Local emissions pollution

Two thirds of today s oil use of more than 81 million barrel per day is for transportation, of which land transport for people accounts for some 55%, land transport for freight for some 35% and air transport for people and freight for around 10%. Almost 97% of road transport is fuelled by oil. The three most important targets with respect to transportation energy use, which are also increasingly favoured by policy makers around the world, are reduction of local air pollution, greenhouse gas-emissions reduction and energy security.1 As a consequence, there is an enforced search for alternative transport fuels. 

Issues of greenhouse-gas emissions and local air pollution, coupled with the increase in oil and gasoline prices, are triggering renewed interest in electric vehicles as a means to reduce emissions, improve the fuel economy of the present automobiles and reduce depletion of oil resources (CERA, 2008a 2008b Deutsche Bank, 2008). 

In Northern Europe the concentrations of particulate matter are typically quite small compared with the more polluted regions in Europe [5, 6]. In Northern Europe annual average PM2.5 concentrations are 10 pg m-3 in urban areas, whereas in Eastern and Southern Europe the concentrations are two or three times larger [7]. In areas with low local emissions the composition and the mass concentrations of fine particles are substantially affected by the long-range transport (LRT) from other areas, even from thousands of kilometers away. For example in the urban areas of Helsinki, Finland, 64—76% of the PM2 5 mass was estimated to originate from the LRT in 1998-2002 [8]. Regarding special pollution episodes, a total of 27 pollution episodes were attributed to LRT in Southern Finland in 2001-2007 [9]. Half of those episodes was caused by smokes from wildfires in Eastern Europe, and the total duration of the episodes was 26 days in 7 years time period. 

Second, information was gathered through contacts with EPA Regional, State, and local air pollution control agencies. Copies of emission test results were requested and analyzed to determine the effect of burning tires either as the sole fuel or as a supplemental fuel. Permit applications and permits were reviewed to determine the processes using tires, the control techniques used, the limits set, and the permit conditions under which the permits were approved. Trade associations provided information on companies burning tires, and other available information. 

When reviewing plans for such an installation, the local air-pollution-control agency knows from experience that in order to meet emission standards, the afterburner must operate at 1300 to 1500°F, that the residence time in the vessel must be 0.3 to 0.5 s, and that the velocity within it must be 20 to 40 ft/s. Can this afterburner satisfy those three criteria ... 

Of the total quantity of thallium mobilized by industry amounting to about 1600 tons in the United States during 1977, 70% was reemitted to the environment either in the form of air pollution (15%) or as solid waste (55%). Coal burning power plants account for the greater part of this air pollution, but the smelting of copper, zinc, and lead may also result in concentrated local emissions. The remaining 30% is incorporated in the final products, though usually at a lower level than in the raw materials. ... 

Rain clouds process a considerable volume of air over relatively large distances and thus are able to absorb gases and aerosols from a large region. Because fog is formed in the lower air masses, fog droplets are efficient collectors of pollutants close to the earth s surface. The influence of local emissions (such as NH3 in agricultural regions or HCl near refuse incinerators) is reflected in the fog composition. 

An inventor extraordinaire has read that the photocatalytic cycle of nitrogen oxides (the major source of air pollution in his city) begins with the emission of NO, chiefly by automobiles. This has encouraged him to invent a simple, cheap, and efficient device that converts NO in automobile emissions to N02. Will this device help or harm local air pollution problems in his city Would it be preferable to convert the NO to N20 to HN03 to N2 ... 

The improved forecast techniques can be used in two ways. Firstly, it can be the short-term episode forecasts for the next few days. Secondly, it is an integrated modelling system for long-term air quality management to predict future episodic pollution levels, taking into account estimated trends in local traffic and other emissions. In both ways the modelling system can be employed to evaluate alternative scenarios and to develop efficient strategies to reduce emissions, pollution levels, and PE to prevent health consequences in a cost-effective way. 

---