Environmental Sensors and

Environmental Monitoring in the Green Economy

Dean Venables

THE GREEN ECONOMY?“[An economy] that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”

(UNEP working definition of a Green Economy)

Environmental monitoring helps to identify and quantify adverse effects on human well-being and on the environment

AIR QUALITY

CLIMATE CHANGE

AIR QUALITY

London’s killer Smog of December 1952

What’s the verdict on Harney?DR DONAL O’SHEA: Consultant endocrinologist and campaigner on obesity

“Achievements : In the context of positive impact on health, it was something she did in another department. The smokeless fuel legislation she introduced while in the Department of the Environment had a huge impact, and within one year winter hospital admissions for chest infections were significantly down.”

Irish Times, February 2011

John Tyndall

CLIMATE CHANGE

ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

IBBCEAS – A powerful and flexible gas sensor

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Wavelength [nm]

Inte

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ty

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high-reflectivitydielectric mirrors

sample cell

light source(Xe arc lamp) filters

spectrograph

Advantages:Long optical path through the sample → sensitivityWide spectral region → selectivity, multiple target compounds

Uses:Atmospheric monitoring and research:

NO2, O3, NO3, halogen oxides, SO2, mercuryPossibilities in medicine (breathanalysis), analytical sensors

ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

Chamber experiments and instrument intercomparisonNO3

NO2

Aerosol extinction

HONO

20 m

Transmitter

Receiver

SAPHIR chamber

ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

Field instrument developmentDetection of halogen species:

BrO, I2, IO, OIOHalogen chamber

ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

Extending the method into the deep-UVApplications in in Hg detection and O3 monitoring Continuous Emissions Monitoring

ATMOSPHERIC INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

Mexico City smog

Atmospheric monitoring is crucial to promoting and

protecting people and the environment:

Give advanced warning on the state of the

environment and environmental changes

Link pollutants with public health & ecosystem health

New devices are necessary

Commercial potential of new devices

CONCLUSIONS

PEOPLE

My group & other members of the laboratory

the Laser Spectroscopy Group

Colleagues at the

FUNDING

Environmental Protection Agency

EU FP7 (EUROCHAMP2)

Science Foundation Ireland

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS