scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

On-road vehicle emissions and their control in China: A review and outlook.

TL;DR: Detailed policy roadmaps and technical options related to these future emission reductions for governmental stakeholders are provided.
About: This article is published in Science of The Total Environment.The article was published on 2017-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 395 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Green vehicle & Emission standard.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The measure-by-measure evaluation indicated that strengthening industrial emission standards, upgrades on industrial boilers, phasing out outdated industrial capacities, and promoting clean fuels in the residential sector were major effective measures in reducing PM2.5 pollution and health burdens in China.
Abstract: From 2013 to 2017, with the implementation of the toughest-ever clean air policy in China, significant declines in fine particle (PM2.5) concentrations occurred nationwide. Here we estimate the drivers of the improved PM2.5 air quality and the associated health benefits in China from 2013 to 2017 based on a measure-specific integrated evaluation approach, which combines a bottom-up emission inventory, a chemical transport model, and epidemiological exposure-response functions. The estimated national population-weighted annual mean PM2.5 concentrations decreased from 61.8 (95%CI: 53.3-70.0) to 42.0 µg/m3 (95% CI: 35.7-48.6) in 5 y, with dominant contributions from anthropogenic emission abatements. Although interannual meteorological variations could significantly alter PM2.5 concentrations, the corresponding effects on the 5-y trends were relatively small. The measure-by-measure evaluation indicated that strengthening industrial emission standards (power plants and emission-intensive industrial sectors), upgrades on industrial boilers, phasing out outdated industrial capacities, and promoting clean fuels in the residential sector were major effective measures in reducing PM2.5 pollution and health burdens. These measures were estimated to contribute to 6.6- (95% CI: 5.9-7.1), 4.4- (95% CI: 3.8-4.9), 2.8- (95% CI: 2.5-3.0), and 2.2- (95% CI: 2.0-2.5) µg/m3 declines in the national PM2.5 concentration in 2017, respectively, and further reduced PM2.5-attributable excess deaths by 0.37 million (95% CI: 0.35-0.39), or 92% of the total avoided deaths. Our study confirms the effectiveness of China's recent clean air actions, and the measure-by-measure evaluation provides insights into future clean air policy making in China and in other developing and polluting countries.

1,085 citations


Cites background from "On-road vehicle emissions and their..."

  • ...Future actions focusing on NOx abatements from on-road diesel vehicles and offroad gas vehicles (42) and NH3 abatements in the agriculture sector should be implemented....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The development of reliable anthropogenic emission inventories is essential for both understanding the sources of air pollution and designing effective air-pollution control measures in China as mentioned in this paper, but it is challenging to quantify emissions in China accurately, given the variety of contributing sources, the complexity of the technology mix and the lack of reliable measurements.
Abstract: The development of reliable anthropogenic emission inventories is essential for both understanding the sources of air pollution and designing effective air-pollution-control measures in China. However, it is challenging to quantify emissions in China accurately, given the variety of contributing sources, the complexity of the technology mix and the lack of reliable measurements. Over the last two decades, tremendous efforts have been made to improve the accuracy of emission inventories, and significant improvements have been realized. More reliable statistics and survey-based data have been used to reduce the uncertainties in activity rates and technology distributions. Local emission factors and source profiles covering various sources have been measured and reported. Based on these local databases, improved emission inventory models have been developed for power plants, large industrial plants and the residential, transportation and agricultural sectors. In this paper, we review the progress that has been made in developing inventories of anthropogenic emissions in China. We first highlight the major updates that have been made to emission inventory models and the underlying data by source category. We then summarize the sector-based estimates of emissions of different species contained in current inventories. The progress that has been made in the development of model-ready emissions is also presented. Finally, we suggest future directions for further improving the accuracy of emission inventories in China.

497 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Though the air quality has been improving recent years, PM2.5 pollution in wintertime is worsening, especially in the Northern China, and more scientific air quality index standards are needed.

482 citations


Cites background from "On-road vehicle emissions and their..."

  • ...At the same time, the strategies of upgrading fuels for vehicles and banning older polluting cars were introduced at the city-level (Wu et al., 2017)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of air quality regulations from economic growth by comparing them relatively to fossil fuel consumption is distinguished by using satellite data for monitoring long-term trends in atmospheric species.
Abstract: . Air quality observations by satellite instruments are global and have a regular temporal resolution, which makes them very useful in studying long-term trends in atmospheric species. To monitor air quality trends in China for the period 2005–2015, we derive SO2 columns and NOx emissions on a provincial level with improved accuracy. To put these trends into perspective they are compared with public data on energy consumption and the environmental policies of China. We distinguish the effect of air quality regulations from economic growth by comparing them relatively to fossil fuel consumption. Pollutant levels, per unit of fossil fuel, are used to assess the effectiveness of air quality regulations. We note that the desulfurization regulations enforced in 2005–2006 only had a significant effect in the years 2008–2009, when a much stricter control of the actual use of the installations began. For national NOx emissions a distinct decreasing trend is only visible from 2012 onwards, but the emission peak year differs from province to province. Unlike SO2, emissions of NOx are highly related to traffic. Furthermore, regulations for NOx emissions are partly decided on a provincial level. The last 3 years show a reduction both in SO2 and NOx emissions per fossil fuel unit, since the authorities have implemented several new environmental regulations. Despite an increasing fossil fuel consumption and a growing transport sector, the effects of air quality policy in China are clearly visible. Without the air quality regulations the concentration of SO2 would be about 2.5 times higher and the NO2 concentrations would be at least 25 % higher than they are today in China.

263 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The control policies issued before 2010 are insufficient to improve PM2.5 air quality notably in future, an optimal mix of energy-saving and end-of-pipe control measures should be implemented, more ambitious control policies for NMVOC and NH3 should be enforced, and special control measures in winter should be applied.

259 citations

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided an assessment of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption; influence on liquid, mixed phase, and ice clouds; and deposition on snow and ice.
Abstract: Black carbon aerosol plays a unique and important role in Earth's climate system. Black carbon is a type of carbonaceous material with a unique combination of physical properties. This assessment provides an evaluation of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption; influence on liquid, mixed phase, and ice clouds; and deposition on snow and ice. These effects are calculated with climate models, but when possible, they are evaluated with both microphysical measurements and field observations. Predominant sources are combustion related, namely, fossil fuels for transportation, solid fuels for industrial and residential uses, and open burning of biomass. Total global emissions of black carbon using bottom-up inventory methods are 7500 Gg yr−1 in the year 2000 with an uncertainty range of 2000 to 29000. However, global atmospheric absorption attributable to black carbon is too low in many models and should be increased by a factor of almost 3. After this scaling, the best estimate for the industrial-era (1750 to 2005) direct radiative forcing of atmospheric black carbon is +0.71 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of (+0.08, +1.27) W m−2. Total direct forcing by all black carbon sources, without subtracting the preindustrial background, is estimated as +0.88 (+0.17, +1.48) W m−2. Direct radiative forcing alone does not capture important rapid adjustment mechanisms. A framework is described and used for quantifying climate forcings, including rapid adjustments. The best estimate of industrial-era climate forcing of black carbon through all forcing mechanisms, including clouds and cryosphere forcing, is +1.1 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of +0.17 to +2.1 W m−2. Thus, there is a very high probability that black carbon emissions, independent of co-emitted species, have a positive forcing and warm the climate. We estimate that black carbon, with a total climate forcing of +1.1 W m−2, is the second most important human emission in terms of its climate forcing in the present-day atmosphere; only carbon dioxide is estimated to have a greater forcing. Sources that emit black carbon also emit other short-lived species that may either cool or warm climate. Climate forcings from co-emitted species are estimated and used in the framework described herein. When the principal effects of short-lived co-emissions, including cooling agents such as sulfur dioxide, are included in net forcing, energy-related sources (fossil fuel and biofuel) have an industrial-era climate forcing of +0.22 (−0.50 to +1.08) W m−2 during the first year after emission. For a few of these sources, such as diesel engines and possibly residential biofuels, warming is strong enough that eliminating all short-lived emissions from these sources would reduce net climate forcing (i.e., produce cooling). When open burning emissions, which emit high levels of organic matter, are included in the total, the best estimate of net industrial-era climate forcing by all short-lived species from black-carbon-rich sources becomes slightly negative (−0.06 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of −1.45 to +1.29 W m−2). The uncertainties in net climate forcing from black-carbon-rich sources are substantial, largely due to lack of knowledge about cloud interactions with both black carbon and co-emitted organic carbon. In prioritizing potential black-carbon mitigation actions, non-science factors, such as technical feasibility, costs, policy design, and implementation feasibility play important roles. The major sources of black carbon are presently in different stages with regard to the feasibility for near-term mitigation. This assessment, by evaluating the large number and complexity of the associated physical and radiative processes in black-carbon climate forcing, sets a baseline from which to improve future climate forcing estimates.

4,591 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
09 Oct 2014-Nature
TL;DR: The results suggest that, in addition to mitigating primary particulate emissions, reducing the emissions of secondary aerosol precursors from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning is likely to be important for controlling China’s PM2.5 levels and for reducing the environmental, economic and health impacts resulting from particulate pollution.
Abstract: Rapid industrialization and urbanization in developing countries has led to an increase in air pollution, along a similar trajectory to that previously experienced by the developed nations. In China, particulate pollution is a serious environmental problem that is influencing air quality, regional and global climates, and human health. In response to the extremely severe and persistent haze pollution experienced by about 800 million people during the first quarter of 2013 (refs 4, 5), the Chinese State Council announced its aim to reduce concentrations of PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 micrometres) by up to 25 per cent relative to 2012 levels by 2017 (ref. 6). Such efforts however require elucidation of the factors governing the abundance and composition of PM2.5, which remain poorly constrained in China. Here we combine a comprehensive set of novel and state-of-the-art offline analytical approaches and statistical techniques to investigate the chemical nature and sources of particulate matter at urban locations in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an during January 2013. We find that the severe haze pollution event was driven to a large extent by secondary aerosol formation, which contributed 30-77 per cent and 44-71 per cent (average for all four cities) of PM2.5 and of organic aerosol, respectively. On average, the contribution of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA) are found to be of similar importance (SOA/SIA ratios range from 0.6 to 1.4). Our results suggest that, in addition to mitigating primary particulate emissions, reducing the emissions of secondary aerosol precursors from, for example, fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning is likely to be important for controlling China's PM2.5 levels and for reducing the environmental, economic and health impacts resulting from particulate pollution.

3,372 citations


"On-road vehicle emissions and their..." refers background in this paper

  • ...5) in urban areas (Yang et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2014) has been suggested to be related to vehicle emissions of NOx and hydrocarbons (HC) (Gordon et al., 2014; Gentner et al., 2012)....

    [...]

  • ...5) in urban areas (Yang et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2014) has been suggested to be related to vehicle emissions of NOx and hydrocarbons (HC) (Gordon et al....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
08 Feb 2001-Nature
TL;DR: Simulation of the evolution of the chemical composition of aerosols finds that the mixing state and direct forcing of the black-carbon component approach those of an internal mixture, largely due to coagulation and growth of aerosol particles.
Abstract: Aerosols affect the Earth's temperature and climate by altering the radiative properties of the atmosphere. A large positive component of this radiative forcing from aerosols is due to black carbon--soot--that is released from the burning of fossil fuel and biomass, and, to a lesser extent, natural fires, but the exact forcing is affected by how black carbon is mixed with other aerosol constituents. From studies of aerosol radiative forcing, it is known that black carbon can exist in one of several possible mixing states; distinct from other aerosol particles (externally mixed) or incorporated within them (internally mixed), or a black-carbon core could be surrounded by a well mixed shell. But so far it has been assumed that aerosols exist predominantly as an external mixture. Here I simulate the evolution of the chemical composition of aerosols, finding that the mixing state and direct forcing of the black-carbon component approach those of an internal mixture, largely due to coagulation and growth of aerosol particles. This finding implies a higher positive forcing from black carbon than previously thought, suggesting that the warming effect from black carbon may nearly balance the net cooling effect of other anthropogenic aerosol constituents. The magnitude of the direct radiative forcing from black carbon itself exceeds that due to CH4, suggesting that black carbon may be the second most important component of global warming after CO2 in terms of direct forcing.

2,297 citations


"On-road vehicle emissions and their..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Black carbon (BC) has been identified as an important anthropogenic short-lived climate pollutant, with diesel engines a significant source (Bond et al., 2013; Jacobson, 2001; Wang et al., 2012a)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the current state of understanding of the air pollution problems in China's mega cities and identify the immediate challenges to understanding and controlling air pollution in these densely populated areas.

2,164 citations


"On-road vehicle emissions and their..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Vehicle emissions have been an important contributor to air pollution in Chinese cities (Hao et al., 2000; Chan and Yao, 2008; Yang et al., 2011; Cui et al., 2015)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Based on PM2.5 chemical data sets from literature and from surface observations, chemical species and reconstructed speciation of PM2.5 in representative Chinese megacities and across China were compared to draw insights into the characteristics of PM 2.5 speciation as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: . Based on PM2.5 chemical data sets from literature and from our surface observations, chemical species and reconstructed speciation of PM2.5 in representative Chinese megacities and across China were compared to draw insights into the characteristics of PM2.5 speciation. PM2.5 mass concentrations and speciation compositions varied substantially over geographical regions in China. Near six-fold variations in average PM2.5 concentrations (34.0–193.4 μg m−3) across China were found with high PM2.5 levels (>100 μg m−3) appearing in the cities in the northern and western regions and low levels (

551 citations


"On-road vehicle emissions and their..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Vehicle emissions have been an important contributor to air pollution in Chinese cities (Hao et al., 2000; Chan and Yao, 2008; Yang et al., 2011; Cui et al., 2015)....

    [...]

  • ...5) in urban areas (Yang et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2014) has been suggested to be related to vehicle emissions of NOx and hydrocarbons (HC) (Gordon et al., 2014; Gentner et al., 2012)....

    [...]

  • ...5) in urban areas (Yang et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2014) has been suggested to be related to vehicle emissions of NOx and hydrocarbons (HC) (Gordon et al....

    [...]

Related Papers (5)