An emissions inventory is an organized series of data about the amount of pollutants introduced into the atmosphere from natural sources and human activities, with particular reference to a specific period of time and a specific territorial area. An inventory of this kind has been developed within action A1 of PREPAIR: emission data of the Po basin and Slovenia for the year 2013 have been collected and analyzed; this area is 135,000 km2 wide and has 28 million inhabitants.

This database was obtained from the combination of local or national (for Slovenia) inventories developed in the different territorial areas and maintaining as much detail as possible on the types of emission sources and on the territories of the singles municipalities.

From a quantitative perspective, the emission data analysis of the Po basin regions confirms the relevance of the non-industrial combustion sector for the PM10 emissions, 56% of the total (59% for the whole domain), followed by road transport, 20% of the total emissions of PM10 (18% on the whole domain). Road transport represents also 50% of the total NOx emissions (51% on the PREPAIR domain), followed by industrial combustion (15% and 14% on the domain) and off-road vehicles (13% and 12% on the domain). The agriculture sector is confirmed as the main emission source of NH3 (97% of the total emissions).

Data confirm also that the Po basin represents a unique hot-spot in Europe. The Po valley is one of the most densely populated areas in Europe and yet the PM10 and NOx emissions per capita are lower than the average of EU28 countries (EEA, 2018). In fact, data demonstrate that PM10 emissions per capita in the Po basin are 3 Kg/person/year (3,4 kg/person/year for the PREPAIR domain) versus 4,3 kg/person/year of EU28 in 2013. Similarly, NOx emissions per capita are about 15 kg/person/year both for the Po basin and the PREPAIR domain versus 16,6 kg/person/year of EU28 in 2013.

The analysis of the emission data and of the emission estimation methodologies supported also the preliminary activities of those actions that will define and collect new data within the project.

The final report on the emission database and its abstract can be found in the section Documents & outputs of action Emissions dataset at this link.

 

On February 27, the launch conference of the life project VEG-GAP “Vegetation for urban green air quality plans” will take place in Bologna.

This event will be an opportunity for promoting new collaborations between universities, institutions, businesses and active citizens. PREPAIR will also be introduced by the lead partner, Emilia-Romagna Region, between the other projects and initiatives.

Read the program of the conference

Sign up for the event

Read more about the project

 

On November 14-15 there will be in Milan the final conference of the project CAPTOR (Collective Awareness Platform for Tropospheric Ozone Pollution), whose aim is to establish low-cost sensor networks maintained by citizens to measure ozone pollution in dispersed areas and to stimulate collaborative solution finding.

The international conference will be the occasion for presenting the project results, and it will focus on the role of citizens as drivers of change. Within the experiences that will be presented, PREPAIR will participate at the Innovation cafè, the interactive session that wants to explore how to leverage citizen participation in air sensing for a wider social and political impact.

Read the program of the conference

Learn more about CAPTOR project

How can we manage the biomass? What are the opportunities of a proper management?

These are some of the questions that will be discussed on Tuesday, October 30 at the workshop “Biomass management flow: case studies and opportunities”, organized within a PREPAIR action that aims at analyzing the logistics of consumption and supply of woody biomass.

The Region of Murcia, Spain, will also take place to the workshop telling about its regional experience and the participation to the project PROFORBIOMED. Some case studies about the strategic management of biomass flows will also be presented by the University of Padova.

The workshop will take place at 2 PM at the Palazzo Sistema Regionale in Milan, 5th floor, room 34, and will also be available in streaming.

For participating, either in person or videoconference, please registerat this link.

See the program of the workshop with the information for the streaming

The Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) has mapped for each EU Member State the main challenges in the implementation of European environmental policy and legislation as well as existing good practices and points of excellence. It came out how there is a huge potential for Member States’ environmental authorities at all levels to improve their environmental performance by learning from each other.

In order to deploy this potential the European Commission established a new tool that facilitates peer-to-peer learning between environmental authorities. The new TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission)-EIR PEER 2 PEER program provides tailored support to Member States’ authorities implementing environmental policy and legislation. Staff members can benefit directly from the experience of peers in other countries and regions.

Several events have been organized and funded by TAIEX, and one of this is the “Multi-country workshop on air quality programs and their effectiveness” that will take place in Graz, Austria, on September 10-11, 2018.

Aim of this workshop is to bring together environmental authorities from various EU Member States, regions and cities in order to exchange experience and good practice to reduce air pollution. The main areas to be addressed will include particulate matter and NO2, and the success factors for effective air quality planning will also be discussed.

PRPAIR will be presented within other case studies at the session of September 12 “Success factors of Air quality Plans”.

See the Agenda

Read more about the TAIEX-EIR PEER 2 PEER

It is now published online a didactic format realized within the project action “Near Zero Energy Buildings” and related to the energy requalification of private buildings, condominiums in particular.

The format goes together with a detailed educational program aiming at bringing different professionals to common and transversal competences about the energy requalification of condominiums. The courses will only be developed on the Italian territory and will involve different professionals dealing with energy requalification of condominiums such as building administrators,  designers, artisans and construction companies.

The aim of the initiative is to promote integration within the energy redevelopment chain of condominiums by building common languages ​​and practices able to promote and support interventions and to direct the planning and the planning of works towards the optimal achievement of consumption targets established by the client. This will be done through the training of condominium administrators, professional technicians and construction companies, providing them with adequate and homogeneous skills.

See the English version of the didactic format