Jun 30, 2020
Algorand for the Environment
Innovate today for a better tomorrow : WWCode CONNECT India 2020
Some statistics
According to the WHO research: Every year, there are 4.2 million deaths as a result of exposure to ambient(outdoor) air pollution, 3.8 million deaths as a result of household exposure to smoke from dirty cookstoves and fuels.
91% of the world’s population live in places where the air pollution exceeds the WHO guideline limits.
Some of the above stated statistics might come as a surprise to us because a lot of us are unaware of the drastic effects of the bad air quality that we live and breathe in.
What is PM2.5 and why does it matter?
PM2.5 readings are included in the air quality report air quality reports from environmental authorities and companies.
PM2.5 refers to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, which is about 3% the diameter of a human hair. Since they are so small and light, fine particles tend to stay longer in the air than heavier particles.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that long-term exposure to PM2.5 may lead to plaque deposits in arteries, causing vascular inflammation and a hardening of the arteries which can eventually lead to heart attack and stroke.
Here is a visual representing the numbers released in a 2019 World Air Quality Report:
Global air quality monitoring is required to ensure that the air we are breathing does not reach an unhealthy or worse, hazardous level.
What is PlanetWatch and what is the problem that they are solving?
PlanetWatch is using disruptive technologies like IoT and Blockchain to tackle a major problem: global air quality monitoring.
Some of the challenges that exist in this domain today:
- Air quality is monitored via large, expensive scientific instruments installed at a relatively small number of locations
- Data is not published in real time(how do we obtain early indications of trouble?)
PlanetWatch is developing a global network of air quality sensors and environmentally conscious people who
- install air quality sensors outside their homes or
- carry sensors while commuting and travelling
with the aim of validating, filtering, and displaying data on the internet and through a mobile application in real-time.
The validated data will then be written on the Algorand blockchain to create an immutable repository of air quality accessible to all the participants of the network.
This solves one of the biggest problems of publishing real-time information to everyone through Algorand’s fast and secure pure-proof-stake-protocol based blockchain.
PlanetWatch sensors effectively complement governmental networks by adding layers of spatial density and real-time data at a fraction of the cost of a single additional governmental sensor.
Conclusion
As we become more environmentally conscious, solutions like this are the need of the hour, which is aimed to solve a real-time problem using emerging technologies.
The diminishing quality of air is a sign that we need to become more proactive towards our environment’s betterment. Technologies like IoT, Blockchain and AI have the ability to make an impact on the global ecosystem and change the way we perceive things in today’s world.
Here are some reference links from where some of the content was obtained as well as some good reading for everyone.
References:
