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AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN URBAN AREAS: EFFECTS OF INTRODUCING HYBRID CARS IN MADRID AND BARCELONA METROPOLITAN AREAS (SPAIN)
Maria Gonçalves
; Environmental Modelling Laboratory (EML) Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain
Pedro Jiménez Guerrero
; Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), Barcelona, Spain
José M. Baldasano
; Environmental Modelling Laboratory (EML) Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain;Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), Barcelona, Spain
Sažetak
On-road traffic represents the largest source of pollutants’ emissions in urban areas. In southern Mediterranean countries
exceedances of the NO2 and PM10 European air quality targets are observed in urban environments. Moreover the budget of urban
emissions contributes to the emissions of O3 precursors (mainly NOx) in a region where the concentration of photochemical
pollutants still remains a problem especially during summertime. Air quality modeling, used as a management tool, permits to test
abatement emissions strategies in advance. Nowadays, the substitution of vehicles by introducing new technologies (e.g. cleaner
fuels, hybrid vehicles, fuel cells) or alternative fuels (e.g. biofuels, natural gas or hydrogen) is a common practice in conurbations
around Europe. This work focuses on the assessment of the impacts on air quality due to the introduction of hybrid cars in the
largest urban areas of Spain: Madrid (within a more continental environment), and the urban coastal city of Barcelona. The WRFARW/
HERMES/CMAQ modeling system has been implemented and validated with a high resolution (1 km2 and 1 hr) thanks to the
calculation power of the MareNostrum supercomputer (94.21 TFlops peak). Due to the complex topography and climatic
particularities of the study areas it becomes necessary to use high spatial and temporal resolution and to have a highly-disaggregated
emission inventory of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (HERMES model developed specifically for Spain). The model was
applied during a representative summertime polluted episode. The introduction of a 10% or a 30% of hybrid cars in substitution of
the oldest petrol and diesel cars of both cities proved to be effective to reduce NO2, SO2 and PM10 concentrations in the conurbations (i.e. a 37% reduction in NO2 24-hr average concentration occurs in Madrid and a 18% in Barcelona when introducing a 30% of hybrid vehicles; moreover 24-hr average PM10 decreases up to 12% and 14% in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively). Nevertheless the O3 concentrations slightly arise (being the 8-hr average concentration a 3% higher in Madrid and a 24% in Barcelona respect to the base case). The selected domains present a similar behavior with respect to their impacts, with a noticeable reduction of ground-level NOx in downtown areas and an increase in the tropospheric ozone concentration in the VOC-limited areas. In downwind locations the precursors’ emissions control causes a reduction of O3 levels. The air quality modeling system proves to be a suitable and useful tool to manage urban air quality, especially when applied with this high resolution.
Ključne riječi
Hybrid electric vehicles; urban air quality; management; tropospheric ozone; air quality modelling
Hrčak ID:
64189
URI
Datum izdavanja:
12.12.2008.
Posjeta: 784 *