courtesy of Aerophile
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a giant tethered helium balloon telling Parisians how good the air quality is.
Floating 150 meters above the Parc Andre Citroen, in Paris’s 15th arrondissement is the Air de Paris, a balloon, measuring 22 meters wide by 32 meters high. When the air is good it glows a healthy green and when it is bad it turns a deep orange. Air quality is measured using data from dozens of sensors monitoring levels of nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particles around the city. The information is used to determine pollution alert levels for people who suffer from breathing problems and, if needed, to impose restrictions on driving.
Karine Leger from Airparif, the agency in charge of air quality in Ile de France, told CNN that every city in Europe is facing big challenges to meet air quality regulations. “In Paris, we reach levels that are twice higher than the regulation and that’s a really big challenge,” Leger said. Denis Baupin, Paris’s deputy mayor, says air pollution in the city can shorten the lives of Parisians by up to nine months, compared to people who live in the countryside. “Scientists say that every year two or three thousand people die in the Paris area because of air pollution,” Baupin told CNN.
It’s certainly a pretty way of tackling such a serious problem.