Transcript Environmental Sensors and Environmental Monitoring

Environmental Sensors
and
Environmental Monitoring
in the Green Economy
Dean Venables
THE GREEN ECONOMY?
“[An economy] that results in improved human well-being
and social equity, while significantly reducing
environmental risks and ecological scarcities”
(UNEP working definition of a Green Economy)
Environmental monitoring helps to identify and quantify adverse
effects on human well-being and on the environment
AIR QUALITY
CLIMATE CHANGE
AIR QUALITY
London’s killer Smog of
December 1952
What’s the verdict on Harney?
DR DONAL O’SHEA: Consultant endocrinologist and campaigner on obesity
“Achievements : In the context of positive impact on health, it
was something she did in another department. The smokeless
fuel legislation she introduced while in the Department of the
Environment had a huge impact, and within one year winter
hospital admissions for chest infections were significantly down.”
Irish Times, February 2011
CLIMATE CHANGE
John Tyndall
ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT
IBBCEAS – A powerful and flexible gas sensor
high-reflectivity
dielectric mirrors
CCD
light source
Advantages:
(Xe arc lamp) filters
Long optical path through the sample → sensitivity
Wide spectral region → selectivity, multiple target
compounds
5000000
spectrograph
sample cell
Intensity [counts]
4000000
Uses:
Atmospheric monitoring
and research:
3000000
NO2, O3, NO3, halogen oxides, SO2, mercury
2000000
Possibilities in medicine (breathanalysis), analytical
1000000
sensors
0
600
620
640
660
Wavelength [nm]
680
700
720
ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT
Chamber experiments and instrument intercomparison
NO3
SAPHIR chamber
NO2
Aerosol
extinction
HONO
Receiver
Transmitter
ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT
Field instrument development
Detection of halogen species:
BrO, I2, IO, OIO
Halogen chamber
ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT
Extending the method into the deep-UV
Applications in in Hg detection and O3 monitoring
Continuous Emissions Monitoring
ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT
Mexico City smog
CONCLUSIONS
Atmospheric monitoring is crucial to promoting and
protecting people and the environment:
Give advanced warning on the state of the
environment and environmental changes
Link pollutants with public health & ecosystem health
New devices are necessary
Commercial potential of new devices
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PEOPLE
My group & other members of the
the Laser Spectroscopy Group
Colleagues at the
FUNDING
Environmental Protection Agency
EU FP7 (EUROCHAMP2)
Science Foundation Ireland
laboratory