Over the last 20 years, the Kirk R. Smith research group at the University of California Berkeley—in collaboration with Electronically Monitored Ecosystems, Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, and other academic institutions—has developed a suite of relatively inexpensive, rugged, battery-operated, microchip-based devices to quantify parameters related to household air pollution. These devices include two generations of particle monitors; data-logging temperature sensors to assess time of use of household energy devices; a time-activity monitoring system using ultrasound; and a CO2-based tracer-decay system to assess ventilation rates. Development of each system involved numerous iterations of custom hardware, software, and data processing and visualization routines along with both lab and field validation. The devices have been used in hundreds of studies globally and have greatly enhanced our understanding of heterogeneous household air pollution (HAP) concentrations and exposures and factors influencing them.

Four light-duty vehicles (two diesel, one flex-fuel, and one gasoline vehicle) were tested as part of an intercomparison exercise of the world-harmonized light-duty vehicle test procedure (WLTP) aiming at measuring real-time ammonia emissions from the vehicles’ raw exhaust at the tailpipe. The tests were conducted in the Vehicle Emission Laboratory (VELA) at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), Ispra, Italy. HORIBA, CGS, and the Sustainable Transport Unit of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) took part in the measurement and analysis of the four vehicles’ exhaust emissions over the world-harmonized light-duty vehicle test cycle class 3, version 5.3 using a HORIBA MEXA 1400 QL-NX, a CGS BLAQ-Sys, and the JRC Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, respectively. The measured ammonia concentrations and the emission profiles revealed that these three instruments are suitable to measure ammonia from the vehicles’ raw exhaust, presenting no significant differences. Furthermore, results showed that measurement of ammonia from the vehicle exhaust using online systems can be performed guaranteeing the reproducibility and repeatability of the results. While no ammonia was detected for any of the two diesel vehicles (even though, one was equipped with a selective catalytic reduction system), we report average ammonia emission factors 8–10 mg/km (average concentrations 20–23 ppm) and 10–12 mg/km (average concentrations 22–24 ppm) for the flex-fuel and gasoline vehicles, respectively.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11356-015-4267-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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IntroductionWinter air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is among the worst in the world. The health impacts of policy decisions affecting air pollution exposures in Ulaanbaatar were modeled and evaluated under business as usual and two more-strict alternative emissions pathways through 2024. Previous studies have relied on either outdoor or indoor concentrations to assesses the health risks of air pollution, but the burden is really a function of total exposure. This study combined projections of indoor and outdoor concentrations of PM2.5 with population time-activity estimates to develop trajectories of total age-specific PM2.5 exposure for the Ulaanbaatar population. Indoor PM2.5 contributions from secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) were estimated in order to fill out total exposures, and changes in population and background disease were modeled. The health impacts were derived using integrated exposure-response curves from the Global Burden of Disease Study.ResultsAnnual average population-weighted PM2.5 exposures at baseline (2014) were estimated at 59 μg/m3. These were dominated by exposures occurring indoors, influenced considerably by infiltrated outdoor pollution. Under current control policies, exposures increased slightly to 60 μg/m3 by 2024; under moderate emissions reductions and under a switch to clean technologies, exposures were reduced from baseline levels by 45% and 80%, respectively. The moderate improvement pathway decreased per capita annual disability-adjusted life year (DALY) and death burdens by approximately 40%. A switch to clean fuels decreased per capita annual DALY and death burdens by about 85% by 2024 with the relative SHS contribution increasing substantially.ConclusionThis study demonstrates a way to combine estimated changes in total exposure, background disease and population levels, and exposure-response functions to project the health impacts of alternative policy pathways. The resulting burden analysis highlights the need for aggressive action, including the elimination of residential coal burning and the reduction of current smoking rates.

a b s t r a c tThe use of selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR) to abate NOx vehicular emissions brings new concerns on the emissions of the byproducts NH 3 and N 2 O. Therefore, NH 3 and N 2 O on-road emissions from a Euro V truck equipped with a SCR were measured in real time using a QCL-IR. Results bring to light possibility to perform this kind of real time measurements for other pollutants besides, hydrocarbons, NOx, CO and CO 2 . The capability to measure NH 3 and N 2 O in a second-by-second basis will allow applying the currently agreed regulatory emissions evaluation for gaseous compounds. Average N 2 O emission factors calculated applying the current PEMS-based data analysis to all available windows from the tests ranged from 0.063 g/kWh to 0.139 g/kWh. Average NH 3 concentrations ranged from 0.9 ppm to 5.7 ppm. Although calculated average N 2 O and NH 3 emissions were within current limits, NOx emissions were substantially higher than Euro V limits under the studied conditions.