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Sulfur tapestries before installation
1media/PXL_20231211_173707634_thumb.jpg2024-01-05T21:24:54+00:00Selby Hearthb376ef4984698cd7e5faf6c8e8b2692e30809d8111Sulfur tapestries before installationplain2024-01-05T21:24:54+00:0040.030161111111,-75.314863888889Selby Hearthb376ef4984698cd7e5faf6c8e8b2692e30809d81
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1media/GettyImages-1180072881_coal-smokestack.webpmedia/PXL_20231120_205858855.jpg2023-11-21T15:22:09+00:00SULFUR TAPESTRIES25A knitted data physicalization of sulfur dioxide pollution from coal-fired power plantsimage_header2024-01-05T21:25:43+00:00GOAL: physicalize changing air quality. The Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 required coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, the major culprit for acid rain. What impact did these amendments have on air quality?
DATA: Each student in the Fall 2023 Energy Afterlives 360 chose a coal-fired power plant in the U.S. They downloaded data on that plant's sulfur dioxide emissions from the EPA's Clean Air Markets Program.
PROCESSING: For each year, the students binned their plant's sulfur data into standardized emissions bins (for example, level 1 was less than 14,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, level 2 was 14,000 to 28,000, etc.). They turned these into digital concentration stripes: .
PHYSICALIZING: From the binned data, the students knit their concentration stripes into mini tapestries. . . DISPLAY: The finished tapestries were displayed as part of the Fall 2023 Energy Afterlives exhibition.
Acknowledgements Huge thanks to the Bryn Mawr Makerspace, especially Bronwen Densmore and Sean Keenan. Also to Maya Hofstetter (BMC '25) for helping pilot the tapestry pattern and helping with knitting!
