, localised insights into air quality.
Data will be presented through an easy to understand website hosted by the Department, and publicly available as part of an ongoing initiative to ensure air pollution information and related health impacts are widely shared with the general public.
The dashboard webpage, which is currently under development, will allow the university staff and students, plus the 1 million visitors to the University each year, to view the state of air quality and help encourage behavioural change to decrease air pollution.
Roland Leigh, Technical Director at EarthSense, commented: “Educating the general public on the impact of air quality is essential to managing the air pollution problem. As a community we must make small behaviour changes. The Zephyr® sensor allows us to visualise the invisible and provides the evidence needed to support initiatives that aim to reduce air pollution.”
Speaking on the benefits of the Zephyr® air quality sensor, Dr. John Gallagher, Assistant Professor in Environmental Systems Modelling at Trinity College Dublin, said: “The Zephyr® has proven to be a useful tool for collecting real-time air pollution data. We have the ability to measure multiple pollutants simultaneously in one compact and mobile device. The Zephyr® data has allowed us to gain insight into trends and has helped us understand air quality on our University campus.”
The air quality dashboard will be made publicly available during the summer of 2019 by Dr Gallagher and his colleagues in the Air Pollution Group at Trinity College Dublin.
