UNFCCC CoP 17

Jim Longhurst will be attending the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties 17 meeting in Durban, South Africa.

Jim will be a member of the Academy of Science  of South Africa Delegation and will speak at the CoP side event workshop “Pathways Towards Low Carbon Cities”

Environmental Auit Committee say "Its a Scandal!"

The Environmental Audit Committee today launched its follow-up report on air quality, finding that “The Government is putting thousands of lives at risk by trying to water down EU air quality rules instead of prioritising action to cut pollution on UK roads”.

 

Full details of the report can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/news/air-quality-a-follow-up-report/

 

AQMRC submitted evidence to the Enquiry which has been published online here:  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmenvaud/1024/1024vw20.htm

 

Tim to Present at Photocatalysis Conference

On Thursday 17^th November Tim will be making a presentation on “The Science of Air Pollution and the Policies and Legislation to Combat It” at a Cristal Global conference on Photocatalysis in London.

 

http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/node/7715

 

N.B. Involvement in the conference does not suggest that AQMRC currently believe that photocatalytic paint is an appropriate solution for most air quality problems!

Tim to give Energy Seminar at University of Southampton

On Wednesday 16^th November Tim will be presenting an energy seminar based on his Fellowship with DECC and subsequent developments.  The seminar will be hosted by the Centre for Citizenship, Globalization and Governance http://www.soton.ac.uk/C2G2/

 

Carbon Aware Cities: CATCH Final Conference, 13 December 2011, Bristol, UK

The CATCH project is holding its final conference on 13 December 2011 in the University of West of England in Bristol, UK. This EU FP7 project conducted ground-breaking research into how information about climate change and transport should be communicated, and has developed an online knowledge platform designed to facilitate an holistic view of transport in order to better communicate the need for low carbon transport systems, and plan for the low carbon transport future.

The final conference will present research from the project, and present the CATCH knowledge platform in the context of a variety of co-benefits that a low carbon transport will bring to health, safety, the economy and to planning. It will be demonstrated how the CATCH knowledge platform links to these different areas by providing information and improving communication between the general public and transport professionals. Presentations from experts from different fields will also detail the wider benefits of a low carbon transport future.

Who will attend?
- Transport professionals interested in low carbon transport systems: city representatives, public transport operators, consultants, and others.
- Climate change experts with an interest in transport.
- Professionals from other disciplines which can benefit from low carbon transport systems: for example from health or civil society.

Registration
It is free to attend the conference, but places are limited and registration is required.
To cover our costs, if you register and do not attend and do not inform us by 9th December 2011, then you will be charged 100 EURO (see terms and conditions).

Conference web page, including registration: http://www.carbonaware.eu/events/catch-final-conference.html

Draft programme: http://www.carbonaware.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/IG_meeting/Final_event/Programme_and_travel_CATCH_conference.pdf

Contact
For more information, contact Anna Clark (aclark@polisnetwork.eu)

British Science Association Bristol and Bath- "Watching the Earth from Space" Wednesday 2 November

“Watching the Earth from Space; addressing Climate Change and Global Issues”, a talk by Prof Alan O’Neill, Director, National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Reading

Wednesday 2 November at 7.00pm, St Mary Redcliffe Church (close to Bristol Temple Meads Station) Entry £1.00 at door.  There is a public car park opposite on Redcliffe Way.

Data from Earth-orbiting satellites are revolutionizing our understanding of our home planet.  Alan O’Neill’s talk will give a number of examples of the scientific use of such data, including understanding the ozone hole, climate change and earthquakes.

You would be extremely welcome to attend and please also do forward to any friends or colleagues who might be interested.  

Latest information of programme also on our website, http://BSciA-BSBA.org.uk   

Urban Transport 2012: Call for Papers from the Wessex Institute

Professor Jim Longhurst will be co-charing the 18th International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment on 15 - 17 May, 2012 in A Coruña, Spain,organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology, UK and sponsored by: WIT Transactions on the Built Environment & The International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning.

View full details about the conference objectives, topics and submission requirements online at: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/transport2012rem3.html

Forthcoming publication in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

Bailey, R., Longhurst, J.W.S., Hayes, E.T., Hudson, L., Ragnarsdottir, K.V., and Thumim, J. (Forthcoming) 'Exploring a city’s potential low carbon futures using Delphi methods: some preliminary findings'. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management


The paper discusses the results from the first round of Delphi questionnaire survey that Rose undertook with a large expert group, to create scenarios for a low carbon 2050 Bristol region.
More information about Rose's research can be found on her webpage here.

Air Pollution 2011 conference

The 19th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution 2011 held in Malta 19th-21st September was well-attended by an audience of air quality professionals and students from academia and industry. Delegates representing more than 20 countries gave a truly international feel to the conference and brought an opportunity to share a broad range of experiences and expertise. Around 40 presentations were delivered over 10 sessions over the 3-day conference covering themes of Air pollution modelling, Monitoring and measurement, Air quality management, Aerosols and particles, Economics of air pollution control, Emissions studies, Health effects and Innovative technologies.

The conference was co-chaired by Professor Jim Longhurst who gave an invited keynote presentation introducing new research the AQMRC are undertaking working 'towards a new framework for air quality management in Nigeria'. Jo Barnes also gave a presentation, which critically described the UK policy on air quality management since the introduction of first national Air Quality Strategy 14 years ago and 'assessed the potential for local action to meet EU limit values' based on previous experience and in the context of evolving related policies.

A call for papers has been announced for the 2012 Air Pollution conference which will be run back-to-back with Urban Transport 2012 in A Coruna, Spain next May. Further details are available on the Wessex Institute website.

Tim attends IUAPPA Regional Conference

Tim will be presenting AQMRC at the IUAPPA regional conference in Paris on 29^th and 30^th September.

The event is hosted by APPA – the French Air Pollution and Environmental Protection Organisation.

 

 

Disruption begins!!!

The start of the month saw the beginning of the Disruption project. This is a 3-year project looking at low-carbon travel behaviour funded by the RCUK Energy programme.

The project is a £1.3million project involving 7 research groups (at UWE, Leeds, Aberdeen, Lancaster, Brighton, OU, and Glasgow). The project is taking an inter-disciplinary approach to look at the issue of travel behaviour, suggesting that travel habits may not be as fixed and resistant to change as is commonly held.

Jim and Jo attending Air Pollution 2011

Jim and Jo are both attending the 19th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution 2011 in Malta this week. Jim will be co-chairing the confernce and presenting a keynote address entitled 'Towards a new framework for air quality management in Nigeria', Jo will be presenting 'Assessing the potential for local action to achieve EU limit values'. The papers will be available in the conference proceedings book published by WIT Press.

Tim Gives CTS Seminar as New Associate Member

On Wednesday 14th September, Tim gave a presentation on "Air Quality and Climate Change: Environment, Transport and Behaviour" at the Centre for Transport and Society at UWE http://www.transport.uwe.ac.uk/

The seminar marked the inclusion of Tim in CTS as an associate member in recognition of the close links between the two centres.

Latest AQMRC publications

Recently published
Bailey, R., Longhurst, J.W.S., Hayes, E.T., Hudson, L., Ragnarsdottir, K..V. & Thumim, J. (2011) Envisioning the Future: a methodology for city scale carbon management The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses. 2 (4) 51-66

Olowoporoku, A. O., Hayes, E. T., Longhurst, J. W. S. & Parkhurst, G. (2011) Improving road transport-related air quality in England through joint working between Environmental Health Officers and Transport Planners. Local Environment 16 (3) 603-618

Liu, J. , Pankhurst, L.J., Deacon, L.J. , Abate, W. , Hayes, E.T. , Drew, G.H. , Longhurst, P.J. , Pollard, S., Longhurst, J. , Tyrrel, S.F. , Jackson, S.K. (2011) Evaluation of inflammatory effects of airborne endotoxin emitted from composting sources. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 30, 3, 602-606

In Press
Longhurst, J.W.S., Olowoporoku, A. O., Barnes, J., Chatterton, T.J., Hayes, E.T. and Irwin, J.G. Exploring issues of process efficiency and outcome effectiveness in the United Kingdom’s Local Air Quality Management Regime. (In Press, 2011) The International Journal of Sustainable Development & Planning

Weitkamp, E.L.C & Longhurst, J.W.S., (In press, 2011) Mediating Consultation: insights from private sector consultancies involved in air quality consultations Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

A. O. Olowoporoku, J.W.S. Longhurst, J. Barnes & C. Edokpayi. (In press, 2011). Towards a new framework for air quality management in Nigeria. In Brebbia, C., Longhurst, J.W.S. & Popov, V. (Editors) Air Pollution XIX WIT Press. Southampton and Boston.

J. H. Barnes, T. J. Chatterton, E. T. Hayes, J. W. S. Longhurst, A. O. Olowoporoku. (In press, 2011). Assessing the potential for local action to achieve EU limit values. In Brebbia, C., Longhurst, J.W.S. & Popov, V. (Editors) Air Pollution XIX WIT Press. Southampton and Boston.

Brebbia, C., Longhurst, J.W.S. & Popov, V. (Editors, In press 2011) Air Pollution XIX WIT Press. Southampton and Boston.

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

Academy of Science of South Africa Low Carbon Consensus Panel report published

The Academy of Science of South Africa Low Carbon Consensus Panel has now published their report Towards a Low Carbon City. AQMRC Director Jim Longhurst served on the panel and the full report can accessed at http://www.assaf.org.za/2011/08/durban-on-a-pathway-towards-a-low-carbon-city/

Full reference details are as follows:

Academy of Science of South Africa (2011) Towards a Low Carbon City. Focus on Durban. Report of the ASSAf Consensus Study on Low Carbon Cities. ASSAf, Pretoria, South Africa. pp263 ISBN 97809869835-4-2

Towards a Low Carbon City: Focus on Durban

On Tuesday 23^rd August, the Academy of Science of South Africa published its report for the City of Durban/eThekwini Municipality on developing a pathway towards a low carbon city.

 

Members of the AQMRC team (especially Tim, Jo and Dotun) provided significant assistance in helping ASSAF develop their recommendations.

UWE Consortium Wins EU Air Quality Framework Contract

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre is part of a consortium that has been awarded the Framework Contract for providing support to the European Commission for the review of the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and the related instruments on ambient air quality (Directives 2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC) and the National Emissions Ceiling Directive (2001/81/EC).  The work to be undertaken under the contract will include the assessment of current and future policies and the identification of management options at European, national, regional or local level including the assessment of their effectiveness, cost and benefits and means of implementation measures through various legal and non-legal instruments.

 

The consortium is led by the Dutch consultancy ECORYS, and other partners include NERI (the Danish National Environmental Research Institute), Risø DTU, (the Danish National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy), Milieu (a Belgian consultancy specialising in European law and policy), and MWH (a global consultancy specialising in sustainable governance and engineering).

EPUK-SW Division National Students and Young Professionals Competition 2011 - Presentations available

The presentations from the EPUK-SW Division National Students and Young Professionals Competition 2011, held at UWE on 28th June, are now available on the AQMRC website at http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html.

Workshop held to discuss the low carbon futures for the Bristol region

A workshop discussing the outputs of a year-long Delphi consultation process on the Low Carbon Futures for the Bristol Region was held on Friday 22nd July at UWE. A number of key stakeholders from the Bristol region attended, from Local Authorities, Businesses, and other public, private and third sector organisations. Participants carried out a 'backcasting' exercise for two possible scenarios for a low carbon Bristol region in 2050, discussing the emission and policy trajectories necessary to bring about the scenarios.

This workshop was the final part of Rose's PhD research project, investigating the low carbon futures for the Bristol Region. More about the Rose's research can be found here: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html

The outputs from the workshop will be available shortly on the research page, at: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rosesresearch.html

Environmental Trade Show UK - UWE Exhibition & Conference Centre - 13th October 2011

The best place to network and learn about Low Carbon business in the UK

Sponsored by the Environmental Technology iNets, bookings are now being taken for Environmental Trade Show UK (ETS UK), a major international environmental trade show and conference taking place at the UWE Exhibition & Conference Centre on 13th October. The largest event of its kind in the South West, it will bring together the best in environmental and low carbon goods and services. With over 200 exhibitors and over 1,000 visitors expected, it is the perfect opportunity to showcase the best and brightest businesses and technologies. Click here to find out about opportunities for your business.

Save the Date – 13th October 2011

http://www.environmentaltradeshow.co.uk/