One of the UK’s media organisations recently organised an environmental day near London in which a range of experts were invited to give presentations on key themes such as climate change, recycling, tree planting, sustainable construction and air quality.
Air quality consultant Jim Mills provided an overview of the current air pollution issues, and described the development of ‘Breathe London’ – a collaborative project in which his previous company Acoem Air Monitors installed over 100 AQMesh air quality monitoring pods in London, and equipped two Google Street View cars with air quality monitors.
To help raise awareness during the day, an AQMesh pod was installed locally, and visitors were invited to guess the average nitrogen dioxide levels during the day. The monitoring result showed an average level of 19.9 µg/m3, which compares with the EU yearly average limit of 40 µg/m3. Commenting on this data Jim said: “The pod was located away from a busy road, so it was disappointing that the levels were this high on a quiet back street. It is very likely that pollution levels would be higher closer to the main road, and this would be likely to affect the health of anyone living or working in that area. Nevertheless, it is impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions from just one day of data – continuous long-term monitoring would be necessary.”
