Using a systems dynamics approach to determine what can be done to minimize ozone production

Ground level ozone is an air pollutant that affects people of all ages and origins in many urban areas including the Las Vegas Valley. The purpose of this study is to examine the best strategy to minimize tropospheric ozone generation through using a system dynamics approach via LUTAQ is used to formulate a solution to the reduction of ozone in the Clark County non-attainment area. By increasing housing density, decreasing average distance per trip, and decrease average number of trips per person per day is the most effective strategies to improving ozone levels in Las Vegas Valley

Implementing Air Pollution and Health Damage Costs in Urban Multi-Energy Systems Modelling

The growing global urbanization rate implies that the sustainability challenges are increasingly concentrated in cities. At today, around 75% of global energy is consumed in urban areas, so efforts must be addressed to transform existing urban energy systems into more sustainable systems. In this perspective, a key aspect to evolve toward a cleaner and affordable energy system is the development of Multi-Energy Systems (MES) modelling, whereby heat, electricity, fuels, transport, and other energy carriers closely interact with each other at various scales. MES can optimize technical, economic and environmental performance with respect to “traditional” independent energy systems, at both the operational and the planning stage. This paper presents a development of the existing MESsi modelling platform, consisting in the implementation of a model estimating the impacts on air quality and human health. MESsi is a novel distributed infrastructure for modelling and co-simulating Multi-Energy-Systems. It exploits modern software design patterns (i.e. microservices) to guarantee scalability, extendibility and easy maintenance of the system. Thus, MESsi is flexible in modelling and co-simulating different energy flows in a single solution made of different interoperable modules that can be deployed in a plug-and-play fashion. The module to be implemented in MESsi infrastructure is the DIATI integrated dispersion and externalities model (DIDEM). The DIDEM model is based on the impact pathway approach, linking the simulation of pollutants dispersion to the concentration-exposure-response functions provided by latest WHO recommendations. An overview of the potential integration steps in the modelling infrastructure is described in this paper. A discussion on possible application scenarios that have different spatio-temporal resolutions is also reported. The integration of DIDEM model in MESsi platform allows the inter-connection of a detailed impact assessment to a high-level energy system simulation

Development of an air quality monitoring network for Kosovo : [presentation given December 13, 2010]

This Capstone Project addresses the important problem of air pollution in Kosovo and the need for improvement of the air quality monitoring system, in compliance with Directive 2008/50/ EC on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe. This project has identified eight new possible locations taking in consideration all relevant information about the source of pollution, types of areas, number of inhabitants and other relevant factor. The outcome of this project is a functional and reliable Air Quality Network Monitoring System for Kosovo in order to facilitate the air quality assessment and improve air quality in Kosovo

Co-benefits of urban climate action: a framework for cities

Why do climate co-benefits matter for cities? • The evidence suggests that citizens are more likely to take action on climate change, or more likely to support governments that take action on climate change, if the wider co-benefits of those actions are emphasised. • At the same time, policies that are aimed at supporting innovation, delivering economic benefits and enhancing the quality of life of citizens can potentially lead to major climate cobenefits (e.g. reduced greenhouse gas emissions) which would be more challenging to achieve if climate action were the primary objective. • At the city level, the potential of co-benefits is particularly great as citizens can often witness the results of policy actions more directly on their daily lives. Definition and taxonomy of co-benefits • The term co-benefits has a wide range of definitions in the climate literature, with over 20 terms identified in the literature that are used synonymously or in a similar context. • The term co-benefits varies in intentionality (e.g. is climate the primary or secondary objective, or simply an unintentional benefit?), scope (e.g. does it include mitigation benefits, adaptation benefits or both?), and scale (e.g. are the benefits short term and local, or long term and global?). • Co-benefits may be (1) secondary benefits from climate policy action, (2) secondary climate benefits from other policy actions, or (3) the combination of climate and non-climate benefits; both of which are targeted under an integrated policy programme. • The wide range of established definitions of co-benefits used by authoritative organisations means that formulating a taxonomy of co-benefits with broad buy-in from policy makers is challenging. Results of literature review • Health, Land Use and Transport were the top three sectors for the number of co-benefits, with over 40 co-benefits identified in each. • Waste, Air Quality, Transport and Energy had particularly high numbers of mitigation cobenefits in the literature reviewed. Adaptation co-benefits were particularly strong for Disaster and Emergency, Food Security and Tourism, Culture and Sport. Land Use, Health, Water and Education tended to be strong for both mitigation and adaptation co-benefits

India Climate Collaborative Annual Report

The India Climate Collaborative is a first-of-its-kind, Indiafocused, India-led organisation working to accelerate funding to, and engagement with, the climate ecosystem. The report offers a glimpse into how ICC aim to accelerate the amount of finance flowing into the climate space, enable new channels of collaboration between disparate stakeholders, and drive the climate solutions being developed by their network of partners to fruition.