TFIAM/FAIRMODE Workshop on modelling urban and regional measures for improved air quality

A workshop on modelling urban and regional measures for improved air quality was held from the 15th to the 16th of February 2017 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The meeting was organised by TFIAM, the Task Force on Integrated Assessment Modelling della UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution and the Forum EU - Forum for Air Quality Modelling in Europe (FAIRMODE). 60 experts attended the workshop. Our Technical director Carlo Trozzi presented an assessment of potential abatement measures in port areas in the Liguria region, northern Italy. The cost-effectiveness analysis showed that shore-side electricity for ships could reduce local emissions by around 40% at a cost of 5-12 €/ton NOx, but that costs are sensitive to electricity prices and oil prices. The lack of coordination between harbours and the legal constraint to subsidize electricity for ships has thus far blocked the introduction of the measure. Mr Trozzi also introduced the Claircity project that aims at citizens’ awareness raising, participation and behavioural change through surveys, apps and games. 

2020 UNECE Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections

The annual meeting of the  Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections) in the frame of UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution  was held remotely on 11-14th May 2020 due to restrictions in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting was well attended with attendance peaking at over 140 people. At the meeting our Technical Director co-chaired the Combustion & Industry Expert Panel and gave a presentation, in the panel, summarizing the results of EU Horizon 2020 ClairCity project.

The TFEIP supports Parties in the reporting of official air pollutant emissions and projections data to the Convention.  It also provides a technical forum and expert network to identify emission factors, establish methodologies for the estimation of emissions, and identify problems related to data reporting.  

A Black Carbon Working Group is one of the priority actions in the TFEIP Work Plan 2020-21. Expected outcomes of the work include checking and defining the current methodologies, identifying possible gaps and improvement needs, and harmonizing the current presentation of methods in the EMEP/EEA Guidebook. The results can be used to support inclusion of black carbon in a revised Gothenburg Protocol. Our technical director contributed to the task working to analyze the original references behind the Guidebook emission factors.

Sardegna Region Air quality Plan

Approved by Resolution of 10 January 2017, n. 1/3 the Air Quality Plan of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia. The Regional Air Quality Plan were prepared by Atmosphera and Land Protection Service of the Office for protection of the environment, from the document prepared within the project "PO FESR 2007-2013 Line of activity 4.1 2a Upgrading of the monitoring network of air quality and of the emissions into the atmosphere ", whose implementer is the Service for Environmental Sustainability and Information Systems. In this project Techne Consulting, contracted by open procedure, has worked closely with the Regional services to update the inventory of emission sources, the identification of zoning and classification of zones and agglomerations, assessment of ambient air quality and realization of a modeling system for forecasting of air pollution.

The Plan promotes the adoption of additional measures to preserve the best air quality in the region: encouraging the replacement of open fires and traditional stoves with highly efficient systems in the domestic heating sector; restrictions on the use of fuel oil, diesel fuel and wood in low efficiency equipment used for space heating in the service sector; provisions for the abatment of dust from quarries and production of concretes and tiles industries; measures in ports (ports of Cagliari and Olbia), aimed to reduce emissions from the hoteling of ships in port such as a feasibility study on electrification of the docks, the monitoring of the fuels used by the boats approaching the port and the study on the possibility of replacing them with other less polluting, the rationalization of boarding systems and logistics of freight traffic within the port etc .; the rationalization of urban transport.

Regional energy balance, burden sharing and energy planning

Techne Consulting has recently released the latest version of the module Energy of its system E2Gov for the energy and environmental planning.

The system is functional to:

• Elaborate the regional energy balance based on the scheme used by ENEA in accordance with the scheme Eurostat;
• Elaborate the regional energy balance according to the scheme used by the Ministry of Economic Development in the National Energy Balance;
• Evaluate the cycle of heat (primary heat production, district heating, industrial heat recovery, functional to the evaluation  of burden sharing);
• Burden sharing monitoring.

Within the module Projection, the system has a model for the implementation of energy scenarios. The model allows the projection of energy variables (production, transformation, final consumption) in future years in different energy scenarios. A new module for the development of energy balances for future years will also be released soon.

The system is available through a package which includes the provision of the software, support in the implementation of the balance for the first year and support in the following years related to both energy balance updating and energy planning (scenarios implementation). 

The system is currently used in Liguria, Piedmont, and Sardinia regions (integrated within the regional environmental information system in collaboration with Engineering spa)