Emissions inventory analysis for an urban (industrial)-rural (agricultural) environment

Abstract

The predominant driving forces for improving the quality of life in our society are based on the increased consumption of natural resources and subsequently the production of effluents that result in more and more pressure on the environment. This is especially important in urban environments, which take up about 2% of the total land surface of Earth, but consume 75% of the natural resources. (Ensuring quality of life in Europe's cities and towns. EEA Report No.5/2009. European Environment Agency, 2009.) The urban environment depends on resources that are transformed away from their origin whilst effluents tend to affect the neighbouring areas. Therefore, urban areas and the rural areas around them are highly interconnected. The aim of this work is to set up an annual air emission inventory for an urban environment and its surrounding area. The inventory was carried out following EMEP/CORINAIR Emission Inventory Guidebook methodology (EMEP/CORINAIR Emission Inventory Guidebook - 2007. Technical Report No. 16/2007. European Environment Agency EEA, 2007.) An area of 50x50 km2 was chosen, including a city of approximately 100000 inhabitants, and 51 rural municipalities around it (30 completely and 21 partially affected). This area matches up with the EMEP (51, 14) grid cell (NW of Spain). The emissions inventory was elaborated considering industrial, residential, commercial, agricultural and transport sectors. All groups of pollutant sources defined by EMEP/CORINAIR were studied. The pollutants considered were CO, NOx, NMVOC, SOx, NH3, GHGs, heavy metals and particles. For all the sectors analyzed, the major contributions to urban emissions were those related to transport (road traffic), residential (domestic heating) andindustrial; and for rural emissions the most significant emissions were off road machinery and pig and poultry farming. The results obtained are compared with those included in EMEP emissions database. (CEIP EMEP Centre on Emission Inventories and Projections, http://www.ceip.at.) Major differences were encountered for all sectors, but especially in the transport and residential sectors for the urban environment and off road activity for the rural area. © 2010 WIT Press.