Drones used to spy on polluters in N China  

环保无人机华北盯防大烟囱 千米高空可拍火柴盒

记者上午从环保部获悉，环保部环监局、监测司联合卫星环境应用中心、华北督查中心，近日在河北省、山西省、内蒙古自治区的重点地区进行了无人机执法检查行动，主要查看企业烟尘超标排放等环境违法问题。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- Environmental authorities used drones to detect sources of pollution in areas surrounding Beijing from June 16 to 27, according to the Beijing-based newspaper The Mirror.

The Environmental Protection Ministry dispatched drones for 11 flights in those days, with the total range reaching 2,000 kilometers. The drones were mostly monitoring emissions from factory smokestacks.

The drones covered more than 1,000 square kilometers of Shijiazhuang and Baoding of Hebei province, Yuncheng of Shanxi province, and Inner Mongolia's WuHai, Erdos and Alashan League.

The drones can take high-resolution pictures of chimneys, and are capable of shooting a matchbox from a height of 1,000 meters, according to the drone's designers.

They can also collect evidence of violations at night using far infrared technology.

Altogether 64 out of 254 factories have been found breaching the country's emissions standards.