It will be an ''interesting'' experiment as to whether Dunedin passes new air quality standards, a regional council scientist says.
The Otago Regional Council last week installed a ''new generation'' air quality monitoring station in Albany St.
For years the council has measured particulates down to the size of PM10, but the new machine can measure a smaller range down to just PM2.5.
This measures combustion from boilers, industry and car emissions, without picking up marine aerosols, dust and pollen.
With this comes stricter standards.
Council environmental scientist Deborah Mills said while Dunedin had passed air quality standards for years, it would be ''interesting'' to see how it fared with the new system.
''It's bigger unknown. It's going to be a lot closer.''
The new standards were likely to make compliance even more difficult for those air pollution-prone Otago towns which already regularly exceeded air quality limits in winter.
This included towns such as Arrowtown, Alexandra, Cromwell and Milton.
This was why the first station had been installed in Dunedin, she said.
''Towns in Central will fail the 2.5 standard, but I'm not sure about Dunedin.''
It was also good to have the first machine closer to regional council offices, she said.
National environmental standards were likely to change to the PM2.5 system and the council was getting in early, she said.
It was likely the council would begin using the equipment in other towns.
Arrowtown was a prime candidate for the next instrument.
The station sucks in air, which is then dried and heated.
The $50,000 machine uses LEDs to shine light through the air, which is reflected off the particles and scattered.
Through this, the machine can determine the size and collective mass of the particles.
It was the ''new generation'' of equipment and there were only a handful in the country, she said.
A temporary PM2.5 station had been set up in Alexandra in winter.
