 |
Air monitoring during the past several decades has been left for the most part to scientists and regulators thanks to the fact that air monitoring equipment was extremely sophisticated and expensive. But the landscape is changing fast as air monitoring technologies are becoming cheaper, simpler, and smaller, making them appealing to everyone from healthcare professionals to academics to citizen groups, not just regulators and researchers.
At the same time however, the EPA recognizes that while these advancements offer huge opportunities, there is a definite need to fill some gaps in how we develop monitors, what data are most useful, and what types of monitoring should be strengthened. In addition, the EPA also sees a need to better align the type of technology with the intended use and level of data quality expected.
Join us on June 26 when you will learn the key federal VOC fugitive emission regulations focused on chemical and processing facilities and much more. Register Now.
In its 2013 draft “Roadmap for Next Generation Air Monitoring,” the EPA began by creating the tiered system shown below for the many different types of air monitors based on cost and end user.
|
Tier |
Cost Range |
Anticipated User |
|
Tier V (most sophisticated) |
$10K to $50 K |
Regulators (supplement existing monitoring—ambient and source) |
|
Tier IV |
$5K to $10 K |
Regulators (supplement existing monitoring —ambient and source) |
|
Tier III |
$2K to $5 K |
Community groups and regulators (supplement existing monitoring— ambient and source) |
|
Tier II |
$100 to $2 K |
Community groups |
|
Tier I (more limited) |
Less than $100 |
Citizens (educational and personal health purposes) |
In assessing other known shortcomings in current air monitoring technologies, the EPA also noted several findings that warrant attention, including:
- Today’s complex and costly ambient air pollution monitoring technology is not economically sustainable;
- Many sensors have not been evaluated for accuracy, how they hold up over time, and under different weather conditions;
- No “broad spectrum” technique is available for measuring a wide range of pollutants;
- Supplying adequate power for a widely dispersed network of portable sensors is a bottleneck (especially with the smart phone sensors);
- Support is strong for use of passive monitoring (through wearable sensors) to avoid bias in cell phone sensors; and
- Considerable interest exists for on-the-go calibration of sensors.
Join us on June 26 when our presenter, a seasoned environmental engineer who has helped companies develop and implement cost effective and compliant LDAR programs, will outline a successful process for evaluating existing LDAR programs, identifying potential gaps, and recommending solutions. Register Today.
To close these gaps, the EPA made recommendations that should be undertaken by the agency or in some cases, other more appropriate organizations. These include:
- Provide tabular summaries of major pollutants to educate developers and users about pollutants of concern, health effects, concentration ranges, performance goals, acceptable detection limits, etc.;
- Continue using research funding across agencies to develop new sensors and instruments and to improve performance (i.e., power/battery life);
- Develop calibration and validation systems, methods, and standards, including for low-cost sensor systems;
- Conduct pilot projects with regulators to test and evaluate different aspects of Tier II to Tier V cost monitoring;
- Develop open-source sensor systems hardware/software for the academic and do-it-yourself communities to provide common data processing and data sampling and to enable easier sensor-to-sensor comparisons;
- Facilitate communication with all stakeholders in the sensor community; and
- Conduct technology evaluations and research on Next Generation Air Monitoring (NGAM) issues, including performance in real-world conditions.
These recommendations do not mean the EPA is not already pursuing NGAM goals as they and other agencies are well on the way to encouraging, supporting, and researching better technologies. Among the many programs currently available are:
- EPA Open Source Challenges, including a joint challenge with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop personal air pollution and health sensors (My Air My Health);
- EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program; and
- Office of Research and Development’s (ORD) National Exposure Research Laboratory’s Sensor Test Chamber that allows developers to better understand the sensitivity, range, and basic operating parameters of their devices.