Digital Jersey, Growth Housing and Environment (GHE) and AirSensa are planning a pilot to measure the air quality (AQ) in near real-time across Jersey as part of Digital Jersey’s Sandbox concept.

AirSensa is a UK based company specialising in the collection and analytics of air quality and other environmental data sets in order to enable individuals, governments and industry to make informed choices.

They approached Digital Jersey earlier this year having seen the Sandbox promotional material and quickly realised that Jersey would be the perfect location to construct a mesh of sensors in order to gain a full AQ picture across an entire jurisdiction.

Digital Jersey made introductions to GHE’s Environmental Health department having partnered with them in the past and with their help, the three parties have put together a project plan to initially roll out AQ sensors in 30 carefully selected locations including schools.

AirSensa’s core product measures Ozone, NOx, CO2, particulates 2.5/10um, temperature and humidity but has the potential to include other environmental sensors at a later date.

Tony Moretta, Chief Executive of Digital Jersey said “We are really excited to be able to announce this project with GHE and AirSensa, it demonstrates once again that the concept of Jersey being used as a testbed is attractive to technology companies and can be used to benefit all parties and the Island community as a whole.  It is fantastic that we will be able to collect real-time air quality data in order that people can make informed decisions on how, where and when they may travel, but will also allow government to make data-driven policy decisions on things like sustainable transport.”

Stewart Petrie, Environmental Health Consultant at GHE said “This is a really exciting project and will eventually result in 300 real-time air quality sensors being installed across the Island.  The air quality data provided by these sensors will be accessible to all on the www.gov.je website, will assist in evidence-based policy decisions and will better inform Islanders of the air quality around Jersey.  Officers from Environmental Health and eco active teams are also working on an educational package for schools.”

Jonathan Steel, Chief Executive of AirSensa Ltd. said “We’re delighted to be working with Digital Jersey and the Jersey Government to create the first hyperlocal real-time air quality monitoring network to cover an entire jurisdiction.  Air pollution directly impacts economic performance and quality of life around the world, so It’s exciting to see a government so close to home taking a lead in this way.  This first step of 30 sensors will allow us to demonstrate some early insights, while planning the remaining rollout of both air quality and other sensor types.”