AQN Magazine - Issue 1

Issue 1

November 2019

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Exclusive investigation reveals huge gaps in government air pollution monitoring

Why the UK is in the EV slow lane

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Editorial Comment and Contacts

Welcome to Air Quality News magazine Contacts Publisher: David Harrison d.harrison@spacehouse.co.uk 01625 614 000 Editor: Thomas Barrett tom@airqualitynews.com 01625 666 385 Journalist: Pippa Neill pippa@airqualitynews.com 01625 666 396 Journalist: Jamie Hailstone jamie.hailstone@me.com 01625 614 000 Advertising Director: Andy Lees andy@airqualitynews.com 01625 666 390 Advertising Manager: Peter Moore peter@airqualitynews.com 01625 614 000 Finance Manager: Jenny Leach jenny@spacehouse.co.uk 01625 614 000 Administration: Jenny Odgen admin@spacehouse.co.uk 01625 614 000 Subscriptions: Andrew Harrison subscriptions@airqualitynews.com 01625 614 000 Published 4 times a year Annual Subscription - £19.95 +VAT

Air Quality News - published by Spacehouse Ltd, Pierce House, Pierce Street, Macclesfield. SK11 6EX. Tel: 01625 614 000

Air Quality News has been reporting, reflecting and investigating the key issues affecting our air quality for the past seven years via our digital platform airqualitynews.com - so why are we launching a magazine?

2019 has felt like a tipping point. In the UK, air pollution has finally been recognised by the government as the single largest environmental threat to health, putting tens of thousands of people in an early grave every year and costing the NHS an estimated £20bn.

Air pollutants have a significant impact upon not just our health but our economic outlook, transport network, environment and poverty levels.

It affects everyone from the four-year-old walking to school with their parents, to the business leader who runs a fleet inside a Clean Air Zone.

Now more than ever people are aware of the damage that air pollution is causing - and the opportunities that will come from the drive to improve it.

We acutely understand the challenges involved and Air Quality News has been at the forefront of the debate, covering the causes and impacts of air pollution for many years.

So we feel the time is right to extend the reach of our reporting through this new print offering enabling us to deliver more feature content. This will allow our editorial team an increased opportunity to investigate, analyse and report across a more diverse number of sectors with a far greater depth of coverage.

We aim to bring you not only the problems associated with air pollution but also investigate the solutions and the developments which will inevitably contribute to us all breathing cleaner air which hopefully we can agree is a human right.

This first issue of the magazine reflects on the limited impact of electric vehicles in the UK compared to Scandinavian countries, we investigate public perceptions of wood-burning stoves, we ask Polly Billington, director of UK100, if local authorities are doing enough to clean up toxic air, and we uncover some worrying findings about Defra’s air pollution monitoring network.

If you’d like to contribute to future magazines or wish to discuss any of our coverage, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Thomas Barrett, editor.

All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Printed on FSC certified paper stock, using vegetable oil inks.

Fulfilment and distribution using 100% recycled envelopes.

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Contents

Features Contents Page 6-8: News Page 10-12: Feature

Page 6-8 News: Heart attacks and strokes more common on high pollution days

Page 20-21 Investigation: Exclusive investigation into government air pollution monitoring

Page 14-15: Freight & Transport Page 16-17: Vehicles Page 18: Vehicles Page 20-21: Investigation Page 22-23: BT & Vortex Page 24-26: Feature

Page 10-12 Feature: Government funding on clean air isn’t stacking up

Page 24-26 Feature: Why the UK is in the EV slow lane

Page 28-29: Indoor Page 30-31: Interview Page 32: Local Government Page 34-35: Local Government Page 36: Legislation

Page 16-17 Vehicles: Are carmakers holding back the EV ‘revolution’?

Page 30-31 Interview: Interview: Polly Billington, director, UK100

Page 37-38: International Page 40-41: Marketplace Page 42: Jobs

Page 18 Vehicles: Dr Gary Fuller: reasons to be positive

Page 34-35 Local Government: Wood-burning stoves report

Thanks to our contributors: Penny Hosie, Christopher Snelling, Dr Gary Fuller, Brian Jackson, Darren Devine, Katie Nield, Joe Anderson.

Partners

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News

in brief London gets first ultra-fast EV chargepoint The hub went live at BP Hammersmith last month (October 11) and is made up of four 150kW chargers. The new site is the first ultra-fast charging hub to be installed in London, and part of a nationwide rollout of 400 by the firm before the end of 2021.

BP Chargemaster launched their first ultra-fast charging site in August this year, with the first two units installed at BP retail site, BP Cranford in Hounslow.

EU reports sluggish progress in cutting air pollution Air pollution is still widespread across Europe, and progress has been slow cutting levels of particulate matter (PM2.5 & PM10), ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), according to the latest report from the European Environment Agency (EEA).

According to the EEA analysis, PM2.5 alone caused about 412,000 premature deaths in 41 European countries in 2016. About 374,000 of those deaths occurred inside the EU. Karmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said: ‘It is simply unacceptable that any of us should need to worry about whether the simple act of breathing is safe or not. We therefore need to work even harder to make sure our EU air quality standards are met everywhere.’

Scotland passes Transport Bill to help improve air quality A bill was passed in Scotland last month (October 10) to write into law amendments for Low Emission Zones (LEZs), as well as giving councils the power to introduce a workplace parking levy.

The Transport Bill was passed two weeks after MSPs unanimously agreed to increase Scotland’s 2020 climate emission reductions to a 75% reduction from 1990 levels.

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Heart attacks and strokes more common on high pollution days

Hundreds more people have heart attacks, strokes or asthma attacks on days where air pollution levels are high, according to new research by King’s College London and UK100.

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esearchers studied Defra’s Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) monitoring stations during 2015, 2016 and 2017 to analyse days in England’s 9 largest cities where particulate matter levels were both high and low, and then

looked at NHS figures on out-ofhospital heart attacks as well as hospitalisations for strokes and asthma.

The figures show that higher air pollution days trigger an extra 124 heart attacks, 231 strokes and 193 asthma attacks.

London saw 87 more heart

attacks and Birmingham had 53 children or adults hospitalised for asthma or strokes.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England said the findings show that the ‘climate emergency is in fact also a health emergency.’

Pupils at inner city schools to take part in major air pollution programme

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nner-city Greater Manchester schools will be kitted out with air purifiers, as part of a major new programme aimed to tackle air pollution in disadvantaged communities.

According to the Philips Foundation and Global Action Plan (GAP), who are behind the programme, it will be the largest of its kind to be launched in the UK, with 20 participating schools and 6000 students to be included in the 10-month study.

The programme looks to support schools to improve air quality as well as understand for the first time the impact of air pollution in schools by studying the varying levels of air quality in classrooms and how this

affects school children.

Through tailor-made teaching resources for schools that support the national curriculum and the installation of air purifiers in classes, the Philips

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Foundation and GAP will work with Manchester University as part of a research project to monitor the changes in air quality from purification and education.

News

Air pollution could age human memory by 10 years The human memory could age by an extra 10 years after being exposed to high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10).

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his was the conclusion of a groundbreaking study undertaken by researchers from the University of Warwick, which adds to a growing body of evidence that air pollution is

having a significant impact on human’s cognitive functions.

For the study, 34,000 English citizens from 318 local authority areas with varying levels of air pollution were randomly selected and then asked to remember 10

words in a word recall test.

They found that when trying to remember a string of words, a 50-year-old in a polluted part of Chelsea performs like a 60-yearold in Plymouth, which has much cleaner air.

Government will set PM2.5 target before 2022 It may be another three years until a target is set for reducing fine particulate matter (PM2.5), after the government introduced its Environment Bill.

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here was no mention of the World Health Organisation (WHO) annual mean guideline for PM2.5 of 10 μg/m3. Rather, it says the Secretary of State must seek independent advice before coming to a conclusion before October 31 2022 on what the target date should be.

It also says that they must be satisfied the target can be realistically met, which can be either a long term or short term ‘legally binding’ date to replace the current EU legislation.

There was an expectation that the government could include in the bill a target date in line with the WHO guideline, and

the potentially three-year delay before a date is announced was met with disappointment.

Campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) said the decision not to include a target shows that the government is ‘racked with indecision’ on air pollution.

Google creates new tool for cities to measure air pollution Google has released a new digital tool that will allow a selection of European cities to measure levels of air pollution.

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he Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) was designed in collaboration with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), to analyse Google’s global mapping data to estimate building and transportation carbon emissions and renewable energy potential.

The tool is now available in Dublin, Birmingham, Manchester, Wolverhampton, and Coventry.

Google says they will add new cities over the next few weeks and any global city can nominate itself to be included

through an online form.

In Dublin, city leaders have already been testing the tool and are using EIE insights to inform smart transit programs with the

goal of reducing emissions and increasing the use of cleaner modes of travel.

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in briefin brief Birmingham floats £500 Workplace Parking Levy It’s hoped the measure would encourage those working in the centre of the city to shift to ‘sustainable and active’ transport alternatives.

Where a WPL is introduced, all employers within a geographical boundary are legally obliged to license car parking spaces from a local authority.

It’s a power that has been available to local authorities since The Transport Act 2000 but currently, Nottingham is the only council to have introduced one.

Taxi drivers face highest level of black carbon exposure For the study, researchers from Kings College and Queen Mary University, London, recruited 140 professional drivers who all work in central London.

The drivers were all asked to carry black carbon monitors for 96 hours, and were asked about the type of vehicle they drive, their working hours and whether they drive with their windows down or air vents open.

On average, the results showed that professional drivers were exposed to 4.1 micrograms of black carbon per cubic meter of air, this is around four times higher than their exposure at home or levels experienced in an office.

Workers want to work from home to avoid air pollution Nearly half of workers say their bosses should allow home working to cut their exposure to air pollution during the morning and evening commute.

Environmental charity Hubbub asked workers across the country their views on air pollution which reveals that many are becoming more aware of its dangers and want to see themselves protected better during working hours, with over two-thirds saying employers should make sure the workplace is safe from air pollution.

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in brief $50m philanthropic clean air fund launched The Clean Air Fund has $50m in initial funding, which is nearly double what the philanthropic community raised for air pollution support in the whole of 2018.

Donations have come from philanthropic foundations with a range of focus areas, including health, climate, mobility, and children.

In 2017, $800 was spent by foundations for every HIV-related death while just $7 was spent by foundations for every death related to outdoor air pollution.

While the number of foundations funding air quality projects increased from 9 in 2015 to 29 in 2018, three-quarters of funding was spent on air quality projects in just three countries: China, India and the USA. Lower speed limits cut NO2 pollution in Wales A trial in Wales has found that reducing speed limits cuts nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions.

Speed limits of 50mph were introduced at five locations across the country to see if it would bring any improvements to air quality and help bring forward EU compliance targets.

An interim data report on the first 12 months of the trial found the measures would make compliance ‘not just possible but likely’ as NO2 levels were reduced at all 5 locations.

Volvo launches first all electric car Volvo has unveiled its first electric vehicle (EV), the XC40 Recharge, which will be the first of five new EVs over the next five years.

The Swedish company wants EVs to make up 50% of its global sales by 2025, and to further encourage electric driving, every Volvo Recharge plug-in hybrid model will come with free electricity for a year, provided through a refund for the average electricity cost during that period.

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London’s ULEZ cuts NO2 pollution by a third City Hall has published a report on the first six months of the zone, which shows it’s delivering some promising outcomes in cutting air pollution.

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uarterly averages reveal that levels of NO2 on roadside monitors have fallen from 89 µg/m3 in January to March 2017 to 57 µg/m3 in July to September 2019, a reduction of 36%.

According to the report, there are now 13,500 fewer polluting cars being driven into central London every day, with

77% of all vehicles now in the zone meeting ULEZ emissions standards.

This is higher than the 39% seen in February 2017 and the 61% in March 2019.

There was also a reduction in traffic flows in central London in May and September 2019 of between 3% and 9% when compared to 2018.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq

Khan, said: ‘These figures prove without a doubt that ULEZ is exceeding expectations, reducing polluting vehicles and cleaning up our lethal air. I am determined to stop Londoners breathing air so filthy it is damaging our children’s lungs and causing thousands of premature deaths. The ULEZ shows what we can achieve if we are brave enough to implement such ambitious policies.’

Air pollution could be turning men bald Researchers from South Korea exposed cells from the human scalp at the base of hair follicles to various concentrations of PM10-like dust and diesel particulate.

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fter 24 hours, the researchers performed a scientific process called western blotting, to study levels of specific proteins in the cells. The results showed that the presence of PM10 and diesel particulate decreased levels of Beta-catenin, the protein responsible for hair growth and morphogenesis.

The study also revealed that the levels of three other proteins (cyclin D1, cyclin E and CDK2), which are responsible for hair growth and hair retention, were decreased by PM10-like dust and diesel particulate in a dosedependent manner, meaning that the greater the level of pollutant,

the greater the decrease in proteins was found.

In 2008, academics from the University of Lincoln first hypothesised that environmental

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factors such as air pollution could be linked to the onset of male pattern baldness.

Lead researcher, Hyuk Chul Kwon from the Future Science Research Centre in the Republic of Korea, said: ‘While the link between air pollution and serious diseases such as cancer and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is well established there is little to no research on the effect of particular matter exposure on the human skin and hair in particular. Our research explains the mode of action of air pollutants on human follicle dermal papilla cells, showing how the most common air pollutants lead to hair loss.’

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Feature

The government isn’t putting its money where its mouth is on clean air Many noble words on air pollution have been uttered by government ministers in recent months – but funding for measures to tackle the problem rarely appear to stack up.

By Penny Hosie

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he Queen’s Speech promised to introduce ‘ambitious, legally targeted’ standards on air quality as part of the government’s much delayed Environment Bill, but the devil was in the detail, and the Bill itself only promised targets would be announced before 2022.

This was swiftly followed by the PM, Boris Johnson, announcing his intent to chair a new cabinet committee on climate change. However, there is concern that the government has yet to state what these emission cutting standards might be, or a timeline. This has frustrated many clean air campaigners, who say breathing clean air is a human right and air pollution is a public health emergency.

Campaigners also fear that the Office for Environmental Protection - the new watchdog announced in the Environment Bill - won’t have the legislative rigour to issue fines to those in breach of clean air regulations.

There’s an encouraging groundswell of support from the British public for the introduction of legally binding air pollution targets which match WHO guidelines. According to

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a YouGov survey by ClientEarth, two thirds of those surveyed want to see this happen.

British environmental campaigner Baroness Worthington, from the European Defence Fund (EDF), believes that if better monitoring were in place and the public became aware of a breach in air pollution targets through air pollution spikes, ‘they wouldn’t stand for it’.

Systematic damage Certainly, the health and fiscal grounds for cleaning up the air are strong. Air pollution is now thought to contribute to 36,000 premature deaths every year in the UK. Several recent studies now equate living, or working, next to main roads as the equivalent of passively smoking up to 10 cigarettes daily, causing systemic damage to all parts of the body. Babies and children, being lower to the ground, are most at risk from the invisible but harmful PM2.5 and PM10 particulates. Carbon has also been found in the placentas of pregnant women.

This compelling evidence can no longer be ignored by

Feature

policymakers at government or council level. Last year, Public Health England (PHE) estimated that if poor air quality isn’t addressed then the health and social care costs of air pollution, in England, could reach a staggering £5.3bn by 2035.

Policy contradictions surround other recent government measures. While final Heathrow and HS2 expansion plans are pending, the government’s continued support of London City Airport’s expansion plans is puzzling. Although privately funded (with initial costs rising from £344 to £480m) the proposed 600+ extra flights a week will cause intolerable levels of air and noise pollution to residents in Newham and other neighbouring boroughs.

Infrastructure ‘revolution’ Additionally, in his Autumn Spending Review, the Chancellor Sajid Javid promised a huge £29bn ‘infrastructure revolution’ investment on new roads and motorways, a move counterbalanced by a paltry spending of just £220m for electric buses. Campaigners think that this contradiction negates the government’s clean air intentions, as well as perpetuating a false myth that building new roads will reduce congestion.

There are other grounds for cynicism as the latest figures, presented by the Department of Transport’s Vehicle Licencing Statistics (Sept, 2019) illustrate that there is a considerable way to go to reduce carbon emissions due to the numbers of polluting vehicles on the road.

At the end of June 2019, 38.7 million vehicles were licensed for road use in Great Britain and, although it was positive that the number of polluting diesel cars registered for the first time in 2019 declined by 16% compared to 2018, the purchase of second hand diesel vehicles has increased.

Also concerning is the fact that this year’s first-time registration of 14,649 ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) has decreased 6% from 2018. This could further decline if the government’s reported intention to remove subsidies of £3,500 for new pure-electric vehicle purchasing goes ahead, although Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has yet to announce the removal date.

them lower their nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions.

Certainly, ClientEarth’s legislative eagle eye has provided all UK councils with the clear message that they must meet evidence-based carbon reduction targets and ensure these are central to planning policy. These decisions need to be especially mindful of vulnerable groups such as the very young, the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses.

There is also a growing body of evidence to demonstrate that poor air quality disproportionately affects the poor and people from different ethnic groups, so approving plans to build new hospitals, schools and homes on busy main roads, where they may live, must be avoided.

Cllr David Renard, the Local Government Association’s environment spokesman, acknowledges the challenges, saying: ‘Councils want to lead the environmental improvement agenda, but need to be empowered to do so.

‘National climate change expectations and air quality targets are unlikely to be met unless councils are given longterm funding, devolved powers and easier access to complex government funding pots.’

Budgetary challenges aside, a decision in September

The 2040 vision Phasing out this subsidy also appears at odds with the government’s plan to reduce UK emissions and its ‘Road to Zero’ strategy, requiring all new cars to produce ‘effectively zero’ emissions by 2040. A combination of technological advances and more EV charging points being placed around the UK makes the purchase of electric vehicles an increasingly attractive prospect.

Shapps is reputedly considering bringing forward the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040 to 2035 but campaigners want it reduced further, referencing Ireland and 11 other European countries with their more ambitious target of 2030. The scene seems set for a further intensification of the debate on electric vehicle subsidies and scrappage schemes.

The Chancellor also promised UK councils £30m to help

2019 by the Court of Appeal further emphasises why clean air targets must be met. The Court confirmed a High Court ruling that a 330-home scheme in the Kent countryside, submitted by land promoter Gladman, was refused at appeal due to the UK’s failure to meet EU air quality standards.

Professor Stephen Peckham successfully argued that the homes would be heavily dependent on car-based transport and that building them would only worsen already unacceptable levels of air pollution along the A2.

This decision has made Silvertown tunnel project

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The government has prioritised spending on roads.

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campaigners hopeful that London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan will place it permanently on hold.

Estimated to cost a staggering £1bn, campaigners argue that facilitating the daily movement of 30 buses through the tunnel is counterbalanced by the considerable health risk, to local residents and schoolchildren, of HGV vehicles moving north to south of the river - some to HGV lorry parks situated either side of the tunnel.

Will the Amsterdam model for bicycles ever be replicated in UK cities?

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Targets There’s even more reason for their optimism following the announcement, at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen, that the Mayor will comply with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guideline limit - reducing fine particulate PM2.5 concentrations to 10 µg/m3 micrograms per cubic metre.

Given that indoor air pollution also contributes to the premature deaths tally, councils must examine their thermal efficiency programmes to ensure their existing housing stock is well insulated and free from damp. Ignoring this risks a huge bill further down the line in the form of emergency hospital admissions and increased childhood asthma rates, which have increased by a third over the last decade.

One north west London borough, which failed to recognise the health impact of their planning decisions, reputedly saw a 2.5% increase in child asthma deaths amongst its poorer children. Councils also need to appreciate the impact of poor air quality on their residents, especially those working on building sites, driving cabs, or patrolling the streets.

Some UK councils are responding to funding challenges by sourcing external funding to fulfil their clean air obligations. York residents will, this month, benefit from their council’s investment in 21 new double-decker electric buses the largest electric bus fleet outside of London.

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The project was funded by First York and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to the tune of £1.6m and is in place to prepare for the Clean Air Zone which will come into force from 2020.

Social inequalities Professor Jon Fairburn from Staffordshire University, an expert in environmental health inequalities, cites various European cities, such as Oldenburg in Germany and Amsterdam in Holland, as being positive examples of what can be done if planning prioritises bikes and walking rather than cars.

The reduction in levels of obesity is an additional health benefit many councils will want to replicate. In the UK car-free days and School Streets are being embraced by many councils, including Hackney. John Burke, one of the borough’s councillors, says their ultra-low emissions streets can potentially generate a revenue of £1,000 per vehicle over a five-year period.

This has encouraged some residents to ditch their polluting vehicles in favour of less polluting ones and others to relinquish car ownership completely, a prime example of council policy encouraging positive behaviour change.

Hackney’s collaboration with Islington and Tower Hamlets, to encourage businesses to distribute their goods to customers via e-bikes to reduce carbon emissions, also seems sensible, given that TfL data reveals that around 39% of vans are less than a quarter full.

Professor Fairburn also believes that a greater recognition of the harm caused to health by woodburning (stoves, open fires, bbqs and pizza ovens, etc) will necessitate councils strictly enforcing their clean air zones.

According to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) woodburning accounts for 38% of harmful PM2.5 particle emissions compared to 12% which is attributable to traffic emissions. Such is the level of harm, Professor Fairburn believes that in years to come ‘woodburning will be considered as antisocial as smoking in public used to be.’

The government must be listening: its new Environment Bill will give local authorities the power to issue fines of up to £300 if smoke is emitted from a chimney where a smoke control area has been declared.

It’s a start but many clean air campaigners believe it needs aligning with a strong public health messaging campaign (on the scale of the anti-smoking ones) for people to fully recognise the harm woodburning causes to health.

The future good health of our children and young people depends on local councils being thoughtful and ambitious in their plans to meet the considerable challenges of cleaning the air.

Not everything can be achieved in silo, so government leadership and funding are still required and it is hoped that revisions to the Environment Bill will further facilitate delivery of this change.

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Find out how we can help you: askenvironment@aecom.com aecom.com/uk/ environment-services/ air-quality/

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Freight & Transport

Clean Air Zones - the alternatives The Freight Transport Association (FTA) says Clean Air Zones (CAZs) will fail businesses and deliver limited air quality improvements. Natalie Chapman, the FTA’s head of urban policy, writes about what could take their place.

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hile CAZs differ in detail across the country, the premise remains the same: vehicles which do not meet the prescribed emissions standards - Euro VI or 6 for diesel and Euro 4 for petrol vehicles - will be charged upon entering an applicable town or city. In some cities, such as Birmingham, all types of vehicles - buses, coaches, taxis, minicabs, HGVs, vans and cars - will be included. In others, such as Leeds, cars will be exempt.

Any air quality benefit derived from CAZs will be short lived, as the Euro VI/6 vehicles required to enter a Zone will come into vehicle fleets of their own accord, as part of the natural fleet replacement cycle. Euro VI has been mandatory in all new trucks since the beginning of 2014. By the start of 2021, FTA estimates (based on historic fleet turnover patterns) that more than half of the UK truck fleet will already be Euro VI. CAZs are expensive and time-consuming for local authorities to implement. They also punish the small businesses and individuals who work tirelessly to power the local economy by forcing them to purchase new vehicles ahead of their budgeted renewal cycles. Instead of investing valuable resources in a short-lived project that will only

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dampen regional economic growth and punish those who can least afford to pay, local authorities should look towards longer-term, more sustainable solutions.

In the view of FTA, councils would be better placed to invest their resources in initiatives such as congestion management, retiming deliveries to quieter periods and encouraging businesses to adopt alternative fuels.

Alternative fuels According to the FTA, the government and local authorities should incentivise the uptake of alternatively fuelled and electric commercial vehicles. From significantly higher purchase costs and uncertainty over residual values, to inadequate charging infrastructure and microconsolidation, there are many issues that need to be addressed before electric vehicles (EVs) can become commonplace on our streets.

Local authorities can help to make electric cars and vans a more viable choice for businesses by: supporting planning applications for EV micro-consolidation centres; ensuring all on-street charging points are accessible and working with electricity suppliers to ensure there is sufficient grid

Freight & Transport

capacity to support charging infrastructure development, among several other measures.

Unlike vans and other light commercial vehicles, fully electric HGVs are not a mass-market solution in the short-to medium-term, but FTA is working with the government on developing a definition of an Ultra-Low Emission Truck (ULET) which will give businesses, and local authorities alike, assurances on which technology will replace diesel HGVs. Congestion management As there is limited space in our towns and cities to build new roads, we need to ensure existing infrastructure is used in the most effective way possible.

After all, congestion has a direct impact on fuel consumption and emissions, according to a leading truck manufacturer, stopping three times per mile, and getting back up to 30mph each time, triples emissions compared to just cruising at 30mph.

Reviewing road layouts and traffic signals can significantly help reduce congestion; improving road traffic also means the logistics industry can operate more efficiently, potentially reducing the number of vehicles it needs to deploy.

Retiming deliveries Retiming freight activity out of the morning peak hours to less congested times in the day, or even overnight, would bring huge benefits to the logistics industry, in the view of FTA. This approach would reduce journey times and fuel consumption, leading to improvements in air quality.

And with fewer lorries on the road during the school rush and other peak times, it would help to protect the most vulnerable road users.

This article covers just three suggested alternatives, other measures include consolidation and working in partnership with customers.

According to FTA, these alternative approaches - in place of CAZs - would deliver long-term, ongoing benefits to urban areas. FTA is urging local authorities to contemplate these measures before rushing to adopt a CAZ. Efficient logistics is vital to keep Britain trading, directly having an impact on more than seven million people employed in the making, selling and moving of goods.

With Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc.

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Vehicles

Are carmakers holding back the EV ‘revolution’?

At a wet and blustery Wetherby, Air Quality News attended the Society of Motor Traders and Manufacturers (SMMT) annual test day where there were 27 manufacturers showing off over 50 new models. However, only a handful of these were electric or hybrid.

By AQN editor, Thomas Barrett

Mercedes EQC 400, the company’s first electric car.

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he room is set out like a carmaker’s version of speed dating. From Ford to Peugeot and Volvo, representatives from all the major names are here, guiding people through the stats and specifications of each model.

If you’d like to take one out for a test drive, it’s as easy as putting your name down, taking the keys and going out for a spin, and in this weather you try not to make that more than a figure of speech.

The first car I try is the Kia Sportage. It’s billed as a ‘mild’ hybrid, which is later described to me, by one of their competitors, as like having a double A battery under the bonnet.

It certainly feels that way and it’s not entirely obvious when the hybrid technology is being utilised. It’s an underwhelming start to the day.

Nissan are here showing off their new Leaf. First released in 2011, it’s now the world’s most popular electric car and it’s easy to see why. It’s fun to

drive and the only discernible sound it appears to make is the noise of the windscreen wipers frantically pushing away the deluge of rainwater.

After I’ve tried the Leaf, I’m keen to try out other electric models, but after enquiring with several of the major manufacturers, it’s a tough ask.

I ask them why they haven’t brought along an EV or hybrid, and the answers weren’t reassuring as I’m told several times that ‘next year’ will be the big one for EVs. Love letter to NO2 Bentley is here with their latest Continental GT. With a 6-litre engine, it’s a gas guzzling love letter to NO2 and I ask Bentley’s representative when the company will be releasing an electric version that could be better for the environment? He seems nonplussed, saying their customers ‘don’t want to compromise on range’. Is 200

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miles not enough, I wonder.

Porche on the other hand are more forthcoming with my questions about their future plans. There’s a 911 Carrera here, as well as the Macan, their luxury SUV, but they are genuinely excited to talk about the Taycan, their first electric sports car, which was announced in September.

Press officer Rob Durrant says the big challenge for them when designing the car was replicating the emotion and romance of driving a full fat sports car.

MG are the only carmaker here with just electric models. Priced at a competitive £21,995 (after subsidies), their SV EV SUV feels like it could be a winner. Products and planning manager, Matthew Stevens, tells me that the classic car brand is trying to rebrand, and hooking customers into EVs will be a crucial part of that.

We get into a conversation about congestion and whether EVs are as environmentally friendly as they are

Vehicles

regularly touted as, and the ‘dirty side’ of mineral mining for EV batteries.

It’s great to hear a representative from one of the carmakers speak honestly and openly about the challenges and opportunities of EVs. MG is also offering incentives, matching the government’s £3,500 for its next 1000 customers for the ZS EV, which will take a significant chunk out of its guide price.

Dinosaurs and elephants Next up is the Mercedes EQC 400, which is the German carmaker’s first foray into EVs. It just feels like a top flight piece of machinery and has buttons everywhere inside, which is confusing, but if I’m paying over £70,000, then perhaps I want buttons.

Also here, is the Chinese company LEVC who manufacture an electric taxi. I test drove it earlier this summer around London and spoke to a couple

of cabbies at the time who were totally converted. They said their trade had been ‘battered’ by Uber, and having electric taxis could be a way for them to fight back and lure more eco-minded customers.

Alongside a few dinosaurs, there

was a big EV shaped elephant in the room. The government is now suggesting that they will bring forward the ban of sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2040 - but on this evidence, the big players just don’t look ready.

LEVC electric taxi.

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Vehicles

Reasons to be positive…

Dr Gary Fuller from King’s College London has been at the cutting edge of air pollution research in the UK for over two decades. Writing for Air Quality News, he explains five things that are helping to influence positive change in air quality around the world.

London’s ULEZ, which came into effect in April 2019.

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H

ardly a day passes without a news item on air pollution.

I read that air pollution is causing us to lose our hair, that black carbon has been found in placenta and that the Trump administration has sacked its air pollution and health experts. Can we find reasons to be cheerful? Maybe.

Here’s five.

Newer diesel vehicles are finally producing less air pollution than the ones that they replace: we know this from exhaust measurements and from air pollution data from London and Paris. After nearly two decades of increases, nitrogen dioxide should start to head downwards.

New Euro VI buses have already eroded the massive concentrations seen along some roads. On London’s Brixton Road nitrogen dioxide has reduced by a third. It’s a similar picture on Putney High Street and the once infamous Oxford Street. Improvements were also registered by Brighton’s bus low

emission zone. But before we get too carried away we must remember that not all roads are improving and, based on the rate of progress between 2010 and 2017, London would need 193 years to meet the EU Limits.

However, this was before the UltraLow Emission Zone.

Extinction Rebellion protesters and students striking for the climate are also carrying placards demanding cleaner air.

People are voting with their wallets too and leaving diesel cars unsold in show rooms. Parents and teachers are getting together to protect our young people by closing roads at the start and end of the school day; an idea that began in Bolzano, Italy, and spread. In Belgium parents close roads outside over 200 schools each Friday morning. Over 20 UK schools now have official street closures each morning and afternoon and many more are on the way.

This year’s, Sterling Prize for Architecture was not won by a big glass and concrete structure but by a network

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of streets and houses. Goldsmith Street, Norwich, looks like a place where everyone would like to live. It is not carfree, but it has streets for walking with gardens, benches and space for children to play. Older places can change too.

Road closures, cycle lanes, redesigned streets and curbs on the school run are transforming Waltham Forest, north London. If locked in, the scheme is projected to give local people back one and a half months’ of life expectancy that they would otherwise have lost to air pollution.

The UK government’s Clean Air Strategy was launched in January.

Previous ones were launched by junior ministers but the latest was unveiled by two cabinet ministers, Michael Gove and Matt Hancock. It is admirably holistic, perhaps learning from past mistakes. We are waiting to see if actions follow intentions but, with many Parliamentarians calling for a new clean air act, and a campaign by the Times newspaper, the political pressure is not going away.

Finally, let’s think big. Air pollution in the 62 Chinese cities tracked by the WHO dropped by an average of 30% between 2013 and 2016. China’s forthcoming multi-billion dollar ‘Belt and Road’ programme will create economic and transport infrastructure across 71 countries. If China’s new emphasis on air pollution runs alongside Belt and Road, it has the potential to improve the air breathed by people who live in some of the most polluted places on the planet.

Dr Gary Fuller, King’s College London

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Investigation

EXCLUSIVE: AQN investigation reveals massive gaps in government air pollution monitoring In the UK’s ten largest cities during summer 2019, government monitors were not recording levels of particulate matter for 11,836 hours, potentially breaching European Union laws on monitoring, an Air Quality News investigation can reveal.

By AQN editor, Thomas Barrett

Westminster, where PM2.5 was not being recorded for 587 hours.

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W

e studied the data of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) monitors in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Belfast, which should have been constantly recording data for both fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and course particulate matter (PM10) during June, July and August 2019.

This revealed frequent and often lengthy periods of inactivity in our busiest urban areas, calling into

question the reported levels of pollution across the UK and the mechanism that judges whether the government’s measures to tackle the problem are actually working.

These included a monitor at Newcastle Cradlewell that was not recording PM10 for 2,188 hours, and a monitor at Bristol St Pauls, that was not recording PM2.5 for 760 hours.

The 12 monitors across London recording particulate matter also had 4,011 hours of missing data.

The findings may have legal ramifications for the government as

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Annex I of the 2008 EU Ambient Air Quality Directive states that monitors must be recording levels of particulate matter for 90% of the time.

Many of the monitors fell well short of this figure during the period we studied. Belfast was recording PM2.5 for only 55.5% over the three months and London Southwark A2 Old Kent Road was not recording PM10 for 68% of the time.

Defra uses the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN), which is the main network used for compliance reporting against the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive, with monitors across the UK. Defra said the missing data can be attributed to instrumentation faults, communication errors, power outages, cabin water ingress, air conditioning failures, quality audit checks, servicing downtime and replacement of assets.

Whilst the EU does not count downtime in monitoring due to regular maintenance, gaps of this length and magnitude, across the whole network, makes it difficult to judge if air quality policies and investments are accurately delivering the required outcomes.

Clean air campaigner Simon Birkett called our findings the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and said the government must replace its ‘creaking, decades-old system of monitoring.’

No ‘safe’ limit PM2.5 is the blanket term used to refer to solid particles and liquid droplets with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres and the UK has been required to measure it since the 2008 Directive from the EU. PM10 has been measured since

Investigation

1970 in the UK and comes largely from industrial sources. Exposure to PM is deadly and has been linked to a myriad of health conditions, including heart attacks, asthma and dementia, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that there is no ‘safe’ limit for humans.

Air Quality News understands that Defra’s network is in desperate need of an overhaul, with many monitors for PM10 not updated since the early 1990s.

In response, a Defra spokesperson said: ‘We are investing in new air quality monitoring assets each year, and over the last 2 years we have been implementing a replacement programme for real time particulate monitoring instruments on the AURN.’ The Environment Agency (EA) manages the maintenance of the monitors, and Defra told Air Quality News that the EA ‘responded quickly’ to any periods of downtime.

However, our data shows that sites were down for significant periods, which were not explained when we presented the data.

For two separate periods of seven days, the monitor in Headingley, Leeds was not recording PM levels and London Westminster had a period of 19 days where it was not recording anything at all.

Periods of downtime also varied significantly. The monitors at Leeds Headingley and London Westminster were not recording for simultaneous days & weeks suggesting a malfunction of the actual monitor, whereas monitors in London went on and offline several times a day, which was not explained

by Defra.

Not fit for purpose With the government announcing in its Environment Bill that they will set a target for PM2.5 before 2022, campaigners say they will need to first make sure its monitoring system is fit for purpose.

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said the findings should be a message to the government to urgently improve its monitoring network.

‘It is alarming to hear these

important air pollution monitors may not have been working for thousands of hours,’ she said.

‘Without real-time and accurate data on pollution levels it’s very hard for any of us to avoid the most polluted areas and protect our own health.

‘For those with lung disease, like asthma or COPD, this could have a devastating effect on their condition

leading them to end up in hospital.

‘Tiny toxic particles, or particulate matter, are the most dangerous to our health so it’s essential government urgently improves the monitoring network and ensures the data being captured is fully accurate.’

The full table of findings for June, July, August 2019 is below.

Name of monitor London Camden London Bloomsbury London Ealing London Bexley

PM2.5 hours missed 87 81 N/A 427

PM10 hours missed 108 258 550 N/A

London Eltham London Harlington London Teddington London Marylebone London Honour Park London Westminster London North Kensington London Southwark Old Kent Road Leeds Central Leeds Headingley Birmingham A4540 Birmingham Ladywood Manchester Piccadilly Salford Eccles Glasgow High Street Newcastle City Centre Newcastle Cradlewell Liverpool Speke Bristol St Pauls Bristol Temple Way Belfast Stockman’s Lane Belfast Centre

95 3 169 429 20 587 48 N/A 192 368 33 25

N/A 3 N/A 332 45 N/A 49 720 193 179 32 26

151

N/A

1 0 326 N/A

1 0 196 2188

75 760 N/A N/A 887

75 840 193 155 931

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Belfast, where a monitor was not recording PM2.5 for 887 hours.

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Advertorial

BT teams up with Vortex IoT to provide the clearest picture on air quality Solutions from BT, writes about how collaboration between the two companies, academia and a local authority is creating exciting air quality innovations.

Brian Jackson, BT.

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A

ir pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK with up to 36,000 deaths a year attributed to long-term exposure (Public Health England, March 2019). PHE modelling suggests if we reduce air pollution, over the next two decades we could prevent: • 50,000 cases of heart disease, • 16,500 strokes, • 9,000 cases of asthma and • 4,000 lung cancers The government’s latest set of appraisal tools indicate that the health impacts of not delivering on the UK’s emission reductions could be around £1.7bn per annum by 2020 and £5.3bn per annum by 2030.

Authorities are already working to reduce nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM) in the worst areas, taking the lead from Defra’s Clean Air Strategy. Funded by the £220m Clean Air Fund, projects including Clean Air Zones (CAZs), Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) and Smoke Control Areas (SCAs) have been running for some time and further government directives are continually being issued to expedite improvements in ambient air quality.

However, worrying headlines are getting louder: •S oot pollution particles ‘cross the placenta’ September 17 2019.

•P ollution hotspots website could drive down London house prices (up to 20%) 17th September 2019.

•B illions of air pollution particles found in hearts of city dwellers July 2019.

Exclusive: study shows associated damage to critical pumping muscles, even in children.

•D efra threatens Bristol with legal action over CAZ for second time August 12 2019.

The Environment Bill confirms accountability lies with local authorities, with UK clean air policies setting targets to reduce short-term, high-pollution episodes and long-term exposure to lower levels of pollution. PM2.5 concentrations across the UK need to be reduced so that the number of people living in locations above the World

More importantly though, what can local authorities do to ensure their local population has cleaner air to breathe and what, and how, is it measured and managed now?

At the moment, formal reporting on air quality is carried out based on the hourly and daily data from the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) which has 226 sites nationwide. These produce certified precision data, but at relatively low data resolution (15 mins or hourly). It’s expensive to buy and maintain, needs dedicated power and is quite obtrusive.

Authorities also collect data from diffusion tube sites - plastic tubes that absorb gases before being sent to a lab for analysis. These are cheap and easy to deploy, but collection and analysis is expensive and results can take months and don’t reflect variations in hourly or daily conditions.

Both these methods monitor air

Health Organisation (WHO) guideline level of 10 μg/m3 is reduced by 50% by 2025.

Legislation is a driver for local authorities and poses a financial risk - the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) can take the UK to court and has the power to impose multi-million euro fines. In future, the independent Office for Environmental Protection, expected to be operational from January 1 2021, will continue this and be able to take enforcement action.

quality in the immediate footprint of the device, but don’t give real-time results for a wider area where people might be. They give delayed, spot data, which doesn’t help the management of, or prevent the exposure to, pollution when and where it matters.

What is needed is real-time areawide data reporting on NO, NO2, O3 and PM levels. Authorities can then manage the source of emissions, warn against exposure and, conceivably, start enforcement action against the

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Advertorial

polluter. And by integrating new sensor technology with existing infrastructure, it isn’t expensive.

Over the last 25 years, most urban centres have operated a CCTV network for community safety and traffic management. Staff in the control room are connected to what’s going on, with their command & control system raising alerts as events happen or thresholds are crossed. This team is well-placed to monitor and manage more. By linking a mesh network of air quality sensors along streets or boundaries over the existing CCTV network to the command & control system, the team can be alerted to air pollution as it happens and do something about it.

The result? Traffic flows can be altered, polluters identified and the public made aware of routes and areas they should avoid.

Surveillance Solutions from BT and Vortex IoT are making this real.

Working with Swansea Council and Swansea University on an Innovate UK funded project, the two companies are deploying air quality and parking space detection sensor networks throughout Swansea and connecting them, using the existing CCTV network, back to the City Council.

For the project, Internet of Things (IoT) company, Vortex IoT, has designed an award winning innovative multi-gas and air particulate monitoring sensor device for hyperlocal deployment. The device is fully automated and designed for deployment into smart city settings and harsh environments. Battery powered or connected to direct power supplies, using mesh networking, the system will transmit data to the server every five minutes.

The Vortex monitoring system has enormous potential for air quality control in not only harsh environments, but urban ones too and can link realtime air quality data to the CCTV footage to see if certain vehicles, or the weather, is having an effect and causing pollution peaks.

Surveillance Solutions from BT has been delivering new services like air quality monitoring for some time.

Services are overlaid on to the existing CCTV infrastructure, leveraging the investment already made and adding more value. Other overlay services

include free public space WiFi, flood detection alarms and, more recently, 5G mobile cell sites. Cities already have SAFE infrastructure for CCTV (Cameras, Fibre & Mobile Networks and the command & control, as well as the people who manage it). Overlaying this with the SMART services such as air quality monitoring is a major step forward in delivering a better community to live, work, visit and learn as well as generating more bang for buck from the CCTV infrastructure. The delivered services are secure, resilient and robust, just like the surveillance services running at the same time over separate channels.

Making it digital means not only can you take advantage of higher quality cameras, but you can also capture masses of intelligence from ‘the edge’ - whether it’s video analytics to count people, build demographic profiles, count parking spaces and profile vehicle types or live data from a local network of sensors. Integrate that information into the command & control dashboard and it becomes the intelligent hub for your ‘Smarter City’. City operators will have the means to be able to directly improve air quality by managing areas as pollution thresholds are approached.

Surveillance Solutions from BT is working with local authorities to connect sensors directly, or on local mesh networks, to monitor patterns of air quality, flooding and noise.

Sending the data to the control room for possible action will help underpin cities becoming safer, healthier and smarter.

Working together, Surveillance Systems from BT and Vortex IoT are excited to bring this disruptive and

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innovative value-add proposition to existing and new customers to address one of society’s current biggest issues – air quality.

About VortexIoT: Vortex IoT already works with a range of customers such as Tata Steel and local authorities deploying air quality management (AQM) sensors. It has also secured a contract with FIFA to provide AQMs across stadiums in Qatar in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2022.

For more information about Vortex IoT visit www.vortexiot.com or follow Vortex on Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram.

Adrian Sutton, Vortex.

About Surveillance Solutions from BT: Surveillance Solutions from BT is an end-end surveillance solution integrator with over 25 years track record, providing devices, street furniture, control room fit-outs and command & control systems with 24 x 365 support and hosting services.

For more information about BT Surveillance Solutions visit www.bt.com/surveillance.

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Feature

How can the UK join Norway in the EV fast lane?

With parts of the UK electric car market going into reverse, Britain seems like it’s stranded on green transport’s hard shoulder waiting to be rescued, while the likes of Norway accelerate out of sight.

By Darren Devine

E

lectric car sales in the UK have risen massively over the past few years, with the market growing tenfold between 2014 and 2018. But the UK remains way behind Europe’s pacesetters Norway, where nearly 60% of the market for new cars is now made up of pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

In June 2019, for the first time since April 2017 the market for electric cars, including BEVs, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and hybrids with electric-only modes (HEVs), fell by nearly 12% to 13,314 new cars on British roads.

The setback came after years of promising growth in the UK market. In the four years to 2018 the market grew by 1000%, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show.

By August 2019 sales of BEVs recovered sharply, growing by 377.5%, while HEVs grew by 36.2%, but PHEVs slumped by -71.8%.

The Department for Transport boasts there are ‘record levels of ultra-low emission vehicles on UK roads’, with the country being the second largest market in the European Union (EU).

Norway has made electric cars more attractive through the ‘polluter pays’ principle, whereby cash raised through taxes on gas-guzzlers is used to subsidise electrics.

But as a proportion of the overall market sales remain tiny, with the UK placed firmly among those nations struggling to beat their addiction to fossil fuels. In August, 90.2% of all new cars sold here were petrol or diesel.

Across Europe, carmakers have

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been warned they must cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions ‘significantly’.

Otherwise, they risk falling short on the upcoming EU target of 95g CO2/km set for 2020.

Figures released in September showed up to 91% of all new car sales in Europe, in the second quarter of 2019, were diesel or petrol.

However, this is not the story across Europe. In Norway the move away from fossil fuels has been much smoother and in March 58% of all vehicles sold there were BEVs. And the Norwegian Parliament has a national goal that all new cars sold by 2025 should be electric.

Norway has made electric cars more attractive through the ‘polluter pays’ principle, whereby cash raised through taxes on gas-guzzlers is used to subsidise electrics.

A sales tax on new cars is worked out through weight, CO2 and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

The system makes big, high polluting cars very expensive, though in recent years it has been adjusted with less emphasis on weight and more on emissions.

In addition, VAT on petrols and diesels stands at 25%, compared to 0% on electrics.

Through these taxes price differences are minimised and the greener choice can also end up being cheaper.

Norway’s Electric Vehicle Association says a Volkswagen e-Golf can end up selling for €33,286, (£29,291), compared to €34,076 (£29,986) for a conventional Golf.

Chaitanya Kumar, a senior policy advisor with charity the Green Alliance, said the last three decades have brought a dramatic shift from car ownership to

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leasing in the UK. And that trend makes it harder for electric vehicles to take off, says Kumar.

Figures released last year by the Finance & Leasing Association showed leasing now accounts for almost 90% of all sales.

Kumar says the best lease deals are on second-hand cars, but the numbers of electric vehicles that have entered the used market remains tiny.

Around 2.5 million new cars are sold in the UK every year, but the secondhand market is much larger, with more than 8 million changing hands.

Kumar said: ‘For electric vehicles to take off you need to have a liquid market, i.e. you need to have more second-hand and third-hand vehicles in the market.’

He says the total UK fleet of electric vehicles stands at around 200,000 cars and these remain largely with their original buyers. New electric cars

Feature

also remain expensive. As of 2018 the Mitsubishi Outlander was the UK’s most popular plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and on the company’s website prices start at £35,455.

Research by Kwik Fit last year suggested the average price paid in cash for a car in the UK is £10,511, while those buying on finance paid an average of £15,438.

But work by EDF Energy earlier this year showed petrol and diesel drivers spend £56,000 over the course of their lifetime filling up, compared to £15,000 for charging an electric.

However, experts believe upfront costs continue to dampen the market.

Incentives to make electric cars more attractive will be crucial, says Kumar.

The UK government’s plug-in grants scheme reduces the cost of a BEV by £3,500 and owners pay no tax.

This compares to up to £2,135 in tax on the most polluting new petrol and

diesels. And from next year company car drivers who use electrics will see their tax rate drop from 16% to 0%.

In addition, EU clean air targets should drive demand for greener cars.

Public Health England has said air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, causing between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths.

Experts suggest traffic accounts for 22% of total UK CO2 emissions, a major contributor to climate change.

Across the EU cars are responsible for around 12% of total emissions.

Philip Gomm, of research group the RAC Foundation, believes incentives offered by the UK government are simply not generous enough.

Reaction to the government’s decision to end a £2,500 grant for hybrids appears to confirm his point.

As well as narrowing the scope of subsidies ministers have cut the amount of cash available as up to £4,500 used to

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be offered for all new BEVs.

The UK government’s plug-in grants scheme reduces the cost of a BEV by £3,500 and owners pay no tax.

In June combined sales of PHEVs and HEVs fell by a massive 55.1% after the government decided the subsidy should only be available on BEVs. Gomm also feels the sheer size of the UK market leaves less room for manoeuvre on subsidies than in Norway.

Britain has just under 32 million cars on its roads, while Norway has less than 3 million. Once electric ownership takes off subsidies may be unaffordable, says Gomm.

‘If you times that (£3,500) over 100,000 vehicles or 200,000 vehicles or 500,000 vehicles that’s clearly a huge public investment in a single market and I don’t think many politicians are

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Feature

prepared, or have the money, to go down that route,’ said Gomm.

But chief executive of the SMMT, Mike Hawes, said that without ‘world class’ incentives the UK market for electric cars will struggle to take off.

He insists the industry is investing in electrics, but cannot ‘dictate the pace of uptake.’

However, compared to similar-sized markets like Germany and France the UK is achieving broadly similar sales.

In fact, France (2.1%) and Germany (2%) both have proportionally fewer electric cars on their roads than the UK (2.5%), according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).

along with concerns over the numbers of available charging points continue to flatten sales.

Even a rapid recharge takes up to 30 minutes to reach 80% capacity.

Highways England, which runs the country’s motorway and A-road network, has a goal of ensuring motorists are never more than 20 miles from a charger by 2020.

The Norwegian government launched a plan two years ago to pay for at least two multi-standard fast charging points every 31 miles on all of the country’s main roads.

All main roads in Norway now have fast charging points, with the exceptions of Finnmark, in the country’s

people (in Norway) to say, “Okay, what can I do as an individual? I can afford an electric car and if that’s the solution I’m willing to invest in it”.’

Figures released by ACEA show that sales of electric cars appear to be linked very closely to national wealth, or GDP per head.

Almost all EU countries with a market share of less than 1% for electric cars - which is half of all member states - last year had a GDP per head of below €29,000 (£25,520).

This includes Spain, Italy and Greece - as well as in Central and Eastern European countries, like Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

Norway’s GDP per capita in 2018 was €73,200 (£64,416), compared to €26,200 (£23,056) in Spain, and €8,100 (£7,128) in Bulgaria. Even the UK’s was only just over half of the Norwegian figure at €37,600 (£33,088).

The Norwegian government launched a plan two years ago to pay for at least two multistandard fast charging points every 31 miles on all of the country’s main roads.

Over half of all vehicles sold in Norway are now BEVs.

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About half of all new cars are bought by fleet buyers for businesses, who like to make reliable calculations of a car’s value at the end of a three-year lease.

But these calculations are much more challenging for electrics because of their smaller numbers, says Gomm.

He also believes some carmakers have embraced electrification only halfheartedly, having invested heavily in production lines for petrols and diesels.

Range anxiety, or the fear of the battery dying during a long journey,

northernmost region, and the islands of Lofoten. Copying Norway’s system of heavy taxes might seem like the simplest way to replicate its electric miracle.

But even environmentalists suggest cultural and economic factors have helped Norway.

Kumar says Norway has benefited massively from its oil reserves and there is a natural readiness to accept that the wealth created by exploiting fossil fuels should be diverted into clean transport.

He added: ‘And I think that is driving

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But the figures also support the notion that the depth of commitment to cleaner fuels matters hugely.

In the EU’s richest state - the tax haven of Luxembourg where GDP per head stands at €96,100 (£84,568) - the proportion of electric cars sold in 2018 was among the smallest in Europe at just .8%, according to the National Society of Automobile Traffic.

The market there is smaller than in Spain, whose GDP at €26,200 (£23,056) is worth just over a quarter of Luxembourg’s.

Confirmation, if ever it were needed, that wealth is not the only factor driving the popularity of electric cars - a commitment to clean energy backed up by tax incentives and attractive subsidies is also crucial.

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Dedicated CNG & biomethane infrastructure for the transport sector on the rise

T

he demand for the green gases CNG & biomethane has increased three-fold within the transport sector in the last 12 months alone. 100% of all biomethane being supplied is both renewable and sustainable and approved under the Department for Transport’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme.

CNG / LNG are cost-effective alternatives to diesel in the transport sector. Biomethane can cut vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 85% whilst delivering a saving of 30%-35% versus diesel on comparative journeys.

David Rix, Managing Director explains, ‘Renewable and sustainable biomethane allows companies to achieve reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions to limit pollution but more importantly allows operators to save money on the total running costs of a diesel fleet.’ The spotlight on climate change continues to grow in intensity and the UK haulage sector is now feeling the pressure more than ever of how and when to review its fleet operations to best achieve decarbonisation plans.

The John Lewis Partnership already operates more than 50 vehicles using CNG & biomethane and has recently

announced plans to run 100% of its delivery fleet using CNG by 2028. The parcel company Hermes also plans to replace its 200-strong fleet of diesel trucks. Other high profile companies announcing plans to adopt CNG to decarbonise their fleets include DHL Worldwide Express, Cadent Gas Limited, ASDA, Argos and Royal Mail It is anticipated that the UK will have more than 10,000 HGV and commercial bus vehicles operating on natural gas by 2020 rising to potentially 60,000 by 2030 according to NGVA Europe.

The government reinforced their support for biomethane as an alternative fuel in the last budget by extending the fuel duty differential between natural gas and diesel from 2024 to 2032.

CNG and biomethane are both readily available and deliver an opportunity to directly impact emissions in a short timeframe. With market leading technology that is proven to support the design, installation and maintenance of infrastructure CNG is a secure first option.

For more information please see www.roadgas.co.uk or call David Rix on 0115 822 5530

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Indoor

Putting indoor air pollution to the test We used an indoor air quality monitor to pit country living against city living, and the results may surprise you.

By Pippa Neill

Hayfield, High Peak.

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T

here’s nothing quite like escaping from a city and filling your lungs with fresh countryside air. We all know the benefits of being in the countryside, of being surrounded by nature, with more open space and cleaner air to breath, but is it that simple?

At Air Quality News we wanted to test these potentially lazy assumptions and measure the real difference between city and country air. Using a uHoo air monitor, we set up an experiment to compare air quality, measuring fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said is more damaging to people than any other type of pollutant.

For one week, the monitor was with my colleague Jason, in his first floor flat in Spinningfields, Manchester, the financial beating heart of the city.

The area is mainly offices and high-rise buildings and the flat is about 100m from a busy road with lots of cars, buses and construction vehicles.

For the second week, the monitor was with David in his countryside house in Hayfield, a village in the Peak District, Derbyshire.

It’s a picture-perfect setting, with just a few houses and only one road in and out where the occasional tractor will trundle past.

Sources of pollution According to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) the main sources of PM2.5 are road vehicles, industrial emissions and the use of non-smokeless fuels for heating and other domestic sources such as bonfires.

The WHO has a mean guideline of

airqualitynews.com

PM2.5 for 25 μg/m3 across 24 hours.

In Spinningfields, we found that the average level of PM2.5 across 24 hours was 35.3 μg/m3, a level which is recorded as being ‘unhealthy to sensitive individuals’, meaning that the elderly and those with respiratory issues are at risk.

Jason said: ‘Manchester isn’t a dirty city, but it’s still a city, so if I’m honest I’m surprised the results aren’t higher.’

But what was really shocking was when we looked at the results from Hayfield.

The average PM2.5 level across 24 hours was 72.9 μg/m3, a level which is regarded as ‘unhealthy to all’, meaning that all those in the area are likely to be affected.

The levels of particulate matter in David’s house reached an astonishing hourly peak of 177.9 μg/m3, a level which is considered seriously hazardous to human health.

At first, it may be hard to make sense of these results. How can the countryside be more polluted than a bustling city centre? However, David admits that himself and ‘all of his neighbours’ have wood-burning stoves.

According to the government’s Clean Air Strategy, burning wood and coal in open fires and stoves makes up 38% of the UK’s primary emissions of PM2.5 and the WHO have reported that exposure to PM2.5 caused 3.7m premature deaths in 2012.

David told us that because of the cold weather, he used his wood-burning stove three times in the week that he had the monitor, he said: ‘I expected the PM2.5 to be high, but I am shocked it is quite so high. The wood-burning stove is Defra approved, we use kiln dried wood for cleaner burning and we didn’t even have it on for very long.’

However, he did note that he often had a window open and he does not know if his neighbour’s stoves are Defra approved and what kind of fuel they use.

Indoor

Awareness Graham Mills from AirProfiling, which distributes the uHoo monitor, said that more awareness needs to be made about the dangers of indoor air pollution. He said: ‘The fact is that outdoor air pollution can become the baseline for indoor air quality. Outdoor air may be polluted, it then comes inside, where it stays and becomes even more polluted.’

We also spoke to Lawson Wight, founder of Burnright, a campaign aiming to educate people how to use their wood-burning stoves safely. He said: ‘Consumers need to understand what the cause of the problem is in order to relate it to what they see in front of them. Providing people with information as to why what they’re doing isn’t good and showing them instead how to get it right is really important.’

Humans have used fire to keep

warm for thousands of years, but in the 21st century many are wondering if the flame has become more about luxury than necessity. With the dangers

of PM2.5 pollution on human health becoming more pronounced with every new shocking study, time could be running out for the wood-burner.

Spinningfields, Manchester.

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29

Interview

Interview: Polly Billington, director of UK100 Air Quality News met Polly Billington, the director of local authority leaders network UK100, to ask her if councils are doing enough to tackle air pollution.

By AQN editor, Thomas Barrett

Has the clean air problem been ‘dumped’ on local authorities by central government?

That’s the view of ClientEarth, whose recent analysis of government data revealed that 36 of 43 of local authority areas still have illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

So why are councils still so far off reaching legal compliance?

The first step for city leaders, says Billington, is admitting you have a problem and showing willingness to tackle toxic air ‘as soon as possible’.

However, councils in Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton and Bath have been criticised for watering down Clean Air Zone (CAZ) plans to not include owners of private vehicles, which campaigners say will make compliance more difficult.

Can you imagine getting rid of your car and being confident enough in the public transport system to give you what your family needs?

Earlier this year, Air Quality News met Bristol Mayor and UK100 member, Marvin Rees, who has also been condemned by residents, local politicians and Defra for missing several deadlines to submit Bristol’s plan to improve air quality.

You can understand the anger. Bristol City Council’s own modelling for their CAZ indicated that it wouldn’t help the authority reach compliance for NO2 until the end of the 2020s - which doesn’t exactly suggest urgency.

But is comparing Bristol with Manchester or Leeds with Birmingham unfair?

‘It does require a significant amount of leadership but cities are different, and this is one of the challenges,’ says

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Billington. ‘In Bristol, the less well-off people live on the outskirts and there isn’t the public transport to confidently rely on in order to get to and from work.’

However, the health impacts of air pollution have been known for decades, and it could be argued that local government has only shown leadership after the ‘dieselgate’ scandal and after the UK was taken to court over air pollution.

‘It’s created a different environment,’ admits Billington.

‘Up until then, they said well its someone else’s problem, or nobody is taking us to court.’

Scrappage dilemma One of UK100’s key demands to government is they want to see a nationwide scrappage scheme worth £3,500 for each car and van driver.

But with the starting cost of a new EV averaging over £30,000, £3,500 is not going to tempt the poorest to give up their polluting cars.

‘It depends who you’re targeting and how the payment structure works,’ says Billington.

‘The take up of EVs has gone up, which suggests that people that can pay are doing so, but that’s simply not enough and we need to give people more support to shift over.’

UK100 has suggested that rather than giving motorists cash for their car, they could be offered public transport season tickets.

‘Can you imagine getting rid of your car and being confident enough in the public transport system to give you what your family needs?’

It’s an admirable utopian vision. But the dystopian reality

Interview

of commuting into Manchester, Leeds or Birmingham on a daily basis suggests that it’s not likely anytime soon.

UK100 believes that key to city transport woes could be reregulation, giving greater powers to councils to run bus services, as happens in London.

Since 1986, Greater Manchester bus services have been deregulated and are now run by 30 private operators, who decide routes, timetables, fares and standards. Currently Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) subsidies around 20% of the region’s bus services. TfGM says this system prevents Greater Manchester from delivering an ‘overall strategic vision’ for the bus network and have recommended franchising as a way to better meet the travel needs of people in the city region.

They also believe that franchising will accelerate the transition to zero and lower emission bus travel.

‘Everyone gets on the bus in London because its reliable and affordable. But to get across Merseyside, it’s £4 each way,’ says Billington.

For an apprentice, that could be the difference between buying a car and getting into the habit of taking public transport.

‘That’s a challenge for local authorities as they don’t want to muck up their economy,’ she says.

‘Once you improve the regularity of buses, you can start improving the procurement of them,’ says Billington.

‘Local authorities had their minds focused when Sadiq Khan got rid of dirty buses in London.’

‘They knew they’d start turning up in other cities, and nobody wants London’s sloppy seconds at the best of times.’

A flawed system UK100 is also calling for a £1.5bn national CAZ, which has a clear set of principles and objectives, unlike the current system which has seen different cities opt for different types of CAZ, with different rules, charges or limits.

Billington says the different CAZs are ‘piecemeal’ which is causing anxiety with freight businesses who operate across the country.

‘That’s a challenge for local authorities as they don’t want to muck up their economy,’ she says.

‘It’s also led to situations where one road must be compliant, so rather than focusing on air quality generally in a city, focus has been on one road with very daft outcomes shoving cars onto another road.’

According to financial consultants CEPA, UK100’s notional national CAZ network, which charges private cars, would bring back to the UK purse £1.70 for every £1 invested.

Perhaps this is the boldness needed to tackle air pollution, rather than tinkering around the edges.

This argument, that clean air measures can be an injection into the economy, particularly away from London, is one that

UK100 has been making to the Treasury.

As Billington says: ‘When you invest in a health measure like a national CAZ, it’s not a deadweight cost. It has genuine benefits, most significantly the burden on the NHS.’ ‘But if local authorities only have the responsibility without the powers and resources, then we’re going to keep spinning in the mud.’

airqualitynews.com

Manchester city centre.

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Local Government

What Liverpool City Council is doing to improve air quality Our grandchildren’s lives are at stake unless we take air pollution seriously, writes the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson.

I

n July, Liverpool declared a climate change emergency. Action is vital, because climate change is not just something that is a threat to our children, it is happening right here, right now.

I believe we have the ability to really make a difference. Because when we come together and lay political differences aside for the greater good, we really can make an impact.

There are lessons from history here.

In 2004, our cross-party motion in the council chamber for a ban on smoking in the workplace, led the government to pass national legislation which has brought massive health benefits.

Some of us are old enough to remember when, as a result of our industrial past, the River Mersey was once the most polluted in Europe.

Thanks to a massive 20-year, billion-pound clean-up programme, it is now flourishing. Yet it faces a

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new threat and, whereas chemicals and sewage were once the problem, a Greenpeace study recently found it now has more micro-plastics than any other river in the UK. And so, with the climate emergency we are facing, now is the time for more bold, decisive action.

We have become one of the first councils to have a dedicated cabinet member for climate change, responsible for co-ordinating our response to this massive issue. And we have also set an ambitious target for the city council to become a zero-carbon local authority by 2030 - while at the same time encouraging our partners to do the same.

A select committee is being set up to scrutinise and drive our work.

We’re not starting from scratch, in Liverpool, we’ve cut 840,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere since 2005.

By next year we will have reduced

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carbon emissions by 42% over the last 15 years by buying only green energy, converting our street cleansing fleet to electric, installing 27,000 LED street lights and investing in solar panels in major venues such as our Arena and Convention Centre.

We’re supporting our transport body, Merseytravel, to put electric and hybrid buses on the most congested routes.

Additionally, we are looking at the possibility of a tidal barrage in the River Mersey in order to generate our own energy.

And I recently committed total spending of £4m on Liverpool’s roads to make the city a safer place for cyclists.

However, if we are to really make a difference, we need changes in government legislation, and devolution of powers and resources from Whitehall to local leaders. At the very least we need: a new Clean Air Act updated for the 21st century, a scrappage scheme for the most polluting vehicles and appropriate funding to properly tackle air quality.

This is the most important issue we face in our lifetime. Our children’s future depends on action we take now.

It is incumbent on politicians of all colours to set aside party differences and to act together, if we are to give ourselves the best chance of building a greener future for our children.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson.

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Local Government

Turning up the heat on air quality Wood-burning stoves are a significant emitter of PM2.5 in the UK - but is a lack of knowledge of how they impact the environment fanning the flames of air pollution?

By Jamie Hailstone

A

s the long winter nights start to draw in, many people will be looking forward to putting their feet up and sitting down in front of a roaring fire or wood-burning stove.

The popularity of stoves over recent years has rocketed, and, according to the industry body HETAS, the number of stove registrations increased 10-fold in the decade between 2004 and 2014, from 12,000 to 130,000 a year.

For many, wood-burning stoves are a more natural, and environmentally friendly way to heat their homes, but the government’s own statistics show that burning wood and coal in open fires and stoves accounts for more than a third (38%) of the UK’s primary emissions of PM2.5, compared to industry and road transport, which contribute 16% and 12%, respectively.

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airqualitynews.com

Public perception Given the contribution home stoves and fires can make to air quality, it seems strange that it is not higher up the agenda for both central and local government.

Beth Gardiner, the author of Choked, The Age of Air Pollution and The Fight for a Cleaner Future, says there is a ‘huge gap in perception and public understanding around wood stoves’.

‘People enjoy curling up in front of the fire,’ she tells Air Quality News. ‘It’s been promoted as a clean, climatefriendly way to heat your home, but I think that’s highly questionable and I see a parallel with the diesel car mess that the UK and Europe has gotten itself into.’

‘Diesel was promoted in the early 2000s as a climate-

Local Government

friendly fuel and we are seeing the same thing with wood.

You can even get tax incentives under the Renewable Heat Incentive, which encourages people to convert their home heating to wood, instead of gas.’

‘But no one acknowledges the health cost and the climate benefit is also very questionable.’ The government did include wood-burning stoves as part of its Clean Air Strategy, which was published in January, by the then environment secretary, Michael Gove.

The strategy included commitments to ban the sale of the most polluting fuels, ensure only the cleanest stoves are available on the market by 2022 and give new powers to local authorities to take action in areas of high pollution.

In its upcoming Environment Bill, the government has said that it will give local authorities extra powers to tackle air pollution from wood but Professor Roy Harrison from the University of Bimrmingham, adds a note of caution about the government’s plans.

‘The report of Defra’s advisory committee, the Air Quality Expert Group, makes clear its concerns over the increased use of wood stoves because of their major contribution to particulate matter pollution of the atmosphere, which is of a similar magnitude to traffic pollution by fine particles,’ says Prof. Harrison.

‘Defra’s intention to legislate for cleaner fuels (only dried wood) and for better designed, lower emission stoves is to be welcomed, but will take a long time to generate impact due to the very slow rate of renewal of old stoves, and the continued installation of newer, albeit less polluting stoves.’

government to tighten smoke control regulations and ban the use of fireplaces and wood-burners in areas well served by cleaner heating sources.

Regulations A spokesman for London Councils says regulations around wood-burning stoves currently falls under the remit of each individual borough.

‘However, solid fuel burning produces a significant amount of particulate matter in London, which has negative impacts on the health of residents across London,’ adds the spokesman.

‘For this reason, we believe that local authorities need improved powers and increased resources to effectively tackle emissions from solid fuel burning, including woodburning stoves.’

Earlier this year, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees also called on the government to give councils increased powers to ban private wood-burners.

‘The government must give us the powers to say no to pollutants, especially in heavily populated areas,’ said Rees

Planning ahead In the meantime, many local authorities are developing their own clean air strategies. Some plans, like those of Southampton City Council, do not contain any specific actions or targets around wood-burners, while others, like Cornwall Council, are addressing the issue in their draft proposals.

Cornwall’s draft clean air strategy, which was published in July and due to go to consultation this autumn, looks to raise awareness of air pollution among residents by discouraging drivers from idling and sharing advice on reducing pollution from wood-burning stoves.

It also contains information on sources of indoor air pollution in homes and workplaces and how to reduce it, for example from cleaning products, furniture and cooking, all of which can affect health.

The London Borough of Camden’s clean air action plan for 2019-2022 includes a commitment to ensure that Smoke Control Zone regulations are communicated and enforced with the support of residents’ associations.

According to the document, domestic open fires and stoves account for 4% of Camden’s total PM10 and 7.2% of PM2.5. It adds that the figures for 2019- 2022 are expected to be higher.

Camden will also look at whether local by-laws could be introduced to ban the use of fireplaces and wood-burning stoves.

The document also states that it plans to lobby

in June, in a speech to mark Clean Air Day. Gardiner agrees that, when it comes to tackling the issue of wood-burning stoves, national action is required.

‘When you talk about traffic, part of the mistake that’s been made is that we leave it to cities and towns to deal with on their own,’ the author tells Air Quality News.

‘Camden can block certain roads, but Camden or any other local authority cannot control the fact that Volkswagen and other car manufacturers are still selling diesel cars.

‘It’s more than a local authority has the power to deal with,’ she adds. ‘The problem with wood stoves is similar.

We’re leaving it to the localities to deal with it on their own, but it needs to be addressed at a national level if you are to see any significant improvement.’

airqualitynews.com

Camden is looking at local by-laws to potentially ban wood-burners.

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Legislation

ClientEarth: why time is running out for the government on clean air Clean Air Zones (CAZs) are vital for the health of our country, yet our politicians are failing to introduce them, writes Katie Nield, clean air lawyer at ClientEarth.

T

he formal deadline for national compliance with the legal limit for major pollution culprit, nitrogen dioxide, passed in 2010. Almost ten years on, the latest figures show that of the country’s 43 reporting zones, 36 still suffer from illegal levels of this harmful pollutant.

There is a long way to go until this problem is fixed. And yet, instead of cleaning up the air with the urgency that people’s health deserves, the government has passed the buck to local authorities, an approach that is clearly not delivering the results that are needed.

So, what is going wrong?

Central government has left local authorities to do the heavy lifting and many councils are less than happy to do it.

Only a small minority of local authorities have had final plans approved. Others are lagging as much as 10 months behind original governmentimposed deadlines. Major cities, such as Greater Manchester, Newcastle and

36

Coventry, are yet to agree final plans.

Deadlines are being missed, extended, and then missed again.

Ministers have sent the odd strongly worded letter, but have done very little to ensure that local authorities take these deadlines seriously and deliver the action necessary to protect people’s health.

Central government’s own analysis has identified CAZs as the most effective way to quickly tackle illegal pollution in towns and cities, but only Leeds and Birmingham so far have approved plans to implement such zones.

As timetables slip, it is ultimately people’s health that suffers.

Birmingham City Council is the only city outside of London committed to introducing a CAZ that restricts the most polluting cars. Other councils, including those in Greater Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Coventry, are digging their heels in against equivalent measures to tackle the most significant pollution source, citing the need to avoid impacts

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on small businesses and those on low incomes.

However, suggestions from some political leaders that this is a decision between people’s health and people’s pockets fail to recognise evidence that it is those on low incomes who not only suffer the most from pollution but also tend to contribute the least to the problem. They are therefore likely to have the most to gain from action to quickly clean up our towns and cities.

We need leaders that can step up to the challenge. Instead of ducking out of the most effective measures, politicians at both a national and local level should be working together to provide help and support for people and businesses to move to cleaner forms of transport, quickly. That should mean investing heavily in public transport, walking and cycling, introducing a national targeted scrappage scheme and making the cleanest vehicles more affordable.

Even where local authorities are stepping up and showing ambition, central government is failing to provide the necessary support. For example, delays in setting up the central platforms needed to allow the assessment of vehicle compliance and the payment of CAZ charges have caused the ‘go live’ dates for CAZs, in both Leeds and Birmingham, to be pushed back by at least six months to July 2020.

While local authorities should not use this as an excuse to shirk away from their role in protecting people’s health, ministers should be reminded that the buck for sorting out this mess still stops with them. Ultimately, the legal duty to comply with limits and address continued exceedances, in the shortest possible time, rests with central government. This means not only ensuring that the plans produced by local authorities are good enough and prompt enough, but also taking action at a national level.

International

How the Smog-Free Bicycle became big in China Daan Roosegaarde has invented the ingenious Smog-Free Bicycle, which has a device on the handlebar that sucks up air pollutants and releases clean air. We spoke to him about why China is the perfect country to showcase his invention and reveal the ‘beauty of clean air.’

By AQN editor Thomas Barrett

P

erhaps more than any other global city, Beijing is synonymous with smog. But rather than getting ‘mad or sad’ about it, frequent visitor Roosegaarde decided to come up with ideas on how to improve air quality across the country.

After getting the all-important endorsement from China’s communist government, his design company Studio Roosegaarde now has a foothold in a country that is attempting to balance rapid urban development with concerns over toxic air.

It’s a nettle that has taken China a while to grasp, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) is now praising the government for showing the political will needed to tackle air pollution, with levels of particle pollution dropping by 30% in its major cities over three years.

Transformations

Daan Roosegaarde, Beijing.

Unlike any other country, China has a vast platform for urban development. They want to move 900 million people into cities by 2025, and sleepy villages have been transformed into urban areas, seemingly overnight.

To get a foreign product to the massive and lucrative Chinese market, approval from the one-party government is key and a recommendation to city mayors could open the door to the whole country. Roosengarde says decision-makers there are thinking creatively about what type of urban environment they want their children to grow up in.

‘It’s not a perfect country, but they are very aware they have to invest in new ideas to become future proof,’ he says.

‘I love their curiosity towards the future.’

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International

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Roosegaarde has experience of working in various different European markets and he says China’s attitude to innovation is refreshing.

‘In China, sustainability is not just some greenwashing, “nice to have” thing, they are realising how it can change their economy,’ he says.

‘When I present new ideas about sustainable projects in Europe, they usually ask me, “Are you sure it works?”

‘In China, they want to be sure if it’s the first time it’s been done and they want to be the first.’

biology and design. It’s like a melting pot.’

He also says that academics in China understand how to make money through their ideas, whereas back in Europe he sees brilliant designers presenting their work at conferences before it ends up hidden in drawers.

‘That kind of connectivity is maybe what’s needed to solve problems such as air pollution,’ he says. ‘There’s not a lack of money to solve it, but maybe a lack of imagination.’

‘We should cherish our creativity but be more open in terms of collaboration.’

Melting Pot

Sustainability

Roosegaarde also lectures in design at a university in Shanghai and he’s been impressed with how China has updated its education system over the past couple of decades.

He says the West has a ‘weird moral attitude’ towards China that often assumes that they don’t know as much or are not as creative. However, he believes China is now catching up at a pace that would probably surprise a lot of people.

‘Education there 10 or 15 years ago was very top down,’ he says. ‘The teacher would speak and the students would listen.’

‘That is completely changed. Students now are great at making connections between different disciplines, science

Roosengarde says the main thing that the UK can learn from China, is around the concept of sustainability.

‘In the UK, sustainability is often about “less”, having less cars or less things - but sustainability should be about doing more and designing things creatively to help people and not punish them.

‘Countries like the UK should be proud of their tradition, but if they don’t invest in new ideas, then it will become an open-air museum. That scares me.’

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T: 0117 925 1700 www.imperial.co.uk

Marketplace Enviro Technology Services

Founded in 1983 and now active in over 60 countries with a multimillion pound turnover and has evolved over 34 years to become a global provider of air quality and emissions monitoring systems and servicing. The company sell and lease equipment, systems and services covering the monitoring of ambient air quality (AQM), continuous emissions (CEM) and indoor air quality. ET also supplies cutting-edge analytical equipment for scientific, process and research monitoring including the Enviro Technology Services (ET) was.

The company operates out of a custom-designed 1700m2 factory featuring fully air-conditioned calibration and repair laboratories, in-house system manufacturing and dedicated testing and training facilities.

GRAMM SmogStop

Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership

GRAMM is the UK leading specialist in the design, supply & installation of environmental acoustic barriers. We have constructed literally 1,000’s of Km’s of acoustic barriers of all types of materials throughout the UK and Europe.

GRAMM SmogStop Barrier reduces air and noise pollution levels in surrounding neighbourhoods, and takes a two-pronged approach to reducing air pollution from major roads, highways and railways.

The patented aerodynamic design reduces pollution levels by enhancing dispersion. At the same time, a proprietary coating on the barrier actually breaks down the NOx and VOCs that produce smog, transforming them into harmless by-products

The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, is a public-private partnership working to accelerate a sustainable shift to lower emission vehicles and fuels and create opportunities for UK business. Over 200 organisations are engaged from diverse backgrounds including automotive and fuel supply chains, vehicle users, academics, and environment group.

Connect: You’ll gain insight into low carbon vehicle policy development and into the policy process.

Collaborate: You’ll benefit from many opportunities to work – and network - with key UK and EU government, industry and NGO. Influence: You’ll be able to initiate proposals and help to shape future low carbon vehicle policy

Turnkey Instruments Ltd

Turnkey Instruments design and manufacture a range of easy-touse dust monitors, created to continuously measure and record the concentration of airborne particles. Our instruments feature two modes; in environmental mode they simultaneously monitor the concentrations of TSP, PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 particles, while their workplace mode monitors the inhalable, thoracic and respirable fractions. Every product includes a proprietary nephelometer, produced by ourselves, that analyses the individual particles of an air sample as they pass through a laser beam; the particles are then collected on the reference filter. This advanced technology allows fractions to be determined at concentrations up to several mg/m

T: 01453 733200 www.et.co.uk

T: 01323 872243 www.smogstop.co.uk

T: 020 7304 6880 www.lowcvp.org.uk

T: 01606 330020 www.turnkey-instruments.com

Air Monitors

Ashtead

Environvent

Air Profiling

Air Monitors represents some of the world’s leading environmental monitoring technology manufacturers.

Providing monitoring solutions which encompass the very best products, technology and services, Air Monitors offers technical support, maintenance, calibration, operation, analysis and reporting services in addition to the sale or hire of monitoring equipment.

Typical applications include the monitoring of particulate matter and gaseous pollutants in both workplace and ambient air.

With decades of experience and high levels of expertise, Air Monitors is able to select the best instruments from leading global manufacturers. These include Aethlabs, Bertin, Cozir, Environics, AQMesh, Lufft, Magee Scientific, Palas, Thermo and others.

T: 01684 857530 www.airmonitors.co.uk

Ashtead Technology provides rental, purchase and calibration solutions for air quality and emissions monitoring equipment.

Parameters include: PM10, 0.8µm Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM), Respirable (PM4), PM5 (China Respirable), PM2.5, PM1, Temperature, Relative Humidity, Air Velocity, CO, Cl2, EtO, HCN, H2S, NO, NO2, O2, SO2, CO2, VOCs and Hydrocarbons.

Covering personal, indoor and outdoor applications, equipment is available from leading manufacturers including TSI Instruments Ltd, Testo, RAE Systems and Inficon. The ability to rent or purchase means we can offer an equipment solution to meet your financial and technical requirements.

Alongside equipment rental and sales, we also offer calibration and maintenance.

EnviroVent is the UK’s leading manufacturer, supplier and installer of energy efficient and sustainable ventilation products to improve indoor air quality and control the humidity levels which cause condensation and mould problems.

EnviroVent has tackled condensation and mould in over a million properties. Our award winning range of condensation control products come with longterm warranties, and are fitted by qualified professional engineers.

Consistent with our commitment to develop sustainable products, our UK manufacturing plant also provides the perfect facility to recycle worn out components, eliminating the wasteful disposal of plastic to landfill.

T: 01462 679 020 ashstead-technologhy.com

T: 0345 27 27 810 envirovent.com

airqualitynews.com

The UK’s go-to distributor Hoo “PRO” Indoor Air Quality Monitoring System uHoo “PRO” represents the pinnacle of the new generation of Indoor Air Quality Monitors designed for commercial applications: • compact • lower cost • web-based (including IoT) • compact • very informative • intuitive to use • API-enabled versatility • fast upload of data • energy saving • low maintenance • low operational cost • aesthetically superb NINE Monitored Parameters uHoo “PRO” delivers more actionable information than any other

T: 01636 555 007 uhooair.co.uk

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24/10/2019 09:33

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