Reducing Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure in Smart Growth Development

Transcription

1 Reducing Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure in Smart Growth Development Ashley Russell, Doug Eisinger, Steve Brown Sonoma Technology, Inc. Dahlia Chazan Arup North America Ltd. Rich Baldauf U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development John Thomas U.S. EPA Office of Sustainable Communities Chad Bailey U.S. EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality Katie Stewart U.S. EPA Region 9 Air Division Presented at the 2014 Transportation/Land Use Planning/Air Quality (TLUPAQ) Workshop Developing Healthy and Livable Communities Charlotte, NC March 3, 2014 STI-5919

2 Ferry service to downtown San Francisco Shops, restaurants, movie theater High density housing

3 Major road Ferry Freeway Shops Housing

4 4 Outline 1. STI-Arup near-road/smart growth project (EPA-sponsored) 2. STI HVAC filtration case study in schools near US 95 in Las Vegas, NV (Nevada DOT-sponsored) 3. Planned future work

5 Air Quality Planning 5 Introduction to Core Concepts To mitigate traffic-related air pollution exposure, target Emissions Smoothing traffic flow can substantially (~80%) cut emissions. Rerouting or restricting trucks targets priority emissions. Concentrations Moving >150 m from roads can decrease concentrations 50% or more. Installing barriers can reduce near-road concentrations ~15% to 60%. Exposure Moving horizontally or vertically away can decrease exposure. Improving filtration can substantially cut indoor exposure (~98%). Note: Supplemental slides have supporting citations and data.

6 Transportation & Community Planning 6 Translating Air Quality Principles to Some Planning Options Emissions Concentrations Exposure Transportation Infrastructure Roadside Features Site Planning Building Design, Ops. Corridor Mgt. Barrier Use Design Design Minimize congestion Reroute trucks Street Design Lower volumes Buffer people from roads Install walls Add vegetation Locate sensitive uses farther from roads Optimize occupant placement Operations Use/improve HVAC filtration

7 Transportation Infrastructure 7 Corridor Management Reduce Emissions Minimize congestion Coordinate signal lights Employ congestion pricing Reroute, restrict truck traffic Redirect travel via industrial, not residential areas Pre-mitigation Route 1 Pre-mitigation Route 2 Final rerouting Truck rerouting reduced diesel PM emissions in San Diego residential area. Image: Karner et al., 2009.

8 Transportation Infrastructure 8 Street Design Reduce Emissions Reduce traffic volumes Encourage active transportation Increase transit services Improve traffic flow Provide bus pullouts, turn lanes Reduce traffic speeds Reduce Exposure Buffer people from road Provide wide sidewalks Use landscaping Complete streets support multimodal travel (ULI image, 2012). Wider sidewalks and landscaping create buffers.

9 Roadside Features 9 Barrier Use Reduce Concentrations Wall blocks, lofts pollution Vegetation blocks, lofts and/or filters pollution Walls and vegetation work synergistically Normalized Concentration no barrier barrier Distance from source scaled by barrier height (m) Image: Finn et al., Walls and vegetation together may reduce concentrations up to 60%. Effects are still uncertain and depend on factors such as height, placement, street design, meteorology, vegetation species, and season. Model development and research are ongoing.

10 Land Use and Site Planning 10 Reduce Exposure Worse layout Site Design Improved layout Note: Drawing not to scale

11 Land Use and Site Planning 11 Reduce Exposure Worse layout Site Design 1 1 Improved layout Note: Drawing not to scale

12 Building Design and Operations 12 Building Design and Operations Reduce Exposure Optimize occupant placement (higher & away from roads) Optimize air intakes (higher) Improve filtration (next slides) Use high-efficiency filters Air seal windows, doors, HVAC ducts Time air intake to avoid rush hours Perform regular maintenance Image: Chan et al., Vertical dispersion of PM, Hong Kong street canyon.

13 Building Design and Operations 13 Building Operations Case Study Fyfe Elementary, near US 95, Las Vegas (one of several schools studied) Before widening After widening Roberts et al., 2010; McCarthy et al., 2013

14 Building Design and Operations 14 US 95 Case Study: HVAC Filtration Efficiency (for Black Carbon) School % Outdoor Air Upgraded Prefilter Rating Upgraded Filter Rating Adcock Elem. 30 MERV 8 MERV 15 Fyfe Elem. 22 MERV 8 MERV 15 Western High 30 None MERV 11 School Original Efficiency Upgraded Efficiency (2008) 2013 Efficiency (+5 yrs) Adcock Elem. 66% 97% 91% Fyfe Elem. 50% 72% 50% Western High 31% 71% 93% Roberts et al., 2013 Note: Original Filter Rating of MERV 6 was used in all three schools MERV = Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, per the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). This is the typical efficiency of particle removal in the size range of 0.3 to 10 microns in diameter.

15 Transportation & Community Planning 15 Mitigation Options: Ideally, Consider Implementing Several as a Package Emissions Concentrations Exposure Transportation Infrastructure Roadside Features Site Planning Building Design, Ops. Corridor Mgt. Barrier Use Design Design Minimize congestion Reroute trucks Street Design Lower volumes Buffer people from roads Install walls Add vegetation Locate sensitive uses farther from roads Optimize occupant placement Operations Use/improve HVAC filtration

16 16 Future Work Finish outreach materials that Summarize near-road air pollution issues Provide mitigation options Additional planned work includes Case study: near-road pollution, smart growth vs. suburban sprawl settings Brief assessment: tools to evaluate exposure Contact study authors to share related information or research.

17 17 Acknowledgments The outreach work is supported by several U.S. EPA offices: Office of Sustainable Communities Office of Research and Development Office of Transportation and Air Quality Region 9 Office Office of Children s Health Protection The school filtration pilot testing work is supported by Nevada Department of Transportation Clark County School District Much of this material was also presented in Workshop 198 at the TRB annual conference, Washington, D.C., January 12, 2014

18 Supplemental Slides for Questions and Answers 18

19 Core Concepts: Emissions 19 Smoothing Flow Can Reduce Emissions (~80%) Additional Resources Timoshek et al. (2010) Mobile source air toxic emissions: sensitivity to traffic volume, fleet composition, and average speed. Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2158, Keuken et al. (2010) Reduced NO x and PM 10 emissions on urban motorways in The Netherlands by 80 km/h speed management. Science of the Total Environment, 408(12), NO x emissions vs vehicle speed for a gasoline-powered passenger car on an urban arterial roadway in 2008 according to MOVES2010b. Image created by STI. Dowling et al. (2005) Predicting air quality effects of traffic-flow improvements. Available at _rpt_535.pdf.

20 Core Concepts: Emissions 20 Rerouting, Restricting Trucks Targets Priority Emissions Additional Resources Karner et al. (2009) Mitigating diesel truck impacts in environmental justice communities: transportation planning and air quality in Barrio Logan, San Diego. Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2125, 1-8. Pollutant concentrations as a function of distance from the roadway for roadways with <5% and >25% diesel traffic. Image from Zhu et al. (2002). Burr et al. (2004) Effects on respiratory health of a reduction in pollution from vehicle exhaust emissions. Occup. Environ. Med., 61(3), Zhu et al. (2002) Study of ultrafine particles near a major highway with heavy-duty diesel traffic. Atmos. Environ., 36(27),

21 Core Concepts: Concentrations 21 Concentrations Generally Decrease by at Least 50% Within 150 m of a Roadway Rapid: >50% drop by 150 m CO (32) EC (49) NO (67) NO X (30) UF1 Particle no. (76) UF2 Particle no. (93) VOC1 (80) Normalized pollutant concentration as a function of distance in meters from the roadway. Image from Karner et al. (2010). Additional Resources Karner et al. (2010) Near-roadway air quality: synthesizing the findings from real-world data. Environ. Sci. Technol., 44, HEI Panel on the Health Effects of Traffic-Related Pollution (2010) Traffic-related air pollution: a critical review of the literature on emissions, exposure, and health effects. Special Report 17 by the HEI, Boston, MA. Zhu et al. (2002) Study of ultrafine particles near a major highway with heavy-duty diesel traffic. Atmos. Environ., 36(27),

22 Core Concepts: Concentrations 22 Barriers Can Reduce Concentrations ~15-60% Additional Resources No barrier or elevated roadway Roadway configurations with a barrier Normalized pollutant concentrations, normalized distance from road, and presence of a barrier. Data from Baldauf et al., 2009 (Near-road air quality monitoring: factors affecting network design and interpretation of data) Heist et al., 2009 (Wind tunnel study on the effect of roadway configurations on the dispersion of traffic-related pollution) Hagler et al. (2012) Field investigation of roadside vegetative and structural barrier impact on nearroad ultrafine particle concentrations under a variety of wind conditions. Science of the Total Environment, 419, Finn et al. (2010) Tracer studies to characterize the effects of roadside noise barriers on near-road pollutant dispersion under varying atmospheric stability conditions. Atmos. Environ., 44, Baldauf et al. (2008) Impacts of noise barriers on near-road air quality. Atmos. Environ., 42,

23 Core Concepts: Exposure 23 Site and Building Design and Use Can Reduce Exposure (Consider Concentration Changes with Height) Additional Resources Jung et al. (2011) Effects of floor level and building type on residential levels of outdoor and indoor polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, black carbon, and particulate matter in New York City. Atmosphere, 2, Modeled vertical profiles of CO in a New York City street canyon. Concentration in the graph refers to the contribution from traffic. Image from Zhou and Levy (2008). Zhou and Levy (2008) The impact of urban street canyons on population exposure to trafficrelated primary pollutants. Atmos. Environ., 42(13),

24 Core Concepts: Exposure 24 Filtration Can Reduce Indoor Particle Exposure by as Much as 98% Additional Resources McCarthy et al. (2013) Filtration effectiveness of HVAC systems at near-roadway schools. Indoor Air, 23(3) Polidori et al. (2012) Pilot study of high-performance air filtration for classroom applications. Indoor Air, 23(3) Indoor versus outdoor black carbon concentrations for classrooms using low- (purple) and high-efficiency (brown) filters. Image from McCarthy et al. (2013). Jamriska et al. (2003) Control strategies for sub-micrometer particles indoors: model study of air filtration and ventilation. Indoor Air, 13(2),