We have all read various tabloids about the harmful global impact of cellphones that not just produce toxic methane gas when not disposed properly, but also use gallons (4,221 megajoules) of energy, harming the environment severely. But we have rarely ever read about the same phones helping in saving the environment.. Here’s what most of us did not know about these wonder gadgets..
Project Surya, started in 2009 by eminent researchers and scientists from the Center for Clouds, Chemistry & Climate, California, aims to achieve a future in which human practices no longer result in significant black carbon, ozone-precursor, and other global warming emissions. Surya aims to replace 50,000 homes (from 2011 to 2013) in rural areas of north India, with aid of scientists, engineers and health professionals all over the world and by collecting data from cellphones and satellites and develop metrics from carbon credits, to quantify impacts on climate and health.
Most health data collection, and even field-based scientific data collection in general, relies on sparse measurements that potentially miss important climate- and health-related events and that is why mobile phone technology is a critical component of project Surya's potential in mitigating climate change, improving public health, and contributing to economic upliftment in the developing world. Mobile phones make it possible to collect near-continuous, accurate datasets that were never possible for non-scientists to collect. Mobile phones wirelessly upload color charts in concert with filters that record Black Carbon levels, making it available to climate and health researchers who then evaluate the intervention's impact on regional and global climate change, and its impact on individual pollution exposure and public health.
Surya’s concept became a reality in March 2009, when the pilot project launched in Khairatpur village in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh witnessed the success launch of cook stoves, solar lamps, replacing the age old kerosene lamps used by the villagers, a major source of black carbon indoors. Currently Surya’s phase 1, a project worth $8 million dollars,is impacting the global climate and global health by collecting useful data through smart phones.
Amid the 15,000 scientific studies present, reporting the health hazards of cellphones, here’s a new perspective on phones, which is helping change many lives indeed.
Other studies reveal that cellphones towers too can play an important part in gathering climate change information and helping us prepare for the effects!
We have all read various tabloids about the harmful global impact of cellphones that not just produce toxic methane gas when not disposed properly, but also use gallons (4,221 megajoules) of energy, harming the environment severely. But we have rarely ever read about the same phones helping in saving the environment.. Here’s what most of us did not know about these wonder gadgets..
Project Surya, started in 2009 by eminent researchers and scientists from the Center for Clouds, Chemistry & Climate, California, aims to achieve a future in which human practices no longer result in significant black carbon, ozone-precursor, and other global warming emissions. Surya aims to replace 50,000 homes (from 2011 to 2013) in rural areas of north India, with aid of scientists, engineers and health professionals all over the world and by collecting data from cellphones and satellites and develop metrics from carbon credits, to quantify impacts on climate and health.
Most health data collection, and even field-based scientific data collection in general, relies on sparse measurements that potentially miss important climate- and health-related events and that is why mobile phone technology is a critical component of project Surya's potential in mitigating climate change, improving public health, and contributing to economic upliftment in the developing world. Mobile phones make it possible to collect near-continuous, accurate datasets that were never possible for non-scientists to collect. Mobile phones wirelessly upload color charts in concert with filters that record Black Carbon levels, making it available to climate and health researchers who then evaluate the intervention's impact on regional and global climate change, and its impact on individual pollution exposure and public health.
Surya’s concept became a reality in March 2009, when the pilot project launched in Khairatpur village in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh witnessed the success launch of cook stoves, solar lamps, replacing the age old kerosene lamps used by the villagers, a major source of black carbon indoors. Currently Surya’s phase 1, a project worth $8 million dollars,is impacting the global climate and global health by collecting useful data through smart phones.
Amid the 15,000 scientific studies present, reporting the health hazards of cellphones, here’s a new perspective on phones, which is helping change many lives indeed.
Other studies reveal that cellphones towers too can play an important part in gathering climate change information and helping us prepare for the effects!
