To provide hyperlocal air quality data in real-time with more than 15,000 monitoring stations from over 65 countries, covering 150000 locations
Ambee, an environment intelligence startup recently launched www.indianairpollution.com, a website that provides hyperlocal air quality data in near real-time. www.indianairpollution.com provides a quick overview of real-time air quality information from more than 15,000 monitoring stations from over 65 countries, covering 150000 locations.
Ambee has installed 100 sensors across Bengaluru with over 500 sensors currently being installed across India. Ambee’s sensors measure air quality, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, temperature, humidity, and other environmental factors.In addition to proprietary sensor data, Ambee uses multiple sources of satellite imagery, government pollution data from across the world, meteorological data, and every open-source air pollution data set currently in existence. All this data is processed using Ambee’s proprietary intelligence methods.
Commenting on the launch, Akshay Joshi, CEO and Co-Founder, Ambee said “ Every year over 9 million deaths worldwide are due to air pollution. Unfortunately, most people are unaware about the impact of air pollution on their health. At Ambee, our goal is to provide real time air quality data to everyone and spread awareness amongst people about the state of the world we live in. As the famous quote goes, we can only improve what we can measure. At Ambee our mission is to measure and democratise access to data and eventually work towards improving air quality for future generations.”
Ambee’s analysis of recent air quality data across cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Mumbai showcase interesting insights on the overall air quality in all these cities. Over the last month, Air Quality Index(AQI) in Bengaluru has averaged between 80 to 120 which is approximately 2.5 to 3.5 times above the desired range of 0-50. The reasons include increased urban emissions from vehicular traffic, particularly so in the month of October due to increased movement of trucks and buses for festive season, industrial pollution, garbage burning and ongoing construction activity, road repair and metro construction. Although rain reduces PM 2.5 count, but it does little or has no impact to the gaseous pollutants like CO, SO2, NO2 etc.,
Similarly, AQI in Delhi indicates hazardous levels of air pollution in more than 30 areas with numbers averaging between 300 to 400 AQI for the last month. Post Diwali, Ambee predicts a 45 per cent increase in PM 2.5, a carcinogenic pollutant that the human body has no immunity against. In the next one week, with the increase in stubble burning, AQI in some areas can go upto 500, indicating hazardous levels of air quality in the national capital.
However, Mumbai on the other hand will have safe to moderate levels of AQI due to continued rains and PM 2.5 will remain within safe limits in most parts of the city. Likewise, In Hyderabad, due to pre-diwali showers in some parts of the city, there was considerably lower pollution levels compared to other cities. However, AQI in Hyderabad will average between 120 to 150 for the entire month due to vehicular traffic and industrial pollution.
Ambee has air quality data for over 1 lakh pin codes across 70 countries. Ambee analyses air quality data at a hyperlocal level and predicts air quality trends for the next 15 years by taking into consideration factors like traffic, population density, climate change and its impact on human health, businesses and other socio economic factors.