The startups cleaning the air
Air pollution is a dirty business in the UK, leading to early deaths and damaging our brains. Nicole Kobie reveals the startups helping us breathe easier
The plans to solve our air pollution problem.
That haze in the air, the smell when a diesel truck passes by – it’s not only killing us, but air pollution makes us more stupid, too. Thankfully, tech startups are working on solutions.
Air pollution causes 40,000 premature deaths each year in the UK – or so claimed the Royal College of Physicians in a 2016 report – and causes asthma in children. It may even increase dementia rates for those living by the busiest roads. Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health in the US suggested long-term exposure to air pollution causes reduction in cognitive function equivalent to a year of education at school. With London roads surpassing EU healthy air limits for the year just a few days into January 2018, cleaning it up is a serious challenge.
“A single number tells the story: 91% of the globe’s population is exposed to air pollution levels exceeding the World Health Organisation’s recommended limits,” said Tyler Knowlton, communications director at Plume Labs. “The longterm consequences are shortened life expectancy, increased risk of heart disease, lung disease, and the unhealthy growth of our children.”
Solving the problem at the source is a key step, and electric cars and buses have the potential to reduce the rate of pollution. But while we wait for drivers to flip from petrol to batteries – or for cities to ban polluting cars from roads, as some have started to do – startups are offering temporary solutions to this serious public health issue.
Streetside cleanup: Pluvo
A trio of students out of the Royal Academy and University College London have started their careers in headline-winning fashion with Pluvo. Designed as part of their Masters programme, these 3m-tall glass lava lamp-esque tubes are installed on pavements alongside busy roadways. They suck in dirty air and use a mist to remove polluting materials. At the same time, the integrated display shows advertising, meaning that councils or local governments that install the Pluvo tubes should make back the money it costs to install the air-scrubbing machines. The designers say that air is 50% cleaner after being through the Pluvo wash cycle. “What we wanted to do was clean the actual air that people were breathing,” explained the co-creator of Pluvo, Lewis Hornby. “That was why we started to look at roadside air cleaning.” The team, which also included Claudia Arnold and Nick Hooton, considered a wide range of possible technologies, settling on a method called “web scrubbing” that’s used in power plants for waste streams. “It’s one of the only
methods that can actually tackle both particulates and gases,” said Hornby.
Getting the tech right in a pavement-ready format was only the first challenge. The second was finding a business model. “If you’re going to have a meaningful impact on the quality of the air then it needs to be a scalable product, and that means it needs to have a financial incentive for its rollout, as councils don’t have the money to spend on anything,” he said. That’s why the Pluvo was designed to support advertising. And it’s worked: Hornby says he’s had requests for trials from most London councils, and will be installing them at an unnamed Northern line train station in 2019.
Tracking emissions: Emsol
Emsol, meanwhile, is more on the preventative end. The London-based startup calls itself an emissions-as-aservice provider, but what it’s actually doing is monitoring the cars and lorries that are already on our roads, particularly around construction sites.
Air sensors will be sited where lorries and trucks wait or drop off, meaning they can track “poor driver behaviour” such as idling. “The vehicles, if you sign up with Emsol, will be tagged and once they pass the sensor the data is collected,” said Makeda Seaton, community manager at Emsol. That data is passed up to a real-time dashboard so companies can track the level of emissions, such as CO2 and particulate matter, on their sites to meet regulatory limits. “They can then contact the fleet manager and say how much emissions were being emitted, and advise them to do something about it.”
She stressed Emsol doesn’t directly enforce air pollution laws, but gives companies the data they need to ensure they keep within limits. So far, the connected sensor system is only being trialled at a few construction sites in London, but the aim is to expand into any industries that involve fleet management, such as couriers and delivery firms. “You’ll be able to say [to couriers] I don’t want this parcel delivered to me if it’s impacting my air quality,” she said.
Fighting back: Flow
Plume Labs is also keen to help us track air quality, offering the Flow detection system for individuals. It’s a 5in sensor that connects to your smartphone to track pollution wherever you go – indoors and out. “The device itself is made up of several custom components that measure, in real-time, the most important pollutants to avoid in relation to human health: NO2, PM2.5, PM10, and VOCs,” said Knowlton. That data is churned through a machinelearning platform that spits out “actionable advice to reduce personal exposure to air pollution”.
Is knowing about air pollution levels enough to help us avoid them? Knowlton says a recent study by King’s College London suggests that, informed with the right data, small changes to routine can cut pollution exposure by half. If you want to go with the Flow, it’s now on sale for £129 at flow.plumelabs.com.
However, it’s not only about changing our behaviour, but the behaviour of those in power, too. “Beyond individual health and wellness, we believe that we cannot tackle air pollution and climate change without the world’s governments and institutions,” explained Knowlton. “We know that governments of all levels, all around the world, are facing protests and lawsuits related to a lack of transparency and action as air-quality awareness increases.
“Increased access to air pollution data and monitoring technology, at the citizen and NGO level, is driving a shift in power. Data collection agencies are being challenged where there is information and, where there is none, individuals are stepping in to fill the gaps.” That should make all us breathe easier.
“Increased access to air pollution data and monitoring technology, at the citizen and NGO level, is driving a shift in power”