California is beginning the process of installing a statewide network of machines that will monitor acute greenhouse gas emissions from major pollution sources, such as animal feedlots and other industrial scale operations. The machines are manufactured by a company in Silicon Valley, Picarro, and cost about $50,000 dollars a pop. That may sound like a lot, considering they only measure “local” levels and have to be distributed throughout the state, but depending on atmospheric conditions just one analyzer can cover an area of several hundred square miles.
It’s very encouraging to see this type of technology increase in affordability and power; in a country like Canada, where a huge percentage of the population and industrial centers are clustered in a thin strip along the U.S. border, they could be extremely useful. Too bad our current government isn’t nearly as progressive as the California state legislature, which is requiring that the state reach 1990 emissions levels by 2020.
