Living Smart

II ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY 068 069 determine in real time the fuel sulfur content from remote measurements inside the ship plumes. Instead of random selection and complex testing of marine vessels in the past, this new solution enables us to quickly screen out, among a large fleet of vessels, the ones that are most likely to flout new stringent regulations that came into force in January. It stipulates all ocean-going vessels in Hong Kong waters must use fuel with sulfur content below 0.5 percent. Vessels that fail to pass the screening will then be scrutinized further by the EPD using lab methods for evidence of jurisdiction. Our team has been developing next-generation sensor- based technologies over the past years for measuring pollutants in urban air. The drone-mounted sensor is the newest example of such an innovation with small, light and fast measurement capabilities into ultra-compact system that weighs less than 800g but can simultaneously monitor eight to nine different pollutants emitted from a plume in minutes. The sensor package would work even on a lightweight seven- kilogram drone that includes infrared cameras to ensure the drone flies within the plume, even on windy days. Drone-based sensors have other potential uses beyond detecting marine air pollution. It can be employed to measure complex 3D urban environment air quality; authorities can also use these drones to ensure emissions from power plants and factory chimneys are compliant with emission regulations. As sensor technology continues to advance, I expect to see personal hand-held and wearable sensors in the size of a smartphone very soon. Published on May 15, 2019 Let’s get going on road to cleaner air Prof. Alexis LAU Professor, Division of Environment and Sustainability and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Project Coordinator/Principal Investigator, PRAISE-HK, Institute for the Environment A ir pollution is a major environmental and health concern in Hong Kong and the largest environmental health risk, according to the World Health Organization, tying it to seven million premature deaths globally in 2016. Yet many of us accept it as part of city living. In a bid to help city dwellers take their health into their own hands, HKUST’ s Institute for the Environment recently launched a game-changing mobile app that lets users monitor air quality to reduce their exposure to air pollution. Titled PRAISE-HK (Personalized Real-time Air-quality Informatics System for Exposure), the app provides real-time air quality and health risk information and forecasts, down to the street you are on, up to two days in advance, helping Hongkongers live a smarter and healthier life. One of the world-leading technologies behind the app is our dynamic transport modeling. It tracks and analyzes readily available roadside emission data from 30,000 Hong Kong road segments, covering four million daily traffic patterns across public and private transport to estimate roadside emissions. The app can also incorporate emission data covering southern China down to the urban road network over Hong Kong to simulate air quality levels in its forecasts. Its accuracy is enhanced by simulating the effects of building features like building heights or cantilevers on the flow of