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Clarity Movement’s sensors can be found in 85 countries…but none of Clarity Movement’s success would have happened without UC Berkeley.
David Lu ’16 didn’t know how clear the sky could be or the true color vibrancy of flowers until he came to the Bay Area in June 2012. Growing up in Shanghai, the sky was gray with smog and everything was covered in a layer of dust and pollutants.
“I didn’t realize how much of a problem air pollution was until I stepped out of the BART station for the first time,” he said. “I was shocked to see how bright the sky was.” The contrast stuck with Lu and he started learning more about air pollution; for instance, it kills thirteen people every minute, according to the World Health Organization. “That really made me believe air pollution is a fundamental human right and everyone has the right to breathe clean air,” he said.
Lu took that passion and co-founded Clarity Movement, which empowers its clients to reduce air pollution with actionable data. Clarity Movement provides low-cost, highly accurate air quality sensors and an Internet of Things (IoT) platform that provides precise modeling and predictive analysis through machine learning. The flagship product, the Clarity Node-S, is a solar-powered air quality monitor that, when combined with a web-based dashboard, offers seamless data access from any device. Clarity Movement’s sensors are used by governments, academics, and community groups around the world.
Historically, air pollution has been measured by a reference station that is roughly the size of a shipping container and costs $250,000 to set up. Only governments have the incentive and resources to afford that kind of air monitoring station and thus given the size and cost, they’re only in a few locations in a city. This leads to a large data gap in air quality management. Given that air pollution is not unilateral or consistent, air quality can be very localized.
That lack of data has historically meant much was unknown about air quality. “The analogy we like to use is, you are essentially trying to play chess without really seeing the chess board,” Lu said. “It is inefficient and leaves you in the dark.” Clarity Movement solves that problem by leveraging technology—sensors and AI—to make air pollution sensors more affordable and scalable. In less than five minutes, anyone can deploy a Clarity Movement device, which is approximately the size of a tissue box.
The sensors measure seven pollutants and counting: particulate matter (pm) 10, pm 25, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, and black carbon. Clarity Movement’s founding principle is, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t fix it.” By providing affordable and accurate tools for monitoring air pollution, the company empowers communities and organizations to take informed actions toward improving air quality. For instance, in London in 2021, the Greater London Authority partnered with Imperial College London’s Environmental Research Group to fund the Breathe London network of low-cost sensors.
Using the Clarity Node-S, Breathe London provides Londoners with hyperlocal air pollution data while promoting education, civic engagement, and policy decision-making. Some of those policies have included creating low-emission zones that restrict the use of cars.
It’s safe to say without UC Berkeley, Clarity Movement wouldn’t exist.
David Lu ’16
Clarity Movement’s sensors can be found in eighty-five countries, with more added every day, but none of Clarity Movement’s success would have happened without UC Berkeley, according to Lu. “It’s safe to say without UC Berkeley, Clarity Movement wouldn’t exist,” he said.
Back in 2014, when Lu was a sophomore at Cal, he and his team participated in UC Berkeley’s CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) and the Banatao Institute’s spring 2014 cohort. As a program within that interdisciplinary institute, the cohort experience was instrumental in the creation of Clarity Movement. “For someone like me who was an international student that just came to the U.S. for like, two years, I didn’t know anything about creating a company,” Lu said. The program walked him through everything from how to incorporate to how to fundraise.
“It gave us a place to work, provided advisors for us to talk with, and gave us access to lab space to make prototypes,” he said. “That’s a very, very important resource for a hardware startup. The first couple of years at UC Berkeley were crucial to the longevity of Clarity Movement.”
Speaking of longevity, the demand for environmental and sustainability solutions is not going to go away, instead, it’s likely to skyrocket in the next few decades due to the effects of climate change, which is why Lu said there’s no better time to start a business in the sustainability space. For anyone looking to get into the field, he said, “Startups can sometimes be very romanticized in pop culture. Not everyone becomes billionaires, not everyone is successful. But I encourage persistence and perseverance. And it’s a lot easier to keep going if what motivates you aligns with your purpose.”
