Aug 23, 20214 min read

Introducing Zephyr® Rentals

You asked, we’ve delivered!

Following the success of the Zephyr® and responding to ongoing feedback, we’re delighted to announce our exciting new Zephyr® rental service! The rentals will allow our current and prospective clients interested in short term air quality monitoring to hire Zephyr® monitors for a minimum of one month.

What’s Included?

Renting a Zephyr® provides everything you’ll need throughout your air quality monitoring study– just like a Zephyr® purchase. As part of the new service, you will receive your required number of units with either solar power or mains powering options along with access to your air quality data through our MyAir® web application. Using MyAir®, you can analyse your air quality measurements in detail and download data which can be used to inform future planning decisions post monitoring.

Zephyr® rentals include all servicing within the costs - our in-house data scientists carry out continuous monitoring of your Zephyr® monitor performance throughout the duration of your rental. All our work is done remotely, providing a ‘cradle to grave’ service with no in-field interaction needed on your side. Our engineers will install your Zephyr® monitor and you can begin measuring air pollution with ease!

Maintenance is also included within our rental costs, so should you come across any issues during your rental we will fix these without the need for you to pay extra (providing the problem is not due to negligence, vandalism or theft).

Why Rent a Zephyr®?

A cost-efficient offering for short term air quality monitoring studies, the new rental service is ideal for anyone working on a smaller budget and/or has a shorter monitoring requirement as it provides a cheaper option than purchasing a complete Zephyr® subscription. The service is ideal for baseline air quality monitoring studies, allowing you to identify current air quality levels at areas of interest, for example prior to the introduction of new developments. Once established, air quality data can be used for making evidence-based decisions towards a host of potential mitigations such as traffic management, infrastructure, and car free zones.

Choosing to rent air quality monitors provides you with more flexibility, you can monitor air quality and decide if you want to return your Zephyr® at the end of the rental period, extend the rental period or if desired, convert your rental to a purchase. We will deploy, maintain, service and decommission your Zephyr®¸ saving your time and taking the pressure off you and your colleagues.

Once your rental agreement has been confirmed all cartridges will be fully calibrated before installation, giving you confidence that your air quality measurements will deliver the required quality for your project. We’ll also aim to provide a quick turnaround between project start and commencement of monitoring so that data collection can start as soon as possible. Due to shorter monitoring time, no cartridge swaps are required meaning less in field interaction.

What Projects can a Zephyr® Rental be Used for?

Having the option to rent our air quality monitors is ideal for understanding baseline air quality levels as part of short term projects. For example, co-locating Zephyr® monitors with traffic survey equipment may help to correlate current traffic behaviour and associated emissions levels in a given area. Utilising measured pollution data can provide valuable insights into the most effective type of highway layout or traffic management scenario to improve traffic flow, reduce congestion and consequently reduce tailpipe emissions. Check out our project with Aimsun, Yunex Traffic (formerly Siemens Mobility) and Oxfordshire County Council as an example.

Homebuilders and construction managers can rent Zephyr® monitors for establishing baseline air quality and dust levels on site. Units can be deployed throughout construction sites to identify pollution concentrations and understand whether they are contributing to the personal exposure of construction workers and those living nearby. Using this data, site managers can decide if they need to introduce more sustainable methods of construction which emit less dust, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM2.5) to reduce the impact of air pollution on occupational health and the community.

With children returning to school in the coming weeks, air quality monitoring can be used to assess the effects of congestion and idling outside of school buildings. Zephyr® monitors can be installed outside school gates to identify air quality concentrations during peak hours, helping to understand whether air pollution may be having an adverse impact on children’s health. Initiatives can then be introduced such as timed road closures, anti-idling campaigns or incentivising families to walk to school to reduce traffic pressures during pick up and drop off times.

Community action groups can implement short term air quality monitoring to test the impact of new schemes set by local authorities, such as Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) and Clean Air Zones (CAZ). Introducing temporary air quality monitoring at the areas of interest, measurements can be used to indicate whether these initiatives are working effectively at reducing air pollution. Monitoring can also help to understand if there are areas experiencing increased traffic due to motorists taking alternative routes to avoid such zones, and data can be sent to local authorities to help encourage future plans to avoid these issues worsening.