Vaisala Expands its Business on the Air Quality Monitoring Market

Vaisala has acquired new products and technology to expand its offering in the growing air quality monitoring market. The products and novel services are perfectly aligned with Vaisala's goal of making observations for a better world.

 

"Air quality is an area where observations can truly improve the lives of all people. Latest research shows that air pollution is a significant health risk leading to millions of premature deaths every year. Without reliable, affordable, accurate and extensive measurement networks it is difficult to improve the situation," says Jarkko Sairanen, Vaisala EVP for the Weather Business Area

 

 

Traditionally, air quality monitoring has been the domain of the authorities and has required high cost regulatory measurement stations, but the regulatory networks are too sparse to indicate local pollution levels accurately and to offer the people opportunities to have real time visibility to their exposure to polluted air and to make real-time decisions regarding it.

 

This has created an opportunity for supplementary air quality monitoring: dense but cost efficient measurement networks that increase the number of measurement points and improve the access to real-time air quality information for the authorities, decision-makers, businesses and citizens. This is the market Vaisala is now expanding its offering to.

 

The technology and products Vaisala has acquired from Envitems Oy measure pollution gases, like carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and ozone, as well as particles in the air. The products can be combined seamlessly with Vaisala industry-leading WXT multi-weather stations, and they present a novel, innovative way to build affordable but comprehensive air quality monitoring networks.

 

Vaisala expects short-term opportunities in particular in markets like China, India and the Middle East, where air quality is an everyday problem and a growing concern.

 

Vaisala has been supplying weather instruments for traditional air quality monitoring as well as research for decades. Combined with the new innovative air quality instruments, Vaisala is in a good position to enable a true representation of the spatial air quality situation even in complex terrains and urban areas.

 

The products can be built into comprehensive air quality monitoring networks which provide specific information on where pollution is generated and which areas are influenced by it. The products can further be used as instruments that supplement the data provided by reference measurement stations. Vaisala also offers a software platform which can be used to make the air quality measurements easily available for various authorities, business use as well as the public. Further, it offers interfaces allowing flexible use for various current and future applications. The platform can also be used to support air quality forecast development.

 

In developed countries, air quality has improved consistently in the last decades, but at the same time awareness of health risks related to air quality has grown. In emerging countries, pollution is unfortunately still on the rise. Additionally, elimination of micro-size particles leads to proliferation of nano-size particles, which according to latest research are a particular concern for human beings. Effective and significantly more extensive measurement networks are required to understand and analyze the air pollution as well as to work out the right remedies to it.

 

Jarkko Sairanen, EVP, Weather Business Area

+358 50 552 7336, [email protected]

 

Riina Kirmanen, SVP, Marketing, Communications and Sustainability

+358 50 550 5638, [email protected]

 

Please also visit www.vaisala.com/airquality

 

Vaisala is a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement. Building on 80 years of experience, Vaisala contributes to a better quality of life by providing a comprehensive range of innovative observation and measurement products and services for chosen weather-related and industrial markets. Headquartered in Finland, Vaisala employs approximately 1,600 professionals worldwide and is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki stock exchange.