Trilateral Research’s work on air pollution and health in Co. Meath was highlighted on stage at the SETU Centre in Waterford, Ireland, during the recent Toys4Engineers Conference and Expo on Thursday 5 October.
In its Trim Air Quality project, Trilateral is measuring air quality near schools and homes as well as the town centre of Trim. As one of Meath’s decarbonisation zones, cutting carbon emissions is central to the Council’s plans to meet their climate commitments. Key to that is bringing local people with them, showing why it’s important to change from personal vehicles to active travel and public transport.
To help, Trilateral has deployed its STRIAD:AIR solution to highlight the actual cost of air pollution across Trim. From the science, it is known that different kinds of air pollution cause ill-health. In STRIAD:AIR, existing estimates of the health burden caused by air pollution and different diseases are used to understand local effects.
For example, it’s well known that nitrogen dioxide causes children to develop asthma and other respiratory diseases. Combining the latest research with our measured air quality data, Trilateral can model how many cases of asthma are caused by air pollution each year – and how those cases might drop if air pollution levels fell. That takes something complex and invisible and makes it real.
In Trim, Trilateral estimate around seven cases of asthma per year due to air pollution – four of those in children. Beyond the burden that has on people’s lives, it costs the Irish healthcare system more than €13,000 per year in diagnosis costs alone, and more than €1,000 in treatment every year. And air pollution causes many other conditions too – including diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer.
STRIAD:AIR shows the real harm air pollution can do in our communities. Trilateral can use this to show people the value of making changes in their everyday lives. That might mean using the car less, taking a different route to work, or using clean heating instead of a woodburning stove. It might also mean activating people to support wider behaviour change measures in their community – introducing “school streets” programmes, clean air zones, or low traffic neighbourhoods. That can have knock-on benefits for other important policies like going low-carbon.
Trilateral Research is an Ethical AI company based in Waterford and London (UK) and provides Ethical AI software solutions, advisory services, and research services in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the United States. Its 130+ staff have expertise in Ethical AI, data protection, cybersecurity, and quantitative and qualitative research in multiple critically important sectors, including law enforcement, crisis and security, human rights, and environment.
Find out more about STRIAD:AIR here.
