Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 4 Diurnal cycles of EC
WB
at the Swiss measurement sites Payerne, Magadino and Zurich as
obtained using the aethalometer model (see Sect.
2.3
). The diurnal cycles are shown for weekdays
and weekends during winter 2010/2011 (December, January, February)
4 Conclusion
The results of the available studies on the influence of residential wood burning on
the concentrations of particulate matter, organic carbon and elemental carbon
clearly show that this emission source is an important factor for air quality during
wintertime in the entire Alpine region. This is true for both, larger cities and small
villages in rural areas. The absolute contribution of wood burning emissions to
particulate air pollutants tends in rural environments to be even larger than in urban
areas. This is probably, on the one hand, due to the high contribution of wood
burning to the energy supply in many villages in the Alpine region and the high
fraction of small wood burning appliances that are difficult to operate with low
emissions. On the other hand, the meteorological situations often prevailing in
loosely populated Alpine or Pre-Alpine valleys during wintertime favour the
accumulation of local emissions in a shallow boundary layer, thus leading to poor
air quality in these locations.
It is clear from the findings of the studies considered in this overview that
strategies for the abatement of particulate air pollution in the Alpine region need to
target on reducing emissions from residential wood burning. However, implementa-
tion of efficient measures is hampered by the fact that wood is a locally available fuel
and its usage has a long tradition in the Alpine region. In addition, there are
conflicting interests between air quality and climate issues that need to be resolved
because there are good reasons to use wood as a renewable source of energy.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to Grisa Moˇnik from Aerosol d.o.o. (Slovenia) for
providing currently unpublished results from sites in Slovenia that perfectly fit into this overview.
Thanks are also due to Christine Piot, Jean-Luc Besombes (both Universit´ de Savoie, Le Bourget-
du-Lac, France) and Jean-Luc Jaffrezo (Universit´ Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France) for helpful
discussions about the influence of wood burning on particulate air pollutants at French Alpine
sites. Support from the Competence Center Environment and Sustainability of the ETH Domain
(CCES) through the research project IMBALANCE is gratefully acknowledged.
