Air quality apps as solutions to improve air pollution
A journalist friend asked us to share insights on cleanweb innovation in the air quality space, as a way to address the issue of increasing air pollution in our cities. This topic is very dear to us @IYWTo. Woon Tan wrote a very comprehensive piece in the Day 2 of Xmas series dedicated to Air Quality Apps. Here I offer a slightly different take on the role green digital services can play to improve the quality of the air we breathe.
Air quality monitoring systems can be classified in three broad categories:
1. Open data systems harness public air quality data, analyse the data and visualise it to make it easy to understand and useful.
There are many apps, but Plume Air Report, summarised here, stands out because of its breadth, forecasts, world map, alerts and design. An alternative presentation mode for public data is used by the chatbot Smokey that offers real-time air quality updates.
2. Sensors-based systems measure primarily indoor air quality.
Some are IoT Smart Home devices that can connect to ventilation systems or humidifiers that they can switch on automatically to improve air conditions. Two of the best products are Netatmo and Foobot. Concerning portable outdoor air quality, there have been many promises, like Tzoa, but few are on the market as they face multiple miniaturization, reliability and calibration issues. However, we have met bike couriers who were testing Clean Space Tag and Plume has recently announced the clip Flow.
3. Citizen-science applied to air quality measurement and campaigning.
The solutions presented here have been around for two or more years. They combine a measuring device, generally open-sourced, a map where the readings from each device are reported to challenge the official analysis of urban air pollution, based on few centralised stations, with a decentralised and distributed measurement. In this category, three projects stand out: Smart Citizen, Air Quality Egg, Airbeam.
4. From measuring air pollution to reducing emissions.
All of these systems, however, are only creating awareness, making basic recommendations on how to protect oneself from air pollution peaks or taking very local actions. Only the third category has tried to do something more to solve the air pollution issue by mobilizing people and putting pressure on politicians and local authorities. Something that also the Citizen for air community is Milan is doing using real air sampling and chemical analyses instead of digital technologies.
The real solutions to the air pollution issue belong to a different category. They are those that help to reduce emissions, starting with mobility, energy generation and heating. IYWTo is curating and making easily discoverable the many cool projects that can make the transition to low-emission transport, green energy or smart heating easier and more affordable.
“If You Want to” is a collaborative platform to map, organise and make easily accessible green services for a sustainable lifestyle. Join us at iywto.com
