Jan 29 2011
AWS Convergence Technologies has decided to relaunch the WeatherBug under a new brand name Earth Networks. The company plans to put in $25 million towards creating a sensor network that will have in its first phase about 100 observation posts.
Earth Networks has set up its fist such observation post at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, with which it has gone into partnership. The sensor networks are to be deployed to measure green house gas emission levels.
The observation posts are to be constructed on top of high towers etc, and will trace emissions of gases such as carbon and methane. The information garnered from these stations will provide details in greater depth than before. The data will also be incorporated into the WeatherBug application to make it accessible to consumers, governments and other related companies. The information will also be available online.
Picarro, situated in Sunnyvale, California, is the first company that Earth Network is working with. Picarro is offering sensors that can detect greenhouse gases at around $50,000. The sensors, which are as big as a PC fire laser beams into the atmosphere to measure the density of the gases and then go on to determine the wavelength signal changes. The sensor box from Picarro weighs about 58 pounds and is portable and does not need much in the way of maintenance.
The company has begun to commercialize the data collected from its observation stations by selling it to grid providers and utilities. With around $25 million already invested in these observation posts, it is actually the algorithms that sift through the information collected.
Source: http://www.aws.com/