EarthSense, the air quality expert, today announced that its Zephyr® air quality monitor has been approved as compliant with MCERTS Performance Standards as an Indicative Ambient Particulate Monitor.
Operated by CSA Group (Sira) on behalf of the Environment Agency (EA), the Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS) provides a framework for businesses that sell equipment for monitoring emissions into air, land, and water, to meet data quality requirements for emissions monitoring.
EarthSense’s flagship Zephyr® air quality monitor has been certified as compliant with the Performance Standards for Indicative Ambient Particulate Monitors. The certification provides end users with an extra level of confidence that its data quality for PM2.5 and PM10 is accurate and reliable, meaning that Zephyr® monitors are fit for certain regulatory purposes, such as identifying short-term pollution events at construction, demolition or waste transfer sites.
When compared to other similar instruments, Zephyr® monitors come with various power options that increase the flexibility of monitoring locations and ensure sites aren’t compromised due to a lack of power. Customers can choose from solar panel, mains power or an external battery source for operating units for up to three months, meaning that air quality information can be collected from a wide range of locations, improving the evidence base while supporting short- or long-term campaigns.
Managing Director at EarthSense, Tom Hall said: “Governing bodies have a duty to ensure that companies that are likely to carry out potentially harmful activity, such as construction and demolition, are complying with guidelines to ensure that they’re not negatively affecting the environment and public health. This is why it’s essential for them to utilise tools that provide data quality that has been certified by a third party, such as the CSA’s MCERTS.”
“Receiving the MCERTS Performance Standards for Indicative Ambient Particulate Monitors stamp turns the Zephyr® monitor from a piece of equipment that is nice to have, into a piece of equipment that is necessary to have. It guarantees the availability of trusted data for evidencing that operations being carried out aren’t causing particulate levels to breach safe levels.” continued Hall.
Construction is a key sector in which EarthSense has seen a growing focus on air quality, and Zephyr® monitors can now support regulatory applications in several ways. Many permitted construction sites are required to monitor dust and respond when limit values are breached, and Zephyr® monitors can now be used to comply with permit requirements.
With the latest environmental bill and drive to lower PM2.5 limit values closer to those advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Zephyr monitors provide a flexible and remote monitoring solution to gain greater insight into the spatial distribution of particulate matter. Supplementing sparse reference grade monitoring networks with MCERTS indicative PM2.5 and PM10 monitoring now provides a granular evidence base to help make strategic decisions or evaluate the impact of mitigation measures.
The Zephyr® air quality monitor takes live measurements of ambient air pollutants which are transmitted to EarthSense’s MyAir® web application through GSM or Wi-Fi or can be integrated into third party systems via Application Programming Interface (API). EarthSense provides a complete air quality monitoring service with flexible, annual or multi year subscription-based plans which can be leveraged with its recently announced managed fieldwork, network Optimisation and reporting offerings.