scholarly journals Thermal Modernization Cost and the Potential Ecological Effect—Scenario Analysis for Thermal Modernization in Southern Poland

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2033
Author(s):  
Rafał Blazy ◽  
Jakub Błachut ◽  
Agnieszka Ciepiela ◽  
Rita Łabuz ◽  
Renata Papież
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Southern Poland ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
The Impact

Air pollution is one of the important environmental problems in Poland. The main cause of its occurrence is emissions associated with individual heating of buildings. The reduction of the primary energy demand in a building is influenced by its proper thermal modernization, including in particular insulating. In view of the above, this article presents the results of studies on the possible environmental benefits of thermal modernization of single-family houses for the area of Southern Poland. The analysis was limited to determining the impact of measures to reduce air pollution emissions by insulating the building envelope of single-family houses. The research was conducted for two voivodeships: Śląskie and Małopolskie. Its aim is to identify the financial costs and achievable ecological effects of the thermal modernization of single-family buildings. The geographical selection of the research area was based on the fact that it covers the most polluted region in Poland. This region is characterized by many features that influence poor air quality. Among these features, the most important are: diversified building structure, a diverse topography, and very high population density. To limit multiple variables, we have selected a scenario method that has already been used in similar research. Four scenarios were established to show the relationship between the value of emission reductions and the level of funding for thermal modernization. The analysis allows a comparison of the effectiveness of individual variants and the transposition of their results into the possibilities of action in the region. This research will help to supplement the knowledge of the impact of insulating building envelopes on reducing pollutant emissions by reducing the energy demand of a building. They also identify a possible link between the level of this reduction and the grant amount for thermal modernization. As a result, it was found that a high share of external funding—stimulating the tendency of the inhabitants of the analyzed voivodeships to effective thermal modernization, and thus reducing the buildings’ energy consumption—has a significant impact on the improvement of air quality.

scholarly journals The success of emissions control legislation in mitigating air pollution is higher than previously estimated

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Daskalakis ◽  
Kostas Tsigaridis ◽  
Stelios Myriokefalitakis ◽  
George S. Fanourgakis ◽  
Maria Kanakidou
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. During the last 30 years significant effort has been made to improve air quality through legislation for emissions reduction. Global three-dimensional chemistry-transport simulations of atmospheric composition changes over the past three decades have been performed to assess the impact of these measures. The simulations are based on assimilated meteorology to account for the year-to-year observed climate variability and on different anthropogenic emissions scenarios of pollutants which may or may not account for air quality legislation application. The ACCMIP dataset historical emissions are used as the starting point. We show that air quality legislation has been more efficient than thought in limiting the rapid increase of air pollutants due to significant technology development. The achieved reductions in nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, black carbon and sulphate aerosols are found to be significant when comparing to simulations neglecting legislation for the protection of the environment. We also show the large tropospheric air-quality benefit from the development of cleaner technology. These 30-year hindcast simulations demonstrate that the actual benefit in air quality due to air pollution legislation and technological advances is higher than the gain calculated by a simple comparison against a constant anthropogenic emissions simulation, as is usually done. Our results also indicate that over China and India the beneficial technological advances for the air-quality have been masked by the explosive increase in local population and the disproportional increase in energy demand.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Impact of Self-Isolation of Residents during a Pandemic on Energy Demand and Indoor Air Quality in a Single-Family Building

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6470
Author(s):  
Walery Jezierski ◽  
Mirosław Zukowski ◽  
Beata Sadowska
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
The Self ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Final Energy ◽  
Final Energy Demand ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Isolation Period

This work presents the results of analysis of the final energy demand (Qk) for a single-family house in a pandemic situation and accompanying self-isolation of residents. It was assumed that the object of study is located in Bialystok (Poland). This analysis covers the impact of various factors such as specific periods of the active pandemic phase, the length of the inhabitants’ self-isolation period, the number of residents at home, and the type of energy source used in the building. Based on the results of computational experiments, a deterministic mathematical model of the relationship between these variables was developed, and the effects of the selected factors on the final energy demand were analyzed for the typical meteorological year (TMY) weather data. It turned out that the change in the length of the self-isolation period from 0 to 31 days caused an increase of Qk by about 6.5% for the analyzed building. When the number of inhabitants changed from 1 to 4, Qk increased by 34.7%. A change from 4 to 7 people causes an additional 26.7% increase in Qk. It was found that the structure of energy demand for this building operation during the period of inhabitants’ self-isolation also changed. With the increase in the length of the self-isolation period from 0 to 31 days, the electricity demand (Eel) increases by about 40–42%, while the demand for energy related to fuel consumption (Qg) decreases by about 7–10%. The article also presents an analysis of the impact of residents’ self-isolation on indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort. The simulation results showed that the use of variable air volume ventilation allows the CO2 concentration to be kept significantly below the limit value.

scholarly journals European atmosphere in 2050, a regional air quality and climate perspective under CMIP5 scenarios

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 7451-7471 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Colette ◽  
B. Bessagnet ◽  
R. Vautard ◽  
S. Szopa ◽  
S. Rao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Reference Scenario ◽  
Regional Air Quality ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. To quantify changes in air pollution over Europe at the 2050 horizon, we designed a comprehensive modelling system that captures the external factors considered to be most relevant, and that relies on up-to-date and consistent sets of air pollution and climate policy scenarios. Global and regional climate as well as global chemistry simulations are based on the recent representative concentration pathways (RCP) produced for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) whereas regional air quality modelling is based on the updated emissions scenarios produced in the framework of the Global Energy Assessment. We explored two diverse scenarios: a reference scenario where climate policies are absent and a mitigation scenario which limits global temperature rise to within 2 °C by the end of this century. This first assessment of projected air quality and climate at the regional scale based on CMIP5 (5th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) climate simulations is in line with the existing literature using CMIP3. The discrepancy between air quality simulations obtained with a climate model or with meteorological reanalyses is pointed out. Sensitivity simulations show that the main factor driving future air quality projections is air pollutant emissions, rather than climate change or intercontinental transport of pollution. Whereas the well documented "climate penalty" that weights upon ozone (increase of ozone pollution with global warming) over Europe is confirmed, other features appear less robust compared to the literature, such as the impact of climate on PM2.5. The quantitative disentangling of external factors shows that, while several published studies focused on the climate penalty bearing upon ozone, the contribution of the global ozone burden is somewhat overlooked in the literature.

scholarly journals European atmosphere in 2050, a regional air quality and climate perspective under CMIP5 scenarios

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 6455-6499 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Colette ◽  
B. Bessagnet ◽  
R. Vautard ◽  
S. Szopa ◽  
S. Rao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Reference Scenario ◽  
Regional Air Quality ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. To quantify changes in air pollution in Europe at the 2050 horizon, we designed a comprehensive modelling system that captures the external factors considered to be most relevant and relies on up-to-date and consistent sets of air pollution and climate policy scenarios. Global and regional climate as well as global chemistry simulations are based on the recent Representative Concentrations Pathways (RCP) produced for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of IPCC whereas regional air quality modelling is based on the updated emissions scenarios produced in the framework of the Global Energy Assessment. We explored two diverse scenarios: a reference scenario where climate policies are absent and a mitigation scenario which limits global temperature rise to within 2 °C by the end of this century. This first assessment of projected air quality and climate at the regional scale based on CMIP5 (5th Climate Model Intercomparison Project) climate simulations is in line with the existing literature using CMIP3. The discrepancy between air quality simulations obtained with a climate model or with meteorological reanalyses is pointed out. Sensitivity simulations show that the main factor driving future air quality projections is air pollutant emissions, rather than climate change or long range transport. Whereas the well documented "climate penalty" bearing upon ozone over Europe is confirmed, other features appear less robust compared to the literature: such as the impact of climate on PM2.5. The quantitative disentangling of each contributing factor shows that the magnitude of the ozone climate penalty has been overstated in the past while on the contrary the contribution of the global ozone burden is overlooked in the literature.

scholarly journals Development of a vehicle emission inventory with high temporal–spatial resolution based on NRT traffic data and its impact on air pollution in Beijing – Part 2: Impact of vehicle emission on urban air quality

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 3171-3184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjun He ◽  
Lin Wu ◽  
Hongjun Mao ◽  
Hongli Liu ◽  
Boyu Jing ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Emission Inventory ◽  
Emission Factors ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Vehicle Emission ◽  
Traffic Data ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. A companion paper developed a vehicle emission inventory with high temporal–spatial resolution (HTSVE) with a bottom-up methodology based on local emission factors, complemented with the widely used emission factors of COPERT model and near-real-time (NRT) traffic data on a specific road segment for 2013 in urban Beijing (Jing et al., 2016), which is used to investigate the impact of vehicle pollution on air pollution in this study. Based on the sensitivity analysis method of switching on/off pollutant emissions in the Chinese air quality forecasting model CUACE, a modelling study was carried out to evaluate the contributions of vehicle emission to the air pollution in Beijing's main urban areas in the periods of summer (July) and winter (December) 2013. Generally, the CUACE model had good performance of the concentration simulation of pollutants. The model simulation has been improved by using HTSVE. The vehicle emission contribution (VEC) to ambient pollutant concentrations not only changes with seasons but also changes with time. The mean VEC, affected by regional pollutant transports significantly, is 55.4 and 48.5 % for NO2 and 5.4 and 10.5 % for PM2.5 in July and December 2013 respectively. Regardless of regional transports, relative vehicle emission contribution (RVEC) to NO2 is 59.2 and 57.8 % in July and December 2013, while it is 8.7 and 13.9 % for PM2.5. The RVEC to PM2.5 is lower than the PM2.5 contribution rate for vehicle emission in total emission, which may be due to dry deposition of PM2.5 from vehicle emission in the near-surface layer occuring more easily than from elevated source emission.

scholarly journals Window operation behaviour and indoor air quality during lockdown: A monitoring-based simulation-assisted study in London

2021 ◽  
pp. 014362442110177
Author(s):  
Farhang Tahmasebi ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
Elizabeth Cooper ◽  
Daniel Godoy Shimizu ◽  
Samuel Stamp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Natural Ventilation ◽  
Probabilistic Models ◽  
Performance Model ◽  
Outdoor Environment ◽  
Ventilation Strategies ◽  
The Impact

The Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in new patterns of home occupancy, the implications of which for indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy use are not well-known. In this context, the present study investigates 8 flats in London to uncover if during a lockdown, (a) IAQ in the monitored flats deteriorated, (b) the patterns of window operation by occupants changed, and (c) more effective ventilation patterns could enhance IAQ without significant increases in heating energy demand. To this end, one-year’s worth of monitored data on indoor and outdoor environment along with occupant use of windows has been used to analyse the impact of lockdown on IAQ and infer probabilistic models of window operation behaviour. Moreover, using on-site CO2 data, monitored occupancy and operation of windows, the team has calibrated a thermal performance model of one of the flats to investigate the implications of alternative ventilation strategies. The results suggest that despite the extended occupancy during lockdown, occupants relied less on natural ventilation, which led to an increase of median CO2 concentration by up to 300 ppm. However, simple natural ventilation patterns or use of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery proves to be very effective to maintain acceptable IAQ. Practical application: This study provides evidence on the deterioration of indoor air quality resulting from homeworking during imposed lockdowns. It also tests and recommends specific ventilation strategies to maintain acceptable indoor air quality at home despite the extended occupancy hours.

scholarly journals Functional ANOVA approaches for detecting changes in air pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Acal ◽  
Ana M. Aguilera ◽  
Annalina Sarra ◽  
Adelia Evangelista ◽  
Tonio Di Battista ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Functional Data ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Functional Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Pm 10 ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Monitoring Stations

AbstractFaced with novel coronavirus outbreak, the most hard-hit countries adopted a lockdown strategy to contrast the spread of virus. Many studies have already documented that the COVID-19 control actions have resulted in improved air quality locally and around the world. Following these lines of research, we focus on air quality changes in the urban territory of Chieti-Pescara (Central Italy), identified as an area of criticality in terms of air pollution. Concentrations of $$\hbox {NO}_{{2}}$$ NO 2 , $$\hbox {PM}_{{10}}$$ PM 10 , $$\hbox {PM}_{2.5}$$ PM 2.5 and benzene are used to evaluate air pollution changes in this Region. Data were measured by several monitoring stations over two specific periods: from 1st February to 10 th March 2020 (before lockdown period) and from 11st March 2020 to 18 th April 2020 (during lockdown period). The impact of lockdown on air quality is assessed through functional data analysis. Our work makes an important contribution to the analysis of variance for functional data (FANOVA). Specifically, a novel approach based on multivariate functional principal component analysis is introduced to tackle the multivariate FANOVA problem for independent measures, which is reduced to test multivariate homogeneity on the vectors of the most explicative principal components scores. Results of the present study suggest that the level of each pollutant changed during the confinement. Additionally, the differences in the mean functions of all pollutants according to the location and type of monitoring stations (background vs traffic), are ascribable to the $$\hbox {PM}_{{10}}$$ PM 10 and benzene concentrations for pre-lockdown and during-lockdown tenure, respectively. FANOVA has proven to be beneficial to monitoring the evolution of air quality in both periods of time. This can help environmental protection agencies in drawing a more holistic picture of air quality status in the area of interest.

scholarly journals The interplay between environmental exposures and COVID-19 risks in the health of children

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Sly ◽  
Brittany A. Trottier ◽  
Catherine M. Bulka ◽  
Stephania A. Cormier ◽  
Julius Fobil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Disease Severity ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Severe Disease ◽  
Environmental Exposures ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background An unusual feature of SARS-Cov-2 infection and the COVID-19 pandemic is that children are less severely affected than adults. This is especially paradoxical given the epidemiological links between poor air quality and increased COVID-19 severity in adults and that children are generally more vulnerable than adults to the adverse consequences of air pollution. Objectives To identify gaps in knowledge about the factors that protect children from severe SARS-Cov-2 infection even in the face of air pollution, and to develop a transdisciplinary research strategy to address these gaps. Methods An international group of researchers interested in children’s environmental health was invited to identify knowledge gaps and to develop research questions to close these gaps. Discussion Key research questions identified include: what are the effects of SAR-Cov-2 infection during pregnancy on the developing fetus and child; what is the impact of age at infection and genetic susceptibility on disease severity; why do some children with COVID-19 infection develop toxic shock and Kawasaki-like symptoms; what are the impacts of toxic environmental exposures including poor air quality, chemical and metal exposures on innate immunity, especially in the respiratory epithelium; what is the possible role of a “dirty” environment in conveying protection – an example of the “hygiene hypothesis”; and what are the long term health effects of SARS-Cov-2 infection in early life. Conclusion A concerted research effort by a multidisciplinary team of scientists is needed to understand the links between environmental exposures, especially air pollution and COVID-19. We call for specific research funding to encourage basic and clinical research to understand if/why exposure to environmental factors is associated with more severe disease, why children appear to be protected, and how innate immune responses may be involved. Lessons learned about SARS-Cov-2 infection in our children will help us to understand and reduce disease severity in adults, the opposite of the usual scenario.

scholarly journals Scalable kernel-based SVM classification algorithm on imbalance air quality data for proficient healthcare

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shwet Ketu ◽  
Pramod Kumar Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Class Imbalance ◽  
Imbalanced Data ◽  
Classification Algorithm ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Classification Problems ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn the last decade, we have seen drastic changes in the air pollution level, which has become a critical environmental issue. It should be handled carefully towards making the solutions for proficient healthcare. Reducing the impact of air pollution on human health is possible only if the data is correctly classified. In numerous classification problems, we are facing the class imbalance issue. Learning from imbalanced data is always a challenging task for researchers, and from time to time, possible solutions have been developed by researchers. In this paper, we are focused on dealing with the imbalanced class distribution in a way that the classification algorithm will not compromise its performance. The proposed algorithm is based on the concept of the adjusting kernel scaling (AKS) method to deal with the multi-class imbalanced dataset. The kernel function's selection has been evaluated with the help of weighting criteria and the chi-square test. All the experimental evaluation has been performed on sensor-based Indian Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) dataset. The proposed algorithm with the highest accuracy of 99.66% wins the race among all the classification algorithms i.e. Adaboost (59.72%), Multi-Layer Perceptron (95.71%), GaussianNB (80.87%), and SVM (96.92). The results of the proposed algorithm are also better than the existing literature methods. It is also clear from these results that our proposed algorithm is efficient for dealing with class imbalance problems along with enhanced performance. Thus, accurate classification of air quality through our proposed algorithm will be useful for improving the existing preventive policies and will also help in enhancing the capabilities of effective emergency response in the worst pollution situation.

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Association between Air Pollution and Daily Mortality in the Capital of the Green Lungs of Poland–Population-Based Study with 2,953,000 Person-Years of Follow-Up

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 2351
Author(s):  
Łukasz Kuźma ◽  
Krzysztof Struniawski ◽  
Szymon Pogorzelski ◽  
Hanna Bachórzewska-Gajewska ◽  
Sławomir Dobrzycki
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
World Health ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Daily Mortality ◽  
Male Population ◽  
The Impact

(1) Introduction: air pollution is considered to be one of the main risk factors for public health. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of approximately 500,000 citizens of the European Union (EU), including almost 5000 inhabitants of Poland every year. (2) Purpose: to assess the gender differences in the impact of air pollution on the mortality in the population of the city of Bialystok—the capital of the Green Lungs of Poland. (3) Materials and Methods: based on the data from the Central Statistical Office, the number—and causes of death—of Białystok residents in the period 2008–2017 were analyzed. The study utilized the data recorded by the Provincial Inspectorate for Environmental Protection station and the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management during the analysis period. Time series regression with Poisson distribution was used in statistical analysis. (4) Results: A total of 34,005 deaths had been recorded, in which women accounted for 47.5%. The proportion of cardiovascular-related deaths was 48% (n = 16,370). An increase of SO2 concentration by 1-µg/m3 (relative risk (RR) 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.12; p = 0.005) and a 10 °C decrease of temperature (RR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05; p = 0.005) were related to an increase in the number of daily deaths. No gender differences in the impact of air pollution on mortality were observed. In the analysis of the subgroup of cardiovascular deaths, the main pollutant that was found to have an effect on daily mortality was particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5); the RR for 10-µg/m3 increase of PM2.5 was 1.07 (95% CI 1.02–1.12; p = 0.01), and this effect was noted only in the male population. (5) Conclusions: air quality and atmospheric conditions had an impact on the mortality of Bialystok residents. The main air pollutant that influenced the mortality rate was SO2, and there were no gender differences in the impact of this pollutant. In the male population, an increased exposure to PM2.5 concentration was associated with significantly higher cardiovascular mortality. These findings suggest that improving air quality, in particular, even with lower SO2 levels than currently allowed by the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, may benefit public health. Further studies on this topic are needed, but our results bring questions whether the recommendations concerning acceptable concentrations of air pollutants should be stricter, or is there a safe concentration of SO2 in the air at all.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document