AAP FACTCHECK – An image of a device on a lamppost in Wales is being shared with alarming false claims on social media that people must go indoors when an emissions sensor siren goes off.
The device is one of six specific air quality sensors installed in a single city in Wales that have warning lights, not sirens, which people can choose to ignore.
A Facebook post making the claim features an image of a cylindrical metal device with an emissions colour scale and a green light attached to a utility pole.
“Good news as these are being rolled out in Wales on every street corner. The internal siren goes off when it goes purple and you need to go indoors,” the caption said.
“It’s for control and climate lockdowns,” one comment on the post reads. “All part of the plan!”
“This is a new twist on the Orwellian tactics used during the COVID-1984 non-science tyranny,” another comment said.
The device is an EcoClou AirSensor made by Polish company e-Gminy, which checks the air for harmful pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.
The photo appears to be legitimate.
AAP FactCheck was able to geolocate the Facebook picture to 101 Malpas Road in Newport, southern Wales, using a post about the sensors on Threads.
The address on Google Earth shows a lamppost with features consistent with those evident in the photo without the sensor, which would have been installed later.
Australian representative for EcoClou, Andrzej Brzezicki, said that 10 units had been sold to its only UK distribution partner PATW Ltd.
“While we are capable of delivering our solutions across Wales, these initial 10 units are certainly not intended for widespread deployment at this stage,” he told AAP FactCheck.
Mr Brzezicki also said there were no sirens in EcoClou sensors.
“It’s just visual LED information that is to European Union standard,” he said.
The Welsh government’s climate change department told AAP FactCheck it supported Newport City Council purchasing and installing six EcoClou AirSensors, but had no plans to roll out the devices nationwide.
A department spokesperson said that the EcoClou sensors, which feed data into an app, were selected by the council and not the Welsh government.
Newport City Council also uses air quality sensors other than the EcoClou, with a Facebook post in April showing an image of a worker conducting maintenance on a Zephyr model.
Local authorities across Wales operated various air quality sensors, a Newport council spokesperson said, and there was no intention to install an EcoClou – or “Eco Post” – on every street corner.
“If the sensor is displaying a green colour band, that indicates low pollution,” the spokesperson told AAP FactCheck.
“Amber indicates moderate pollution, red indicates high and purple indicates very high.
“We can confirm a siren does not sound when the sensor goes purple, and there is no immediate need to go indoors.”
After AAP FactCheck‘s enquiries, Newport City Council said it had installed Eco Post sensors at five locations, with a further device to come, in a November 27 press release.
The EcoClou app showed data for six devices across Newport.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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