Projects per year
Abstract
result in high PM 10 concentration values. Permanent violations of PM 10 air quality (AQ)
standards call for action plans to reduce the PM10 emissions. In cities like Graz (250.000
inhabitants) the threshold value for the daily average is exceeded for more than 120 day per
year. Even in rural areas violations of the EU standard (35 allowed violations) occur. Austria
adapted in its air quality standard a more stringent requirement. Currently only 30
exceedances per year are allowed. From 2010 on this limit will be reduced to 25 allowed
violations.
In order to evaluate the effects of action plans before they are set into force a combined
emission-dispersion tool has been developed and applied to certain regions in Austria. When
looking on emission inventories very often it turns out that traffic, domestic heating and
industry contribute equally to the PM10 problem. If dispersion is taken into account widely
distributed low level sources like domestic heating become the major source. In countries like
Austria with an intensive road service during wintertime due to de-icing and sanding, this
winter service might also be a major source of air pollution.
If action plans are considered, they consist in most times of short and long term actions. Short
term actions concern mainly road traffic, while long term actions shall change the emission
situation in general. This concerns mostly domestic heating, vehicle fleet improvements and –
especially in Austria – winter services for roads.
Several of these measures have been investigated in detail at different locations in Austria.
The main results can be summarised as follows:
Traffic restrictions might become counterproductive as long as they are not accompanied by
measures which ensure that vehicle usage is limited. In most cases traffic is only being
diverted, which yields in general to a higher number of kilometres travelled and hence more
pollution. Local improvements in air quality are superposed by an increase at other parts of
the network.
Retrofitting of diesel cars with particle filters has a very limited effect as only a small share of
vehicles is concerned and the efficiency of retrofitting systems is by far lower than expected.
Improvements in winter service of roads (e.g. changing from sanding to de-icing) reduces the
kerbside concentrations to a remarkable extend. However, the positive effect is mostly
restricted to regions close to roads.
If it is possible to improve the emission situation for domestic heating, by far the most
positive effect on air quality can be expected.
However, it has to be remarked that even a combination of many of the listed measures will
not help to avoid violations of the threshold for the PM10 daily mean value. In many of the
cases violations will remain on more days than allowed.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Dustconf 2007: How to improve air quality |
Pages | 35-35 |
Publication status | Published - 2007 |
Event | Dustconf 2007 - Maastricht, Netherlands Duration: 23 Apr 2007 → 24 Apr 2007 |
Conference
Conference | Dustconf 2007 |
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Country/Territory | Netherlands |
City | Maastricht |
Period | 23/04/07 → 24/04/07 |
Fields of Expertise
- Mobility & Production
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Dive into the research topics of 'Effects of PM10 emission abatement strategies on air quality in urban and rural areas'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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SECTION: Thermodynamics and Emissions Research - Traffic & Environment
Jost, S. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Karner, M. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Reifeltshammer, R. J. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Balda, F. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Steiner, M. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Hinterhofer, M. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Beyer, M. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Bacher, M. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Uhrner, U. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Schmölzer, G. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Nöst, T. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Hartinger, S. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Leonhardt, P. (Co-Investigator (CoI)), Sturm, P.-J. (Co-Investigator (CoI)) & Bachler, G. (Co-Investigator (CoI))
1/01/95 → 31/12/24
Project: Research area