Defra and the devolved administrations have today published the document 'Air Pollution: Action in a Changing Climate'.
This 'forward look' document highlights the additional health benefits that can be achieved through closer integration of air quality and climate change policies in future. It doesn’t replace the current air quality strategy (AQS) but accounts for the rapid development of climate policy since the AQS was published in 2007. Defra is now considering how to take forward the key messages in this document, which will of course help to shape the direction of the next air quality strategy.
A number of changes have recently been made to the Local Air Quality Management tools available on the Northern Ireland Air Quality website at www.airqualityni.co.uk/laqm_sca.php. The new tools should be used for new work. If work has already been started using the old set of tools, it is not necessary to go back and repeat the work unless the local authority believes that this would be appropriate. So long as models have been appropriately verified against local measurements, the updates to the tools should not invalidate work already carried out, even though precise results would be different. The changes are as follows:
1) The Emission Factor Toolkit (EFT) has been updated to use the DfTs latest vehicle emission factors (published in 2009). This allows modellers to calculate vehicular emissions in line with the latest predictions. It is possible for users to incorporate the emissions that they calculate using the EFT into most dispersion models (but not screening tools such as DMRB).
2) The NOx to NO2 calculator has been updated. These changes take account of more recent predictions of oxidant levels across the UK and also use revised default values for primary NO2 (fNO2) (as shown within the spreadsheet).
3) The national maps of background air pollutant concentrations have been updated to take account of more recent emissions predictions and updated methods. A short report describing the principal changes between the two sets of maps is included on the website along with the maps.
4) The sector-removal tool for calculating sector-adjusted background nitrogen dioxide concentrations has been updated following changes to the background mapping methodology.
5) The future-year projection factors for roadside monitoring data contained in Box 2.1 of LAQM.TG(09) have been updated.
All of these tools can only be applied to data from the year 2008 onward. A FAQ on modelling conditions prior to 2008 will follow soon.
If local authorities require any help or clarification they should contact the Review and Assessment Helpdesk.
The Department of the Environment has issued a consultation document including draft Air Quality Standards Regulations (NI) 2010. The Regulations will transpose Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. The closing date for comments is 1st April 2010.
This brochure is the seventh in a series of annual reports on air quality in Northern Ireland. It provides a summary of air quality monitoring carried out on behalf of Government and by District Councils during 2008. It is also available with previous issues in the Reports section of the website.
In the UK over the last two years and more, there has been a steady replacement of old TEOM PM10 monitors with reference equivalent instruments. This has happened both in the national monitoring networks for European Directive compliance, and at the regional and local level for local air quality management purposes.
The current PM10 air quality index for reporting real-time public information from TEOM monitors is not directly transferable to other reference equivalent monitors and therefore requires updating. The results of the PM10 equivalence programme (carried out between November 2004 and January 2006) have been analysed to develop an equation relating old TEOM data to reference equivalent monitors as follows:
Reference equivalent PM10 = TEOM x 1.3 - 2.2494
On this basis the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) have agreed the air quality index for PM10 and breakpoints for "Low","Moderate","High" or "Very High" pollution can be assigned to old TEOMs or reference equivalent data. For further details of the background to this and proposed changes please see the attached short paper here.
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