Clean Air Initiative For Cities Around The World
Welcome
The Clean Air Initiative (CAI) advances innovative ways to improve air quality in cities by sharing knowledge and experiences through partnerships in selected regions of the world.
CAI partners and participants foster actions to improve air quality in cities. We bring together a range of cross-cutting expertise in urban development, transport, energy reform, environmental management and environmental health.
The Initiative is currently active in three regions:
- Asia
- Latin America
- Sub-Saharan Africa
CAI has also been involved in a couple of activities in Europe and Central Asia. Information on past CAI-ECA activities have been archived for reference only.
We invite you to explore the site. See our calendar of events, register for updates, find updated information on air quality topics, and join our on-line or email discussions. We welcome your comments on content, navigation, and design of the site.
Monitoring
Monitoring and DataAir pollution monitoring is required to evaluate compliance with adopted air quality standards or objectives; evaluate public health risks, determine trends in pollutant concentrations and evaluate the effectivesness of control programs.
CPCB laboratory staff show a typical SPM filter
Air quality monitoring and data collection are essential elements of an Air Quality Management System (AQMS). Data collected as part of the air quality assessment are used for evaluating current pollution concentrations, trends, and compliance with air quality standards. Air quality assessment may also include an initial identification of pollution sources through careful analysis of the monitoring data. The following components are essential to the establishment of an air quality monitoring program:
- selection of pollutants to be monitored
- pollutant averaging times
- mobile and stationary monitoring
- monitoring techniques and instrumentation
- laboratory and calibration support services and methods
- network design and siting of stations
- data collection and storage
- quality assurance and quality control
- financial and manpower requirements
- meteorological data needs
Emission Inventories
| Emission Inventories |
| Emission inventories are an essential element of air quality management programs. They provide a basis for regulatory programs, dispersion modeling, emission trends analysis and many other program activities. |
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Inventories are estimates a collection ofair pollutant emission estimates based on an emission factor (i.e., grams CO per km of vehicle travel) and an activity indicator (ie.e, km ov vehicle travel per year). The product of the emission factor and the activity inducator is the number of grams of pollutant emitted per year (usually expressed in metric tons). Corrective factors to account for emission control systems, seasonal variations in activity or future growh rates are often applied to the base emission estimates. Inventories typically change over time becauses of improvements in the data or changes in source operating conditons. A complete inventory includes all motor vehicle sources, industrial sources and areas sources (space heating, open burning, street dust, agricultural or forestry burning, etc.). |