Research-grade air quality sensors are costly—around $40,000. For cities trying to monitor their greenhouse gas emissions, the cost may limit the number of sensors they can install and the data they can collect.
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Since 2014, the University of Utah has maintained research-grade suites of air quality instruments installed on light rail trains that move throughout the Salt Lake Valley every day. These mobile sensors, researchers estimate in a new study, cover the same area as 30 stationary sensors, providing the Salt Lake Valley with a highly cost-effective way to monitor its greenhouse emissions and fill in gaps in emissions estimates. The study is published in Environmental Science & Technology.
“Pollutant levels in the atmosphere are going to be rapidly changing in the coming decade as clean energy technologies are deployed,” says Logan Mitchell, research assistant professor of atmospheric sciences, and a co-author of the study. “Cost-effective atmospheric monitoring will help policymakers understand what policies lead to reductions in pollutant levels, where there needs to be more focus, and if there are environmental inequalities emerging as some areas reduce their emissions faster than other areas.”
Read more at: The University of Utah
A UTA TRAX train on the University of Utah campus. (Photo Credit: University of Utah)