Air pollution

Case Study - Smart cities

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Causes of air pollution ............................................................................................................................ 2
Effects of air pollution ............................................................................................................................. 3
Technical solutions.................................................................................................................................. 3
Low emission zones ............................................................................................................................ 4
Filter requirements ............................................................................................................................. 4
City SCR ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Two-wheeled vehicles......................................................................................................................... 4
Siemens Corporate Technology .......................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 5
Introduction

Every year, nearly 600,000 children under the age of five die from diseases caused or exacerbated by
the effects of indoor and outdoor air pollution.

- Anthony Lake Executive Director, UNICEF

The air pollution is something that we hear almost every single day, but we do not take it so seriously.
Why is it not taken like a real life threat? The main reason is because people are not informed a lot
about its effects. It needs to be decreased, as much as possible, because the air is what keeps humans,
animals and earth alive. With clear air we could prevent hundreds of thousands death and diseases
caused by outdoor or indoor air pollution, and enable more liveable earth for our next generations.
What are the causes and effects of air pollution? Is it possible to reduce it? What are the solutions?

Causes of air pollution

Today, we cannot imagine our lives without using a car, bus, or any other vehicle as a transport from
one point to another. We do rely on them a lot but we should understand that by using them, more
then we should, is really harmful. We are destroying our environment without noticing it by burning
the fossil fuels; which causes the emissions of sulfur dioxide the main source of air pollution.

Other important causes of air pollution are industries and factories which you can find in almost every
city. They output carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, all kind of chemicals and some organic compounds
to the air and alter the atmosphere. However, not only gasses from big industries and cars can destroy
our air, but also a simple cleaning product in our home can produce toxic chemicals and cause the
indoor air pollution.

Air pollution is usually caused by any harmful gas, dust and smoke that enters the atmosphere and
makes it really difficult for human beings to live properly without side effects.1 Any chemical,
biological or physical change to the air is pollution that is why the main goal is just to reduce the air
pollution and not to make it not happen, because it is impossible in the world we are living now.

1
What is air pollution? http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/
Effects of air pollution

They are many side effects of a bad quality of air, but the main one is the health.

Many diseases are caused by direct or indirect effects of air pollution such as cancer and asthma.
Children, in area where the high air pollution, are more sensitive than older people and are more likely
to die before they turn 5 years because they are breathing much faster and their body is still in the
process of change. 2

Another, not so less important effect, is the global warming. If we do not reduce and take control
over the air pollution, more ice would be melted in colder regions, sea level would rise, temperature
would grow more, and everything would be out of balance and lead towards losing the habitats.
Furthermore, acid rains are more likely to happen thanks to burning fossil fuels, which means
damaged corps, humans and animals.

Technical solutions

To every problem there is a solution, it goes for the air pollution as well. Today, everything can be
solved thanks to the technology which is improving day after day. Just remember the days when you
could live without the internet technology, and now, it is impossible. We are using it for
communication with other people, business, entertainment, finding help of specific question;
everything is simplified thanks to smart phones and computers now even smart cities.

To solve the air pollution problem, first

people must be educated of its causes
and effects, they need to understand
that it is a real problem, not only for
local region, but also for whole world.
Second, the city where you live has to go
towards smart cities which is a way
towards the reduction of air pollution.

In smart city almost everything can be controlled with gathering and analyzing data, using IoT devices,
and other smart systems. By doing this it is possible to know how high the air pollution is at a moment.

2
Clear the air for children UNICEF
Danish Ecological Council did a lot of analysis on gathered data and recommended solutions for
reducing and controlling air pollution caused by local traffic in specific areas. 3

Low emission zones

Low emission zone is implemented in large and in medium cities that suffers
from air pollution from the local traffic. This zones are needed for the oldest
and dirties vehicles, and they need to obey specific rules while driving in LEZs.

Filter requirements
Most of the emissions from cars can be limited by using closed particulate filter. Only by installing this
filter on your car, that passes only the clean air through few channels, it is possible to remove up to
99% of emissions.

City SCR
Heavy vehicles are polluting air with nitrogen oxides and over 80% of nitrogen oxides can be removed
from exhaust just by using SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system. The NOX-sensor releases of
ammonia to the catalytic converter to transform nitrogen oxides (and ammonia) to harmless free
nitrogen and water vapour. 4

Two-wheeled vehicles
Mopeds, scooters, motorcycles and similar vehicles are using combustion engine which produce a lot
of noise and hydrocarbons. Which is the reason why they should be replaced by bicycles and electrical
scooters enabling charging places at some parts of the city.

All these solutions deal with vehicles, adding systems and requirements enables the reduction of air
pollution. However, to reduce the pollution it is good to figure the source of it, this is possible thanks
to Siemens Corporate Technology.

Siemens Corporate Technology

This system enables to gather two data at the same time weather and emissions. Data emissions
are collected over sensors in all parts of the city. Over a time, this system learned how to predict the
air pollution at specific time or day and drivers of the same.

3
Clean air Copenhagen
4
Amminex http://www.amminex.net/home.aspx
Conclusion

Every year there are more vehicles, industries, factories, and other things that causes air pollution. If
we do not activate and start finding more solutions for improvement of the air, we would destroy our
environment and more people would get sick as a side effect of pollution.

Luckily, we are in the period where technology improves and almost everything is possible to solve
with it.

First important step for the reduction of air pollution is the education of people. None system could
be successful if people would not understand it. Before everything, alternation of the atmosphere
should be considered as a big problem, then it is easy to come up with more solutions and more
systems for getting better air as soon as technology improves more.

Could these solutions be introduced and applied in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Of course they can, but
for every solution you need money. Closed filters and city-SCR costs a lot, even in European countries,
and Bosnian standard is really low in comparison to those countries. Low emission zones would be
easy to produce, but it would be hard to make people to follow the rules. In the end, the only obstacle
of improving our city is ourselves.