AQMRC leading on the Environmental Technologies iNet

AQMRC is playing a leading role in a major new initiative to support the low carbon high skills future of the South West economy. The Environmental Technologies iNet, led by UWE, is a three-year, £2 million project assisting environmental goods and services businesses in the South West to innovate their products and services faster, improve their competitiveness and market awareness, and engage with a range of routes to market. ERDF will fund c£1 million, the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) will provide c. £500,000 match funding, with a further £500,000 match coming from the delivery partners: UWE, University of Bristol, University of Exeter, RegenSW and Bristol City Council. The project will target 250 high growth potential environmental technology and services SMEs and provide them each with a customised programme of business assistance, primarily focusing on four subsectors of renewable energy, waste management, sustainable transport and sustainable construction. The iNet will address many of the disconnects hampering the development of these subsectors including the fragmented relationships between the companies, agencies and universities; the inefficiencies in knowledge and technology transfer; the slow sharing of best practice and business intelligence and the poor connection to international markets for investors, customers and partners. The iNet will create a focal point for the sector, directly supporting businesses, facilitating the linkages between ideas, technology, expertise and commercialisation, and improving international connectivity. Prof Jim Longhurst led the Environmental iNet bid and is the UWE project manager, and Dr Enda Hayes has been seconded on a part-time basis to the iNet as the Business Support Manager.

Mo attends GIS training in Germany

Mofoluso recently visited Infoterra, located in Immenstaad, Germany. The visit provided opportunity for hands-on experience with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Satellite Image Processing and Applications, with specific emphasis on applications to emissions monitoring and inventorying. High resolution TerraSAR-X images were used to identify point, line and area sources of air pollutants within the Niger Delta. Emission stacks were also identified from the satellite images. The techniques of estimating stack heights from TerraSAR-X was demonstrated. This is particularly useful for data gathering over cloudy and inaccessible regions. The experience will form an invaluable asset to his PhD research, especially in the area of data gathering, identifying sources of emissions for emissions inventorying, and estimating stack heights useful for dispersion modelling. Click here to access Mo’s research page.

Dotun’s PhD graduation ceremony

Congratulations to Dotun Olowoporoku who received his PhD award at the UWE 2010 Award Ceremony on 17th November 2010 held in Bristol Cathedral. Dotun was also the 2010 recipient of the Dr Nurul Leksmono Prize for the most outstanding international PhD thesis on the subject of air quality, carbon management or environmental management. The Prize was instituted for UWE international students in memory of former AQMRC Research Fellow, the late Dr Nurul Leksmono. Dotun is pictured here reflecting wistfully on his three year studentship. Click here to access Dotun’s research page.

Rhondda bid success

AQMRC have recently been awarded a 15-month contract with Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council to undertake a Detailed and Further Assessment at Glyncoch, near Pontypridd. AQMRC is pleased to collaborate with Enviro Technology Ltd and Advance Environmental to assist RCTCBC with the monitoring, modelling and source apportionment of PM10 in this prestigious project. Jo Barnes will project manage this exciting new activity of AQMRC.

IIT Visit

AQMRC were delighted to welcome esteemed colleagues from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and Madras. Professor Mukesh Khare (IITD) and Dr Shiva Nagendra (IITM) met with AQMRC’s Jo Barnes and Dr Dotun Olowoporoku (pictured) to discuss development of an air quality management framework for cities in India. Professor Longhurst said “This is a very exciting opportunity to progress our links with colleagues in India and to share our experiences gained of managing air quality in the UK.” This project builds upon a long standing cooperation between AQMRC and IITD and will see AQMRC staff attend a seminar in Delhi in February 2011.

AQMRC CPD training success continues

Following the success of this year’s Air Quality and Carbon Management CPD courses, AQMRC is pleased to announce that the training opportunities will continue into 2011. The next session will be Introduction to Local Air Quality Management on 14th January followed by Introduction to Carbon Management on 8th February. The full schedule of courses is available on the AQMRC website and you can book your place online. Book three or more courses to receive 15% discount!

Sue Duffy – the legacy of a legend!!

Sue finally called time on her UWE career and officially retired on the 8th of December 2010 after working as the AQMRC Administrator for the last five years. Sue will be truly missed by her AQMRC colleagues but also, as illustrated by the exceptionally large turnout at her leaving party, by everyone within FET. Sue was not just our administrator but also our organiser, conscience, agony aunt, epic tea and coffee maker, surrogate mother and willing partner in mischief!! Sue is a remarkable lady, colleague and friend who will be missed by all. Sue is pictured here receiving one of her leaving presents of art materials to kick-start her new career as a world-famous artist!

AQMRC chosen to provide support to Dube Aerotropolis, Durban, South Africa in developing a Framework for Sustainability

AQMRC has been appointed to assist Dube Tradeport and Tongaat Hulett Developments to prepare a Framework for Sustainability as input into the preparation of the Dube Aerotropolis Regional Development Strategy. This exciting multi-disciplinary project brings together many Faculty of Environment and Technology colleagues including Dr Enda Hayes (Project Manager), Prof Jim Longhurst, Dr Tim Chatterton, Ms Jo Barnes and Ms Rose Bailey from AQMRC, other ISHE colleagues including Dr Sarah Hills, Dr Ian Smith, Dr Chad Staddon and Dr Nevil Quinn and external expertise from Visiting Research Fellow Dr Mark Everard. The project team will advise on sustainable development guidelines for the land use and infrastructural framework in the vicinity of the King Shaka International Airport, while supporting the client’s vision of working towards carbon and water neutrality for the area. The Dube Aerotropolis covers a radius of approximately 15 km around the recently opened King Shaka International Airport within the KwaDukuza Municipality north of the city of Durban. AQMRC will provide specialist advice on carbon emissions and management in the Aerotropolis area. This project builds on AQMRC experience in air and carbon management in Africa, including the Low Carbon Consensus Panel study for the Academy of Science of South Africa and the National Framework for Air Quality for the South African Government.

IAPSC

On the 13th December, Tim chaired the winter IAPSC conference in Birmingham. Presentations included the traditional Defra Update spot (this time presented by Defra AQ newbie Neil Hamilton) as well as sessions on Communicating the Air Quality Problem, Vehicle Emissions and Local Authority Case Studies on LAQM.

EPSRC sandpit

From the 6th to 10th December, Tim attended an RCUK Energy Programme Sandpit Event on “Transport Behaviours, Habits and Practices” in Bath, with 20 other researchers from a range of different subjects ranging from Transport Studies, to Geography, Sociology, Economics and Digital Design. Over the five days the researchers worked to come up with a range of proposals for novel research into the transport problem.

West London Freight Project

West London Air Quality Group Freight project

Tim giving talk to Walker Institute at Reading University

On Wednesday 24th November, Tim will be giving a seminar about his Fellowship in DECC to members of the Walker Institute at Reading University.

Tim called to give evidence to House of Lords

Tim has been called to the House of Lords to give evidence to the Science and Technology Committee who are currently undertaking a inquiry into the use of behaviour change interventions as a means of achieving government policy goals. http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/science-and-technology-committee/inquiries/behaviour/

He will be giving evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday 23^rd November.

Introduction to Air Pollution training day success

Attendees at last Friday's 'Introduction to Air Pollution' training day reported very positive feedback, commenting that the course gave "a very good introduction" and "both the food and venue were of a high quality". The course covered, sources and effects of air pollution, chemistry and meteorology.

This was just one of a series of one-day IAQM and IES accredited CPD courses run by the Air Quality Management Resource Centre at UWE, Bristol. Further details of other courses in the series are available on the AQMRC website. Click here to register your interest or book online. Book three or more courses and get 15% discount!

Please note that the next session will be Introduction to Local Air Quality Management on 14th January (Introduction to Carbon Management has been postponed to 8th February).

Enda invited to present to the Air Quality Expert Group

Enda was invited to present at a special Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) evidence session  in Port Talbot on the 15^th November 2010. Enda’s presentation gave AQEG an overview of the findings and recommendations of the 2009 study “An Independent Review of Monitoring Measures Undertaken in Neath Port Talbot in respect to PM10”.

 

Jim to Co- Chair Air Pollution 2011

Jim Longhurst again will be the co-chair for the 19th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution “Air Pollution 2011” which is to be held in Malta from the 19th – 21st September 2011. Jim will also co-edit the conference hardback book that will be published to coincide with the start of the conference.

The call for papers is available at http://www.wessex.ac.uk/11-conferences/airpollution-2011.html

Further details about the conference are available from the Claire Shiell at the address below
Claire Shiell
Conference Secretariat,
Air Pollution 2011
Wessex Institute of Technology,
Ashurst Lodge,
Ashurst,
Southampton, SO40 7AA
Tel: 44 (0) 238 0293223
Fax: 44 (0) 238 0292853
cshiell@wessex.ac.uk

Low Carbon Cities Consensus Panel. Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)

Jim has recently returned from a visit to South Africa (3-9th October) where he attended the second meeting of the Academy of Science of South Africa’s Low Carbon Cities Consensus Panel. As part of his contribution to the work of the Panel, Jim and AQMRC colleagues prepared a review of carbon management plans and strategies that are being implemented in European capital cities. The overall goal of the ASSAf study is to identify key areas of intervention that would position the city of Durban on a pathway towards a low carbon future. The study has been commissioned by the Environmental Management Unit of the eThekwini Municipality (City of Durban) and the panel is led by the Executive Officer of ASSAf, Prof Roseanne Diab. The study is financially supported by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) See http://www.assaf.co.za/?page_id=998 for further details.

AQMRC/EPUK-SW Annual conference presentations online

The 12th Annual Conference of the AQMRC, UWE and EPUK-SW was held last Tuesday 12th October. The theme of this year's conference, was entitled "Healing the Rift - Health Effects of Air Quality and Noise", and sought to highlight the benefits for health of co-managing these two policy areas. The event, which was held for the first time at UWE's Exhibition and Conference Centre, was a great success with positive feedback from speakers and delegates alike. The presentations are now available to download on the AQMRC webpages.

Rose and Jo present at IUAPPA 2010

Rose Bailey and Jo Barnes presented their research at the 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress on 12th - 16th September 2010.

Rose presented City-scale Carbon Management: An Innovative Methodology for Imagining a Low Carbon Future in the Urban Sustainability Issues session, which she also chaired. Jo presented Reframing the United Kingdom's Air Quality Management Challenge: From Diagnosis to Solutions in the Approaches to Environmental Management session. Jo was also asked to present on What Scope is there for Demand Management to Deliver Better Urban Air Quality Environments in the Special Session: Greener Transport in a Post-Recession World.

The presentations were well received and generated a lot of interesting debate.

Visit the IUAPPA website and download the book of abstracts and the conference presentations.

For further information on Rose's and Jo's research, please email rosemary.bailey@uwe.ac.uk and jo.barnes@uwe.ac.uk respectively or visit their webpages: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html and http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/jo.html.

Enda and Jim meet with Rob Hannaby from New Zealand Transport Agency

Enda and Jim recently had a lengthy, engaging and very informative meeting with Rob Hannaby, Principal Environmental Specialist from the New Zealand Transport Agency. Rob, an ex-air quality officer from Stoke-on-Trent City Council, contacted AQMRC as he wanted to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses local air quality management processes and the future challenges we face in the UK. Rob envisaged that the experiences of the UK highlighted by Enda and Jim may be beneficial in assisting the New Zealand transport authority in recognising their key role in managing local air quality and the lessons learned may be useful in informing future NZ policy.    

Enda presents at the Welsh Air Quality Forum

Enda gave a presentation at the annual Welsh Air Quality Forum Conference in Cwmbran on the 22^nd September 2010. The presentation entitled “Local Air Quality Management Update: Reviewing the Reviews” gave the delegates an insight into the findings and recommendations of the recent Local Air Quality Management Review (for which Enda was responsible for an extensive questionnaire survey of local authority opinions on the strengths and weakness of the LAQM process) and the Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into air quality in the UK.

Enda gives a presentation and chairs the annual SEPA Conference

Enda gave a presentation entitled “Setting the Scene: Local Air Quality Management in the UK” and also chaired the recent Urban Air Quality Annual Conference organised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The Conference was directed at local authority land use planners, transport planners and sustainability staff can help to improve air quality, minimise the risk to human health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The event, hosted by the Scottish Government in Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, on the 8^th September 2010, was well attended with over 90 delegates from environmental health, transport planning, land-use planning, environmental consultancies and academics.

Recent publication with the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Dotun recently co-authored a journal paper on the pollution status of water bodies that feeds the Lagos Lagoon. The paper was published in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Edokpayi, C. A., Olowoporoku, A. O. and Uwadiae, R. E. (2010). The hydrochemistry and macrobenthic fauna characteristics of an urban draining creek. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 2(8), 196-203. Available online on here

More recent publications...

The following short articles have been published in the August 2010 issue of the Environmental Scientist which is devoted to Imagining Britain in 2050.

Dotun Olowoporoku and Jim Longhurst (2010)
Cities and the vision of a green, pleasant and low carbon UK.
Environmental Scientist 19 (2) 8-11

Rose Bailey and Jim Longhurst (2010)
Case Study: 2050 Bristol. A world leader in green business and sustainable living.
Environmental Scientist 19 (2) 29-34

The Environmental Scientist is the Journal of the Institution of Environmental Sciences, ISSN 09668411.
For information on the IES visit http://www.ies-uk.org.uk/

AQMRC Publications Update

Recent publications from AQMRC:

Dorfman, P., Gibbs, D.C., Leksmono, N.S., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E.L.C. (2010) Exploring the context of consultation. The case of Local air Quality Management. Local Environment 15:1 15 – 26.

Olowoporoku, A. O., Hayes, E. T., Leksmono, N. S., Longhurst, J. W. S. & Parkhurst, G. (2010) A longitudinal study of the links between Local Air Quality Management and Local Transport Planning policy processes in England. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 53 (3), 385 – 403.

AQMRC/EPUK-SW Annual conference - 12th October 2010 - BOOK NOW!!

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre, UWE and Environmental Protection SW are proud to announce their collaboration once more with the launch of the 2010 Annual Conference. The theme of this year's event is "Healing the Rift: Health Effects of Air Quality and Noise" and includes distinguished speakers such as Robert Vaughan, Bob Maynard, Frank Kelly and Dick Derwent. You can also meet EPUK's new Chief Executive Officer, James Grugeon.

UWE will be hosting the event at their purpose-built Exhibition and Conference Centre in Bristol. The venue is easily accessible by road, rail, bus or cycle - in fact we will be offering free mugs for those travelling by sustainable means, so keep your tickets! - and there is also a nearby Holiday Inn for those planning on travelling a little further.

The conference is to be held on Tuesday 12th October - just 5 weeks away! - so make sure you book your place for what promises to be a fascinating insight into cross-policy interaction with plenty of relevance for Action Planning for both Air Quality and Noise.

Click here to download a flier and booking form.

Air Pollution 2011 Call for Papers

Air Pollution 2011, 19th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution, 19 - 21 September 2011 Malta

The call for papers has now been published at http://www.wessex.ac.uk/11-conferences/airpollution-2011.html

Further details from Claire Shiell
Conference Secretariat,

Wessex Institute of Technology,

Ashurst Lodge,

Ashurst,

Southampton, SO40 7AA

Tel: 44 (0) 238 0293223

Fax: 44 (0) 238 0292853

cshiell@wessex.ac.uk

Air Pollution 2010 - Post conference report now available

Air Pollution 2010 18th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution, 21 - 23 June 2010, Kos, Greece

Post Conference Report Now Available at http://www.wessex.ac.uk/10-conferences/air-pollution-2010.html

The 18th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution (Air Pollution 2010) has recently taken place on the island of Kos, Greece, organised by Professor Jim Longhurst from the University of the West of England and Professor Carlos A Brebbia from Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT).
This successful international meeting built upon the prestigious outcomes of the 17 preceding conferences beginning in Monterrey, Mexico in 1993 and most recently in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2009. These meetings have always attracted outstanding contributions from leading researchers from around the world. The presented papers have been permanently stored in the WIT eLibrary as Transactions of the Wessex Institute (see http://library.witpress.com/). These papers provide an important online record of the development of science and policy pertaining to air pollution and they remain permanently available for researchers to access. Read the full conference report at http://www.wessex.ac.uk/10-conferences/air-pollution-2010.html

Rose to present at 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress

Rose has been selected to present at the 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress held in Vancouver, Canada, from 12th-16th September. The title of Rose's abstract is 'City-Scale Carbon Management: an innovative methodology for imagining a low carbon future', which will be presented in the Technical Session on 'Urban Sustainability Issues'.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.iuappa2010.com

The 2010 IUAPPA Congress theme of "Achieving Environmental Sustainability in a Resource Hungry World" recognizes the need for holistic management approaches to effectively mitigate potential water, food, energy, and environmental challenges. This Congress will bring together specialists from academia, industry, consulting, environmental advocacy groups, and government to present innovative ways to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize environmental impacts. The program will examine international, national and local-scale issues facing both emerging and developed economies.

More information about Rose and her research can be found on her web page.

Jo to present at 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress

Jo has been selected to present at the 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress held in Vancouver, Canada, from 12th-16th September. The title of Jo's abstract is 'Reframing the United Kingdom Air Quality Management Challenge: From Diagnosis to Solutions', which will be presented in the 'Approaches to Environmental Management' technical session.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.iuappa2010.com

The 2010 IUAPPA Congress theme of "Achieving Environmental Sustainability in a Resource Hungry World" recognizes the need for holistic management approaches to effectively mitigate potential water, food, energy, and environmental challenges. This Congress will bring together specialists from academia, industry, consulting, environmental advocacy groups, and government to present innovative ways to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize environmental impacts. The program will examine international, national and local-scale issues facing both emerging and developed economies.

More information about Jo and her research can be found on her web page.

Rose has just returned from the Second International Conference on Climate Change in Brisbane, Australia, where she presented a paper on her research methodology entitled "Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City Scale Carbon Management" which discussed the use of Delphi techniques to imagine low carbon futures for Bristol. The conference attracted delegates from all over the world with discussions on all aspects of climate research.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.climate-conference.com

The paper will shortly be published in the conference journal, 'The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses', found here: http://on-climate.com/journal/

More information about Rose's research can be found on her web page: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html

Tim to present at Climate Change conference in November

The Centre for Psycho-Social Studies, UWE in association with UWE Institute for Sustainability, Health and the Environment presents a one-day conference: Seeing Futures: Integrating Scientific Views on Changing Climates on November 13th 2010. Speakers include:

*Dr Stephan Harrison, Associate Professor of Quaternary Science, University of Exeter
Climate Science – Certainty, Uncertainty and Risk

*Dr Tim Chatterton, Senior Research Fellow in Air Quality at UWE, currently on Social Science Policy Fellowship with the Department of Energy and Climate Change
Climate Change – Science, Media, Policy and The Public

*Dr Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Australia National University and author of Growth Fetish, The Freedom Paradox and Requiem for a Species
By audio-visual link from Canberra - Climate Knowledge Under Siege – the Many Forms of Denial

*Sandra White Ecopsychologist, environmental writer, bereavement counsellor, founder member of Transition Hertford
Beyond Sacrifice – Reaching Towards the Ecological Self

The Conference Chair is Sara Parkin, Founder Director of Forum for the Future.

Further details and online registration are available here. Hurry - discount rate until 30th August!

Air Quality and Carbon Management CPD training

AQMRC are running a training session this Friday (30th July) as part of their Air Quality and Carbon Management CPD training. This Friday's session will focus on Monitoring and Modelling for Local Air Quality Management and will be attended by environmental scientists from local authorities and environmental consultancies. The course is accredited by the Institute for Air Quality Management (IAQM) and the Institution for Environmental Science (IES) and is worth up to 17 CPD hours, including additional online access after the event. If you are interested in attending this or any of the courses in the Air Quality and Carbon Management series, please email aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk or register your interest online.

Dr Nurul Leksmono Memorial Prize

The AQMRC are pleased to announce the inauguration of an award to commemorate Dr Nurul Leksmono who sadly passed away earlier this year. Nurul was a much loved and highly respected Research Fellow and PhD student in Air Quality Management. The prize, in her name, is to be awarded to the UWE Postgraduate International student whose PhD or MSc thesis on the subject of air quality, carbon management or environmental management can be considered the best in the graduating year. The prize will be presented at the graduation ceremony in November.

Air Quality Webinar

This is a priority invitation to the following webinar; ‘The Air Quality Paradox? Improving Health, tackling climate change and breathing easier’, hosted on the 2degrees Low Carbon Local Authorities working group on Friday, 16th July at 2pm.
Presenters:
• Daniel Instone, Deputy Director, Atmosphere and Local Environment Programme, DEFRA
• Dr Tim Chatterton, Air Quality Management Resource Centre, University of the West of England
• Simon Cousins, Environment Programme Officer, GLA
The presenters will:
• Examine how the transition to a low carbon economy can be managed to ensure it doesn't have an unintended negative impact on air quality, health and the environment
• Identify and explore synergies and conflicts in addressing carbon reduction and air quality
• Provide practical insights into London's efforts to tackle air quality
The webinar takes place online so requires no travel and will offer you the opportunity to put any questions you may have to the experts.
Register now to attend the webinar and join 2degrees Low Carbon Local Authorities Working Group.
Membership of 2degrees is FREE, but if you join before July 16th you will receive a FREE 2 month upgrade to our enhanced business level service.
Find out more about 2degrees and the Low Carbon Local Authorities Working Group.
For more information on 2degrees or further details of this webinar, please contact Laura at 2degrees here or on 01865 339431.

New AQM Publications

Just published:

Leksmono, N.S., Dorfman, P., Burnet, F., Gibbs, D.C., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E. (2010) Enhancing consultation practices on Air Quality Management in local authorities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 53(5) pp 559 – 571

Brebbia, C.A &. Longhurst, J.W.S. (Editors, 2010) Air Pollution XVIII. WIT Press. Southampton and Boston. pp 430

J.W.S. Longhurst, J. Barnes, T.J. Chatterton, E.T. Hayes, J.G. Irwin & A. O. Olowoporoku (2010). Recalibrating the United Kingdom’s Local Air Quality Management regime to deliver desired goals. In Brebbia, C.A. & Longhurst, J.W.S. (Editors) Air Pollution XVIII WIT Press. Southampton and Boston. pp73-82.

A full list of AQMRC publications is available on the AQMRC website.

Rose to attend International Conference on Climate Change

Rose will be attending the Second International Conference on Climate Change at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, from 8-10th July. Rose will be presenting a paper entitled 'Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City Scale Carbon Management'. In this, she discusses her research methodology, which proposes using Delphi techniques to identify potential future low carbon scenarios for the Bristol city region.
More information about the conference can be found here: http://on-climate.com/conference-2010/
More information about Rose's research can be found here: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html

Emission Factor Toolkit (Version 4.2)

A revised version of the emission factor toolkit (EFT) has been issued and is available for download on Defra’s LAQM tools website (http://laqm1.defra.gov.uk/review/tools/emissions.php). The revised version (Version 4.2) allows the use of detailed local vehicle fleet composition data, i.e. it gives the ability to split the traffic into more than just HDV and LDV. It also corrects some minor errors in the way the previous version interpreted some of the national fleet data. Because of these errors, emissions calculated using version 4.2 may be slightly different from those calculated using version 4.1. Any discrepancies will very small, particularly in relation to other modelling uncertainties. Local Authorities are not required to redo any work already carried out using version 4.1 but are advised to use version 4.2 for future work. Version 4.2 will soon be accompanied by a user guide which will explain how to use the new functions.

New LAQM website

Defra and the Devolved Administrations have launched their new and improved Local Air Quality Management website today!

This replaces the following websites: http://www.airquality.co.uk/laqm/laqm.php , http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/review/ and http://www.laqmsupport.org.uk/.

The following links will help re-direct you:

LAQM homepage

Guidance – Policy and technical guidance, practice guidance and lots of other useful guidance for LAQM.

Helpdesks – contacts details for email or phone support for LAQM

FAQs – useful information grouped by subject area

Review and Assessment – example reports, checklists and useful information.

Action Planning – example reports, checklists, useful information on measures and best practice

Tools – including background maps, NOx/NO2 calculator, Biomass calculator, Emissions Factor Toolkit, VCM, DMRB, national Bias Adjustment Factor spreadsheet and more.

AQMAs – maps of AQMAs and lists of which councils have declared

Report Submission Website – for Updating and Screening Assessments and Progress Reports

Jim goes to Air Pollution 2010 in Kos

Professor Jim Longhurst is attending the 18th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution in Kos, Greece this week as conference co-chair. Further details of the conference are available on the conference website http://www.wessex.ac.uk/10-conferences/air-pollution-2010.html. Check the AQMRC latest news for an update on Jim's activities at the conference on his return.

Mo and Jo Doubleact at Heating up GIS Seminar

Mofoluso Fagbeja and Jo Barnes gave presentations on applications of GIS in air quality management at yesterday's' 'Heating up GIS seminar', part of the heat@uwe programme. The seminar aimed to raise awareness of capabilities, applications and ideas about the use of geographical information systems (GIS) at UWE and to highlight its potential value to disciplines and staff unfamiliar with the subject. A number of varied disciplines were represented at the seminar, which was widely considered to be a very successful initiative potentially leading to some interesting and valuable research collaborations. For further information on 'Heating up GIS' or heat@uwe contact louise5king@uwe.ac.uk. For further information on GIS and air quality management please contact aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk.

Updated pollution data from industrial facilities now available in the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)

E-PRTR is a comprehensive online register which contains information on emissions of pollutants to air, water and land by industrial facilities throughout Europe (EU-27 and EFTA countries). It includes annual data for 91 substances and covers more than 24 000 facilities in 65 economic activities. E-PRTR also provides additional information, such as the amount and types of waste transferred from facilities to waste handlers both inside and outside each country. The new dataset now contains information for 2008 and updated data for 2007. Voluntarily reported data from Switzerland are also included in the register for the first time.
More: E-PRTR website

Research in Physical Sciences/AQMRC Seminar Presentation

Mofoluso had his Research in Physical Sciences Assessment and AQMRC Seminar presentation on 19 May, 2010. He presented on the progress of his research. The presentation was titled, "Applying remote sensing, GIS and dispersion modelling techniques to air quality and carbon emission management in the Niger Delta". The audience at the presentation cut across disciplines. Details of the presentation can be found on Mofoluso's web page at http://uwe.ac.uk/aqm/mofolusosresearch.html

Europe to exceed air pollutant emission limits – NOx in particular

In 2010, around half of the European Union's Member States expect to miss one or more of the legal limits set by the National Emission Ceilings Directive. According to recent data compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), 11 countries expect to exceed their ceilings by significant amounts — some missing NOx targets by more than 40 %.
Read more ...

Nurul celebration video

To celebrate the life and times we shared with Nurul Leksmono, a memorial event was held on Wednesday, 28 April, 2010 at the Octagon Centre in UWE Frenchay Campus. A book of remembrance will be available for the next couple of weeks for those who were unable to attend and wish to send a message to her family. As part of the ceremony we compiled a presentation of photos of Nurul set to music, which will help us remember her as the happy, smiley person she was. Click on the image below to view:

Nurul celebration video from dotun olowoporoku on Vimeo.

Sad news - Dr Nurul Leksmono

We are very sad to announce the sudden and tragic death of Dr Nurul Leksmono who drowned in a diving accident in Indonesia on Saturday 10th April. Nurul studied and worked in the Air Quality Management Resource Centre at UWE from 2001-2009 before returning to work in her home city of Jakarta last year. Nurul was the most likeable, warm-hearted and generous of people. Her kind, patient, happy nature, which touched so many, will be missed by all who knew her. Our thoughts and sympathy are with her family and friends.

To celebrate her life and times with us, we will be hosting a memorial event from 12-1 pm on Wednesday, 28 April, 2010 at the Octagon Centre in UWE Frenchay Campus. A book of remembrance will be available at the event for those who wish to send a message to her family.

LAQM Review based on AQMRC questionnaire

An internal review of LAQM has recently been published for Defra by in-house consultants utilising the results of a local authority questionnaire undertaken by AQMRC. The Review of Local Air Quality Management report can be viewed online at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/air/airquality/local/documents/laqm-report.pdf, along with the accompanying questionnaire report at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/air/airquality/local/documents/laqm-questionnaire-review.pdf.

AQMRC contribute to Environmental Audit Committee report on air quality

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee on Air Quality report was released last Monday. Published by the Stationery Office, reference HC229-I and available on line at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmenvaud.htm, the report draws heavily on evidence provided by AQMRC. (Press release at http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/environmental_audit_committee.cfm).

New paper in press

Ross-Jones, M.J & Longhurst, J.W.S. (In Press) Managing Air Quality at the Local level. A Case Study. The International Journal of Sustainable Development & Planning.

Congratulations to Dr Dotun Olowoporoku

Dotun has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled ‘Delivering improved air quality through the local transport plan process in English local government’ His thesis was examined by Professor John Murlis, UCL, and Dr Kiron Chatterjee, UWE, and the examiners have recommended the award of PhD subject to minor amendments.

Very many congratulations to Dotun on an excellent defence of his thesis. Congratulations also to the supervisors, Dr Enda Hayes and Professor Graham Parkhurst, and the director of studies, Jim Longhurst, on a successful supervision to completion.

Rose to lecture at University of Iceland, Reykjavik

Rose will be involved in running a weekend of lectures and workshops on sustainable futures, at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik. Rose will be lecturing Masters students on carbon management policy and practice, and carbon accounting. The lecture series has been organised by Professor Vala Ragnarsdottir, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Iceland, and one of Rose's supervisors, and will run from 5th-7th March.

Update to diffusion tube database February 2010

Please note that the Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tube Bias Adjustment Factor Spreadsheet has just been updated from the 09/09 version. The new spreadsheet (v. 02/10) may be downloaded from the Review and Assessment website (http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/review/mR&Asupport09.html) and includes the changes detailed in the attached note. The next scheduled update to the bias adjustment spreadsheet is late March 2010. The Diffusion Tube Precision Summary table has also been updated and may be downloaded from the same location as the bias adjustment spreadsheet.

If you haven't already done so, and you now have collocation data available, please fill in the diffusion tube collocation data questionnaire (http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/review/R&Asupport/no2biasquestionnaire2009.xls) and submit it to Kiri Brown [kiribrown@aqconsultants.co.uk].

Recent Conference Presentations from AQMRC Staff and Students

AQMRC staff and students are actively communicating the outcomes of their research. Below are some recent national and international presentations from AQMRC.

Fagbeja, M., Hill. J, Chatterton, T., Longhurst, J.W.S., Akinyede, J.A., and Adegoke, J.O. (2009) The need for improved sensing technology for estimating emissions and concentrations of pollution at ground-level in the lower latitudes, Space for Africa: Joint Participation, Knowledge Development and Sharing. International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) 3rd African Regional Conference Abuja, Nigeria 24th - 26th November, 2009.

Olowoporoku, D., Hayes, E., Parkhurst, G. & Longhurst J.(2009) Managing local traffic-related air pollution in England, Polis Conference 2009, Brussels 10th and 11th of December, 2009.

Longhurst, J.W.S., Everard, M., Bailey, R., Baldwin. S and Orme, J. (2010) 2020 Vision. A green and pleasant land? Invited Plenary Presentation. GWR Research Symposium 2010 Hewlett Packard, Bristol, January 20th 2010.

Longhurst, J.W.S., Bailey, R., & Baldwin. S. (2010) Low Carbon Initiatives in British Cities. Invited presentation to the Academy of Sciences of South Africa Low Carbon Cities Consensus Panel. Pretoria, South Africa, February 2nd 2010.

Longhurst, J.W.S., Bailey, R. (2010) Evaluation Methods for CO2, CATCH Project Interest Group meeting organised by Polis. Brussels, 17th-18th February 2010.

New and In Press Publications from AQMRC

AQMRC continues to publish its work in the peer-reviewed literature.

The following papers were published in late 2009, early 2010 or are in press for publication in the next few months.

Deacon L., Pankhurst, L., Liu, J., Drew, G. H., Hayes, E.T., Jackson, S., Longhurst, J., Longhurst, P., Pollard, S. & Tyrrel, S. (2009) Endotoxin emissions from commercial composting activities. Environmental Health 8:S9 Available at: http://www.ehjournal.net/qc/content/8/S1/S9.

Deacon, L.J., Pankhurst, L.J., Drew, G.H., Hayes, E.T., Jackson, S., Longhurst, P.J., Longhurst, J.W.S., Liu, J., Pollard, S.J.T. & Tyrrel, S.F. (2009) Particle size distribution of airborne Aspergillus fumigatus spores from compost using membrane filtration. Atmospheric Environment 43 935) 5698-5701.

Dorfman, P., Gibbs, D.C., Leksmono, N.S., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E.L.C. (2010) Exploring the context of consultation. The case of Local Air Quality Management. Local Environment 15:1 15 – 26.

Leksmono, N.S., Dorfman, P., Burnet, F., Gibbs, D.C., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E. (In press) Enhancing consultation practices on Air Quality Management in local authorities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

Olowoporoku, A. O., Hayes, E. T., Leksmono, N. S., Longhurst, J. W. S. & Parkhurst, G. (In press) A longitudinal study of the links between Local Air Quality Management and Local Transport Planning policy processes in England. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

Rose presents at 'CATCH' project Climate Change and Travel Behaviour meeting

Rose was invited to give a presentation at the CATCH (Carbon Aware Travel CHoice) Interest Group meeting on 'Climate Change and Travel Behaviour', in Brussels on 17th-18th February.

Rose's presentation was titled 'Evaluation methods for CO2', covering methodologies for estimating carbon dioxide emissions from transport at the city scale. The presentation can be downloaded here.

CATCH is a project with the ultimate aim to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the urban transport sector by encouraging carbon-friendly travel choices. The CATCH project will develop an online knowledge platform primarily aimed at decision-makers, but also for citizens, businesses, planners, and other mobility stakeholders in cities. More information can be found on the CATCH project website at http://www.carbonaware.eu/

The meeting was hosted by Polis, a network of European Cities and regions which promotes, supports and advocates innovation in local transport. More information can be found on their website http://www.polis-online.org/

Low Carbon Cities

Professor Jim Longhurst is contributing to South Africa's moves towards a low carbon future. He has been invited by the Academy of Science of South Africa to serve on its high-profile Consensus Panel for Low Carbon Cities. The Panel held its first meeting in Pretoria, South Africa in February. The panel consists of international experts, including Professor Longhurst, together with experts from South Africa. During the next 18 months the panel will address mitigation and adaptation measures appropriate to South Africa, and to make recommendations based on evidence to support the national government's commitment to transition to a low-carbon economy. Professor Robin Crewe, President of the Academy of Science of South Africa said "Professor Longhurst has been invited to serve on this panel because of his expertise in the field." At the first meeting of the panel Jim presented a paper entitled 'Low Carbon Initiatives in British Cities'.

Tim begins placement at Department for Energy and Climate Change

Tim Chatterton has just been awarded a prestigious placement fellowship working with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The Fellowship is in partnership with the Research Councils Energy Programme (ESRC and EPSRC) and DECC.

The aim of the Fellowship is to provide social science input regarding the energy behaviour of individuals and communities into the policy development process in DECC in order to help enable ‘the public’ to more readily take up ‘low-carbon’ patterns of behaviour. Climate benefits of adopting low-carbon behaviour are not clearly experienced by individuals, families and other groups in the UK, as the majority of climate impacts will occur in other parts of the world, some time in the future. However, evidence suggests that many elements of low-carbon lifestyles can be seen to have direct ancillary benefits to those adopting them (such as economic or health benefits). The successful development of policies to encourage climate orientated behaviour change is likely to have to rely on being able to ‘sell’ these policies to the public on the basis of these direct ancillary benefits, in addition or alternatively to making a moral case for altruistic behaviour change.

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre has worked closely with Defra and the Devolved Administrations, and with Local Authorities in order to shape air quality policy in the UK over the last decade. This, along with Tim’s work as Chair of the UK Public Health Association’s Special Interest Group on Health and Sustainable Environments, will help him to bring a wide range of policy experience into DECC to address the issue of behaviour change.

If you are involved in any research in this area, Tim would be very interested to hear from you. Please send him a short description of your work at t.chatterton@uwe.ac.uk

Simon wins first prize for ‘best student poster’ at the second GWR Research Symposium

Jim and Simon attended the second Great Western Research Symposium 2020 Vision. I can see clearly now? held at Hewlett Packard in Bristol on 20th January. The symposium explored the contribution of the GWR research portfolio to life in 2020. Jim was invited present a plenary paper, entitled “2020 Vision. A green and pleasant land?”

The symposium was well attended by students funded by GWR, many of whom contributed a poster on their research. Congratulations to Simon, whose poster entitled “Opportunities, barriers and challenges for co-managed air pollution and carbon emissions in South West England” was judged the best in the symposium. Simon’s poster will be available soon on the GWR website. If you can’t wait until then, you can always find the poster and other outputs from his research on his research web page at http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/simon.html. Go check it out!

NEW Emission Factor Toolkit, NOx to NO2 calculator, background maps and future-year projection factors

A number of changes have recently been made to the Local Air Quality Management tools available on the air quality archive website (www.airquality.co.uk). The new tools should be used for new work. If work has already been started using the old set of tools, it is not necessary to go back and repeat the work unless the local authority believes that this would be appropriate. So long as models have been appropriately verified against local measurements, the updates to the tools should not invalidate work already carried out, even though precise results would be different. The changes are as follows:

1) The Emission Factor Toolkit (EFT) has been updated to use the DfTs latest vehicle emission factors (published in 2009). This allows modellers to calculate vehicular emissions in line with the latest predictions. It is possible for users to incorporate the emissions that they calculate using the EFT into most dispersion models (but not screening tools such as DMRB).
2) The NOx to NO2 calculator has been updated. These changes take account of more recent predictions of oxidant levels across the UK and also use revised default values for primary NO2 (fNO2) (as shown within the spreadsheet).
3) The national maps of background air pollutant concentrations have been updated to take account of more recent emissions predictions and updated methods. A short report describing the principal changes between the two sets of maps is included on the website along with the maps.
4) The sector-removal tool for calculating sector-adjusted background nitrogen dioxide concentrations has been updated following changes to the background mapping methodology.
5) The future-year projection factors for roadside monitoring data contained in Box 2.1 of LAQM.TG(09) have been updated.

All of these tools can only be applied to data from the year 2008 onward. An FAQ on modelling conditions prior to 2008 will follow soon.
If local authorities require any help or clarification they should contact the Review and Assessment Helpdesk on 0117 32 83668 or aqm-review@uwe.ac.uk.