Photo from presentation

Lab Seminar - Strategies for mitigating air pollution around the city of Chengdu

Qian Wang presented some recent work developing a modeling framework to identify effective air pollution control strategies for the city of Chengdu. The current policy framework sets emission limits based on ambient pollution levels, reducing emission limits when the level of air pollution is high. However, this does not account for the dynamics of the system. Emissions are known to accumulate in the basin around the city over time and remain in the area until it is cleared by high winds or rain. Therefore, the damages caused by emissions are experienced over an extended period. To account for these dynamics, emission limits should be based on expected weather conditions. If there would be a period of little pollution dispersion, then the optimal strategy is not to impose the strictest restrictions late in the period when the ambient pollution levels will be at their highest. Rather, the strictest limits should be applied early in the period when the ambient pollution levels are not yet very high.