Effects of air pollution control measures on air quality improvement in Guangzhou, China

A comparative analysis was conducted between the costs and health benefits of the Air Pollution Control Action Plan (APCAP), which can be implemented in any country to improve air quality and human health. In this study, air quality modeling was used to simulate several scenarios and implement the Kriging method to describe the PM2.5 reduction concentration instantly. Then, health benefits were estimated using the environmental benefit mapping and analysis program (BenMAP) with results from the air quality modeling and Kriging method. To estimate the priority of APCAP, 14 pollution control measures that cover point, mobile, and area sources of air pollution in Taiwan were analyzed. The results indicate that the health benefits of the Taiwan APCAP (TAPCAP) are generally greater than the technical costs. Thus, the implementation of this strategy may result in net benefits. In addition, the benefit-to-control cost ratio for health for the 14 pollution control measures was calculated. The results provide evidence to prioritize the implementation of air quality policies with a higher benefit-cost ratio.

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Assessment of the Effect of the Three-Year Action Plan to Fight Air Pollution on Air Quality and Associated Health Benefits in Sichuan Basin, China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su131910968 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (19) ◽

pp. 10968

Author(s):

Juihui Chen ◽

Xiaoqiong Feng ◽

Yonghui Zhu ◽

Ling Huang ◽

Min He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Emission Reduction ◽

Sichuan Basin ◽

Action Plan ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Premature Deaths ◽

Pm2.5 Concentration

To continuously improve air quality, after implementation of the “Clean Air Action Plan, 2013–2017” (CAAP), the “Three-year Action Plan to Fight Air Pollution” (TYP) was further conducted from 2018 to 2020. However, the effectiveness of the TYP remains unclear in one of the major city-clusters of China, the Sichuan Basin. In this study, the bottom-up method was used to quantify the emission reduction during TYP based on the emissions inventory in Sichuan Basin in 2017 and the air pollution control measures adopted from 2018 to 2020 in each city. The reduction of PM2.5 concentration and the avoided premature deaths due to implementation of air pollution control measures were assessed by using an integrated meteorology and air quality modeling system and a concentration-response algorithm. Emissions of SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and VOCs in the Sichuan Basin have been reduced by 42.6, 105.2, 40.2, and 136.6 Gg, respectively. The control of non-electricity industry contributed significantly to the emission reduction of all pollutants, accounting for 26–49%. In addition, the control of mobile sources contributes the most to NOx reductions, accounting for 57%. The results illustrate that the focus of air pollution control in Sichuan Basin is still industrial sources. We also found that the emission reduction of NOx, PM2.5, and VOCs in Chengdu is significantly higher than that of other cities, which were about 3.4~15.4 times, 2.2~40.1 times, and 4.3~24.4 times that of other cities, respectively. In Sichuan Basin, the average reduction rate of PM2.5 concentration due to air pollution control measures was 5% on average, with the highest contributions from industry, mobile source, and dust emission control. The decrease rate in each city ranges between 1~10%, and the decreasing ratios in Dazhou (10%), Chengdu (8%), and Zigong (7%) are relatively higher. The number of premature deaths avoided due to air pollution control measures in Sichuan Basin is estimated to be 22,934. Chengdu and Dazhou have benefitted most from the air pollution control measures, with 6043 and 2713 premature deaths avoided, respectively. Our results indicate that the implementation of TYP has achieved remarkable environmental and health benefits.

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Science–Policy Interplay: Improvement of Air Quality from 2008 to 2014 in Beijing and the Scientific Approach to Achieve APEC Blue

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society ◽

10.1175/bams-d-15-00095.1 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 97 (4) ◽

pp. 553-559 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Zhanshan Wang ◽

Yunting Li ◽

Tian Chen ◽

Dawei Zhang ◽

Lingjun Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Control Policy ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Control Measures ◽

Asia Pacific ◽

Great Effort ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Scientific Approach

Abstract The Beijing government has made great effort to solve the air pollution problem in recent years. In this paper, the major air pollution control measures and the air quality improvement from 2008 to 2014 in Beijing were represented. With the implementation of a series of unconventional and high–air pollutant reduction measures in Beijing and the surrounding area, good air quality during both the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2014 Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference was guaranteed. Notably, a new scientific approach was applied to formulate air pollution control policy during the APEC conference. In addition to the established measures, two periods of enhanced and targeted reduction measures were implemented according to the forecast in advance. Finally, suggestions for improving air quality in Beijing were offered on the basis of the monitoring results and analyses during the APEC conference.

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Impact of air pollution control measures and regional transport on carbonaceous aerosols in fine particulate matter in urban Beijing, China: insights gained from long-term measurement

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-19-8569-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (13) ◽

pp. 8569-8590 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Dongsheng Ji ◽

Wenkang Gao ◽

Willy Maenhaut ◽

Jun He ◽

Zhe Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Heavy Duty ◽

Potential Source ◽

Fine Particulate

Abstract. As major chemical components of airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5), organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) have vital impacts on air quality, climate change, and human health. Because OC and EC are closely associated with fuel combustion, it is helpful for the scientific community and policymakers assessing the efficacy of air pollution control measures to study the impact of control measures and regional transport on OC and EC levels. In this study, hourly mass concentrations of OC and EC associated with PM2.5 were semi-continuously measured from March 2013 to February 2018. The results showed that annual mean OC and EC concentrations declined from 14.0 to 7.7 µg m−3 and from 4.0 to 2.6 µg m−3, respectively, from March 2013 to February 2018. In combination with the data of OC and EC in previous studies, an obvious decreasing trend in OC and EC concentrations was found, which was caused by clean energy policies and effective air pollution control measures. However, no obvious change in the ratios of OC and EC to the PM2.5 mass (on average, 0.164 and 0.049, respectively) was recorded, suggesting that inorganic ions still contributed a lot to PM2.5. Based on the seasonal variations in OC and EC, it appeared that higher OC and EC concentrations were still observed in the winter months, with the exception of winter of 2017–2018. Traffic policies executed in Beijing resulted in nighttime peaks of OC and EC, caused by heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty diesel vehicles being permitted to operate from 00:00 to 06:00 (China standard time, UTC+8, for all times throughout the paper). In addition, the fact that there was no traffic restriction in weekends led to higher concentrations on weekends compared to weekdays. Significant correlations between OC and EC were observed throughout the study period, suggesting that OC and EC originated from common emission sources, such as exhaust of vehicles and fuel combustion. OC and EC levels increased with enhanced SO2, CO, and NOx concentrations while the O3 and OC levels were enhanced simultaneously when O3 concentrations were higher than 50 µg m−3. Non-parametric wind regression analysis was performed to examine the sources of OC and EC in the Beijing area. It was found that there were distinct hot spots in the northeast wind sector at wind speeds of approximately 0–6 km h−1, as well as diffuse signals in the southwestern wind sectors. Source areas further away from Beijing were assessed by potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis. A high-potential source area was precisely pinpointed, which was located in the northwestern and southern areas of Beijing in 2017 instead of solely in the southern areas of Beijing in 2013. This work shows that improvement of the air quality in Beijing benefits from strict control measures; however, joint prevention and control of regional air pollution in the regions is needed for further improving the air quality. The results provide a reference for controlling air pollution caused by rapid economic development in developing countries.

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Effects of air pollution control policies on PM<sub>2.5</sub> pollution improvement in China from 2005 to 2017: a satellite based perspective

10.5194/acp-2018-1191 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Zongwei Ma ◽

Riyang Liu ◽

Yang Liu ◽

Jun Bi

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Prevention And Control ◽

Pollution Prevention ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Control Policies ◽

Air Quality Improvement ◽

Pollution Prevention And Control ◽

And Control

Abstract. Understanding the effectiveness of air pollution control policies is important for future policy making. China implemented strict air pollution control polices since 11th Five Year Plan (FYP). There is still a lack of overall evaluation of the effects of air pollution control policies on PM2.5 pollution improvement in China since FYP. In this study, we aimed to assess the effects of air pollution control policies from 2005 to 2017 on PM2.5 from the view of satellite remote sensing. We used the satellite derived PM2.5 of 2005–2013 from one of our previous studies. For the data of 2014–2017, we developed a two-stage statistical model to retrieve satellite PM2.5 data. Results show that the Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction (ECER) policy, implemented in 11th FYP period and focused on SO2 emissions control, had co-benefits on PM2.5 reductions. The increasing trends of PM2.5 pollutions was suppressed after 2007, and the PM2.5 in Central and South China showed significant decreasing trends. The ECER policy during 12th FYP period were basically the extension of 11th FYP policy. However, the emissions control oriented policies reached it bottleneck. The PM2.5 concentrations did not decrease from 2010 to 2013 in polluted areas. China implemented two stricter policies: 12th FYP on Air Pollution Prevention and Control in Key Regions (APPC-KR) in 2012, and Action Plan of Air Pollution Prevention and Control (APPC-AP) in 2013. The goal of air quality improvement (especially PM2.5 concentration improvement) was proposed for the first time. The air quality improvement oriented polices had led to dramatic decreases of PM2.5 after 2013.

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Impact of air pollution control measures and regional transport on carbonaceous aerosols in fine particulate matter in urban Beijing, China: Insights gained from long-term measurement

10.5194/acp-2019-42 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dongsheng Ji ◽

Wenkang Gao ◽

Willy Maenhaut ◽

Jun He ◽

Zhe Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Heavy Duty ◽

Potential Source ◽

Fine Particulate

Abstract. As major chemical components of airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5), organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) have vital impacts on air quality, climate change, and human health. Because OC and EC are closely associated with fuel combustion, it is helpful for the scientific community and policymakers assessing the efficacy of air pollution control measures to study on the impact of the control measures and regional transport on the OC and EC levels. In this study, hourly mass concentrations of OC and EC associated with PM2.5 were semi-continuously measured from March 2013 to February 2018. The results showed that annual mean OC and EC concentrations declined from 14.0 to 7.7 μg/m3 and from 4.0 to 2.6 μg/m3, respectively, from March 2013 to February 2018. In combination with the data of OC and EC in previous studies, an obvious decreasing trend in OC and EC concentrations was found, which was caused by clean energy policies and effective air pollution control measures. However, no obvious change in the ratios of OC and EC to the PM2.5 mass (on average, 0.164 and 0.049, respectively) was recorded, suggesting that inorganic ions still contributed a lot to PM2.5. Based on the seasonal variations of OC and EC, it appeared that higher OC and EC concentrations were still observed in the winter months, with the exception of winter of 2017–2018. Traffic policies executed in Beijing resulted in nighttime peaks of OC and EC, caused by heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty diesel vehicles being permitted to operate from 0:00 to 6:00. In addition, the fact that there was no traffic restriction in weekends led to higher concentrations in weekends compared to weekdays. Significant correlations between OC and EC were observed throughout the study period, suggesting that OC and EC originated from common emission sources, such as exhaust of vehicles and fuel combustion. OC and EC levels increased with enhanced SO2, CO and NOx concentrations while the O3 and OC levels enhanced simultaneously when O3 concentrations were higher than 50 μg/m3. Nonparametric wind regression analysis was performed to examine the sources of OC and EC in the Beijing area. It was found that there were distinct hot spots in the northeast wind sector at wind speeds of approximately 5 km/h, as well as diffuse signals in the southwestern wind sectors, highlighting probable trans-boundary transport from highly industrialized regions upwind of the Hebei province, such as Baoding, Shijiazhuang and Handan, which were the most polluted cities in China. This was consistent with their higher potential as source areas, as determined by the potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis. A high-potential source area was precisely pinpointed, which was located in the northwestern and southern areas of Beijing in 2017 instead of solely in the southern areas of Beijing in 2013. This work shows that improvement of the air quality in Beijing benefits from strict control measures; however, joint prevention and control of regional air pollution in the regions is needed for further improving the air quality. The results provide a reference for controlling air pollution caused by rapid economic development in developing countries.

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Air quality improvement in a megacity: implications from 2015 Beijing Parade Blue pollution control actions

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-17-31-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 31-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Wen Xu ◽

Wei Song ◽

Yangyang Zhang ◽

Xuejun Liu ◽

Lin Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Air Quality ◽

Control Period ◽

Emission Control ◽

Monitoring Network ◽

Control Measures ◽

Integrated Analysis ◽

Air Quality Improvement ◽

Emission Control Measures ◽

Control Regions

Abstract. The implementation of strict emission control measures in Beijing and surrounding regions during the 2015 China Victory Day Parade provided a valuable opportunity to investigate related air quality improvements in a megacity. We measured NH3, NO2 and PM2.5 at multiple sites in and outside Beijing and summarized concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2 and CO in 291 cities across China from a national urban air quality monitoring network between August and September 2015. Consistently significant reductions of 12–35 % for NH3 and 33–59 % for NO2 in different areas of Beijing during the emission control period (referred to as the Parade Blue period) were observed compared with measurements in the pre- and post-Parade Blue periods without emission controls. Average NH3 and NO2 concentrations at sites near traffic were strongly correlated and showed positive and significant responses to traffic reduction measures, suggesting that traffic is an important source of both NH3 and NOx in urban Beijing. Daily concentrations of PM2.5 and secondary inorganic aerosol (sulfate, ammonium and nitrate) at the urban and rural sites both decreased during the Parade Blue period. During (after) the emission control period, concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2 and CO from the national city-monitoring network showed the largest decrease (increase) of 34–72 % (50–214 %) in Beijing, a smaller decrease (a moderate increase) of 1–32 % (16–44 %) in emission control regions outside Beijing and an increase (decrease) of 6–16 % (−2–7 %) in non-emission-control regions of China. Integrated analysis of modelling and monitoring results demonstrated that emission control measures made a major contribution to air quality improvement in Beijing compared with a minor contribution from favourable meteorological conditions during the Parade Blue period. These results show that controls of secondary aerosol precursors (NH3, SO2 and NOx) locally and regionally are key to curbing air pollution in Beijing and probably in other mega cities worldwide.

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Effects of the emergency control measures in Beijing on air quality improvement

Atmospheric Pollution Research ◽

10.1016/j.apr.2018.10.005 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 580-586 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jingyu Tian ◽

Tianqi Cai ◽

Jing Shang ◽

James J. Schauer ◽

Shujian Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Air Quality ◽

Control Measures ◽

Emergency Control ◽

Air Quality Improvement

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Air Quality Improvement in a Megacity: Implications from 2015 Beijing Parade Blue Pollution-Control Actions

10.5194/acp-2016-591 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Wen Xu ◽

Wei Song ◽

Yangyang Zhang ◽

Xuejun Liu ◽

Lin Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Air Quality ◽

Control Period ◽

Emission Control ◽

Monitoring Network ◽

Control Measures ◽

Integrated Analysis ◽

Beijing City ◽

Air Quality Improvement ◽

Emission Control Measures

Abstract. The implementation of strict emission control measures in Beijing and surrounding regions during the 2015 China Victory Day Parade provided a valuable opportunity to investigate related air quality improvements in a megacity. We measured NH3, NO2 and PM2.5 at multiple sites in and outside Beijing and summarized concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2 and CO in 291 cities across China from a national urban air quality monitoring network between August and September 2015. Consistently significant reductions of 12–35 % for NH3 and 33–59 % for NO2 in different areas of Beijing city during the emission control period (referred to as the Parade Blue period) were observed compared with measurements in the pre- and post-Parade Blue periods without emission controls. Average NH3 and NO2 concentrations at sites near traffic were strongly correlated and showed positive and significant responses to traffic reduction measures, suggesting that traffic is an important source of both NH3 and NOx in urban Beijing. Daily concentrations of PM2.5 and secondary inorganic aerosol (sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate) at the urban and rural sites both decreased during the Parade Blue period. Concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2 and CO from the national city-monitoring network showed the largest decrease (34–72 %) in Beijing, a smaller decrease (1–32 %) in North China (excluding Beijing), and an increase (6–16 %) in other regions of China during the emission control period. Integrated analysis of modeling and monitoring results demonstrated that emission control measures made a major contribution to air quality improvement in Beijing compared with a minor contribution from favorable meteorological conditions during the Parade Blue period. These results show that controls of secondary aerosol precursors (NH3, SO2 and NOx) locally and regionally are key to curbing air pollution in Beijing and probably in other mega cities worldwide.

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Air pollution control and decreasing new particle formation lead to strong climate warming

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-11-25991-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 25991-26007 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

R. Makkonen ◽

A. Asmi ◽

V.-M. Kerminen ◽

M. Boy ◽

A. Arneth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽

Particle Formation ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

New Particle Formation ◽

Anthropogenic Aerosol ◽

Aerosol Forcing ◽

Year 2000

Abstract. The number of cloud droplets determines several climatically relevant cloud properties. A major cause for the high uncertainty in the indirect aerosol forcing is the availability of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), which in turn is highly sensitive to atmospheric new particle formation. Here we present the effect of new particle formation on anthropogenic aerosol forcing in present-day (year 2000) and future (year 2100) conditions. The total aerosol forcing (−1.61 W m−2 in year 2000) is simulated to be greatly reduced in the future, to −0.23 W m−2, mainly due to decrease in SO2 emissions and resulting decrease in new particle formation. With the total aerosol forcing decreasing in response to air pollution control measures taking effect, warming from increased greenhouse gas concentrations can potentially increase at a very rapid rate.

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