Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Capitalizing on Greenhouse Gas Data

Today's New York Times reports that AWS Convergence Technologies, which operates the WeatherBug network of weather observation stations, will announce today that it is developing an international network of greenhouse gas sensors. This is the first attempt to commercialize the reporting of greenhouse gas data:
The company behind one of the largest networks of weather monitoring stations on the planet — and the purveyor of the ubiquitous WeatherBug application and Web site — is betting that providing greenhouse gas data will also prove to be a lucrative market.

AWS Convergence Technologies of Maryland plans to announce on Wednesday that it is rebranding itself Earth Networks, and that it will be making a capital investment of $25 million over the next five years to deploy a network of 100 greenhouse gas sensors at various sites around the planet — 100 in the United States, 25 in Europe and 25 more at locales yet to be determined.

The network, which will initially monitor concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane — two critical greenhouse gases — will be the first commercial venture of its kind and will substantially increase the density and level of detail of currently available greenhouse gas data.
The network is being developed jointly with Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California:
Scripps takes lead in $25 million climate research project

The press conference announcing the project will be streamed live at 10 am PST today.

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