Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2021 May;31(3):514-524. doi: 10.1038/s41370-021-00328-2. Epub 2021 May 6.
Low-cost sensors have the potential to democratize air pollution information and supplement regulatory networks. However, differentials in access to these sensors could exacerbate existing inequalities in the ability of different communities to respond to the threat of air pollution.
Our goal was to analyze patterns of deployments of a commonly used low-cost sensor, as a function of demographics and pollutant concentrations.
We used Wilcoxon rank sum tests to assess differences between socioeconomic characteristics and PM concentrations of locations with low-cost sensors and those with regulatory monitors. We used Kolomogorov-Smirnov tests to examine how representative census tracts with sensors were of the United States. We analyzed predictors of the presence, and number of, sensors in a tract using regressions.
Census tracts with low-cost sensors were higher income more White and more educated than the US as a whole and than tracts with regulatory monitors. For all states except for California they are in locations with lower annual-average PM concentrations than regulatory monitors. The existing presence of a regulatory monitor, the percentage of people living above the poverty line and PM concentrations were associated with the presence of low-cost sensors in a tract.
Strategies to improve access to low-cost sensors in less-privileged communities are needed to democratize air pollution data.
低成本传感器具有使空气污染信息民主化并补充监管网络的潜力。然而，这些传感器在不同地区的使用差异可能会加剧不同社区应对空气污染威胁的能力的现有不平等。
我们的目标是分析一种常用的低成本传感器的部署模式，作为人口统计学和污染物浓度的函数。
我们使用 Wilcoxon 秩和检验来评估具有低成本传感器和监管监测器的地点的社会经济特征和 PM 浓度之间的差异。我们使用 Kolomogorov-Smirnov 检验来检查具有传感器的普查区在美国的代表性如何。我们使用回归分析来分析普查区中传感器的存在和数量的预测因素。
与整个美国和具有监管监测器的普查区相比，具有低成本传感器的普查区的收入更高、白人比例更高、受教育程度更高。除了加利福尼亚州，所有州的这些普查区的年平均 PM 浓度都低于监管监测器。现有的监管监测器的存在、生活在贫困线以上的人口百分比和 PM 浓度与普查区中低成本传感器的存在相关。
需要制定策略来改善贫困社区获得低成本传感器的机会，以实现空气污染数据的民主化。
