Development of a road transport emission inventory for Greece and the Greater Athens Area: Effects of important parameters

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2015-02, Vol.505, p.770-786
• Main Authors: Fameli, K.M., Assimakopoulos, V.D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Athens; Automobiles; Carbon dioxide; Carbon monoxide; Cities - statistics & numerical data; Dieselisation; Emission; Emission inventory; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Greece; Inventories; Nitrogen Oxides - analysis; Particulate Matter - analysis; Road transport; Stockpiling; Temporal coefficients; Traffic engineering; Traffic flow; Transportation - statistics & numerical data; Vehicle Emissions - analysis
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.015

Traffic is considered one of the major polluting sectors and as a consequence a significant cause for the measured exceedances of ambient air quality limit values mainly in urban areas. The Greater Athens Area (located in Attica), the most populated area in Greece, faces severe air pollution problems due to the combination of high road traffic emissions, complex topography and local meteorological conditions. Even though several efforts were made to construct traffic emission inventories for Greece and Attica, still there is not a spatially and temporally resolved one, based on data from relevant authorities and organisations. The present work aims to estimate road emissions in Greece and Attica based on the top down approach. The programme COPERT 4 was used to calculate the annual total emissions from the road transport sector for the period 2006–2010 and an emission inventory for Greece and Attica was developed with high spatial (6×6km2 for Greece and 2×2km2 for Attica) and temporal (1-hour) resolutions. The results revealed that about 40% of national CO2, CO, VOC and NMVOC values and 30% of NOx and particles are emitted in Attica. The fuel consumption and the subsequent reduction of annual mileage driven in combination with the import of new engine anti-pollution technologies affected CO2, CO, VOC and NMVOC emissions. The major part of CO (56.53%) and CO2 (66.15%) emissions was due to passenger cars (2010), while heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) were connected with NOx, PM2.5 and PM10 emissions with 51.27%, 43.97% and 38.13% respectively (2010). The fleet composition, the penetration of diesel fuelled cars, the increase of urban average speed and the fleet renewal are among the most effective parameters towards the emission reduction strategies. •A spatially and temporally resolved emission inventory (Greece–Athens)•Development of temporal coefficients for the disaggregation of road emissions•Engine technology and fuel consumption determine annual variation of emissions.•40% of national CO, VOC and NMVOC and 30% of NOx and PM are emitted in Athens.•CO, VOC and NOx are more sensitive to fleet composition and fuel type.