Strengths and Weaknesses of the WHO Urban Air Pollutant Database

Schwela, Dietrich; Haq, Gary

doi:10.4209/aaqr.2019.11.0605

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Compiling ambient air quality databases from various cities (countries) presents challenging issues, including the presence (or lack) of monitoring stations, data availability, data coverage, background pollution, meteorological conditions, seasonality of the pollution, and QA/QC ( Schwela and Haq, 2020 ). Therefore, several limitations exist in this study.…”

Section: Hypotheses and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air quality during three covid-19 lockdown phases: AQI, PM2.5 and NO2 assessment in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants

Benchrif

Wheida

Tahri

et al. 2021

Sustainable Cities and Society

102

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Implemented quarantine due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (agent of COVID-19) has an immense impact on human mobility and economic activities as well as on air quality. Since then, and due to the drastic reduction in pollution levels in cities across the world, a large discussion has been magnetized regarding if the lockdown is an adequate alternative counter-measure for enhancing air quality. This paper aimed at studying the Air Quality Index (AQI), PM2.5, and tropospheric NO2 levels in three lockdown phases (before, during, and after) among 21 cities around the world. Simple before/after comparison approach was carried out to capture the declining trend in air pollution levels caused by the lockdown restrictions. The results showed that the frequency distribution for NO2 is more variable than that for PM2.5, and the distribution is flatter from 2020 to the baseline 2018-2019 period. Besides, AQI, in most of the cities, has varied from high to mild pollution during the lockdown and was moderate before. Although during the lockdown, a reduction of 3 to 58% of daily NO2 concentrations was observed across the cities, an increase was detected in three cities including Abidjan (1%), Conakry (3%), and Chengdu (10%). Despite this mixed trend, the NO2 time series clearly showed the effect of the unlocking phase where the NO2 levels increased in almost all cities. Similarly, PM2.5 concentrations have increased in the post-lockdown period, with 50% of the cities reporting significant positive differences between the lock and the unlock phase. Then, the levels of PM2.5 were higher at the pre-lockdown phase than at any other time exhibiting a “U” shape. In addition, during Ramadan, it was noted that altered patterns of daily activities in some Islamic cities have a significant negative impact on air quality.

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Section: Hypotheses and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air quality during three covid-19 lockdown phases: AQI, PM2.5 and NO2 assessment in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants

Benchrif

Wheida

Tahri

et al. 2021

Sustainable Cities and Society

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Furthermore, the health system may become diverged with high medical quality care for the rich and that of lower for the poor. However, foreign direct investment and renewable energy consumption reduce CO 2 emissions in the country (Schwela & Haq, 2020). The expansion of renewable energy consumption due to FDI may replace traditional fossil fuel energy that emits a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between FDI inflow, CO2 emissions, renewable energy consumption, and population health quality in China

Zhang

Nuţă²,

Dimen³

et al. 2023

Front. Environ. Sci.

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China has received significant foreign direct investment in the last few decades; the FDI inflow could affect the environment, income, and people’s health. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between FDI, renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and Population health quality in China for the period 1980–2020. We applied the VECM method for the data analysis for the short and long-run effects of the independent variables. In the short run, FDI and CO2 emissions did not affect health quality in China; however, in the long run, FDI and CO2 emissions improved life expectancy. Renewable energy has both run and long implications for the health quality in China. These results reflect that FDI creates more jobs in China and improves the overall income of Chinese citizens, contributing to more accessible healthcare services in the long run. Therefore, the government should provide incentives to increase the FDI inflow, which uses renewable energy in production. Furthermore, to mitigate the CO2 emissions government should implement a carbon tax on the industries which has substantial CO2 emissions in the country.

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“…In this paper, the green represented that the pollutant concentration meets the Grade II for the Chinese National Ambient Air Quality Standard (GB 3095-1996), Same as the WHO Air Quality Guideline (AQG) in 2005 (WHO, 2006;Schwela and Haq, 2020). The yellow to represent that the pollutant concentration meets the Grade III for the Chinese National Ambient Air Quality Standard (GB 3095-1996).…”

Section: Layout Methods Of Road Monitoring Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Motor Vehicle Exhaust on the Air Quality of an Urban City

Wang

Wang²,

Liu³

et al. 2022

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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The development of the economy and the prosperity of the industry have not only promoted the great progress of motor vehicle industry, but also made the number of motor vehicles in large and medium cities increase rapidly. In recent years, with the increasing number of urban motor vehicles, the environmental pollution caused by motor vehicle exhaust on both sides of the road has become increasingly serious. The high concentration of pollutants emitted by motor vehicles will seriously affect and threaten the health of pedestrians on both sides of the road and surrounding residents. In this work, the environmental monitoring data (NO2) from different areas of Jinan city over different time periods were summarized from 2001 to 2007. It was found that the NO2 concentration in the ambient air of Jinan gradually decreased due to the treatment of motor vehicles taken in Jinan for the 29 th Olympic Games in 2005, the NO2 concentration during the urban heating period fell by nearly 70%, and the air during the urban heating period was significantly higher than that in the non-heating period. In 2004, the concentration of NO2 in the air during the urban heating period was nearly twice as high as during the non-heating period. Taking the city of Jinan, China in 2008 as an example, the contribution of motor vehicle emissions to the ambient air quality in Jinan, especially CO and NO2, was investigated through real-time monitoring of pollutants emitted by motor vehicles on several main roads in Jinan. The results showed that the pollutants emitted by motor vehicles in Jinan, especially CO and NO2, contribute greatly to the ambient air quality of Jinan. Among them, the highest average CO concentration was measured beside Jingqi Road, which was attributed to poor vehicle driving conditions and low speeds due to congestion on Jingqi Road. The necessary motor vehicle exhaust control measures were proposed.

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Strengths and Weaknesses of the WHO Urban Air Pollutant Database

Cited by 18 publications

References 22 publications

Air quality during three covid-19 lockdown phases: AQI, PM2.5 and NO2 assessment in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants

Air quality during three covid-19 lockdown phases: AQI, PM2.5 and NO2 assessment in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants

Relationship between FDI inflow, CO2 emissions, renewable energy consumption, and population health quality in China

Impact of Motor Vehicle Exhaust on the Air Quality of an Urban City

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