The introduction and implementation of the Air Quality Act in South Africa has a significant impact in the communities, in the three spheres of government, namely national, provincial and local, and businesses in the country. This study provides an overview of how the businesses in the Greater Durban Area have been impacted by the introduction and implementation of the AQA. The main objective of the study is to ascertain the impact that the AQA has on businesses in the Greater Durban Area. The main focus is on the following areas of impact: operational, structural, strategic, financial and social impact. The main tool used to collect the primary data was a structured questionnaire. However, because of challenges faced in the collection of data the structured interviews were cancelled. Analyses of results are based on the data collected utilizing the questionnaire as well as the reviewed literature in order to establish the extent to which the data is supported by the existing theory. The overall impression created by the results of the sample indicates that the AQA has been well received by all stakeholders; these stakeholders include businesses, government as well as the society. Although the Act as well as other environmental legislation present some challenges to businesses, these legislation are generally fairly well accepted by private enterprise. The study recommends that for further studies, the data collection instruments must include structured and/or unstructured interviews, in order to ascertain where businesses strategically stand on air quality. This will also help in obtaining indications on funds that businesses spend on social development and/or responsibility and on environment as a whole. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

Wildfires and prescribed burns are important sources of air pollutants and can significantly affect air quality at urban locations across large regions. Air quality forecasts generated with Eulerian numerical models can provide valuable information to environmental regulators and land managers about the potential impacts of fires. However, the ability of these models to simulate concentrated fire-related smoke plumes is limited since they lack fire specific physics and chemistry. A sub-grid plume model was coupled with a chemical transport model to address this issue. The modeling framework centered on a fire plume transport model, Daysmoke, and the Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ) is used to simulate several fire episodes. The studied episodes were used to understand uncertainty in fire emissions and its effect on plume transport modeling and to verify the coupled system’s performance. The system was also used to simulate prescribed burning scenarios with five varying parameters: age of fuel bed, season, acreage, ignition type, and time of the day. Key findings relating to burn efficiency and emission reduction on future prescribed burnings will be discussed.

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Detailed photochemical modeling is used to guide air quality management activities around the world. These models use condensed chemical mechanisms to describe the multiphase processes that lead to chemical transformations in the atmosphere. Condensed mechanisms have generally not included the reactions of halogens, yet an expanding body of ambient observational evidence indicates that halogen chemistry, particularly chlorine chemistry, can be important in urban environments. This thesis is focused on the development, implementation, and evaluation of condensed chemical mechanisms that incorporate chlorine chemistry pathways. Gas phase reactions involving molecular chlorine and nitryl chloride (ClNO₂), as well as heterogeneous reactions involving particulate chloride species are addressed. The predictions of the modeling work presented here are compared to environmental chamber experiments and field observations. / text

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(EN) Thesis describes air quality in schools, its main factors of interest and according to the longitudinal study it suggests possible solutions for improvement. The study had been done in Kladská elementary school, Prague, Czech Republic, based on the findings obtained from the initial literature review. Although many scientific papers have been published mainly during last decade, there is a very limited amount of information concerning this issue within a longer timescale and a complex point of view is missing. The school environment was chosen because children are one of the groups at higher risk when adverse health effects caused by inadequate indoor air quality are evaluated. Aerosol particles and carbon dioxide concentration, temperature and relative humidity levels are important factors of interest in this case and all of them were included in the study. 8 measuring campaigns, each of them took 1 week, had been done throughout the whole school year. The main aim of these campaigns was monitoring and describing the variability of all selected factors during the day or year as well as between different classrooms. Average aerosol particles concentration (PM10) didn't exceed 70µg.m-3 during most of the campaigns and the pupil's activity was evaluated as the main influencing factor. The...

Results from the subproject "Dry Deposition" of the national research project entitled SANA (Scientific Attandance Program of the Rehabilitation of the Atmosphere in the New Federal Lands) are presented. After the political unification of Germany a change in the air quality in the region of the conurbation of Leipzig habe been observed as consequence of changes in the energy politics, economic structural reorganisation and the environmental legislative. The concentrations of the trace gases S02, Ozone and NOx (NO and N02) were measured over a period of more than three years (May 1992 to December 1995). For the measurements the micrometeorological gradient technique was applied to calculate the trace gas fluxes of S02 and 03. The instrumentation of the research station near Melpitz - downwind of the conurbation of Leipzig - , the calculation of dry deposition and the meteorological situation for this time consist of S02 and 03, the temperature, global radiation, and wind velocity are described. Typical monthly impacts for S02 and Ozone were found in the range between 2-5 and 2-3 kg/(ha*month) for winter time and between 0.2-0.6 and 3-10 kg/(ha*month), respectively, for summer time, respectivily. The ratio of dry deposition to total S-impact was 0.5 with a large variation from month to month. / Ergebnisse aus dem Teilprojekt "Trockene Deposition" des nationalen Verbundforschungsvorhabens SANA (Wissenschaftliches Begleitprogramm zur SAMerung der Atmosphäre über den neuen Bundesländern) werden vorgestellt. In der Zeit nach der politischen Einigung Deutschlands konnte eine Veränderung der Luftqualität im Ballungsraum Leipzig als Folge der neuen Energiepolitik, einer ökonomischen Neustrukturierung und des Wirksamwerdens einer neuen Umweltgesetzgebung festgestellt werden. Die Konzentration der Spurengase S02, Ozon und NOx (NO und N02) wurde über mehr als drei Jahre gemessen. Die Berechnung des trockenen Eintrages von S02 und Ozon erfolgte unter Anwendung der mikrometeorologischen Gradiententechnik. Der Aufbau der Forschungsstation im Lee des Ballungsraumes Leipzig, die Berechnung der trockenen Deposition für S02 und 03 und die meteorologische Situation am Beispiel der Temperatur, der Globalstrahlung und der Windgeschwindigkeit für diesen Zeitraum werden beschrieben. Typische monatliche Einträge für S02 und Ozon wurden im Bereich von 2 -5 und 2-3 kg/(ha*Monat) einerseits im Winter und 0,2-0,6 bzw. 3-10 kg/(ha*Monat) andererseits im Sommer ermittelt. Der mittlere Anteil der trockenen Deposition für S am Gesamtschwefeleintrag konnte zu etwa 50 % festgestellt werden, wobei sehr große Unterschiede von Monat zu Monat auftraten.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering