Meierijstad and Best Duurzaam measure together: together good for more than 150 sensors

Piet and Peter are rightly proud of the measurement projects of Samen Meten Meierijstad and Best Duurzaam. Air pollution is a serious public health problem, they both realize that. In order to get this matter clear to the population, they are putting their shoulders to the wheel with measurement projects with particulate matter sensors. In the meantime, no fewer than 110 sensors are active in Meierijstad, in the smaller Best also soon 50. This makes them a permanent partner for both municipal authorities when it comes to air pollution.'

Best Durable

The members of Best Duurzaam - there are now about 450 - generate their own energy, look for solutions to make driving more environmentally friendly and encourage children to go to school on foot or by bicycle. They also work around local food and develop educational packages for schools. Everything to make sustainability a hobbyhorse in Best.

Peter, a member of Best Duurzaam, came into contact with Sensor Community through a sensor project from Arnhem. 'The advantage is that both the hardware and the software on this platform are more or less ready-made. I then had a few packages come from Poland with the basic concept, the U-tube.' The first tests soon showed that humidity was not good for the sensor. 'I had to approach that differently, which is why I made a design myself based on the Arnhem measuring box and the Sensor Community software.' Best Duurzaam has rolled out this concept as a pilot project with 20 particulate matter meters.

Measuring Meierijstad together

'A local political party has taken the first step with us,' says Piet van Samen Meten Meierijstad. At the end of 2020 they organized a digital information session on self-measurement. We have set up a working group with 7 volunteers of the approximately 70 interested parties. The agreement was that our association would not have any political ties. Two months after the presentation we had a board and we could get started. 'When we started, we didn't know each other at all, but we quickly became a club of like-minded people,' it sounds like.

In Meierijstad they got wind of Peter's project in Best and asked for his help. 'I advised those guys to let a technical team build those meters themselves,' says Peter. 'By the way, they made a few improvements to my model, which I later adopted myself.'

Push in the back

The sun rises for nothing, so Piet contacted the neighborhood advisor of the municipality. 'I asked for a start-up subsidy, otherwise we would have to pre-finance the business ourselves. We were allocated 1500 euros within three days. That was enough for us to start: we were able to purchase the material with this money. We sell the devices for 45 euros, and we only use our financing to advance the costs. So we still have part of our subsidy in our pocket.'

Best Duurzaam has also received a subsidy from the municipality. 'We were able to supply 50 meters,' says Peter. 'The cost price for one device was 45 euros and with that subsidy we were able to reduce that to 25 euros. The idea was also not to give the meters for free, because then everyone would want one. On the other hand, the price had to remain democratic, so 25 euros was a good compromise.'

Interaction

Cooperation with the government is not only about subsidies. 'One of the conditions from a political angle was that we map out the pollution in Best. That is why we hold monthly or bimonthly consultations with the aldermen,' says Peter.

Piet adds: 'There is a good interaction with the newly appointed environmental officer of Meierijstad, we regularly meet. At our request, the municipality will also place a heating alert on the website. We are very happy about that, the first win will be in then.'

Farming and BBQs

Who are the citizens participating in this project? Piet: 'In the beginning we mainly reached people who wanted to punish the farmers with their smelly stables. Or people who have a neighbor with a wood or coal stove. But I think you have to turn things around, because that's not how you get the farms to follow. I also have some farmers in my circle of acquaintances and I challenged them to show how they do it. As a result, some meters have been placed in these companies. With some you see that it is always clean, and with others it is not so good. Especially in older stables. You can really see differences on the highways too.'

Peter: 'At our place in Best, a lot of people who were bothered by wood burning reacted in particular. But odor nuisance and fine dust are two different things here. Our particulate matter meters offer acceptable quality at minimal cost to map the results, but they can't smell.'

And just measure

How do you get all those measuring devices operational? Piet: 'In Best and Meierijstad we give citizens a manual, documentation and explanation when they pick up their device. Where do you hang your measuring box, how do you connect it to the network? At 90% that is just fine. Some you have to visit a few times because it doesn't work. I've had to take back two aircraft so far.'

Go back in time

All those measurements yield a lot of data. 'What I missed on the RIVM's Samen Meten site and in the Sensor Community,' says Peter, 'is the opportunity to look back at the past and see global patterns. To solve that, I built a small computer myself that takes screenshots every 5 minutes that you edit into a video. This way you can see a fine dust cloud moving over your village or environment. You see where it originates. Through the umbrella organization Aireas , we hired a young company to build such a basic website. On that website you can easily look back in time, although there are still snags to it.'

'What I do run into is that our meters are not very accurate. Both our residents and the municipality expect that. We have three official measuring devices in Best, and I'd like to use them as a reference. If there is some wind and there is a fairly even distribution of particulate matter, I can determine a zero point deviation and sensitivity deviation for all our meters. This makes it possible to create correction lines and to better monitor what is happening in Best. The municipality would also like to gain insight into peak values, monthly averages and other reports. In the context of the Clean Air Agreement , we will receive an extra subsidy for this, if all goes well, and then our website will work much better.'

Watch and learn: tips and experiences from Measuring Together Meierijstad and Best Sustainable

1. Is there wifi here? Peter: 'The biggest problem is the Wi-Fi, without a doubt. The distance to your WiFi point is often too great. If you have to bridge more than 10 meters, you should preferably install a WiFi amplifier. High-efficiency glass doesn't help either, by the way.'
2. Nail polish: 'Make your measuring devices weather and corrosion resistant to protect printed circuit boards. Our golden tip: paint them with clear nail polish!' Piet: 'Sometimes we forget one and that's it. Clean and clear nail polish over it!'
3. Long live the 3D printer: 'You can also have problems with rain,' says Peter. 'I printed rain caps with a 3D printer.'