Planting seeds

Eric Nyquist

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Sensors for carbon dioxide in the air
You can find statistics about the carbon dioxide emissions of nations. But what is happening on a more granular level, in the air above cities like New Haven? A 2022 seed grant funded development work on an inexpensive sensor for carbon dioxide, headed by Xuhui Lee, Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor at the School of the Environment. “We envision a world where you have sensors everywhere, almost like streetlights or traffic lights,” says Lee. Such sensors, dotted around an urban landscape, could help local and state authorities understand where emissions are coming from and what policies can reduce them.

The grant allowed the team to build a prototype and begin development of software that could interpret and clean up the data from such sensors. They are using what they’ve learned to apply for larger grants. “We are on the lookout for other opportunities,” Lee says, noting that this kind of monitoring will be crucial in the future. “Cities are really the biggest source by sector,” he says, “when it comes to anthropogenic carbon.”