Three occasions of european networking for LIFE PrepAIR

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The two weeks from 8 to 21 November have been full of opportunities for LIFE PrepAIR’s european networking.

On  November 9th, Katia Raffaelli and Marco Deserti from the Emilia-Romagna Region, participated to the International Conference on Air Pollution – Moving Towards Clean Air for Europe organized by the LIFE HungAIRy project dedicated to air quality in Hungary.

On November 16th, Katia Raffaelli participated as LIFE Prepair project manager in Session 3 “Sustainable Cities and districts” of the event “Beautiful, sustainable, together: LIFE in the New European Bauhaus” organized by the LIFE programme.

Finally, on 18 and 19 November, LIFE Prepair will virtually be in Madrid with the LIFE programme at the Clean Air Forum 2021 to talk about Air Quality and the commitment of the territories of the Po Valley.

 

 

Prepair’s Second Midterm conference: two days debate on Air Quality in the Po basin

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The Second Midterm Conference of LIFE Prepair Project took place on last 6th and 7th october in the beautiful location of Venice’s Arsenale: two days of debate dedicated to Air Quality issue in the Po basin. During the first day, Prepair’s partners explored the work done so far by the project and analyzed strategic issues and policies linked to the common struggle against air pollution. The second day was dedicated to the domestic consumption of Woody biomass (one of the thematic pillars of Prepair Project).

The two days work stressed out the role of Prepair Project in the creation of a community of experts that provides dependable data to support policymakers in the development of a common strategy toward air quality improvement in the Po basin. During the roundtable that ended the first day of conference, the regional Councilors for environment  (Irene Priolo for Emilia Romagna, Raffaele Cattaneo for Lombardy, Matteo Marnati for Piedmont and Gianpaolo Bottacin for Veneto) called for a greater commitment of the national government in the Air quality issue of Po Basin.

The technical focus of the first day has inevitably been the particular state of air quality during 2020: COVID-19’s lockdown allowed to observe Po basin in an unprecedented condition, almost completely lacking of vehicular traffic. The analysis carried out by Prepair’s working group during the lockdown registered a substantial drop in some pollutants’ concentration (NO2, NO, Benzene) , but not PM10. Despite the strong drop of traffic, over the threshold values of aerosol concentration have been observed during the lockdown. The dynamic of Aerosol is strongly influenced by meteorological conditions and by the presence of precursors. To comply to the limit values of PM10 concentration in the Po valley it is necessary to reduce both aerosol primary emission and its precursors (NOx and NH3). To achieve this goal Air Quality plans and strategy foresee to intervene simultaneously on all emission sources and on the whole Po basin.

Freight logistics is going to be an area of primary importance in the near future: it is necessary to reduce long distance road transport, optimize medium to short distance logistics and substitute old commercial vehicles with low impact ones.

As far as concern Agriculture and Animal farming, it is necessary to find a new balance between production of nitric compound from cattles and the receiving capacity of farms, introducing a depuration system to eliminate excessive loads combined with digestors. It will be essential to apply to animal farms measures integrating food, quality of the barn and innovative spreading technics.

Regarding industry and energy production, it will be necessary to apply Best Available Technologies, reach zero fossil fuels consumption, improve research on clean technologies and manage the impact of electric mobility on energy demand.

Last but not no least, as far as concern Domestic heating it is necessary to implement a general improvement of energy efficiency in new and existing buildings, substitution of old biomass heaters and fireplaces  with either newer and more efficent biomass plants or less polluting technologies (heat pump).

Download the presentation of Prepair Midterm conference | 6th October

Download the slides of the conference on Domestic consumption of Woody Biomass | 7th October (in italian)

 

 

Slides: Prepair’s second Midterm conference Prepair | Venice 6th October

The PREPAIR project in the context of the short and long term air quality planning in the Po Valley | Paolo Ferrecchi (Regione Emilia-Romagna)

Evaluation and Monitoring Session

PM10 precursor emissions | Alessandro Marongiu (ARPA Lombardia)

Air quality modelling assessment in the Po Valley | Michele Stortini (ARPAE Emilia-Romagna), Stefano Bande (ARPA
Piemonte)

The effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on air quality in Slovenia | Don Ciglenecki, Janja Tursic (ARSO)

Particulate composition in special stations | Eleonora Cuccia (ARPA Lombardia)

Air quality and COVID | Arianna Trentini (ARPAE Emilia-Romagna)

The Measures for Air Quality in the Po basin: the results of 2 years monitoring | Michele Bartolomei (ART-ER)

Capacity building actions and raising awareness Session

Introduction | Katia Raffaelli (Regione Emilia-Romagna)

Main results of the Transport Pillar | Milena Orso Giacone (Regione Piemonte)

The role of cities

Agriculture: PREPAIR new tools for the assessment of emissions and improvement interventions | Matteo Balboni (Regione Emilia-Romagna)

Main results of the Energy Pillar | Sara Verones (Provincia Autonoma di Trento)

The actions of the PREPAIR project to promote the correct use of woody biomass for domestic heating | Alberto Suppa (Regione Lombardia)

You’ve got air, a communication campaign to seal the alliance between institutions and citizens | Marco Ottolenghi (ART-ER)

European and National Actions to improve air quality Session

Zero pollution action plan | Wilhelmus De Wilt (DG Environment European Commission)

The national strategy for improving air quality | Fabio Romeo (Ministero della Transizione Ecologica)

The Copernicus National mirror service for air quality | Andrea Taramelli (Delegato Nazionale al Copernicus User Forum UE e Coordinatore del Forum Nazionale degli Utenti Copernicus)

7 October | Conference on Woody Biomass Consumption

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On Thursday  7th October, the Conference on Woody Biomass Consumption will be held within the LIFE PrepAIR project

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, Participants will follow the conferences exclusively online on the Zoom platform.

Consumption in the Po Valley and strategies for reducing emissions into the atmosphere: the impact of residential firewood and pellet combustion will be explored through the main results of PREPAIR’s actions and the involvement of some national experts on air emissions and energy scenarios.

The conference, structured in 2 sessions – morning and afternoom – will be hosted and organised by ARPA Veneto and Veneto Region.

Click here to register to the conference

Download the agenda

Download the slides of the conference on Domestic consumption of Woody Biomass | 7th October (in italian)

The Previous day, wednesday 6th October, the second Mid-Term conference of LIFE PrepAIR will take place

 

The Po basin together for the Quality of Air | 6 October

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The second MId-term Conference of LIFE PrepAIR, online from Venice

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The Air Quality Assessment Report for Po Basin and Slovenia in 2020 is Online

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The Air Quality Assessment Report for Po Basin and Slovenia in 2020 is available for download.

The document is the result of the work of the environmental Agencies’ Network which are partner of the LIFE Prepair projects: ARPAE Emilia-Romagna and ARPA Piemonte (coordinators of the action), ARPA Friuli Venezia Giulia, ARPA Veneto, ARPA Lombardia, ARPA VAlle d’Aosta, APPA Trento e ARSO Slovenia.

This first assessment report of action D5 provides a synthetic view on the state of air quality in the Po Valley and Slovenia for year 2020 and examines PM10, PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, which are the pollutants whose concentration values more frequently exceed legislation thresholds.  The assessment was carried out with data fusion techniques using model output and monitoring data collected by action C1 of the PREPAIR project. Even though four data fusion modelling systems with different setup (resolution, boundary condition, meteorological data and data fusion technique) have been used, the model outputs are very similar to each other. In this report the assessment methodology, the data fusion technique and results of the most critical indicators compared to the limit values established by the 2008/50/EC Directive are shown.

SAVE THE DATE! 2nd PrepAIR Mid-Term Conference | Venice 6th October

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The Second Mid-Term Conference of PrepAIR,  the integrated LIFE project that tackles air quality issue in the Po basin and Slovenia, will take place in Venice the 6th of October 2021. The conference will be structured in two sessions – morning and afternoom, and will be hosted by project partners Regione Veneto and ARPA Veneto.

The conference on residential biomass consumption will take place the following day, October the 7th in the same location.

More info on logistics, agenda and registration soon!

Prepaired! will present its activities at the second international conference of Scuola Democratica

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On june the 2nd, FLA – Fondazione Lombardia per l’Ambiente will present its experience on PrepAIRed!, the action of LIFE Prepair project dedicated to education  on air quality in schools, at the second international conference of Scuola Democratica – Reinventing School.

Air pollution is a global threat and one of the first attempts to human health. The WHO estimates that the deaths caused reach 4.2 million connected  the dropout in  non communicable diseases like stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, acute and chronic respiratory diseases. Around 91% of the world’s population lives in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits. Air pollution is indeed a major problem, and in Italy special attention is needed in the Po’ basin where orographic and meteorological conditions contribute to have higher level of several pollutant beyond the limit. A common effort among regions is then essential as well a diffuse awareness among at local community level.
Educational programs to air quality since early school became a primary driver to be triggered and support a conscious engagement of future citizens in the implementation of air quality policies.
PREPAIR is a project aimed at harmonizing, supporting and strengthening the measures established in the regional plans and within the agreement of the Po Valley on a larger scale The ultimate goal of PREPAIR is to guarantee the sustainability of results and the empowerment of regulatory agencies. .Within the PREPAIR project.
PrepAIRed! is the action aimed at designing, testing and implementing different target-oriented training courses aimed at raising awareness and strengthening knowledge in the school system (teachers and students) on the issues of air quality covered by the project.
PrepAIRed! tries to achieve its objectives through an innovative didactic approach in order to foster the concept of “air as common good”. The educational path is divided in 5 modules representing the most impactful determinants of air quality and each module is organized in 3 learning phases reflecting the I-E-A paradigm: Information Experience and Action.
The I-E-A paradigm is based on constructivism theory ( Rivoltella, 2014 ) and constructivism techniques like flipped classroom and episodes of situated learning are implemented within the didactic proposal. The educational path is supported by a composite e-learning platform to support cooperative learning and to offer dedicated virtual spaces for teachers and single classic where it’s possible to share interactive materials, homeworks communications and evaluations.

The panel will be part of the paralel session B.6.2 Curriculum of Digital Civic Education, Teaching of Civic Education and new Citizenship that will take place online from 17:45  to 20:00.

Click here, to read the agenda and register to the event .

 

 

 

Prepair will attend to the “Natural Resources Management and Pollution Reduction: Sharing best practices at the local, national and international level” conference

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On June the 4th, Giulia Righi of Regione Emilia-Romagna will attend as a speaker at the “Natural Resources Management and Pollution Reduction: Sharing best practices at the local, national and international level” conference to present actions and results achieved so far by PrepAIR project.

The Conference is hosted by project LIFE Beware and will be a partner event of the EU Green Week 2021 whose slogan is significantly “Zero Pollution”.

Municipality of Santorso is project leader of LIFE Beware whose objecive is the implementation of an adaptation strategy to climate change and to flood risk in urban and rural areas, through the active involvement of local communities.

Register here to attend to the conference.

Click here to download the programme qui.

Covid-19 and Air Quality in the Po Valley: Online the English summary of the third Report

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The English summary of the third report on “COVID 19 and Air Quality in the Po Valley is now  available for download.

In the first months of 2020, the health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent policy measures adopted have generated a drastic and sudden reduction of some sources of atmospheric pollution. The conditions were useful to test some actions to tackle air pollution in one of the most polluted areas of Europe, and, unfortunately, also dramatically affected by the health emergency.

In this context the PrepAIR Steering Committee  decided to carry out a specific study to evaluate the effect of lockdown measures on air quality. The analysis was conducted in three different phases  and this work represents the synthesis of the third one in which the chemical composition of PM10 is examined in the special stations of the project. The study aims to verify and consolidate the preliminary conclusions of the two previous reports and to obtain new elements of knowledge necessary to set up the next planning phase in terms of air quality.

The study was conducted by analyzing in particular two periods: pre-lockdown (January 2 – March 9) and lockdown (March 10 – May 18). To fight the rise of infection two DPCM (Prime Minister Decrees) put in place strictly national lockdown measures on 9th and 11th of March 2020. Lockdown restrictions have begun to be eased across Italy the 26th of April with a recovery of limited activities and the cessation of national restrictive measures on traffic within regional boundaries.

Click here to download the third report’s english summary.

The first two report are available here.