Photo: Lapalmauz, CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons. Modified: cropped, Clarity Node-S added. This image is available under the same license.
Data center fenceline monitoring
On-site power plants and backup diesel generators at artificial intelligence (AI) data centers release PM2.5, CO, NO₂, and NOₓ at the fenceline, where regional monitoring stations rarely see it. Clarity's solar-powered, cellular sensors provide continuous, local, real-time air pollution data that you own, so you can measure emissions around the site and answer questions about its impact on neighboring communities with confidence.
Every new data center adds banks of backup diesel generators, and every test run, grid-support event, and outage puts particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the surrounding air. Continuous fenceline monitoring is a non-negotiable for data centers.
The Clarity Node-S measures PM2.5 and NO₂ natively and expands to NOₓ, CO, O₃, black carbon, PM10, and wind with add-on modules. It can be used to support a range of goals:
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) set limits for six pollutants. Highlighted chips are the ones a Clarity network measures.
SO₂ and lead are regulated but rarely material for gas or Tier 4 diesel generator sites using ultra-low-sulfur fuel. Read the standards guide for what applies to your permit.
For permitting, ESG reporting, and community trust, the question is not what a spec sheet says. It is whether the data holds up when a regulator or a neighbor asks.
| Clarity Node-S | Other low-cost and consumer sensors | |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible siting | Solar and cellular. Mount on the perimeter fence, a rooftop, or near intakes with no mains power or Wi-Fi. | Needs line power and Wi-Fi |
| Pollutants covered | PM2.5 and NO₂ natively, plus modular NOₓ, CO, O₃, black carbon, PM10, and wind | PM2.5 only |
| Data quality | Near-reference-grade accuracy with calibration and collocation, and per-sensor performance metrics you can cite | Uncalibrated, drifts device to device |
| Data ownership | You own all of your data. Private by default, public only when you opt in. | Vendor owns, and may sell, your data |
| Community transparency | Public, custom-branded OpenMap with embeddable widgets | No public data layer |
| Support and service | Dedicated environmental project manager through Sensing-as-a-Service | Community forums |
| Warranty and upkeep | Free replacement under subscription, remote device health monitoring, no scheduled maintenance | One-year warranty and frequent site visits |
Data center fenceline programs are new, so we point to the closest analog: heavy industry monitoring perimeter emissions next to a community. Kansanshi Mining PLC, a First Quantum Minerals subsidiary, runs one of Africa's largest copper mines in Zambia's dusty Solwezi District.
Before Clarity, the team relied on tactical samplers that produced one 24-hour reading at a time, so a month of monitoring was represented by a handful of days. Clarity designed a six-sensor Node-S network with Wind Modules at the key perimeter locations, calibrated it, and monitors device health remotely. Management now sees spikes the day they happen and can trace them to a source, third-party auditors and authorities have praised the data, and fewer site visits have cut maintenance costs.
"The feedback from management to the new Clarity network has been amazing. Now they're able to identify a day with a higher reading and say, 'What was happening on this date?' and we can follow up immediately."Elisha Mulilo, Air Quality & Emissions Specialist, Kansanshi MineRead the full customer story →
“This air monitoring network has been a great collaborative project across government entities and the university. People recognize the importance of engaging communities in environmental data gathering and providing real-time data for both communities and government agencies. People are saying, yeah, this is important. We need to have more of these.”
“Affordable, accessible tech like the Clarity Node-S is a total game changer. It’s giving power to the people and I love that, it’s really exciting.”
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“The impact has been enormous, and it will continue to be so. We can’t discount the fact that the Clarity Node-S sensors have been instrumental to the impact that we are achieving. The sensors are very reliable, and the measurements are continuous.”
"Clarity’s staff have been super supportive and helpful. Anytime anything goes wrong, or I have a question about how part of the Dashboard works or anything about the sensors, Clarity’s team is on it.”
"We did assess other monitoring solutions. Ultimately, reliability, durability, pricing, and connectivity even in remote areas were our primary reasons for selecting the Clarity Node-S. The solar panel option made siting far more convenient, and we have never had battery issues."
"The Clarity air monitoring network has directly informed my decision to put out public smoke advisories in four prior instances when wildfire smoke was bad. There's a difference between knowing that smoke is in the area, and knowing how bad it is and if it merits notifying the whole community. That's sovereignty — knowing what needs addressed with our own sensor network and being able to act on that info with our own powers."
Start with the Node-S air quality sensor, then add the modules that map to your permit and to the pollutants neighbors ask about.
The solar-powered, cellular-connected sensor at the center of every deployment. It installs in about 10 minutes with a Phillips screwdriver, runs 30 days without sun on its battery, has no filters or pumps to service, and ships with remote calibration built in. MCERTS-certified for PM2.5.
Backup generators emit more than particles. Add the gases named in NAAQS, NSPS, and NESHAP so your monitoring data speaks the same language as your air permit, without replacing the reference methods it specifies. Runs on Node-S solar power, fully off-grid.
Learn more →
Five-wavelength optical analysis separates fossil-fuel black carbon from biomass smoke, so you can tell generator emissions apart from traffic, wildfire, or regional background. Requires external power.
Learn more →
New builds and site work kick up coarse dust that standard optical sensors underestimate. Enhanced optics and a heated inlet deliver PM10 designed for industrial fenceline sites. Requires external power.
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Ultrasonic wind speed and direction, plus temperature, humidity, and pressure. The Dashboard builds pollution roses automatically so you can attribute a spike to a generator test hour or to an upwind source.
Learn more →
Publish hourly readings to a map your community can open, embed widgets on your own site, and keep everything else private. OpenMap Plus adds white-label branding, a network-bounded view, and alerts.
Learn more →Our team will scope a monitoring bundle around your permit obligations, site layout, and budget, then send a quote.
Request a QuoteSolar power and cellular data mean a Node-S mounts anywhere on the perimeter in minutes. No trenching, no Wi-Fi, no scheduled maintenance, and device health is watched remotely.
PM2.5 and NO₂ at the core, plus modular NOₓ, CO, O₃, black carbon, and PM10: the same parameters NAAQS, NSPS, and NESHAP address for stationary engines and turbines, measured continuously to complement the reference monitoring your permit requires.
Global calibration models built from hundreds of collocated sensors, collocation support, and per-sensor performance metrics you can cite. Your data stays private unless you choose to publish it.
A custom-branded OpenMap turns your network into a public trust signal: real-time air data for neighbors, officials, and sustainability reports.
Hardware, cloud software, cellular data, calibration, and a dedicated environmental project manager in one annual subscription. Malfunctioning devices are replaced free of charge.
From copper mines and refinery-adjacent communities to the largest urban networks in the US and UK, we have designed perimeter networks whose data third-party auditors and authorities have praised.
Backup diesel generators are the main source of data center air emissions, and a single campus can hold dozens of them. Continuous monitoring documents what those generators release during testing and outages, informs air permit applications and reporting alongside the reference monitoring the Clean Air Act requires, and helps protect servers from corrosive gases and dust. It also gives operators credible numbers for ESG reporting and for conversations with fenceline communities, which increasingly decide whether a project gets approved.
In the United States, the Clean Air Act (CAA) is the umbrella. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) set limits for six criteria pollutants: CO, NO₂, O₃, particulate matter, SO₂, and lead. New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) regulate stationary combustion turbines and compression-ignition engines for NOₓ, PM, CO, and VOCs, and NESHAP limits hazardous air pollutants such as formaldehyde and benzene from the same equipment. Sites in nonattainment areas often face stricter permit conditions, and some states add their own rules for backup generator runtime.
Start with PM2.5 and NO₂, the two pollutants most closely tied to diesel combustion and to NAAQS attainment. Add NOₓ and CO to match NSPS permit language, and O₃ where regional ozone is a concern. Black carbon is the most direct fingerprint of diesel soot and helps separate generator emissions from traffic, and PM10 matters during construction. Wind speed and direction turn all of it into source attribution.
Generator emissions are intermittent and hyperlocal. A test run lasts an hour, and the plume settles within a few hundred meters, so a regional reference monitor several miles away records nothing. Fenceline sensors placed downwind capture the actual exposure at the property line, in real time, and create a continuous record you can put in front of a regulator or a neighbor. Owning that record is far better than relying on someone else's estimate.
Define your objectives first (permit support, community transparency, ESG reporting, or all three), then set a budget and decide how professional-grade sensors will complement any reference-grade monitors your permit requires. Plan siting around prevailing winds, generator locations, and where people live. Deploy, collocate against a reference monitor to document performance, and act on the data. Our environmental project managers handle network design, calibration, and ongoing device health for every subscription.
ESG reports are only as credible as the measurements behind them, and continuous fenceline data replaces estimates with observed values. Publishing that data on a branded OpenMap lets neighbors, officials, and investors see the same readings you see, in real time. Communities that can check the data themselves are far more likely to support the next expansion.
Clarity sells monitoring as Sensing-as-a-Service: one annual subscription that bundles the hardware, cloud software, cellular data, calibration, automated quality control, and a dedicated environmental project manager. There are no per-device software licenses, no separate connectivity fees, and malfunctioning devices are replaced free of charge. Total cost depends on how many sensors your perimeter needs and which add-on modules your permit calls for, so the fastest way to a number is to request a quote and let us scope the network with you.
Tell us about your site and a Clarity air quality expert will scope a sensor network around your permit obligations, layout, and budget. We reply within one business day.
Request a quote for a custom fenceline monitoring network today.
Prefer to talk? Talk to an air quality expert
Guides and research on data center emissions, fenceline monitoring, and the standards that apply to backup generators.
The same fenceline approach, applied to other sources of local air pollution.
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