Quantifying the impact of meteorological factors and green infrastructure location on particulate matter (PM) mitigation in North Macedonia using sensor collected data

Low quality of the air is becoming a major concern in urban areas. High values of particulate matter (PM) concentrations and various pollutants may be very dangerous for human health and the global environment. The challenge to overcome the problem with the air quality includes efforts to improve healthy air not only by reducing emissions, but also by modifying the urban morphology to reduce the exposure of the population to air pollution. The aim of this contribution is to analyse the influence of the green zones on air quality mitigation through sensor measurements, and to identify the correlation with the meteorological factors. Actually, the objective focuses on identifying the most significant correlation between PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations and the wind speed, as well as a negative correlation between the PM concentrations and wind speed across different measurement locations. Additionally, the estimation of slight correlation between the PM concentrations and the real feel temperature is detected, while insignificant correlations are found between the PM concentrations and the actual temperature, pressure, and humidity. In this paper the effect of the pandemic restriction rules COVID-19 lockdowns and the period without restriction are investigated. The sensor data collected before the pandemic (summer months in 2018), during the global pandemic (summer months 2020), and after the period with restriction measures (2022) are analysed.

Who Drives Carbon Neutrality in China? Text Mining and Network Analysis

China has recently declared its role as a leading developing country in actively practicing carbon neutrality. In fact, its carbon-neutral policy has accelerated from a gradual and macroscopic perspective and has been actively pursued given the changes not only in the overall social system but also in its impact on various stakeholders. This study analyzed the patterns of carbon neutrality (CN) and the actors of policy promotion in China from a long-term perspective. It collected policy discourses related to CN posted on Chinese websites from 2000 to 2022 and conducted text mining and network analysis. The results revealed that the pattern of CN promotion in China followed an exploration-demonstration-industrialization-digitalization model, similar to other policies. Moreover, the policy promotion sector developed in the direction of unification-diversification-specialization. Analysis of policy promotion actors found that enterprises are the key driver of continuous CN. In addition, the public emerged as a critical actor in promoting CN during the 12th-13th Five-Year Plans (2011-2020). Moreover, the central government emerged as a key driving actor of CN during the 14th Five-Year Plan. This was a result of the emphasis on efficiency in the timing and mission process of achieving CN. Furthermore, based on the experience of COVID-19, the rapid transition of Chinese society toward CN emphasizes the need for a central government with strong executive power. Based on these results, this study presents constructive suggestions for carbon-neutral development in China.

Pandemic restrictions in 2020 highlight the significance of non-road NOx sources in central London

Fluxes of nitrogen oxides (NOx=NO+NO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) were measured using eddy covariance at the British Telecommunications (BT) Tower in central London during the coronavirus pandemic. Comparing fluxes to those measured in 2017 prior to the pandemic restrictions and the introduction of the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) highlighted a 73 % reduction in NOx emissions between the two periods but only a 20 % reduction in CO2 emissions and a 32 % reduction in traffic load. Use of a footprint model and the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI) identified transport and heat and power generation to be the two dominant sources of NOx and CO2 but with significantly different relative contributions for each species. Application of external constraints on NOx and CO2 emissions allowed the reductions in the different sources to be untangled, identifying that transport NOx emissions had reduced by >73 % since 2017. This was attributed in part to the success of air quality policy in central London but crucially due to the substantial reduction in congestion that resulted from pandemic-reduced mobility. Spatial mapping of the fluxes suggests that central London was dominated by point source heat and power generation emissions during the period of reduced mobility. This will have important implications on future air quality policy for NO2 which, until now, has been primarily focused on the emissions from diesel exhausts.

A novel Energy Resources Allocation Management model for air pollution reduction.

Although air pollution has been reduced in various industrial and crowded cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, curbing the high concentration of the crisis of air pollution in the megacity of Tehran is still a challenging issue. Thus, identifying the major factors that play significant roles in increasing contaminant concentration is vital. This study aimed to propose a mathematical model to reduce air pollution in a way that does not require citizen participation, limitation on energy usage, alternative energies, any policies on fuel-burn style, extra cost, or time to ensure that consumers have access to energy adequately. In this study, we proposed a novel framework, denoted as the Energy Resources Allocation Management (ERAM) model, to reduce air pollution. The ERAM is designed to optimize the allocation of various energies to the recipients. To do so, the ERAM model is simulated based on the magnitude of fuel demand consumption, the rate of air pollution emission generated by each energy per unit per consumer, and the air pollution contribution produced by each user. To evaluate the reflectiveness and illustrate the feasibility of the model, a real-world case study, i.e., Tehran, was employed. The air pollution emission factors in Tehran territory were identified by considering both mobile sources, e.g., motorcycles, cars, and heavy-duty vehicles, and stationary sources, e.g., energy conversion stations, industries, and household and commercial sectors, which are the main contributors to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide. An elaborate view of the results indicates that the ERAM model on fuel distribution could remarkably reduce Tehran's air pollution concentration by up to 14%.

Location Impact on Particulate Matter (PM) Concentration Reduction Dduring COVID-19 Pandemic

Significant topic of interest in many European countries is monitoring the air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM) concentrations, mostly because of its harmful effects on the human health. Measurement of the particulate matter concentrations can be done in a different ways, one of the possible solutions is by using low-cost and energy-efficient monitoring system using sensor network. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the influence of the green areas on particulate matter mitigation, analyzing the period of pandemic COVID-19 restrictions. The paper analyze the connection among the impact of the location of the sensor nodes and green areas and other objects to the particulate matter concentrations using various statistical tools and hypothesis testing. The tests are based on the data collected during summer 2020 at the technical campus of the Ss Cyril and Methodius University. This is the period when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 pandemic, and the universities were closed. In this research it can be confirmed that green areas at the Faculty pacio, reduced traffic vehicles and not having presence of the faculty staff in this period have a high impact in the reduction of particulate matter. © 2022 IEEE.

Disparate air pollution reductions during California’s COVID-19 economic shutdown

Minority communities in the United States often experience higher-than-average exposures to air pollution. However, the relative contribution of institutional biases to these disparities can be difficult to disentangle from other factors. Here, we use the economic shutdown associated with the 2020 COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders to causally estimate pollution exposure disparities caused by the in-person economy in California. Using public and citizen-science ground-based monitor networks for respirable particulate matter, along with satellite records of nitrogen dioxide, we show that sheltering in place produced disproportionate air pollution reductions for non-White (especially Hispanic and Asian) and low-income communities. We demonstrate that these racial and ethnic effects cannot be explained by weather patterns, geography, income or local economic activity as measured by local changes in mobility. They are instead driven by regional economic activity, which produces local harms for diffuse economic benefits. This study thus provides indirect, yet substantial, evidence of systemic racial and ethnic bias in the generation and control of pollution from the portion of the economy most impacted in the early pandemic period. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Ecological Civilization Demonstration Zone, Air Pollution Reduction, and Political Promotion Tournament in China: Empirical Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment.

Using the ecological civilization demonstration zone as a quasi-natural experiment, this study has explored the effect of it on air pollution in China by employing the difference-in-differences model and the spatial difference-in-differences model, and further tested the political promotion tournament in China by employing the binary logit model. The results show that the ecological civilization demonstration zone has basically and effectively reduced air pollution, except for carbon monoxide and ozone. In addition, the spatial spillover effects of the ecological civilization demonstration zone on air pollution are not only basically supported among the treated cities, but also extremely established in the untreated cities neighboring the treated cities. Furthermore, no clear evidence supports the establishment of the political promotion tournament in China, while local cadres tend to cope with the assessment of higher officials passively rather than actively. Overall, this study sheds light on the coordination of economic development and ecological civilization from the perspective of the career concerns of local cadres.

Optimization of COVID-19 face mask waste fibers and silica fume as a balanced mechanical ameliorator of fat clay using response surface methodology.

The balanced amelioration of mechanical characteristics of fat clay with an additive refers to the attainment of high strength without compromising ductility, which is unattainable by solitary usage of a cementing additive. For this purpose, an amalgamated binary admixture (ABA) is proposed by assimilating shredded face mask (FM) waste, which is posing serious environmental concerns these days, with a cementitious waste material, i.e., silica fume (SF). However, for such ABA, the optimization of mix design is desirable because an excessive amount of one component could disturb the required balance. To address this issue, response surface methodology (RSM) is used in the current study, which is a strong technique used during the process of production to develop, improve, and optimize product inputs. Several experiments are designed and conducted to evaluate mechanical responses, i.e., unconfined compressive strength (qu), brittleness index (IB), deformability index (ID), and California bearing ratio (CBR) value, of treated fat clay by varying mix designs of ABA. Based on the test results, mathematical models are developed which are found to be statistically valid to predict the subjected responses using SF and FM as inputs. Afterward, an optimized mix design is determined by integrating developed models with a desirability function model and setting maximization of strength and ductility as the optimization goals. An ABA having 7.9% SF and 1.2% FM is observed to provide the highest strength and ductility for multiple applications, i.e., road and buildings, with desirability factor close to unity; responses of which are also validated by performing tests. Furthermore, analysis of cleaning aspect shows that the use of optimized ABA in place of cement for subgrade improvement of 1 km two-lane road could avoid CO2 emission of around 79,032 kg of C, save 42,720 kWh and 1174.8 GJ of electrical and thermal energy, respectively, and clean 43 Mg of FM waste; however, astute protocols of COVID-19 FM waste handling and disinfection are needed to be established and followed.

[Response of Air Quality to COVID-19 Lockdown in Xiamen Bay].

Air pollutant concentrations in the Xiamen Bay cities during the period before and after COVID-19 lockdown(from January 11 to February 21, 2020) were studied to determine the influence of human activities on air quality in this region. During the Chinese Spring Festival holiday and the lockdown period, the concentrations of SO2, NO2, CO, PM10, and PM2.5 decreased by 6%-22%, 53%-70%, 34%-48%, 47%-64%, and 53%-60%, respectively. However, the changes in O3 concentrations were not consistent with the variations of human activities. The reduction rates for PM2.5, PM10, CO, and NO2 during the Spring Festival were greater than in previous years(2018 and 2019), but the reduction rates for SO2 were comparable. The concentrations of NO2 increased sharply(38%-138%), and much higher those of SO2(2%-42%), after the resumption of socioeconomic activities, indicating the importance of traffic reductions due to the lockdown measures on NO2. Higher wind speeds and rainfall after the Spring Festival were also favorable for the decline of SO2, NO2, and PM. The spatio-temporal distributions of the six criterial pollutants in the Xiamen Bay city cluster were obtained based on the Inverse Distance Weight method. The variability in regions with high NO2 concentrations was strongly linked to traffic emissions, while spatial patterns for CO and SO2 changed little over the six-week study period. The concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 increased notably in the region, linked to more construction activity, but changed comparatively little in regions with dense populations and traffic networks. O3 remained relatively stable but low-value regions corresponded to those regions with high NO2 concentrations, indicating the significant titration effect of NO2 on O3. These results provide valuable information that can inform O3 pollution reduction measures.

Process assessment, integration and optimisation: The path towards cleaner production.

This contribution starts from the broad perspective of the global material cycles, analysing the main resource and pollution issues world-wide from the viewpoint of the disturbances to these cycles caused by human activities. The issues are analysed in the light of the currently developing COVID-19 pandemic with the resulting behavioural and business pattern changes. It has been revealed in the analysis of previous reviews that there is a need for a more comprehensive analysis of the resource and environmental impact contributions by industrial and urban processes, as well as product supply chains. The review discusses the recent key developments in the areas of Process Integration and Optimisation, the assessment and reduction of process environmental impacts, waste management and integration, green technologies. That is accompanied by a review of the papers in the current Virtual Special Issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production which is dedicated to the extended articles developed on the basis of the papers presented at the 22nd Conference on Process Integration for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction. The follow-up analysis reveals significant advances in the efficiency and emission cleaning effects of key processes, as well as water/wastewater management and energy storage. The further analysis of the developments identifies several key areas for further research and development - including increases of the safety and robustness of supply networks for products and services, increase of the resources use efficiency of core production and resource conversion processes, as well as the emphasis on improved product and process design for minimising product wastage.

Diurnal and temporal changes in air pollution during COVID-19 strict lockdown over different regions of India.

Lockdown measures to contain COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a considerable change in air pollution worldwide. We estimate the temporal and diurnal changes of the six criteria air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and gaseous pollutants (NO2, O3, CO, and SO2) during lockdown (25th March - 3rd May 2020) across regions of India using the observations from 134 real-time monitoring sites of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Significant reduction in PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and CO has been found in all the regions during the lockdown. SO2 showed mixed behavior, with a slight increase at some sites but a comparatively significant decrease at other locations. O3 also showed a mixed variation with a mild increase in IGP and a decrease in the South. The absolute decrease in PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 was observed during peak morning traffic hours (08-10 Hrs) and late evening (20-24 Hrs), but the percentage reduction is almost constant throughout the day. A significant decrease in day-time O3 has been found over Indo Gangetic plain (IGP) and central India, whereas night-time O3 has increased over IGP due to less O3 loss. The most significant reduction (∼40-60%) was found in PM2.5 and PM10. The highest decrease in PM was found for the north-west and IGP followed by South and central regions. A considerable reduction (∼30-70%) in NO2 was found except for a few sites in the central region. A similar pattern was observed for CO having a ∼20-40% reduction. The reduction observed for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and enhancement in O3 was proportional to the population density. Delhi's air quality has improved with a significant reduction in primary pollutants, however, an increase in O3 was observed. The changes reported during the lockdown are combined effect of changes in the emissions, meteorology, and atmospheric chemistry that requires detailed investigations.