title: The public health benefits of reducing fine particulate matter through conversion to cleaner heating fuels in New York City.
abstract: In recent years, both New York State and City issued regulations to reduce emissions from burning heating oil. To assess the benefits of these programs in New York City, where the density of emissions and vulnerable populations vary greatly, we simulated the air quality benefits of scenarios reflecting no action, partial, and complete phase-out of high-sulfur heating fuels using the Community MultiScale Air Quality (CMAQ) model conducted at a high spatial resolution (1 km). We evaluated the premature mortality and morbidity benefits of the scenarios within 42 city neighborhoods and computed benefits by neighborhood poverty status. The complete phase-out scenario reduces annual average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by an estimated 0.71 μg/m(3) city-wide (average of 1 km estimates, 10-90th percentile: 0.1-1.6 μg/m(3)), avoiding an estimated 290 premature deaths, 180 hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and 550 emergency department visits for asthma each year. The largest improvements were seen in areas of highest building and population density and the majority of benefits have occurred through the partial phase out of high-sulfur heating fuel already achieved. While emissions reductions were greatest in low-poverty neighborhoods, health benefits are estimated to be greatest in high-poverty neighborhoods due to higher baseline morbidity and mortality rates.
authors.affiliation: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Policy, 125 Worth Street, Third Flr. CN-34E, New York, New York 10014, United States.
authors.forename: Iyad
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kheirbek
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haney
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001249:Asthma / Q000517:prevention & control; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006361:Heating / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009519:New York City; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D011156:Population Density; D011203:Poverty; D011634:Public Health; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter