The vehicle looks like a cross between an ambulance and something a vigilante would drive in a summer blockbuster. It is decked out with acutely sensitive air sensors, computers with wireless Internet, 3-D mapping technology and a microwave. The van, and of course its expert drivers, travel across the province, always on call, keeping people safe and punishing ne’er-do-wells.

“People call us the Haunted White Van,” says Al Duben, the senior technician who designed the new air monitoring unit that the Energy Resources Conservation Board recently put on the road. “We always seem to show up at the wrong time for some people.” Showing up at the wrong time for polluters means the ERCB watchdogs are showing up at the right time for Albertans.

Known as the AMU for short, the air monitoring unit is a multi-functional monitoring and incident response vehicle that employs state-of-the-art equipment to detect gas leaks. It’s basically a mobile command centre, Duben says. The ERCB has two of these vehicles on patrol, and they are on call 24 hours a day.

“It comes down to public safety and environmental standards,” says Darin Barter, a communications adviser with the ERCB. “As the number of facilities grow, we need to be ahead of the curve, or at least keep pace. Albertans are knowledgeable about oil and gas. They want to make sure we are around.”

This new AMU improves on the old model, says Duben. It not only harnesses new technology, but it is also more energy-efficient than its predecessor. The body, built onto a sturdy Ford F-350 chassis, is thicker, which means less energy is used to heat and cool it. The small box-like office that’s nestled behind the cab is designed so that it can be removed every four years or so and bolted to a newer chassis. On the roof are solar panels that keep the vehicle silently powered up when it’s parked, taking air samples. It only makes sense that a vehicle created to be an environmental aid be environmentally friendly itself.

But it’s the new technology that the AMU contains which makes the command centre on wheels really exciting.

“Any time a new technology comes out, I try to incorporate it,” says Duben. “This is my office. I can communicate with all members of my staff as if I’m sitting at my desk.”

With wireless capabilities, the AMUs can also have up-to-the-minute information from the ERCB, and as a result respond to public complaints as quickly as possible. When the unit gets to the site of the potential gas leak, technology again comes into play. The monitoring system in the vehicle is constantly taking readings, every minute or so, testing wind direction and humidity levels. Still, knowing there is a problem doesn’t necessarily mean that finding the source is easy.

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