Although climate change is a global problem, specific mitigation measures are frequently applied on regional or national scales only. This is the case in particular for measures to reduce the emissions of land-based transport, which is largely characterized by regional or national systems with independent infrastructure, organization, and regulation. The climate perturbations caused by regional transport emissions are small compared to those resulting from global emissions. Consequently, they can be smaller than the detection limits in global three-dimensional chemistry-climate model simulations, hampering the evaluation of the climate benefit of mitigation strategies. Hence, we developed a new approach to solve this problem. The approach is based on a combination of a detailed three-dimensional global chemistry-climate model system, aerosol-climate response functions, and a zero-dimensional climate response model. For demonstration purposes, the approach was applied to results from a transport and emission modeling suite, which was designed to quantify the present-day and possible future transport activities in Germany and the resulting emissions. The results show that, in a baseline scenario, German transport emissions result in an increase in global mean surface temperature of the order of 0.01 K during the 21st century. This effect is dominated by the CO2 emissions, in contrast to the impact of global transport emissions, where non-CO2 species make a larger relative contribution to transport-induced climate change than in the case of German emissions. Our new approach is ready for operational use to evaluate the climate benefit of mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of transport emissions.

The environmental impact of the automotive fuels in the quality of the air is one of the great problems of the current world. The present work had as objective to evaluate the air quality in RMSP (Metropolitan Area of São Paulo), in the period from 2001 to 2005. It presents, mainly, a study of the impact of the emissions of gases for light automotive vehicles, taking into account the PROCONVE (Program of Control of Automotive Air Pollution). The methodology involved a comparative study of the technical reports published by CETESB (Company of Technology of Environmental Sanitation), INPE (National Institute of Space Research), ANFAVEA (National Agency of Automotive Manufacturers), MME (Ministry of Mine and Energy), MMA (Ministry of the Environment), IBAMA (Brazilian Institute for the Environment), DENATRAN (National Department of Automotive Traffic) and PROCONVE. The most used fuels by light automotive vehicles in Brazil are: gasoline type C, moisturized ethyl alcohol and natural gas (GNV). The results obtained with PROCONVE reveal that the automakers have been accomplishing the legal demands (resulting in a reduction of more than 94% in the emission of pollutants of new vehicles). The improvements of the fuels in order to obey the demands of the program are minimizing the environment impact of the pollutants from 10 to 30% in the RMSP. In a general way there is a pledge on the part of the automotive assemblers, the fuel industry and CETESB in framing of the new automobiles, as well as the fuels, within the legal demands of PROCONVE. / O impacto ambiental dos combustíveis automotivos na qualidade do ar é uma das grandes problemáticas do mundo atual. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar as condições do ar na RMSP (Região Metropolitana de São Paulo), no período de 2001 a 2005. Apresenta, principalmente, um estudo do impacto das emissões de gases por veículos leves, levando em consideração o PROCONVE (Programa de Controle da Poluição do Ar por Veículos Automotores). A metodologia utilizada envolveu um estudo comparativo dos relatórios técnicos publicados pela CETESB (Companhia de Tecnologia de Saneamento Ambiental), INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais), ANFAVEA (Agência Nacional de Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores), MME (Ministério das Minas e Energia), MMA (Ministério do Meio Ambiente), IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiental), DENATRAN (Departamento Nacional de Trânsito) e PROCONVE. Os combustíveis automotivos mais usados em veículos leves, no Brasil, são: gasolina tipo C, álcool etílico hidratado e gás natural veicular (GNV). Os resultados obtidos com as medidas do PROCONVE revelam que os fabricantes de veículos têm cumprido as exigências legais, resultando numa redução de mais de 94% na emissão de poluentes de veículos novos. As alterações nos combustíveis no sentido de obedecer às exigências do programa vêm minimizando o potencial poluidor veicular em média de 10 a 30% na RMSP. De uma maneira geral, tem havido empenho por parte das montadoras automotivas, das indústrias de combustível e da CETESB em enquadrar os automóveis novos, bem como os combustíveis, nas exigências legais do PROCONVE.

The transport sector is a major cause of emissions both in Sweden and globally. This master thesis aims to develop a model for estimating emissions from heavy transport on a specific route. The emissions can be used in a route planning software and help the driver choose a route that contributes to reduced emissions. The methodology was to investigate attributes, like vehicle-related attributes and topography, and their impact on transport emissions. The carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions were converted into carbon dioxide equivalents, which were incorporated as one cost together with a precalculated driving time as a second cost in a multi objective function used for route planning. Different tests were conducted to investigate the accuracy and the usability of the model. First, a validation test was performed, where the optimized routes were analyzed. The test showed that the model was more likely to choose a shorter route in general. The fuel consumption values largely met expectations towards generic values and measurements, that were gathered from research. A second test of the model made use of the driving time combined with the emissions in a multi objective function. In this test, a weighting coefficient was varied and analyzed to understand the possibility to find a value of the coefficient for the best trade-off. The result showed that the model generates different solutions for different coefficients and that it is possible to find a suitable trade-off between the driving time and emissions. Therefore, this study shows that there is a possibility to combine emission with other objectives such as driving time for route optimization. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed, where attribute factors and assumptions were varied to see how sensitive they were and, in turn, how much a change would impact the calculated emissions. The result from the sensitivity analysis showed that the changes in topography-attributes had less impact than changes on vehicle-related attributes. In conclusion, this thesis has built a foundation for route planning, based on the environmental aspect, for heavy transports.

Nano-particle aerosols are one of the major types of air pollutants in the urban indoor and outdoor environments. Therefore, determination of mechanisms of formation, dispersion, evolution, and transformation of combustion aerosols near the major source of this type of air pollution - busy roads and road networks - is one of the most essential and urgent goals. This Thesis addresses this particular direction of research by filling in gaps in the existing physical understanding of aerosol behaviour and evolution. The applicability of the Gaussian plume model to combustion aerosols near busy roads is discussed and used for the numerical analysis of aerosol dispersion. New methods of determination of emission factors from the average fleet on a road and from different types of vehicles are developed. Strong and fast evolution processes in combustion aerosols near busy roads are discovered experimentally, interpreted, modelled, and statistically analysed. A new major mechanism of aerosol evolution based on the intensive thermal fragmentation of nano-particles is proposed, discussed and modelled. A comprehensive interpretation of mutual transformations of particle modes, a strong maximum of the total number concentration at an optimal distance from the road, increase of the proportion of small nano-particles far from the road is suggested. Modelling of the new mechanism is developed on the basis of the theory of turbulent diffusion, kinetic equations, and theory of stochastic evaporation/degradation processes. Several new powerful statistical methods of analysis are developed for comprehensive data analysis in the presence of strong turbulent mixing and stochastic fluctuations of environmental factors and parameters. These methods are based upon the moving average approach, multi-variate and canonical correlation analyses. As a result, an important new physical insight into the relationships/interactions between particle modes, atmospheric parameters and traffic conditions is presented. In particular, a new definition of particle modes as groups of particles with similar diameters, characterised by strong mutual correlations, is introduced. Likely sources of different particle modes near a busy road are identified and investigated. Strong anti-correlations between some of the particle modes are discovered and interpreted using the derived fragmentation theorem. The results obtained in this thesis will be important for accurate prediction of aerosol pollution levels in the outdoor and indoor environments, for the reliable determination of human exposure and impact of transport emissions on the environment on local and possibly global scales. This work will also be important for the development of reliable and scientifically-based national and international standards for nano-particle emissions.