| Name | Discipline | |
|---|---|---|
| Jeeyoon (Jeeya) Kang | Chemical Engineering at Ryerson University | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeeyoonkang/ |
| Benjamin Day | Engineering Physics at Queen’s University | https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-day-4a4155198/ |
| María-Alejandra Radiguet-Correa | Mechanical Engineering at McGill University | www.linkedin.com/in/maría-alejandra-radiguet-correa-6b580916b |
| Jerry Qu | Software Engineering at the University of Waterloo | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-qu/?originalSubdomain=ca |
About 34% of schools in Scarborough are located within 500 metres of Highway 401, the world’s busiest highway [1]. The students and staff attending these schools are exposed to dangerous levels of vehicular air pollutants, formally known as “traffic-related air pollution” (TRAP). TRAP increases their risk of asthma, cancer, cognitive disorders, and other illnesses associated with poor air quality [2]. These children are at far greater risk than any other demographic since their respiratory systems are far weaker than the average adult’s [2]. While school children spend much of their days in these hazardous conditions, TRAP is still overlooked. Parents & school staff do not have access to information on levels of air pollution within & around schools, leaving them unaware and in the dark.
The best selected solution is a combination of Solution 1: Air Quality Monitoring App and Solution 3: Smog-Eating Material. To see the solution evaluation process, please click here. These solutions were determined to be the most innovative way of addressing the TRAP problem at schools in Scarborough, meeting the primary needs of the stakeholders, without compromising technical feasibility, social acceptability, or magnitude of impact. Although there is an associated cost to implementing both solutions, the magnitude of impact will help accomplish the design criteria outlined in the Design Brief and thus, visibly quantify the invisible problem of traffic-related air pollution and provide cleaner air for the students and staff attending schools located near highways and major roads.
The solution was created and selected based on a few assumptions. The first main set of assumptions are that in order to most efficiently reduce the effects of pollution on students, schools are the most important locations to tackle, and NOx are the most significant type of pollution. If these assumptions are wrong then the solution will not be effective even if the solution effectively reduces NOx in schools. The second set of assumptions is that stakeholders are accepting of the solutions and willing to participate in various ways such as actively checking the app. If these are wrong, the possibility to implement the solutions will be limited. Lastly, the last assumption is that any potential negative environmental impacts are inconsequential. If this is wrong, then the solution has contributed negatively to another problem. Some ways to manage these assumptions include communicating with stakeholders prior to undertaking the project, monitoring, and building and testing a prototype.
Team 1A has explored the many solutions applicable to the traffic-related air pollution problem in schools within Scarborough. The solution selection process involved brainstorming multiple solutions, and narrowing the list down to a few feasible solutions, listed below. For concision, the justification for each solution is not discussed in depth. These details can be found in the next section(s) of the report.