I have recently received two articles concerning air quality at Whinfell – one from Phil Winn describing how to access the readings from the sensor he has installed at Whinfell and the other from Ashley Frost raising the issues we need to address in the future when boilers need replacing.
How clean is the air at Whinfell?
When Samuel Doncaster built his home on this site, one of the attractions was the clean air, away from the smoke of the city. The air in Sheffield used to be polluted by the smoke from furnaces and from thousands of domestic coal fires. Since the middle of the 20th century the introduction of Clean Air Acts and the decline in heavy industry have meant that this kind of pollution has reduced markedly, and the air is visibly cleaner. Now attention has shifted to other pollutants, less noticeable but potentially still very harmful.
One of the main concerns is over particulates, tiny particles less than 2.5 micrometres in size, produced by many sources including traffic and wood fires. Small enough to penetrate the lungs, these particulates have been shown to adversely affect respiratory and cardiac health. This pollution is easily measured with a low-cost sensor, and there are more of these sensors in the Sheffield area than in most places.
To see measurements of air quality around Sheffield visit this web page: http://bit.ly/Whinfellair
Click on the hexagon at Whinfell Court to see readings from my sensor.
If you click on the sensor number #56688 you will see a graph showing recent changes.
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Particulate pollution is classed as low when, over 24 hours, the average PM2.5 reading is below 35µgm-3 and the PM10 reading is below 50.
By clicking on the green rectangle at the bottom left of the map you can also see pressure, relative humidity and temperature readings (temperature readings are a little high as the sensor is near a warm computer).
For more on the Daily Air Quality Index see https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/air-pollution/daqi
Phil Winn
17 Whinfell Court
