Air Quality

Reducing air pollution

Air pollution ranks fourth among major risk factors for global disease and mortality. In the UK, it contributes to between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths annually, with an estimated economic cost of more than £20 billion every year.

Experts from the Environmental Research Group, across the School of Public Health, and from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering provide air quality measurement devices, solutions, and analysis to local authorities, industry, communities and schools. Their activities include…

• analysis of human activity and resultant emissions
• complex atmospheric chemistry and transport processes
• the effects on health of exposure to different air pollutants (such as particulate matter)
• new measurement and sensing capabilities
• technologies and policies to mitigate the impacts of air pollution – globally

Imperial’s experts also provide specific and holistic insight into policy design and delivery. Professor Frank Kelly, Dr Audrey de Nazelle and Dr Marc Stettler, for example, were invited to discuss how The Environment Bill, and wider Government policy, can best reduce air pollution at a roundtable chaired by Lord Teverson, Chair of the Lords EU Environment Sub-Committee.

Read on to see what we can do – or contact us today to see how we can help you?

Environmental Research Group

Led by Prof Frank Kelly, provides policymakers, industry and the public alike with insight into the quality of air in their communities, workplaces and schools, along with the sources of pollution and its impact on respiratory health.

The Environmental Research Group work with local authorities, TFL, and the Mayor of London to inform on air quality and analyse the effectiveness of air pollution policies. All major air pollution strategies in London use emissions and air pollution models developed by the group and they have helped shape London’s congestion charge and Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ).

A range of the teams projects, research and expertise is featured here – and provides examples of how they can help external organisations like yours.

Measurement Team

Initiatives include The London Air Quality Network, which collects and reports on air quality data across the city – and the Breathe London Network, funded by the Mayor and Bloomberg Philanthropies and the boroughs, and key to the Mayor’s work to raise awareness of air pollution. Both provide Londoners with easy access to reliable, localised, real-time air quality data.

Contact us to discuss setting up an air quality monitoring and analysis network in your city.

Dr Gary Fuller, “The new Breathe London network of sensors across the city’s boroughs will help communities to understand the invisible air pollution that surrounds them. The air pollution that we breathe each day is estimated to be responsible for the early deaths of around 4,000 Londoners in 2019. Having a healthy city to live in is essential to London’s future. Action needs to be underpinned by sound science; to design polices, track outcomes and provide clear information to the public.

Another initiative investigates the impact on health by giving pollution monitors to people with respiratory disease.

“This provides a direct link between their individual health and their environment, and with this we can create actionable recommendations for their own disease management,” says Dr Benjamin Barratt, an expert on environmental exposure and public health, and deputy director of the ERG.

The Centre for Low Emission Construction

This team works with construction and demolition firms, machinery manufacturers and hirers – and those responsible for workforce welfare – to reduce the emissions from equipment for those on site, and in the local vicinity. Tougher restrictions are being imposed in urban areas – with expectations for the sector to meet tight emissions and particulate matter targets.

Projects, such as those with HS2, include trialing alternative fuels and retrofit of machinery to testing for concentrations of CO, CO2, NO, NO2, NOX, PN, and THC to see if they meet required standards. The results have cut emissions and carbon and will save millions of pounds. The team aim to roll out these learnings across the sector – enabling others to meet emissions targets cost-effectively.

“The NRMM retrofit project has allowed us to work in partnership with key organisations to produce scientific evidence to give the construction industry the confidence to adopt new cost-effective measures to reduce machine emissions. The use of new technology will allow contractors to upgrade their most polluting machines to meet the latest emission standards and help reduce the air pollution impacts across the whole HS2 project.” Daniel Marsh, Centre for Low Emission Construction

The team also work with construction and demolition contractors to reduce fugitive dust transference from construction sites, onto our streets, and into the air we breathe. Contact us to see how they can help you.

Air Quality Network

Includes health economist Dr Laure de Preux, who is helping local authorities quantify the ‘hidden costs’ of air pollution; Dr Audrey de Nazelle, whose work at the intersection of environmental sciences, health behaviour, transportation and urban planning is helping develop health-promoting built environments and policies; lung cell biologist Professor Terry Tetley who is an authority on pulmonary diseases related to inhaled toxicants; and Professor Fan Chung whose work looks at the negative impacts of urban air pollution on cardiovascular and respiratory health.

Our experts in action. Ask us how they can help you.

Dr Marc Stettler discusses aerosols and aircraft contrails