The monitoring platform for finding potential odour sources was launched in Klaipėda FEZ at the end of December 2020. Its airflow modelling software was supplied by Envirosuite, an Australian environmental technology company. A station for recording meteorological data such as the wind direction and speed, air temperature, humidity, solar radiation and other information was also installed.

While this solution currently does not directly record potential deviations from air quality norms, the technology has been integrated with klaipedoskvapas.lt which collects data from the city’s residents. This allows to identify potential sources of unpleasant odours more accurately. Having this information will enable the Klaipėda FEZ team to find solutions together with the companies involved and share this data with relevant institutions.

Karlas Impinnisi, head of the innovation project at Klaipėda FEZ, explains the interface with klaipedoskvapas.lt in more detail: once a complaint from residents is recorded on the website, the team at Klaipėda FEZ will be able to assess the point from which the air mass in question has reached the resident.

“We chose the solution offered by one of the world’s leading companies, the Australian Envirosuite. To our knowledge, this is the first implementation of such technologies in Lithuania. We also thank the scientific staff at Klaipėda University who consulted us on the most optimal solutions. We hope that our example will encourage further implementation and integration of such technologies across the city, eventually expanding it with other sensors and information systems,” says K. Impinnisi.

Design and Implementation of this solution is the result of a joint effort from Klaipėda FEZ, Envirosuite, scientists at Klaipėda University and the city’s residents. This investment is a goodwill initiative of the Klaipėda FEZ management company. Envirosuite technologies are used in more than 500 airports, cities, construction sectors, utility services, manufacturing and other companies across Europe, the USA, the Middle East, Australia and other regions.

The platform will be trialled during the first three months of its operation, during which period data provided by the city’s residents on any odours spreading in residential areas will be collected. At the same time, further platform optimisation work will perform as per recommendations from Klaipėda University. The results of the trial stage will be presented to the city municipality in order to showcase the system’s effectiveness and its capacity to operate city-wide.

Eimantas Kiudulas, CEO of Klaipėda FEZ, says that most of his team members and the staff of other companies within the territory are themselves residents of Klaipėda. So high quality of life is in everyone’s interest and it can be achieved through joint solutions and the goodwill of everyone living in Klaipėda. Kiudulas is therefore pleased that the air quality monitoring project has emerged through mutual cooperation and constant dialogue with the residential communities of Klaipėda and the search for further solutions will continue into the future.

“Sustainability is a core focus for the FEZ, it involves not only the operation of our companies but also connections to the city’s residents. We understand the questions concerning the residents and wish to help resolve them by interacting and sharing information. So we were happy to join this civic initiative and invest in technologies facilitating the process. While recent studies have shown positive results on air and hard particles throughout the FEZ territory, we do not want to leave any doubts about this. We are also keen to move forward, improve and be an example of sustainability and environmental conservation for the city and the entire region,” says E. Kiudulas.

The local MP Ligita Girskienė thanked the team at Klaipėda FEZ for continuing to search for solutions and their financial contribution to the project.

“I am glad that with the help of professionals at Envirosuite, scientists at Klaipėda University and the management company for Klaipėda FEZ, we were able to implement an idea which is so important to the residents of the city. We will look for further opportunities to expand this project across the whole of Klaipėda. During the second stage of the initiative we would like to install sensors recording odours and transmitting information in real-time,” says L. Girskienė.

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