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Titel

 

  1. 8th Workshop on "Air Quality and modelling" in Freiburg, 3/4 November 2020 ...

    The 8th Workshop "Air Quality and modelling" will take place in Freiburg on 3th and 4th November 2020.

    The bi-yearly workshop is intended to highlight current issues of air pollution management in a practice-oriented manner. Experts in the fields of air quality, planning and modelling from Germany and neighbouring countries will meet for talks and lively discussion. The workshop language is German.

    If You are interested, please use the registration form or send us a e-mail .
    Download registration form (in German) 

    We would be pleased to welcome you in Freiburg!

  2. Emission and Concentration Modelling in Maritime Transport Chains - MaritIEm project started on 1 June 2020 ...

    In this project, port-related traffic movements in Bremerhaven and Bremen will be analysed in order to determine the emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants caused by these movements. On this basis, pollutant dispersion in the urban area will then be modelled in order to quantify the contribution of port-related emissions to air pollution with spatial differentiation. The aim of the project is to use scenario calculations to derive measures that reduce the pollution caused by port-related activities in Bremerhaven and Bremen.

    The project "Emission and Concentration Modelling in Maritime Transport Chains (MaritIEm)" is carried out jointly by the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL), Bremen, and IVU Umwelt, Freiburg. The project started on 1 June 2020 with a term of three years and it is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure within the framework of the Modernity Fund (mFUND) funding scheme.

  3. Determination of the emission from motor vehicles - New standard published by VDI, the Association of German Engineers ...

    Available since May 2020:

    VDI 3782 Part 7: Environmental meteorology - Determination of the emission from motor vehicles - Air quality

    An employee of IVU Umwelt contributed to the standard as a member of the respective working group.

    This standard discusses the determination of emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases by vehicular traffic, using model calculations based on emission factors and emission models. It takes into account the emissions both of moving and of stationary traffic. First and foremost, this covers exhaust gas emissions, evaporation emissions, and emissions from wear and resuspension. Over and above that, the methodology also allows data to be obtained about energy or fuel consumption. The methods described in this standard address primarily the requirements relating to emission data that are meant to be used as input data for models to calculate the dispersal and chemical conversion of traffic-gererated pollutants in the atmosphere. 

    The standard has been developed and published by the ‘VDI/DIN-Commission on Air Pollution Prevention (KRdL) - Standards Committee'. VDI, the Association of German Engineers, is a financially independent and politically unaffiliated, non-profit organization of engineers as well as academics in other disciplines, especially in information science, the natural sciences and mathematics.

    More information on VDI 3782 Part 7

  4. Final report "Dynamic environmentally sensitive traffic management" published ...

    The final report "Dynamic environmentally sensitive traffic management" was published by the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt):

    • Diegmann, V.; Wursthorn, H.; Breitenbach, Y.; Düring, I.; Schönharting, J.; Kraus, Th.; Klemm, P.; Voigt, R.; Kohlen, R.; Löhner H. (2020): Dynamic environmentally sensitive traffic management. Reports of the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), Issue V 321. ISBN: 978-3-95606-481-4.

    In this project, existing environmentally sensitive traffic management (ETM) systems in Braunschweig, Erfurt, Potsdam and Wittenberg as well as a motorway traffic control system in Styria were selected for detailed investigations.

    The study shows that the ETM systems operate reliably and are accepted by public authorities, industry and private road users alike. They help to reduce air pollution and the measures implemented comply with the principle of proportionality.

    Based on operational data from the areas subject to investigation, it was possible to systematise and evaluate the effects of measures with regard to threshold values and traffic relocations. Changes in flow of traffic, journey times, emissions, road safety and concentrations were analysed as well. Furthermore, forecasts and levels of compliance were evaluated.

    For hot spots with an NO2 annual mean value close to the limit value, the reductions determined for soft measures, such as improving the flow of traffic and controlling the inflow of traffic, are in the single-digit percentage range. In terms of the number of days on which PM10 limit values were exceeded, a reduction of a few days was recorded. Higher rates of reduction can be achieved by stricter threshold values and/or introducing hard measures such as traffic restrictions or driving bans. For hot spots with considerable exceedances of limit values, only hard ETM measures lead to the desired results anyway. The environmentally sensitive approach allows threshold values and effects of measures to be optimised with respect to the targets.

    Cost and impact analyses show that the implemented ETM measures have either an overall positive cost-benefit ratio or are at least much more beneficial when comparing a dynamic activation with a permanent activation.

    Recommendations were given to the authorities on the design and use of ETM systems and measures, depending on local boundary conditions.

    Download final report (in German, summary in English)

  5. HBEFA Version 4.1 available - Update IMMISem/luft Version 8 in process ...

    Version 4.1 of the Handbook of Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA) is available.

    We are currently analyzing the new approaches and data and will integrate them in our products. As soon as the new version 8.0 of IMMISem/luft is available, our clients will be informed.

    More information on HBEFA 4.1

  6. Simplified determination of the spatial distances for concentration and deposition of air pollutants - New standard published by VDI, the Association of German Engineers ...

    Available since August 2019:

    VDI 3783 Part 15.1: Environmental meteorology - Simplified determination of the spatial distances for concentration and deposition of air pollutants - Emission of NOX, SO2 and NH3

    An employee of IVU Umwelt contributed to the standard as a member of the respective working group.

    The standard VDI 3783 Part 15 with its sub-parts describes simplified methods for determining spatial distances, based on a calculation of concentration and deposition values of air pollutants originating from emission sources with different release conditions. The concentration and deposition of the air pollutants NOX (nitrogen oxides), SO2 (sulphur dioxide), and NH3 (ammonia) are important in many investigations, e.g. in connection with the eutrophication and acidification of ecosystems. Starting from a certain distance away from the emission source outwards, the ground level concentration and the deposition of the air pollutants resulting from the emission source decrease constantly. There exists, therefore, a minimum spatial distance starting from which the concentration or the deposition drop below a given value.

    This standard VDI 3783 Part 15.1 describes methods for determining minimum spatial distances for sources with a source elevation of up to 20 m above ground that release the air pollutants NOX, SO2, or NH3.

    The standard has been developed and published by the ‘VDI/DIN-Commission on Air Pollution Prevention (KRdL) - Standards Committee'. VDI, the Association of German Engineers, is a financially independent and politically unaffiliated, non-profit organization of engineers as well as academics in other disciplines, especially in information science, the natural sciences and mathematics.

    More information on VDI 3783 Part 15.1 (in German)

  7. Securing the ozone forecast - IVU Umwelt’s report published by the German Federal Environment Agency ...

    The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides data on atmospheric pollution as part of the European Copernicus programme. These are the results of seven chemical transport mod-els (CTM) and their ensemble. These models provide daily forecasts for the next 96 hours in hourly resolution for various pollutants such as ozone and PM10.

    Since the late 1990s, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has been publishing maps of nationwide ozone forecasts for information purposes. These ozone forecasts are based on forecasts from the CAMS ensemble. Aim of the project described here was to analyse the extent to which the predictive quality of the CAMS ozone forecasts for Germany can be improved by postprocessing, particularly with regard to the detection of limit value exceedances. A corresponding study was carried out for the CAMS-PM10 forecasts:

    • IVU Umwelt (2019): Securing the ozone forecast. FKZ 3716 51 201 0. Published as UBA-Texte 70/2019. Contracting authority: German Federal Environment Agency (UBA).

    For postprocessing, the CAMS forecasts are corrected in a first step at measurement locations using measured data. In a second step, the correction factors determined at the measurement locations are interpolated and applied to the model grid of the CAMS forecasts.

    Three different correction methods (hybrid forecast, multiplicative correction, Kalman filter) were analysed using the CAMS forecast data for 2016 and two selected pollutant episodes from 2015 and 2017. The evaluation of both the CAMS forecast data and the corrected data was then carried out on the basis of statistical metrics and using the DELTA tool developed as part of the FAIRMODE initiative. It turned out that generally each of the three correction methods improves the CAMS forecasts. The Kalman filter often leads to the highest correlation coefficients. In addition, after correction with the Kalman filter, the forecast data best meet the quality criteria of the DELTA tool. However, the hybrid forecast often shows better behaviour when it comes to the detection of maximum values and limit value exceedances.

    Based on the results of the evaluation, an online tool for correcting the CAMS forecasts operationally was developed.

    Download (in German)

  8. Urban NO2 and PM10 concentrations: first steps towards the development of a model based and area related assessment strategy - IVU Umwelt’s report published by the German Federal Environment Agency ...

    The project was aiming at the development of first elements for a new strategy to assess air quality and exposure based on average values for areas or frequency distributions instead of point measurements. IVU Umwelt's report has been published by the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA):

    • IVU Umwelt (2019): Urban NO2 and PM10 concentrations: first steps towards the development of a model based and area related assessment strategy. Published as UBA-Texte 38/2019. In cooperation with Dr. Rainer Stern, Berlin und Dr. Eberhard Reimer, Berlin. Contracting authority: German Federal Environment Agency (UBA).

    In the project, NO2- and PM10-concentration fields were calculated for three cities in Germany in three spatial resolutions using the chemical transport model (CTM) REM-CALGRID (RCG). Within cities, there are huge variations of concentrations within one CTM grid cell of ca. 500 x 500 m² having a strong influence on exposure. Exemplary concentration distributions within selected CTM grid cells were calculated in high spatial resolution using a microscale model. The microscale modelling was performed with a coupling of the RANS-model MISKAM for flow modelling with the Lagrangian particle model LASAT for transport modelling. Average values and frequency distributions of concentrations were calculated for the scales of the CTM and the microscale modelling domains and comparatively analysed. 

    CTM modelling shows that cities do generate a signal in concentration fields with a spatial resolutions of 7 x 8 km². However, air quality is only coarsely represented. With increasing spatial resolution, the spatial distribution of concentrations is considerably differentiated and maximum concentrations in-crease. A high spatial resolution of around 1000 to 500 m is necessary for CTM modelling to capture the observed structure of urban background concentrations. With respect to exposure, this might lead to substantial increases of people affected by higher concentration levels.

    Indicative relationships between CTM results and frequency distributions of small scale concentration values could be derived. Thus, first elements have been developed for a new strategy to assess air quality.

    Download (in German)  

  9. Our presentations at HARMO 19 conference in Bruges, Belgium ...

    IVU Umwelt has contributed to the programme of the international conference HARMO 19 with the presentations:

    • Pfäfflin, F.; Diegmann, V.; Neunhäuserer, L.: Improving large-scale NO2 exposure assessment by integrating air quality data for street canyons.
    • Neunhäuserer, L.; Diegmann, V.; Breitenbach, Y.; Pfäfflin, F.; Nordmann, S.: Improvement of the predictive quality of CAMS forecasts for ozone and PM10.

    The 19th International conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes (HARMO 19) took place in Bruges, Belgium on 3 - 6 June 2019. The conference was aimed towards model developers, model users, environmental protection agencies and legislation experts. What distinguishes this conference from many others is its focus on common tools and methodologies. The series of international conferences on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes is concerned with the improvement of 'modelling culture' both in Europe and at an international level.

    More information on HARMO 19

  10. Paper on “FAIRMODE pilot” activity, co-authored by IVU Umwelt ...

    The paper "Supporting the improvement of air quality management practices: The ‘FAIRMODE pilot' activity" presents first outcomes of the "FAIRMODE pilot" activity, aiming at improving the way in which air quality models are used in the frame of the European Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EG. In both "assessment" and "planning" of air quality, models can and should be used: To do so, the used modelling chain has to be fit-for-purpose and properly checked and verified. FAIRMODE has developed in the recent years a suite of methodologies and tools to check if emission inventories, modelling performance, source apportionment techniques and planning activities are fit-for-purpose. Within the "FAIRMODE pilot", these tools are used and tested by regional/local authorities, with the two-fold objective of improving management practices at regional/local scale, and providing valuable feedback to the FAIRMODE community. Results and lessons learnt from this activity are presented in this paper, as a showcase that can potentially benefit other authorities in charge of air quality assessment and planning.

    • Pisoni, E.; Guerreiro, C.; Lopez-Aparicio, S.; Guevara, M.; Tarrason, L.; Janssen, S.; Thunis, P.; Pfäfflin, F.; Piersanti, A; Briganti, G.; Cappelletti, A.; D'Elia, I.; Mircea, M.; Villani, M.G.; Vitali, L.; Matavž, L.; Rus, M.; Žabkar, R.; Kauhaniemi, M.; Karppinen, A.; Kousa, A.; Väkevä, O.; Eneroth, K.; Stortini, M.; Delaney, K.; Struzewskam, J.; Durka, P.; Kaminskim, J.W.; Krmpotic, S.; Vidic, S.; Belavic, M.; Brzoja, D.; Milic, V.; Assimakopoulos, V.D.; Fameli, K.M.; Polimerova, T.; Stoyneva, E.; Hristova, Y.; Sokolovski, E.; Cuvelier, C. (2019): Supporting the improvement of air quality management practices: The ''FAIRMODE pilot'' activity. Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 235, P. 122-130. 

    Download paper  

  11. Air Quality Plans with IMMIS ...

    The software system IMMIS, a comprehensive set of tools to access traffic induced air pollution, has been and is used to develop many Air Quality Plans, Clean Air Plans and Action Plans in Germany.

    Selected cities, where IMMIS has been used for the development of more than 100 plans, are listed in a table.

    Download tablezum Archiv hier klicken

    More about IMMIS zum Archiv hier klicken

  12. 'From CTM model results to local exposure: first steps' - Our presentation at HARMO 18 conference in Bologna, Italy ...

    IVU Umwelt has contributed to the programme of the international conference HARMO 18 with the presentation:

    • Pfäfflin, F.; Diegmann, V.; Nordmann, S.: From CTM model results to local exposure: first steps.

    The 18th International conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes (HARMO 18) took place in Bologna, Italy on 9 - 12 October 2017. The conference was aimed towards model developers, model users, environmental protection agencies and legislation experts. What distinguishes this conference from many others is its focus on common tools and methodologies. The series of international conferences on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes is concerned with the improvement of 'modelling culture' both in Europe and at an international level.

    More information on HARMO 18

  13. Version 7 of IMMISem / IMMISair available ...

    Version 7 of IMMISem/air, the model for road traffic emissions and air quality screening, is available. Emission calculation is based on and in accordance with the current European Handbook for Emission factors (HBEFA 3.3).

    More information on IMMIS zum Archiv hier klicken

  14. 'Scale Effects in Air Quality Modelling and Assessment' - Our presentation at ASAAQ conference in Strasbourg, France ...

    IVU Umwelt has contributed to the programme of the International conference on Atmospheric Sciences and Application to Air Quality (ASAAQ) in Strasbourg with the presentation:

    • Pfäfflin, F.; Stern, R.; Diegmann, V.; Nordmann, S.: Scale Effects in Air Quality Modelling and Assessment.

    The 14th ASAAQ took place in Strasbourg, France on 29 - 31 May 2017, and fostered scientific discussion and exchange of information on the latest research and practical applications of atmospheric science to air quality issues.

    More information on 14th ASAAQ

  15. HBEFA Version 3.3 available - Update IMMISem/luft Version 7 in process ...

    Version 3.3 of the Handbook of Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA) is available.

    We are currently analyzing the new approaches and data and will integrate them in our products. As soon as the new version 7.0 of IMMISem/luft is available, our clients will be informed.

    HBEFA 3.3 is a "quick update" of HBEFA 3.2 and is focusing on the "hot" NOX-emission of diesel passenger cars. The other parts of HBEFA 3.2 remain unchanged.

    More information on HBEFA 3.3

  16. Photolysis frequencies for calculating pollutant concentrations in the troposphere - New standard published by VDI, the Association of German Engineers ...

    Available since April 2017:

    VDI 3783 Part 18: Environmental meteorology - Photolysis frequencies for calculating pollutant concentrations in the troposphere

    An employee of IVU Umwelt contributed to the standard as a member of the respective working group.

    The transformation of trace gases in the atmosphere is determined by radical chain reactions initiated by photolysis processes. More detailed assessment and prediction of air quality, therefore, require knowledge of photolysis frequencies. This standard provides photolysis frequencies for tropospheric conditions. To this end, spectral actinic photon flux densities were calculated for a large number of meteorological situations so as to cover typical conditions for Central Europe, with 200 m above sea level taken as the average altitude. The output of the calculation is done for the altitudes 0 m and 1000 m above ground.

    The standard has been developed and published by the ‘VDI/DIN-Commission on Air Pollution Prevention (KRdL) - Standards Committee'. VDI, the Association of German Engineers, is a financially independent and politically unaffiliated, non-profit organization of engineers as well as academics in other disciplines, especially in information science, the natural sciences and mathematics.

    More information on VDI 3783 Part 18

  17. Reaction mechanism for the determination of the nitrogen dioxide concentration - New standard published by VDI, the Association of German Engineers ...

    Available since April 2017:

    VDI 3783 Part 19: Environmental meteorology - Reaction mechanism for the determination of the nitrogen dioxide concentration

    An employee of IVU Umwelt contributed to the standard as a member of the respective working group.

    This standard describes an extended reaction system which accounts for the chemistry of nitrogen oxides with sufficient accuracy, in order to allow a quantitative immission forecast as part of a chemistry and transport model. It is suitable, for example, for evaluating procedures for reducing nitrogen oxide pollutions.

    The standard has been developed and published by the ‘VDI/DIN-Commission on Air Pollution Prevention (KRdL) - Standards Committee'. VDI, the Association of German Engineers, is a financially independent and politically unaffiliated, non-profit organization of engineers as well as academics in other disciplines, especially in information science, the natural sciences and mathematics.

    More information on VDI 3783 Part 19 (in German)

     

  18. Quantification of population-weighted PM10 exposure related to road traffic for the model region Berlin-Brandenburg - IVU Umwelt’s report published by the German Federal Environment Agency ...

     IVU Umwelt compiled the report 'Quantification of population-weighted PM10 exposure related to road traffic for the model region Berlin-Brandenburg', that has now been published by the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA).

    The report describes the implementation of methods to account for urban structures and, particularly, local traffic loads in the PM10 exposure assessment in a pilot study. For the German Federal States Berlin and Brandenburg, three different methods to refine the exposure assessment have been applied and the results were compared to existing data from modelling within air quality planning in high spatial resolutions.

    Simple methods using high resolution emission inventories may lead to 'visual' improvements with respect to finer structures. However, as they cannot account for the transport of the substances, they are clearly inferior to dispersion modelling of urban background concentrations in high spatial resolution. Screening approaches, which are well-used in air quality planning, are a very good basis to account for high concentrations caused by traffic. The method of the segment-based exposure as-sessment (SBE) presented here, is an easy-to-use approach to estimate exposure in hot spots based on gridded population data available for the entire country.

    Results show that notably increased spatial resolution of concentration fields in urban areas leads to a strong shift of the number of inhabitants towards higher concentration levels. Additionally, including local traffic increments in the assessment provides a means to quantify the fraction of the population affected by high concentrations that do not occur if the assessment is based on background con-centrations only.

    Download (in German)

  19. Modelling air pollutant concentration levels ...

    An abstract of IVU Umwelt on 'Modelling air pollutant concentration levels', providing solutions to air quality challenges, has been published in the journal International Transportation, Volume 68, Issue Special Edition 1: Smarter on the move - Green transport and digital mobility.

    Download 'Modelling air pollutant concentration levels'

  20. Air Quality Plan for Berlin 2011-2017 published in English ...

    The current Air Quality Plan for Berlin 2011-2017 has been published in English. It is based, inter alia, on the report ‘Update of the Air Quality Plan for Berlin 2009-2020', compiled by IVU Umwelt.

    This report contains, e. g., a detailed assessment of the air quality in Berlin's major road network for the base year 2009 and trend forecasts for 2015 and 2020. Five sets of measures were analysed with regard to their potential to reduce violations of limit values.

    Download Air Quality Plan for Berlin 2011-2017

  21. German Partnership for Sustainable Mobility ...

    IVU Umwelt is a friend of the "German Partnership for Sustainable Mobility" (GPSM). GPSM is serving as a guide for sustainable mobility and green logistics solutions and knowledge from Germany. As a platform for exchanging knowledge, expertise and experiences, GPSM supports the transformation towards sustainability in mobility and logistics in developing and emerging countries.

    In two brochures, IVU Umwelt's portofolio is presented:

    "Sustainable Mobility - Made in Germany" stands for sustainable, proven, resource efficient, innovative, trustworthy and flexible solutions for all domains of mobility and logistics services. The network GPSM, initiated by German Federal Government, is supported by German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).

    More information on GPSM

  22. Fine Particles - A Strategy Paper ...

    The German committee 'Fine Particles' has published the Strategy Paper 'Fine Particles' in English with the topics source-specific aspects of fine particles, effect-related metrics, as well as climate, weather and the transport of fine particles.

    The joint committee 'Fine Particles' represents a body of experts for chemical, chemical-technological and health aspects of fine particles in the environment and is involved in the scientific evaluation of the formation, occurrence and impact of aerosols/particulate matter in the environment and the pertinent regulations. The working party is an initiative of ProcessNet, German Chemical Society and Commission on Air Pollution Prevention (KRdL) of VDI and DIN.

    Download Strategy Paper Fine Particles 2014

    Download Statuspapier Feinstaub (in German)

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