How much pollution do car drivers breathe in?
Ultra-fine particles are the focus of a new study to establish how much pollution car commuters are exposed to as they drive through congested city streets.
How much pollution do car drivers breathe in?
Ultra-fine particles are the focus of a new study to establish how much pollution car commuters are exposed to as they drive through congested city streets.
Birgit Krausse of the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development has been using the latest in portable equipment to measure how many particles car drivers are exposed to on busy urban routes that regularly experience traffic jams. While volunteer drivers record traffic conditions into a dictaphone, Krausse’s equipment records particle numbers and mass, along with carbon monoxide levels in the cars being driven.
Ultra-fine particles have largely been ignored in air quality monitoring, Dr John Mardaljevic of the same Institute told edie. While PM10 and PM2.5 particles are regularly monitored in cities, smaller particles of less than one micrometre have received less attention, despite suspicions that they may penetrate more deeply into the lungs than the 10 micrometre ones.
Scientists are now attempting to establish the potential health effects of ultra-fines, while researchers like Krausse and Mardaljevic collect the first sets of data on second-by-second exposure to small and large particles.
Time dynamics are crucial to the Institute’s study, because a high level of exposure can happen over a very short period, such as a few seconds stuck behind a bus with a filthy engine, says Mardaljevic.
Pollution in a microclimate such as a car is also different from that experienced by someone walking down a street, explains Mardaljevic. Commuting can play a large role in everyday life, so exposure along commuter routes can have a significant effect on health over a lifetime.
As well as recording traffic flow, the study also monitors the weather to establish patterns of exposure based on outside factors such as wind direction. Mardaljevic hopes the Institute’s work will form the foundation for a strategic tool to help regulators assess typical annual exposure along urban routes.