The San Mateo County Labs (SMCLabs) group of the Information Service Department (ISD) and Google announced the launch of the first-ever county-specific access to its newly released Environmental Insight Explorer (EIE) climate tool. Google EIE gives municipalities access to data to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to help municipalities craft comprehensive climate action plans.
“These new data tools provided by Google through the EIE will provide us with a high-level view of GHG thereby enabling the County to craft climate policy and plans accordingly,” said ISD Director Jon Walton.
Specifically, this tool contains a user-friendly dashboard that provides comprehensive pollutant data points to the 20 cities within the county, and the large unincorporated areas on the bay and coastal regions. The EIE offers data in categories such as: building emissions, vehicular emissions and the solar potential of buildings in the county. Individual cities within the county will be able to access data within city boundaries as well.
“Greenhouse gas emissions, and the resulting air quality, cross jurisdictional boundaries. Thanks to the Board’s leadership in issuing the 2019 Climate Emergency Declaration, the County will publish ambitious Climate Action Plans for the unincorporated areas and County government operations in 2020,” said Jim Eggemeyer, director of the Office of Sustainability.
The San Mateo County EIE dashboard is available at http://bit.ly/2P9ejmG.
Launched in April 2018, SMC Labs is a “Smart Region” initiative by the County of San Mateo that uses “smart technologies,” such as the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, big data and blockchain, to solve regional challenges. While many cities have “Smart City” initiatives, the County’s efforts are broader, targeting complex issues that span traditional political boundaries. The lab’s goal is to improve government efficiency and fostering collaboration by experimenting, testing and validating new innovation in government services.