Improving air quality
Air pollution is the leading global environmental risk factor for ill health, associated with over 8 million premature deaths a year. But if you don’t know where it’s coming from, you can’t regulate it at source. Professor Francis Pope from the School of School of Geography, Earth and Environment Sciences, works on ‘source apportionment’ to identify where air pollution comes from.
His research uses low-cost sensors to identify particulate pollutants coupled with algorithms that identify their source. “It is exceptionally tricky to measure source pollution in environments that have a high level of background pollution. There are many different sources of air pollution that all contribute to the soup of air pollution that surrounds us. It is crucial to be able to point to what activities are most important for the air pollution” explains Professor Pope.
Previously, Professor Pope has worked with industrial partners, such as HS2 and quarries to show how low cost source apportionment can help them ensure their activities are not causing air pollution. The next step is to address policy makers and regulatory bodies. “Affordable source apportionment would be a paradigm shift for regulation. Ensuring understanding that it is both possible and affordable to pinpoint specific sources of air pollution, and separate out their contribution from background pollution, is a pre-requisite for this,” he said.
Enterprise helped Professor Pope meet the exacting requirements needed by the Environment Agency when they commissioned him to write a report and deliver content for conferences. “I was very pleased with the service. The staff helped navigate the process needed by senior people at the Environment Agency,” he said.
As well as physical health, air pollution also affects cognitive performance, and indoor air quality is now moving up the agenda for Professor Pope.
We spend 80-90% of our time indoors and improving indoor air quality could deliver better educational outcomes, and higher productivity in industry.
An algorithmic approach to indoor air quality would show where the pollution comes from, and this could drive ‘smart’ decisions on whether open the windows, or turn on the aircon to filter out pollutants.
Professor Pope describes himself as driven by the science and ‘not a natural entrepreneur’. However, he recently come to Enterprise for help with evaluating the options for commercialisation. “It is the science that drives me, but commercialisation will be the catalyst for better air quality. Enterprise is helping provide me guidance, market assessment, and more knowledge about the options for commercialising.”