Emerging technology means anyone with a smartphone can become a mobile environmental monitoring station. Examples: Speck, AirVisual Node, Laser Egg, Airveda and AirOwl. SENSORS!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? In 2016, PlumeLabs strapped air quality sensors on pigeons and they flew across London. Yes, really! Scientists were quick to raise concerns about such a project, and there are a number of reasons why relying on low-cost sensors is difficult. PIGEONS.

In a piece in Nature, Alistair Lewis and Peter Edwards from the University of York argue that we need a better understanding of the accuracy of low-cost monitoring devices before regulators are flooded with questionable air-quality data. CAUTION.

Citizens and activists are using cheap off-the-shelf sensors to collect their own data on air pollution. It’s a promising trend, but these devices have serious technical limitations. However, there is a silver lining. First of all, we are making rapid strides in understanding the performance of the sensors, and the technology itself is evolving at a very fast pace. DIY.

Using a variety of air quality sensors, SonomaTech conducted a study on reliability of sensors, and here is what they found. And here’s another one.  STUDY.

Researchers at CMU led by Research Scientist R Subramanian have deployed dozens of low-cost sensors across Pittsburg, and a few in Rwanda and Malawi. Other academic groups including MIT in the USA, and the EuNetAir project in Europe are also focusing on development of reliable low-cost air quality sensors. UNIVERSITIES TOO.

Dominique Paul made a dress that measures air quality and changes colors to reflect the level of pollution. HALLOWEEN IDEA?

The US EPA recently installed a park bench equipped with air pollution sensors at a CPS elementary school in Chicago. It’s one of just seven such benches in the U.S. CREATIVE.