Drones used to spy on polluters in N China  

環保無人機華北盯防大煙囪 千米高空可拍火柴盒

記者上午從環保部獲悉，環保部環監局、監測司聯合衛星環境應用中心、華北督查中心，近日在河北省、山西省、內蒙古自治區的重點地區進行了無人機執法檢查行動，主要查看企業煙塵超標排放等環境違法問題。[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.