Opus data helps to define Barcelona’s Low Emission Zone
Barcelona 2017
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In 2017 Opus carried out a major project to measure exhaust emissions from on-road traffic in the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area. Opus was contracted by Barcelona Regional, a public agency for urban planning led by Barcelona City Council. The other entities funding the project were RACC, Barcelona City Council and AMB (Àrea metropolitana de Barcelona)
This project was one of the largest remote-sensing projects ever done in Europe and its results pushed the city authorities to impose new restrictions on polluting vehicles. The RSDs were placed at 32 different locations in Barcelona. This mobility can only be achieved with Opus portable system, which is small and easy to set-up. Measurement sites included areas inside and around the city of Barcelona: city center, motorways, the port, industrial sites, etc.
Hundreds of thousands of vehicles were analyzed. It was calculated that the High Emitters of Barcelona, which account for 6% of the entire fleet, contribute between 20-30% of total traffic emissions. The study showed that the identification and repair of High Emitters would be the most economical measure to reduce on-road traffic emissions.
The results of the project helped to shape the current Low Emission Zone. Data were used to update the traffic emission factors and improve the predictive air quality model of Barcelona, running on the Marenostrum Supercomputer, one of the most powerful computing centers in Europe.




Related to
In 2017 Opus carried out a major project to measure exhaust emissions from on-road traffic in the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area. Opus was contracted by Barcelona Regional, a public agency for urban planning led by Barcelona City Council. The other entities funding the project were RACC, Barcelona City Council and AMB (Àrea metropolitana de Barcelona)
This project was one of the largest remote-sensing projects ever done in Europe and its results pushed the city authorities to impose new restrictions on polluting vehicles. The RSDs were placed at 32 different locations in Barcelona. This mobility can only be achieved with Opus portable system, which is small and easy to set-up. Measurement sites included areas inside and around the city of Barcelona: city center, motorways, the port, industrial sites, etc.
Hundreds of thousands of vehicles were analyzed. It was calculated that the High Emitters of Barcelona, which account for 6% of the entire fleet, contribute between 20-30% of total traffic emissions. The study showed that the identification and repair of High Emitters would be the most economical measure to reduce on-road traffic emissions.
The results of the project helped to shape the current Low Emission Zone. Data were used to update the traffic emission factors and improve the predictive air quality model of Barcelona, running on the Marenostrum Supercomputer, one of the most powerful computing centers in Europe.




