We have just stepped in the Lunar New Year of the Goat (combined with the Wood element for 2015), and, for the World Air Quality Index project team, that means full speed working on extending the Air Quality monitoring to new countries in South East Asia. Namely: The Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia (and more, e.g. Myanmar and Laos, will follow very soon).
As there is also a huge demand for PM2.5 monitoring for Thailand (especially Chiang Mai and Bangkok), or for more station in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City), the extension will also cover selected countries with existing network.
But, this time, unlike for the previous countries, we do need the help of everyone, and especially your help if you are living in one of those countries. The reason is that, this time, since the real-time Air Quality information is not publicly available from the Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) of those countries, the World Air Quality Index project will start to crowdsource Air Quality monitoring stations in the main cities of the above countries1.
Visible Air Pollution on the Manilla and Jakarta Skylines (attribution & attribution)
The research and experiments we have been conducting at the World Air Quality Index project during the past 2 years led us to understand how to develop semi-industrial monitoring stations, much more affordable than the BAMs and TEOMs, but with an equivalent level of data quality and a much superior power efficiency, outdoor-proof, easy maintanability and form factor. That was made possible thanks to the Shenzhen nowism magic.
As mentioned earlier, for this project which works based on crowd monitoring, we need everyone's help, and especially your help. Wether you are a citizen living in of those countries where Air Quality data is not yet available , wether you are a citizen who just want to get the real-time information, wether you are an investor interrested in empowering and speeding up our project, whether you are from an NGO and want to cooperate on this project or wether you are from the media and want to know more about this project, then check one of the links below:
If you are interested in getting the Air Quality data monitored for another country (even outside of South Asia), or if you want to get more infomration in general about the World Air Quality Index project, then you can also inquire via the form below:
Happy New Year of the Wooden Goat,
The World Air Quality Index project team.
Note 1: The US State Department and US EPA might also be able to provide a huge support on this project. Check the article from the New York times: "US Expands Air Quality Monitoring to Include Some Embassies".
