At first blush, it may seem like one of those science fiction movies about exploring the fourth dimension, but start-up Aclima is deploying sensor networks that help make "the invisible world around us visible" by describing what is in the air, its CEO told VERGE 2015.
Listen to Davida Herzl, Aclima co-founder and CEO, describe how Aclima is deploying sensor networks in three California metropolitan areas to map the pollutants and air quality in those areas block-by-block, street-by-street and even building-by-building.
Just as the microscope gave us a view into the formerly invisible world of small things in nature and the Hubble Telescope provides views of things in the universe that the unaided human eye cannot see, sensors are providing a glance of what is around us that we cannot see — pollutants and greenhouse gases that are weakening our lungs and changing our climate.
"At this critical juncture when the relationship between our species and our planet hangs in the balance, at Aclima we believe there is an emerging class of tools, sensor networks, that are the next frontier," she said.
Aclima has big partners in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. We may want to stay tuned for what comes out of it.
