China’s pollution crisis is receiving some necessary fresh air. On Monday, IBM ‘s China Research laboratory announced
a partnership with the Beijing Municipal Government in a project aimed
to ease the city’s toxic air pollution.
The initiative will forecast and
control air quality through state-of-the art computing technologies
able to pinpoint the source and level of emissions released into the
atmosphere. Read the full article @ News Week
All You Need is a Smart Phone to Report Local Air Pollution in China
IBM has 20 years of weather modeling experience, but
Beijing’s numerous sources of pollution – the high concentration of
cars, power plants and factories from surrounding areas among them –
requires special supercomputer processing power that can predict
pollution trends in real time. Beijing is one of China’s largest
municipalities, and suffers from some of its worst air quality.
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The city
will thus invest over $160 billion in the project and is committed to
reducing harmful fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5) particles by 25% in
2017. Xiaowei Shen, director of IBM Research in China, stated in a press
release: “You not only have to build a model that can predict. You have
to provide a decision system so that people can take proper action.”
Top 100 Cities with the Worst Air Pollution in the World (WHO, 2014)
The corporation is working with academics and industry
gurus in addition to the city to pull data from meteorological
satellites, local air quality monitoring stations to complement the
corporation’s own cognitive computing and optical sensor technologies.
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The project will enable officials to take direct courses of action
against further pollution, such as indicating where limiting traffic in
the city could be most effective, or alerting residents in advance about
air quality issues. Scientists will be able to construct visual maps
depicting the source and strength of pollutants being poured into the
atmosphere at least three days in advance, with the ability to target
pollution down to the street level.
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The air pollution project is part of a larger initiative
entitled Green Horizon, aimed at boosting China’s sustainable growth
through air quality management, energy optimization and renewable energy
forecasting.
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IBM is developing a system intended to assist energy grids
in managing alternative energy sources in addition to furthering the
air pollution control project. Although the project is exclusive to
Beijing thus far, the model could be utilized to improve air quality in
other cities if successful.
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The project appears promising although there is much
legwork ahead. Dr. Lu Qiang, Professor at Tsinghua University and Fellow
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, states that the deep-rooted problem
requires attacking from various angles. “The key to tackling
environmental problems is not only monitoring emissions but adopting a
comprehensive approach to air quality management and addressing the
issues at their roots,” he says, “Initiatives like IBM’s Green Horizon
can help by fostering joint innovation across the entire energy value
chain.”
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