As part of the teaching activities of the EnvLab laboratory, the Environmental and Land Planning Engineering degree course of the Politecnico di Milano has launched the “Engineers for Air” project.
The aim of the project is to analyse students' actual exposure to atmospheric particulate matter and compare it with the concentration readings taken by ARPALombardia's fixed stations. Traditionally, the health impact of pollution is in fact calculated only on the basis of monitoring data from the stations.
In order to collect the necessary data, groups of ten students, who will alternate every week, will carry a small, modern particulate detector that will monitor every five minutes the air quality they are actually exposed to in terms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde or benzo(a)pyrene. At the same time, by keeping the detector connected to the phone, it will be possible to acquire the geographical coordinates of the point where the survey is carried out and thus draw an overall map of the pollution situation.
Students participating in the study will keep a diary of their activities according to a precise protocol. This will be useful for understanding whether the air concentrations they actually breathe occur inside or outside buildings or means of transport. Through an analysis of the data collected, it will be possible to achieve more accurate evaluations of the impact of pollution on health and to identify preferable routes and areas for sporting activity or even for daily routine travels.