Urban air quality: the challenge of traffic non-exhaust emissions.
About 400,000 premature adult deaths attributable to air pollution occur each year in the European Region. Road transport emissions account for a significant share of this burden. While important technological improvements have been made for reducing particulate matter (PM) emissions from motor exhausts, no actions are currently in place to reduce the non-exhaust part of emissions such as those from brake wear, road wear, tyre wear and road dust resuspension. These "non-exhaust" sources contribute easily as much and often more than the tailpipe exhaust to the ambient air PM concentrations in cities, and their relative contribution to ambient PM is destined to increase in the future, posing obvious research and policy challenges. This review highlights the major and more recent research findings in four complementary fields of research and seeks to identify the current gaps in research and policy with regard to non-exhaust emissions. The objective of this article is to encourage and direct future research towards an improved understanding on the relationship between emissions, concentrations, exposure and health impact and on the effectiveness of potential remediation measures in the urban environment.
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish Research Council (IDÆA-CSIC), c/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: fulvio.amato@idaea.csic.es.
Fulvio
F
Amato
Centre for Sustainability & Environmental Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands; Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Flemming R
FR
Cassee
Department of Climate, Air and Sustainability, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Hugo A C
HA
Denier van der Gon
EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Dubendorf, Switzerland.
Robert
R
Gehrig
Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Linköping, Sweden.
Mats
M
Gustafsson
Department of Environmental Protection, Municipality of Klagenfurt on Lake Worthersee, Austria.
Wolfgang
W
Hafner
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, Division of Environmental Health and Risk Management, School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom; Department of Environmental Sciences/Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Roy M
RM
Harrison
Department of Climate, Air and Sustainability, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Magdalena
M
Jozwicka
MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NH, United Kingdom.
Frank J
FJ
Kelly
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish Research Council (IDÆA-CSIC), c/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Teresa
T
Moreno
Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
Andre S H
AS
Prevot
Department of Climate, Air and Sustainability, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Martijn
M
Schaap
Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, Barcelona, Spain.
Jordi
J
Sunyer
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish Research Council (IDÆA-CSIC), c/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Xavier
X
Querol
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control; D002947:Cities; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018986:Motor Vehicles
D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust
Brake; Health effects; Mitigation; Policy; Road dust; Tyre