[ESIP-AQ] Fwd: EPA Offers up to $80, 000 to Communities to Develop Air Sensor Data Best Practices

[Erin Robinson]

Hi All -

Thought this award might be of interest to some of you on the list.

Best
Erin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: EPA Media Relations <noreply-subscriptions at epa.gov>
Date: Tue, Aug 30, 2016 at 9:11 AM
Subject: EPA Offers up to $80,000 to Communities to Develop Air Sensor Data
Best Practices
To: carolbmeyer at esipfed.org


*CONTACT:*
Robert Daguillard *(Media Inquiries Only)*
daguillard.robert at epa.gov
(202) 564-6618

smartcityairchallenge at epa.gov *(Public Inquiries Only)*


*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:*
August 30, 2016


*EPA Offers up to $80,000 to Communities to Develop Air Sensor Data Best
Practices*

*By Ann Dunkin, Chief Information Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency*

*SMART CITIES AIR CHALLENGE INFORMATION*

   - Application Deadline:                October 28, 2016
   - Announcement of Winners:        Around December 1, 2016
   - Initial award:                              Up to $40,000 each to two
   communities to deploy air sensors, share data with the public, and develop
   data management best practices from sensors
   - Additional funding:                    Up to $10,000 each to the
   winning communities in 2017 based on  their accomplishments and
   collaboration.

I came to the EPA with a firm belief that data can make a difference in
environmental protection. Since I’ve been here I’ve found that communities
are leading the way by using data to understand local conditions and
operate efficiently. That’s why I’m excited to announce EPA’s Smart City
Air Challenge.

This new challenge encourages communities to install hundreds of air
quality sensors and manage the resulting data. EPA is offering two
communities up to $40,000 each to work with their residents to crowdsource
air quality data and share it with the public online. The projects will
give individuals a role in collecting the data and understanding how
environmental conditions affect their health and their community.

Air quality sensors are becoming less expensive and people are beginning to
use them to measure pollution levels in their neighborhoods and homes.
They’re developing rapidly, but most sensors aren’t ready for regulatory
use. However, by networking these devices, communities can better
understand what is happening at the local level. Communities will figure
out where to place the sensors and how to maintain the devices. It’s up to
each community to decide what pollutants they want to measure.

The prize funds serve as seed money, so communities will need to partner
with other parties, such as sensor manufacturers, data management companies
and universities. These partners can provide resources and expertise in
topics where communities lack experience. In doing so, communities will
learn how to use data analytics, which can be applied to other aspects of
community life.

What does EPA get out of this? We’ll learn how communities collect, store
and manage large amounts of data. We’ll also get a better understanding of
the quality of data communities collect using sensors for non-regulatory
purposes. We’ll see how communities transfer data from sensors to databases
and visualize the results. Finally, the sensors will produce as much as 150
gigabytes of open data a year —data anyone can use.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy often says communities are “incubators for
innovation.” We’re hoping the challenge will inspire communities to come up
with innovative approaches for managing data so their residents and other
communities can benefit. Show us how it’s done.

For more information: http://www.challenge.gov/challenge/smart-city-air-
challenge/

For more information: https://blog.epa.gov/blog/2016/08/smart-cities-air-
challenge

R132


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