On-road remote sensing measurements of air pollutant exhaust emissions from vehicles in London
Along with the FIA Foundation, Global NCAP, Emissions Analytics, Transport and Environment and the C40 Cities, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has established The Real Urban Emissions Initiative (TRUE). The TRUE initiative seeks to supply cities with data regarding the real-world emissions of their car fleets and equip them with technical information that can be used for strategic decision-making.
Following this objective, the ICCT decided to conduct on-road remote sensing measurements of air pollutant exhaust emissions from light-duty vehicles in the city of London. The ICCT has decided to award this contract to Opus RSE, who has partnered with Ricardo Energy & Environment and the University of York to carry on this project.
The field campaign measurements are being led by Dr. David Carslaw of the company Ricardo, who also works at the Department of Chemistry at the University of York. He has more than 10 years of experience in this technology and has led several vehicle emission campaigns in the UK. Ricardo has delivered leading air quality management services for over 60 years and today advises over 250 cities and international governments on their air pollution problems.
A cleaner air for London
London has already exceeded the European Union limits on nitrogen dioxide concentration (NO2) this year. NO2 pollution comes from a variety of sources, but the primary culprit in the UK is internal combustion engine vehicles. High pollution levels are linked to asthma and lung cancer. It is estimated that, across the country, NO2 pollution contributes to over 23,000 premature deaths each year.
AccuScan™ RSD offers empirical data of the emissions of each vehicle that passes by, similarly as the operation of a radar. In less than 1 second, the emissions of a vehicle are measured and associated with their type of vehicle, type of fuel and other vehicle technical data. The RSD has a quick, easy and unobtrusively deployment at the road
Location
The measurements are being done in the area of london, both in the city centre and on major motorway accesses.
By deploying the RSD equipment at different locations, different vehicles are analyzed, depending on socio-economic factors or routes' characteristics.
Each location has different parameters: traffic flow, speed, slope... Thanks to this, different real-driving emissions are captured by the equipment and studied by our experts.
