Sep 23, 2013

Village Green Project Helps Library by Inspiring Young Students

air monitoring research, air monitors, Air Pollution, air quality, air research, Durham County, Durham County Library, innovation, Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM), STEM, Village Green Project 3 Comments

By Jennifer Brannen (Guest Blogger)

Library Partners (left to right): Jennifer Brannen (Teen and Adult Services Librarian), Kathleen Hayes (Children’s Services Library Associate), and Sandra Lovely (South Regional Library Manager)

Durham County South Regional Library and Durham County are collaborating with EPA on the Village Green Project air monitoring station. A new sort of partnership for all, the Village Green is an air quality project that invites neighbors, students and community members of all sorts to learn and become involved.

Already, the Village Green Project is generating interest in our community and reflecting the missions of both the EPA and the library; the bench integrated into the monitoring station is being used by library patrons curious about air quality or the design of the air-monitoring station itself. It is also proving popular with families looking for a nice shady spot to sit and read to their children.

We librarians have particularly enjoyed the outreach events already associated with the Village Green and are looking forward to the future programming and outreach for the upcoming school year. Our community has demonstrated a strong interest in science and environmental topics, which isn’t a surprise given our proximity to Research Triangle Park, home to some of the nation’s top science and research and development organizations.

As the school year starts, we are looking forward to new opportunities for outreach at local schools that this project will generate, from elementary to high school, including the new Research Triangle High School with its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) focus. Not only do we have the resources to teach students of all ages how to do research, we can offer them the opportunity to become part of new and exciting research in the making.

Hopefully, the South Regional Library’s collaboration with the EPA and other Village Green community partners is just the beginning of many fruitful and enduring partnerships that will continue to grow our community and nurture our learners.

About the author: Guest blogger Jennifer Brannen is a teen and adult services librarian at Durham County’s South Regional Library and has worked with EPA and Durham County to share the Village Green Project with the local community.

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Aug 23, 2013

The Village Green Project: Reading the Results So Far…

air monitoring research, air monitors, Air Pollution, air quality, air research, back to school, ground level ozone, innovation, ozone, particulate matter, Village Green Project 0 Comments

By Dr. Gayle Hagler and Ron Williams

The Village Green Project is up and running! The lower-cost, solar-powered equipment continuously monitors ozone and fine particles, along with meteorological measurements, and sends the data to an EPA website by the minute.

So, what is the data telling us about local environmental conditions at this point? The graphs below show a snapshot of recorded trends for ground level ozone and fine particulate matter.

Hourly ozone data from the Village Green Project. Note: data are preliminary and intended for research and educational purposes.

Hourly ozone data from the Village Green Project. Note that the data are preliminary
and intended for research and educational purposes.

The up and down line you see above for daily ozone concentrations is a typical summer pattern. That’s because the summer sun fuels atmospheric chemical reactions throughout the day that create ground level ozone, commonly peaking in the hot afternoon. The process decreases overnight, and ozone concentrations fall.

Hourly PM2.5 data from the Village Green Project. Note that the data are preliminary
and intended for research and educational purposes.

A review of the particulate graph shows very low concentrations in early July. Not surprisingly, this coincided with rainy days, as rainfall usually removes particulates from the air. Once the rain ended, particulate levels started rising to levels we commonly see in the summertime.

The Village Green park bench

So far, the air-monitoring bench survived very hot and humid weather and has operated uninterrupted during several dark and overcast days, including during back-to-back thunderstorms. We will continue to monitor the system’s performance over the remainder of the summer.

Back to School

With fall just around the corner, the school year is about to begin again. We are interested in how we can engage teachers and their students in learning about air quality science and the Village Green Project. Our outreach team is in the process of developing fun and interactive games.

Care to join the fun? Please use the comments section below if you have suggestions or questions about environmental education projects involving the Village Green Project. And please check back regularly for future blogs!

About the Authors: Dr. Gayle Hagler is an environmental engineer who studies air pollutant emissions and measurement technologies. Ron Williams is an exposure science researcher who is studying how people are exposed to air pollutants and methods to measure personal exposure.

Jun 19, 2013

Come Celebrate, Learn, and—Sit on the Village Green Project!

air monitoring research, air monitors, Air Pollution, air quality, air research, Durham County, Durham County Library, innovation, ozone, particulate matter, School Flag program, Village Green Project 1 Comment

By Katie Lubinsky

Mark your calendars, bring your kids and prepare to learn about some cool, new science! Open to the public, EPA will unveil a prototype air monitoring system on Saturday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to noon. The celebration will take place at the air monitoring system’s first home – Durham County South Regional Library, located at 4505 S. Alston Ave. in Durham, North Carolina.

It’s all part of the Village Green Project, a study to develop a self-powered, low-maintenance monitoring system to measure air quality. The system is built into a park bench made from recycled milk jugs. Testing in a community environment is being made possible through a partnership with Durham County.

EPA scientists and local officials will participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which includes the raising of a flag as part of EPA’s School Flag program to increase awareness of air quality conditions. Afterwards, booths and activities will be available for adults and children of all ages.

The Village Green park bench

You will be able to connect with the real-time data collected from the system through your smartphone, or other internet devices, either right beside the air sensor or even at home! This nifty project will measure fine particles and ozone minute by minute, which are all known to impact human health. It will also measure local weather stats such as wind speed and humidity. The platform provides an opportunity to test new low maintenance air quality sensors.

Being a local resident myself, I am proud to see the Raleigh-Durham area hosting such innovative science projects and events.

With great efforts from EPA, Durham County government and Durham County Library officials, this research project will be a wonderful educational and informative experience. It will help to develop the next generation of air quality monitors for use by this and other communities interested in learning more about their air quality.

I visited the library numerous times during this collaboration and found out its theme is ‘Air,’ so Village Green will fit right in! Now after checking out books at the library, you can sit on the bench, read and check out the local air quality and weather trends with a simple scan of your smartphone!

What: Village Green Project Celebration
When: Saturday, June 22, 2013, from 10 a.m. to noon
Where: Durham County South Regional Library, 4505 S. Alston Ave., Durham, N.C.

About the Author: Katie Lubinsky is a student contractor working with EPA’s Office of Research and Development on communicating new and engaging science and research topics.