Source Apportionment and Integrated Assessment Modelling for Air Quality Planning

In Northern Italy a large fraction of the population is exposed to PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations that exceed the European limit values and the stricter WHO air quality guidelines. For this reason, in 2017 four Regions (Piemonte, Lombardia, Veneto, and Emilia Romagna) and the national Ministry of the Environment adopted a set of joint measures, namely the “Po Basin air quality plan”. The plan mainly tackles emission from road transport, residential heating, and agriculture. Air quality plans at regional and local scale are usually implemented defining a set of emission abatement measures, starting from experts’ knowledge. The aim of this work is to define a methodology that helps decision makers in air quality planning, combining two different approaches: Source-Apportionment techniques (SA) and Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM). These techniques have been applied over a domain in Northern Italy to analyze the contribution of emission sources on PM10 concentration and to compute an optimal policy, obtained through a multi-objective optimization approach that minimizes both the PM10 yearly average concentration and the policy implementation costs. The results are compared to the Po Basin air quality plan impacts. The source-apportionment technique and the IAM optimization approach show intervention priorities in three main sectors: residential heating, agriculture, and road transport. The Po Basin air quality plan is effective in reducing PM10 concentrations, but not efficient, as a matter of fact the cost-effective policy at the same cost has a higher impact on air quality and on greenhouse gases emissions reduction.

Strategic Environmental Assessment in Air Quality Planning in Germany

Despite successes in immission control, significant increases of limit value transgressions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter have been observed in Germany in the last years. Health impacts of these pollutants range from impaired respiratory function to increased mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, with high short-term as well as lower long-term exposure both being relevant to health. Air quality planning as sectoral planning for immission control should ensure or at least contribute to improved air quality in developed areas, especially in large cities. Under certain preconditions, strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) have to be carried out for air quality plans (AQPs). These SEAs should ensure that air quality planning pursues an integrative environmental approach, and that the intended air quality policies do not negatively impact other environmental aspects such as biodiversity, water, landscape, or sites of the NATURA 2000 network. To date, little is known about the requirements and practice of conducting SEAs in air quality planning. Because SEAs are integrated in the preparation and updating of AQPs, several issues of air quality planning relevant for SEAs are first presented. Then, hints regarding relevant legal aspects of SEA performance, procedures and methods are given. This contribution presents results of an empirical analysis of roughly one hundred AQPs from 2010 – 2016. Thereafter it is investigated, whether a SEA could have been necessary because of potential significant effects on a NATURA 2000 site. By means of a comparison of legal requirements for the SEA performance with SEA practice, the article appraises to what extent SEA practice in AQP meets these requirements. Finally, conclusions are drawn from the investigation results.

Characterization of Drayage Activities in the Paso Del Norte Airshed

The overall objective of the study was to characterize drayage truck activity and associated emissions in the Paso del Norte region, which is the binational region covering El Paso in Texas and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. Drayage trucks are a significant source of emissions in the Paso del Norte airshed. The region faces air quality problems and characterizing the unique operational and emission characteristics of drayage vehicles can better support regional air quality planning. In this study, the global positioning system and portable activity measurement system units were fitted to a sample of drayage trucks operating in the El Paso region. The resulting data were analyzed to generate trip-level information on truck activity, along with key parameters, such as speeds, origin, destination, and length. The individual trip information was also used to identify key freight corridors and to estimate emissions associated with drayage activity. The study dataset showed that the Ysleta-Zaragoza International Bridge is the most utilized by the trucks. The facilities visited in the United States tended to be more clustered closer to this bridge, in less urbanized areas, while facilities visited in Mexico tended to be more spread out geographically. Corridor truck volumes and emissions were plotted on maps to visualize emission impacts of drayage trucks, with urbanized areas and areas close to border bridges likely most affected because of higher volumes and emissions. The findings from the study provide an understanding of air quality impacts of drayage trucks in the Paso del Norte airshed.

Air Quality Planning and the Minimization of Negative Externalities

The minimization of negative externalities is a key aspect in the development of a circular and sustainable economic model. At the local scale, especially in urban areas, externalities are generated by the adverse impacts of air pollution on human health. Local air quality policies and plans often lack of considerations and instruments for the quantification and evaluation of external health costs. Support for decision-makers is needed, in particular during the implementation stage of air quality plans. Modelling tools based on the impact pathway approach can provide such support. In this paper, the implementation of health impacts and externalities analysis in air quality planning is evaluated. The state of the art in European member states is reported, considering whether and how health effects have been included in the planning schemes. The air quality plan of the Piemonte region in Italy is then considered. A case study is analyzed to evaluate a plan action, i.e., the development of the district heating system in the city of Turin. The DIATI (Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Ambiente, del Territorio e delle Infrastrutture) Dispersion and Externalities Model (DIDEM model) is applied to detect the scenario with the highest external cost reduction. This methodology results are extensible and adaptable to other actions and measures, as well as other local policies in Europe. The use of health externalities should be encouraged and integrated into the present methodology supporting air quality planning. Efforts should be addressed to quantify and minimize the overall uncertainty of the process.

Integrating Engine Start, Soak, Evaporative, and Truck Hoteling Emissions into MOVES-Matrix

The MOVES (MOtor Vehicle Emissions Simulator) model was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to estimate emissions from mobile sources and is required to be used for regional air quality planning and conformity analysis in all states except California. However, the MOVES interface is complicated, and assessing emissions from dynamic large-scale transportation networks can be difficult. To aid in these analyses, the MOVES-Matrix modeling tool was developed as an alternative to the direct application of the MOVES model. MOVES-Matrix employs a massive multidimensional array of MOVES outputs created by running MOVES with every allowable combination of input variables. Once this output array has been generated, subsequent energy and emissions analyses can be conducted quickly and dynamically. Until recently, MOVES-Matrix has only been used to analyze running exhaust. In this study, MOVES-Matrix has been used expanded to include emissions from engine starts, truck hoteling, evaporative sources, and brake/tire wear as well as running exhaust. A case study is conducted for the metropolitan Atlanta, GA to verify the feasibility of using this expanded version of MOVES-Matrix and to ensure that the approach obtains the exact same results as applying MOVES directly. The travel activity inputs come from regional travel data generated by the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Travel Demand Model. The emission results from MOVES-Matrix were compared with MOVES output to verify the equivalence of this approach.