Hello everyone! My name is James Burbridge, lead analyst for the Clean Air XPRIZE. Prior to this prize design I worked on the Carbon Removal XPRIZE. My background is in energy journalism, covering the Chinese energy complex, Southeast Asia natural gas, Singapore and Asia-Pacific fuel oil markets, and North American carbon trading.
Having lived in Shanghai, Singapore, and Los Angeles, I am acutely aware of the hazards of air pollution and particulate matter and am eager to dive in and better understand how a prize can help fix this global problem.
Hi there! I'm Jessica Yoon, assistant product manager at XPRIZE for the Clean Air Prize Design. I've also been part of XPRIZE's Future of Longevity Impact Roadmap, which looked into the possibilities of extending healthy human aging and lifespan. I'm excited to expand into another area of study that would allow people to live healthier lives, by breathing cleaner air.
This issue also hits home for me as I have many family members living in East Asia, who are affected by the severe air pollution in their cities on a daily basis. I look forward to everyone's subject matter expertise and guidance as we delve into this prize design. Thank you!
Hello Clean Air Prize Design community! My name is Terry Mulligan and I am the product manager for the Clean Air XPRIZE. Prior to this prize design I led the Amazonia XPRIZE prize design. My background is in international development, organizational management, and management consulting.
I am eager to share and learn how a prize can help address this global problem!
Hello everyone. Way back in 1994 I successfully completed my PhD in traffic pollution (air pollution). Almost all of the problems associated with today's air pollution were known about way back then! Despite this, decade after decade political apathy and blunders [e.g. UK's promotion of diesel] have brought us to this huge health problem that impacts millions of people globally.
Did you know that California set a target along these lines? => By 1998, 10% of new vehicle sales would have to be zero emission [electric] vehicles. That date came and went, but it was probably the right policy [even if the technology wasn't quite ready].
Now it looks like we might finally deliver the solutions that are required.
The simplest policy for clean air is to ban all combustion processes! Easy to say; harder to do. Even burning a "clean" fuel in air can create pollution, as high temperatures turn some of the air into nitric oxide (NO), which oxidises to NO2 (jointly referred to as NOx). This is a significant pollutant.
Could we really do without combustion? Perhaps the new XPRIZE for abundant clean energy will help to deliver on this [with clean electricity for energy, heat, transport and industrial processes]. It's worth pointing out that fuel doesn't have to be burnt - for example hydrogen (fuel) can be used in a fuel cell to produce electricity, with water as the only output emission.
Dan here. I lead a team in who have a revolutionary form of respiratory protection and empowerment for those at risk (o2o2.co). We've even taken respiratory protection to the cat walks of New York. Always keen to collaborate.
Hi. I am Dan Jaffe, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Washington. I do research on air quality, ozone, PM, mercury, wildfires, etc. You can check out my teams work at: https://blogs.uw.edu/djaffe/
Welcome to the community Dan! @djaffe
I went through your blog and was impressed by the amazing work done by you and your team.
Probably you could answer @TerryMulligan question on existing or proposed solutions for tackling particulate pollution’s reduction or removal here.
To introduce myself, I am providing a brief biographical paragraph on my involvement in clean air. Dr. Philip K. Hopke is the Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Clarkson University, and former Director of the Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science (CARES), and former Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE). He also holds an adjunct professorship in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Hopke is a past Chair of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), and has served on the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB). Professor Hopke is a Past President of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR), and was a member of the more than a dozen National Research Council committees. He is a member of the NRC’s Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He is a fellow of the International Aerosol Research Assembly, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association for Aerosol Research. He is an elected member of the International Statistics Institute and was the recipient of the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award in Chemometrics and the Chemometrics in Analytical Chemistry Conference Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also a recipient of the David Sinclair Award of the AAAR and co-recipient of the 2018 Fissan-Pui-TSI Award for International Collaboration presented by the International Aerosol Research Assembly. He served as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of State during the 2008-09 academic year. Professor Hopke received his B.S. in Chemistry from Trinity College (Hartford) and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Princeton University. After a post-doctoral appointment at M.I.T. and four years as an assistant professor at the State University College at Fredonia, NY, Dr. Hopke joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, rising to the rank of professor of environmental chemistry, and subsequently came to Clarkson in 1989 as the first Robert A. Plane Professor with a principal appointment in the Department of Chemistry. He moved his principal appointment to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 2000. In 2002, he became the Clarkson Professor and Director of CARES. On July 1, 2010, he became Director of ISE that houses Clarkson’s undergraduate and graduate environmental science degree programs as well as managing its sustainability initiatives. In May 2016 he moved to emeritus status. In April 2016, he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. A complete curriculum vitae can be found at https://people.clarkson.edu/~phopke/.
Welcome @hopkepk! Thank you so much for joining our community. We're grateful to have your expertise to advise us on a variety of research questions through this platform.
Welcome to our community Dr. Philip, @hopkepk!
We are honored to have you on our community.
Please advise us on:
• Existing or proposed solutions for tackling particulate pollution’s reduction or removal.
• Best articles or research papers you have read in the last 12 months on air pollution related to fine dust particulate matter. Are there any landmark publications we should know about?
Welcome to the community Chris! @ckellogg
We are trying to analyse effectiveness of various solutions to reduce fine particulate pollution here. Please join the discussion.
I'm Tony Miller, Ph.D., CEO of Entanglement Technologies, a company developing high performance analyzers to address pollution issues. We've been helping address chemical pollution primarily (including impacts of wildfires, hurricanes, industrial activity, and accidents). I'm thrilled to see an XPrize heading to the heart of the issue that will have such a dramatic impact on global health and wellness. We spend our days thinking about pollution and solutions and would love to help in any way that we can.
Hi, I am Ananya Roy, Senior Health Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund. I am an environmental epidemiologist and am currently working on leveraging sensor technologies to measure and map air pollution and its health impacts in cities. We have been working with academic, industry, community partners and government officials to collect detailed air pollution and health data in neighborhoods, providing pollution insights literally block by block. We use these local insights to increase awareness and bring science, health, economics and partnerships to the table in decision making, allowing local data to drive local solutions.
Thrilled to be part of this important conversation.
Hello everyone! I'm Bart Croes, the recently retired Chief of the Research Division for the California Air Resources Board, with former responsibilities for California’s ambient air quality standard reviews; health, environmental justice, exposure, atmospheric processes, and emissions research; indoor air quality program; short-lived climate pollutant science; and mitigation of high global warming potential gases.
I felt, smelt, saw, and tasted horrible air pollution while growing up in Los Angeles during the 1970's and it's been the honor of my life to help clean up the air here. Through collective efforts by industry, and State, local and federal agencies over the past 50 years, we've reduced air pollution levels in California by 75-99% (depending on the pollutant) in all communities and avoided an estimated 30,000 premature deaths each year (15% of total deaths). Despite a doubling of population and quadrupling of vehicle use. Direct air pollution control (APC) costs are less than 1% of the Gross State Product and have led to creation of 42,000 jobs and revenue of $8 billion in the APC industry. We're currently on track to achieve a similar 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.
Hi, I’m Peter Styring, Professor of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry at the University of Sheffield, UK. I am currently on the Scientific Advisory Board of Carbon XPRIZE and see this as a necessary complementary effort in the fight against air bourne air pollution. Happy to be involved and to bring my experience to the initiative.
I am Margaret Jacob Akpan from Nigeria. I live in Uyo in Akwa Ibom State. Air pollution is a major problems we are facing in our locality especially here in the city.
The waste dumps/Waste bins around the stores and houses cause a great concern.
The water fountains are left unkept which causes air pollution.
The gutters are not clean, rain water do not flow and therefore flood which intend causes air pollution.
Local factories cause air pollution. That is where coal is used for baking or other things.
In the rural areas bush burning also causes air pollution.
If this can be handled, it is save many life. Clean environment is good health.
My name is Sean Wihera - I lead global business development for Clarity Movement Co. <clarity.io>.
Clarity Movement provides a hardware+software air quality management solution which provides real-time, high resolution PM2.5 (particulate matter) and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) measurement data to businesses and governments around the world. To date, the our solution has been deployed in 70+ cities, throughout 40+ countries, across 6 continents with many world-class partners.
The Clarity Air Monitoring Solution cost-effectively equips decision-makers and other civic stakeholders with truly actionable air quality data that help identify pollution hotspots and sources, target interventions, and quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of clean air policies and related procurements (e.g., zero emission fleets).
Currently, one of our better-known networks is in Paris, France (https://www.bloomberg.org/blog/monitoring-combating-air-pollution-paris/) where we've been working with Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Michael Bloomberg, Airparif, King's College London and others to deploy one of the largest (and certainly densest) air quality monitoring networks in the world.
Prior to Clarity Movement, I spent 7+ years at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab working on a wide variety of strategic programs to advance energy and environmental research, education and innovation/startups (including the launch of Clarity).
Very much looking forward to a continued and engaged conversation together soon.
Thank you for inviting me to the Clean Air Prize Design community!
My name is Prakhar Misra and I am a Project Assistant Professor at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan. I am trying to contribute towards our understanding of nexus of air pollution, health and economic growth using remote sensed data.
Many cities are quantitatively clueless as to what contributes to pollution in their cities. I use satellite remote sensing and other geospatial technologies to study spatio-temporal distribution of air pollution in developing countries. I am interested in how socio-economic growth and urban land-use impacts air quality. Lately I have found interest in citizen science data from low-cost air quality sensors and social sensing for mapping exposure and perception of air pollution as a risk. You can check out my work at https://mprakhar.github.io/. In addition, I am an evangelist for open-data processing platforms, walkable cities and circular economy.
Apart from the research experience, I have also spent years surviving with severe ophthalmic allergies on account of air pollution in Indian cities. I have come to believe now that once you breathe the clean air you can never go back to breathing polluted air.
Comments
Having lived in Shanghai, Singapore, and Los Angeles, I am acutely aware of the hazards of air pollution and particulate matter and am eager to dive in and better understand how a prize can help fix this global problem.
This issue also hits home for me as I have many family members living in East Asia, who are affected by the severe air pollution in their cities on a daily basis. I look forward to everyone's subject matter expertise and guidance as we delve into this prize design. Thank you!
I am eager to share and learn how a prize can help address this global problem!
Welcome to the community!
Please introduce yourself and tell us about your experience with air pollution.
Did you know that California set a target along these lines? => By 1998, 10% of new vehicle sales would have to be zero emission [electric] vehicles. That date came and went, but it was probably the right policy [even if the technology wasn't quite ready].
Now it looks like we might finally deliver the solutions that are required.
The simplest policy for clean air is to ban all combustion processes! Easy to say; harder to do. Even burning a "clean" fuel in air can create pollution, as high temperatures turn some of the air into nitric oxide (NO), which oxidises to NO2 (jointly referred to as NOx). This is a significant pollutant.
Could we really do without combustion? Perhaps the new XPRIZE for abundant clean energy will help to deliver on this [with clean electricity for energy, heat, transport and industrial processes]. It's worth pointing out that fuel doesn't have to be burnt - for example hydrogen (fuel) can be used in a fuel cell to produce electricity, with water as the only output emission.
Dan here. I lead a team in who have a revolutionary form of respiratory protection and empowerment for those at risk (o2o2.co). We've even taken respiratory protection to the cat walks of New York. Always keen to collaborate.
Best,
Please introduce yourself and share your areas of expertise.
https://blogs.uw.edu/djaffe/
Dan
I went through your blog and was impressed by the amazing work done by you and your team.
Probably you could answer @TerryMulligan question on existing or proposed solutions for tackling particulate pollution’s reduction or removal here.
We are honored to have you on our community.
Please advise us on:
• Existing or proposed solutions for tackling particulate pollution’s reduction or removal.
• Best articles or research papers you have read in the last 12 months on air pollution related to fine dust particulate matter. Are there any landmark publications we should know about?
Thanks.
Please introduce yourself to the rest of the community members.
Thanks.
https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/african-dust-coral-reefs-and-human-health
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/african_dust/
We are trying to analyse effectiveness of various solutions to reduce fine particulate pollution here. Please join the discussion.
Thrilled to be part of this important conversation.
I felt, smelt, saw, and tasted horrible air pollution while growing up in Los Angeles during the 1970's and it's been the honor of my life to help clean up the air here. Through collective efforts by industry, and State, local and federal agencies over the past 50 years, we've reduced air pollution levels in California by 75-99% (depending on the pollutant) in all communities and avoided an estimated 30,000 premature deaths each year (15% of total deaths). Despite a doubling of population and quadrupling of vehicle use. Direct air pollution control (APC) costs are less than 1% of the Gross State Product and have led to creation of 42,000 jobs and revenue of $8 billion in the APC industry. We're currently on track to achieve a similar 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.
We are thrilled to have you on board.
The waste dumps/Waste bins around the stores and houses cause a great concern.
The water fountains are left unkept which causes air pollution.
The gutters are not clean, rain water do not flow and therefore flood which intend causes air pollution.
Local factories cause air pollution. That is where coal is used for baking or other things.
In the rural areas bush burning also causes air pollution.
If this can be handled, it is save many life. Clean environment is good health.
My name is Sean Wihera - I lead global business development for Clarity Movement Co. <clarity.io>.
Clarity Movement provides a hardware+software air quality management solution which provides real-time, high resolution PM2.5 (particulate matter) and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) measurement data to businesses and governments around the world. To date, the our solution has been deployed in 70+ cities, throughout 40+ countries, across 6 continents with many world-class partners.
The Clarity Air Monitoring Solution cost-effectively equips decision-makers and other civic stakeholders with truly actionable air quality data that help identify pollution hotspots and sources, target interventions, and quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of clean air policies and related procurements (e.g., zero emission fleets).
Currently, one of our better-known networks is in Paris, France (https://www.bloomberg.org/blog/monitoring-combating-air-pollution-paris/) where we've been working with Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Michael Bloomberg, Airparif, King's College London and others to deploy one of the largest (and certainly densest) air quality monitoring networks in the world.
Prior to Clarity Movement, I spent 7+ years at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab working on a wide variety of strategic programs to advance energy and environmental research, education and innovation/startups (including the launch of Clarity).
Very much looking forward to a continued and engaged conversation together soon.
Best,
Sean
My name is Prakhar Misra and I am a Project Assistant Professor at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan. I am trying to contribute towards our understanding of nexus of air pollution, health and economic growth using remote sensed data.
Many cities are quantitatively clueless as to what contributes to pollution in their cities. I use satellite remote sensing and other geospatial technologies to study spatio-temporal distribution of air pollution in developing countries. I am interested in how socio-economic growth and urban land-use impacts air quality. Lately I have found interest in citizen science data from low-cost air quality sensors and social sensing for mapping exposure and perception of air pollution as a risk. You can check out my work at https://mprakhar.github.io/. In addition, I am an evangelist for open-data processing platforms, walkable cities and circular economy.
Apart from the research experience, I have also spent years surviving with severe ophthalmic allergies on account of air pollution in Indian cities. I have come to believe now that once you breathe the clean air you can never go back to breathing polluted air.
We look forward to your inputs in the Clean Air Prize Design.
Thank you.