Urban Air Pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean

Romieu, Isabelle; Weitzenfeld, Henyk; Finkelman, Jacobo

doi:10.1080/10473289.1991.10466910

Cited by 33 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…One article reviews work analyzing variation in the São Paulo light-duty fleet between 1981 and 1985, during which the number of single-fuel ethanol vehicles rose from 84,000 to 500,000, and the number of singlefuel gasoline vehicles fell by 18%. 65 This change in the fuel mix coincided with reported reductions in (average or maximum) ambient SO2 and CO levels, but persistent PM10 pollution, which was attributed to fixed sources and the heavy-duty fleet. The authors discuss possible changes in O3 production rates due to the presence of aldehydes in the air, which they list in Table 3 to be largely invariant with time for various intervals studied.…”

Section: S11mentioning

confidence: 90%

Reduction in local ozone levels in urban São Paulo due to a shift from ethanol to gasoline use

Salvo

Geiger

2014

Nature Geosci

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It has been proposed that lower NOX emission fuels such as ethanol can mitigate air pollution from vehicles burning oil-based hydrocarbons. Yet, existing modeling and laboratory studies, even those seeking to simulate the same environment, vary in their predictions of how gasoline/ethanol blends affect atmospheric pollutant concentrations, including ozone. Importantly, ambient concentrations have not been evaluated during an actual -as opposed to hypothetical -shift in fuel mix in a real-world environment. Here, we report the first such study, for the subtropical megacity of São Paulo, Brazil. We combine detailed street-hour level data on regulated pollutant concentrations, meteorology, and traffic with fuel shares from a consumer demand model to compare concentrations across subsamples that differ only in the fuel mix but are otherwise similar in meteorology, anthropogenic activity, and biogenic emissions. As the gasoline share of the bi-fuel light-duty vehicle fleet rose by 62 percentage points, we estimate a robust and statistically significant reduction of about 20% in ozone concentrations, and less precise increases in NO and CO concentrations. We propose that our "model-free" analysis potentially accounts for the interaction between anthropogenic and biogenic emissions and caution that successful strategies against ozone pollution require knowledge of the PRE-PRINT DATE: 18 February, 2014 Ozone levels are relatively high in São Paulo, with hourly concentrations above 75 and 125 g/m 3 , respectively, 2.7 and 5.3 times more likely than for PM10 in our sample. Light transportation is a key contributor to air pollution in this gridlocked metropolis [1][2][3] , with large public health implications [4][5][6][7] . In 2011, 40% of the city's 6 million active light-duty vehicles -likely accounting for over one-half of all light vehicle distance traveled -possessed bi-fuel capability. This capability allowed consumers to choose between gasoline (an E25 or E20 blend) and ethanol E100 at the pump 8 , as both fuels were ubiquitous among São Paulo's retailers 9,10 . In recent years, governmentcontrolled gasoline prices held steady whereas market-set sugarcane ethanol prices tracked the significant swings in the world price of sugar 8,10 . This empirical setting provides a rarely observed opportunity to examine whether urban air pollution was impacted by emissions that transitioned between gasoline and ethanol -both combustion and evaporation. São Paulo city currently features clogged hypothetical large-scale switch from a fossil fuel over to a biofuel in a large urban center. Analysis of Concentrations, Traffic, and Meteorology at Street-Hour LevelOur study cross-examines a large amount of measured data, detailed at the streethour level (Fig. 2), from several sources: (i) concentrations of regulated "priority" . We combine the extensive pollutantmeteorology-traffic data with: (iv) weekly gasoline and ethanol prices at the pump, obtained from the National Agency for Oil, Biofuels and Natural Gas (ANP) 10 , which in tu...

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Section: S11mentioning

confidence: 90%

Reduction in local ozone levels in urban São Paulo due to a shift from ethanol to gasoline use

Salvo

Geiger

2014

Nature Geosci

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“…Much of those problems are a result of rapid and disorderly urban growth and industrialization, phenomena that often are not accompanied by programs aimed at protecting the environment [4][5][6]. For decades air pollution has been associated with certain adverse effects on the health of the population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spatial–temporal distribution of the atmospheric polluting agents during the period 2000–2005 in the Urban Area of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Sánchez¹,

García²,

Bejarán³

et al. 2009

Journal of Hazardous Materials

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“…Recent publications have reaffirmed air pollution as a major cause of hospitalization and death in Brazil and other Latin America cities 1,2,3,4,5,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 . Furthermore, the estimates are generally quite conservative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, a growing body of studies in developing countries has also shown that air pollution exerts great pressure on the environment in these areas, with a large potential impact on the population's health, especially in major urban areas 2,3,4,5 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the impact of air pollution on the urban population of Brazil

Marcílio

2007

Cad. Saúde Pública

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Urban Air Pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract: Urban Air Pollution: General Knowledge To obtain a better knowledge of urban pollution in Latin America and 1166 the Caribbean, we conducted a survey in the 32 countries of the region. The results of this survey are presented according to four groups: (1) Mexico, (2) Central America

Cited by 33 publications

References 1 publication

Reduction in local ozone levels in urban São Paulo due to a shift from ethanol to gasoline use

Reduction in local ozone levels in urban São Paulo due to a shift from ethanol to gasoline use

The spatial–temporal distribution of the atmospheric polluting agents during the period 2000–2005 in the Urban Area of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Quantifying the impact of air pollution on the urban population of Brazil

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