Air Quality News Magazine - May '2020

Issue 3

May 2020

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Building EV growth into the energy network Decision making and clean air progress The Big Interview Dr Maria Neira from the WHO

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Editorial Comment and Contacts

Welcome to Air Quality News magazine Contacts Publisher: David Harrison d.harrison@spacehouse.co.uk 01625 614 000 Editor: Thomas Barrett tom@airqualitynews.com 01625 666 385 Journalist: Pippa Neill pippa@airqualitynews.com 01625 666 396 Journalist: Jamie Hailstone jamie.hailstone@me.com 01625 614 000 Advertising Director: Andy Lees andy@airqualitynews.com 01625 666 390 Finance Manager: Jenny Leach jenny@spacehouse.co.uk 01625 614 000 Administration: Jenny Odgen admin@spacehouse.co.uk 01625 614 000 Subscriptions: Andrew Harrison subscriptions@airqualitynews.com 01625 614 000 Published 4 times a year Annual Subscription - £19.95 +VAT

Dear readers, We sincerely hope you and your families are keeping safe and well during these extraordinary times.

Despite the challenges we are all facing, we were determined to publish this issue of the Air Quality News magazine and I am proud of the effort our team has put into this bumper edition, which includes more news, features and interviews than ever before.

I also want to extend my thanks to our advertisers who have continued to support us through this crisis. This issue would not have been possible without you.

We include a feature report which explores the drastic air pollution reductions since global lockdown and question whether this will bring about any lasting change to air quality.

The lockdown has been a time for reflection so we are also looking ahead to the future, with environment specialist Stephen Cirell exploring the 2035 ban for petrol and diesel cars and what the move towards electric vehicles will mean for the UK’s electricity network.

For this month’s interview, we spoke to Dr Maria Neira, director of public health and environment at the World Health Organisation who had some stark warnings for government’s that have been slow to tackle air pollution.

Also inside is an investigation into air pollution at crematoria, we look at how to improve air quality in new housing developments and consider the complexities of decision making within Whitehall.

As most of you will already know, due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have postponed our Northern Air Quality Conference which was due to be held on 22nd April and we have provisionally rescheduled the event for the 29th September 2020. The venue will be the same – the Midland Hotel in Manchester.

As ever, if you would like to write for Air Quality News or have any feedback please do not hesitate to contact me at tom@airqualitynews.com

Thomas Barrett, editor.

Air Quality News - published by Spacehouse Ltd, Pierce House, Pierce Street, Macclesfield. SK11 6EX. Tel: 01625 614 000

All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Printed on FSC certified paper stock, using vegetable oil inks.

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Outdoor workers are exposed to more air pollution and more risk to their health

British Safety Council’s campaign Time to Breathe is calling for action to reduce the risk of exposure to air pollution for outdoor workers. We want to see the government adopt tougher limits on air pollution, to recognise exposure as an occupational hazard and to invest in air pollution monitoring across the UK. Support our campaign by: • Downloading our free mobile app Canairy – developed with King’s College, London, the app collects data exposure to air pollution • Signing our pledge to reduce exposure to air pollution for outdoor workers • Sharing our research

Email: timetobreathe@britsafe.org to find out more and get involved Get resources: www.britsafe.org/timetobreathe

Contents

Features Contents Page 6-8: News Page 10-12: Feature

Page 6-8 News:

Page 22 Indoor: Keeping Indoor air quality in check during the lockdown

Page 14-15: Local Government Page 16-17: Investigation Page 18-19: Freight & Transport Page 20-21: Construction Page 22: Indoor Page 24-25: Vortex IOT

Page 10-12 Feature: Air quality making headlines during the coronavirus lockdown

Page 26-27-28 Feature: The politics of an electric vehicle (EV) battery lifecycle

Page 26-27-28: Feature Page 30-31: NERC Air Quality Supersite Page 32-33: The Big Interview Page 34: Local Government Page 35-36-37: Building EV growth into the energy network

Page 16-17 Investigation: The deadly air pollution cost of crematoria’

Page 32-33 The Big Interview: Dr Maria Neira, World Health Organisation

Page 38: Legislation Page 39-40: International Page 41: Marketplace Page 42: Jobs

Page 18-19 Freight & Transport: Were trams the answer to our air pollution woes all along?

Page 35-36-37 EV Infrastructure: The future of transport?

Thanks to our contributors: Stephen Cirell, Anita Lloyd, Robert Biddlecombe , Dr Maria Neira, Colin Timmins.

Partners

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News

in brief Prince William hails reductions in air pollution since coronavirus lockdown Speaking alongside the Duchess of Cambridge on BBC Breakfast, the Prince was asked about the large drops in air pollution reported in the UK and abroad since the lockdown began almost a month ago.

‘Absolutely, I’ve noticed that,’ he said. ‘That is a positive isn’t it?’

‘The environmental impact of no one travelling around the place has made a huge difference all around the world. I’ve always thought it was lunacy when we have the technology, why don’t we conduct more business at home,’ he added.

UK car journeys down 80% during coronavirus lockdown There have been up to 80% fewer car journeys on UK roads since the coronavirus lockdown began over three weeks ago, analysis by the AA has suggested.

They reviewed more than 15,000 daily cars journeys and established a pattern of travel during the lockdown. The analysis found weekday journeys were around 60% lower than normal levels, falling another 10% on Saturdays and then heading towards 80% on Sundays.

Edmund King, AA President said: ‘For the most part, families and car drivers respected the lockdown and didn’t revert to the usual Easter exodus, travelling to see friends or out into the country for exercise.’

Pioneering project to use AI to understand air pollution impacts For this new project, the research team will develop an innovative new modelling framework that combines data on both outdoor and indoor exposures to air pollution, travel patterns and the kind of activities that people perform every day.

The model will simulate the daily exposure of different population groups to air pollution and its accuracy will be evaluated against actual measurements made by group of volunteers who will carry portable pollution monitors.

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Air pollution filters to protect NHS staff and patients from coronavirus Healthcare transport provider, the HATS Group (HATS), is installing clean air technology in 100 vehicles used to transport patients to help reduce exposure to coronavirus.

A

irLabs, which is supplying its ‘AirBubbl’ invehicle air filters to HATS, has published a white paper on reducing exposure to airborne viruses using air filtration systems. It explains its evidence behind airborne virus transmission and how air filtration can effectively remove

bioaerosol particles, which help to spread the virus.

By using air filtration in an enclosed space and reducing the airborne virus load, HATS says there is a potential to reduce transmission of the virus where people are in close proximity, such as ambulances, patient transport and other service vehicles.

HATS originally ordered 100 of the devices from AirLabs to protect its drivers and passengers from London air pollution. The installation has now been ramped up to provide an additional layer of protection for its workers from exposure to coronavirus, as its vehicles are repurposed to support London hospitals.

Almost 50% of the UK’s carbon footprint comes from overseas emissions

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ccording to the WWF report, products including clothing, processed foods and electronics imported into the UK are counted as the manufacturing country’s

emissions, not the UK’s, although they would not have been produced were it not for UK demand.

The report says that these emissions account for 46% of the UK’s carbon footprint yet are

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not currently covered by national reporting or included in the UK’s net-zero target.

Between 1990 and 2016 emissions within the UK’s borders reduced by 41% but the consumption-based footprint only dropped 15%, mainly due to goods and services coming from abroad.

The report also found that six sectors contributed to almost half (46%) of the UK’s carbon footprint – a combination of domestic emissions and those from UK consumption emitted abroad: heating homes (9.7%), car fuel (8.6%), electricity (8%), construction (6.7%), agriculture (6.6%) and air travel (5.9%).

News

Don’t use wood-burning stoves during coronavirus crisis, council urges Residents in Brighton have been asked to ‘think twice’ about lighting woodburning stoves and other fires during the coronavirus crisis, because the smoke makes respiratory conditions worse.

W

ith the majority of people in the area now entering their sixth week of coronavirus lockdown, Brighton and Hove City Council has warned that

fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted by the stoves could put residents who are already at a higher risk from the worst symptoms of coronavirus in a more vulnerable position.

The popularity of stoves

over recent years has rocketed and according to the industry body HETAS, the number of registrations increased 10-fold in the decade between 2004 and 2014, from 12,000 to 130,000 a year.

Less air pollution helps UK solar break generation record

T

he UK is currently experiencing significantly lower than usual levels of pollution as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

According to the Solar Trade Association (STA), this has contributed to clearer conditions, which, combined with relatively cool temperatures, provide optimal conditions for maximising solar PV efficiency.

As the lockdown and good weather continue, it is expected

that more solar generation records will be broken.

The abundance of solar power on the grid has also

contributed to the lengthiest coal-free period for the grid in 2020 so far, with more than 11.5 days passed at time of writing.

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in briefin brief 2018 Saddleworth Moor wildfires exposed 5 million to toxic air Researchers from the University of Leeds looked at how the fires impacted on ‘deaths brought forward’, which is a measure of deaths that occurred earlier than they would have without the pollution from the fires.

According to their findings, the PM2.5 pollution from the fires increased the number of deaths brought forward by up to 165% (Saddleworth Moor) and 95% (Winter Hill), compared to if there had been no fires.

The authors also estimate the economic impact of the fires to be £21.1m.

Defra seeking expertise on air pollution and coronavirus links The Air Quality Expert Group, acting on a request from Defra, is calling for evidence from the research and air quality communities to address the ongoing changes in UK air quality due to the coronavirus crisis.

They have asked a series of key questions that they hope will explore the interactions between air pollution and the virus, with the evidence hopefully supporting decision-making on air quality management in the coming weeks and months.

They are looking for evidence from any relevant experts working the field of air pollution science, technology or management.

Coronavirus will have a negative impact on the global EV market Following the coronavirus outbreak a number of battery production facilities and EV factories have had to close. According to GlobalData, this is going to have a lasting knockon effect on the global EV market, causing project delays and a rise in battery prices.

In the UK, the coronavirus pandemic could result in 200,000 fewer cars being built in the UK this year, the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has also warned.

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News

in brief Long-term exposure to air pollution increases risk of dementia According to the researchers, the biological mechanisms through which air pollution affects brain health are not completely understood, but it is likely that ultrafine particles may reach the brain via circulation and induce systemic inflammation, damaging the blood-brain barrier.

Coronavirus could be ‘bad news’ for air pollution in long-term, scientist warns Dr Gabriel da Silva, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne, writes that whilst satellites have witnessed drops in air pollution ‘almost overnight’, as economies eventually recover, there is likely to be an ’emissions surge’ which will leave the environment worse off.

Dr da Silva points to the global financial crash in 2008 which was followed by a sharp rebound in pollution as the world economy recovered. He also writes that a weak global economy threatens investment in renewable energy sources, particularly given the availability of cheap oil.

He adds that there is also a risk that environmental policies will be relaxed during this time of crisis, as is already starting to happen in the US. However, he hopes that the pandemic will provide important scientific information on the impacts of air pollution. For example, reductions in air pollution during the 2008 Beijing Olympics were used to show that air pollution was linked to poor cardiovascular health and low birth weight.

Clean Air Day postponed until October The annual event was due to take place on June 18, but Global Action Plan (GAP), the charity that coordinates the day says the new day will give event organisers enough time to team up with schools, workplaces and local communities once everyone is back up and running.

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Greater Manchester warns coronavirus could ‘significantly change’ clean air plans The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) will delay its statutory Clean Air Plan and Clean Air Zone consultation, due to the coronavirus pandemic, warning that the economic impacts of the virus could ‘significantly change the assumptions’ that sits behind the plans.

T

he consultation had been planned for this summer however, the current coronavirus crisis has limited the authorities

ability to progress the delivery of the plan to previous timescales.

Greater Manchester says they ‘remain committed’ to

cleaning up its air but warn that the wider economic impacts due to coronavirus could change how the plan is ultimately formed going forward.

City reports big drops in NO2 since lockdown Air quality monitoring stations in Leicester have recorded big reductions in pollution levels since the government’s coronavirus lockdown came into effect on March 23, with levels down to around half compared to previous months.

F

igures comparing the same weeks in March 2019 and March 2020 show how nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels began to fall from the third week of the month, when more people began working from home, and fell further during the last week of March 2020 when the full lockdown began, with schools, offices and many other businesses closing.

At Vaughan Way – one of the city’s busiest roads and an air quality hotspot – NO2 levels in the third week of March fell to 34 µg/m3, compared to 62 µg/m3 during the same week in 2019.

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Feature

Air quality making headlines during the coronavirus lockdown From Prince William to Arnold Schwarzenegger, seemingly everybody is noticing how much cleaner the air has been since the global coronavirus lockdowns came into force in March, but the picture is perhaps not as straight-forward as it seems.

By Thomas Barrett.

T

here have been several recent headlines in the UK reporting upon the precipitous drop in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) since our own lockdown was introduced on March 23.

It is perhaps unsurprising given the large majority of people are now required to stay at home and not use their cars, but it doesn’t make the findings any less startling.

Major traffic arteries from Manchester to Maidenhead, once clogged with tailbacks, have been untied like a nasty knot almost overnight.

Air Quality News analysis of the first few days of lockdown suggests that NO2 emissions have been cut by

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as much as 50%, and it’s dropped even further in the weeks since.

We examined the Department for Energy, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra’s) monitoring data for NO2 in London, Leeds, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol and Newcastle, comparing March 24 with the same day last year (March 26).

Edinburgh saw the largest drop in concentrations from a daily average of 74µg/m3 in 2019, to 28µg/m3, as regular commuters worked from home and only essential workers were permitted to travel into the Scottish capital to do their job.

London Westminster also saw a massive decrease in NO2 emissions, from 58µg/m3 in 2019 to 30µg/m3 in

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2020. It has been argued that the sheer speed of these drops exposes some local authority clean air plans which aim for legal air quality compliance towards the end of the 2020s.

Whilst it has taken a worldwide pandemic to bring about this change, it does show that air pollution can be cleaned up with haste if the will is there to do so.

Scientists at some of the world’s most prestigious universities are trying to understand the link between air pollution and coronavirus mortality.

It’s long been known that air pollution can contribute to deadly respiratory conditions such as COPD and asthma, but there have been several stark studies completed

Feature

since lockdown began that suggest prolonged exposure to toxic air has damaged people’s lungs to the point where it is contributing to coronavirus-related deaths.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have linked deaths in coronavirus hotspots, such as London and the Midlands, with exposure to high levels of air pollution.

The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed, but it’s the latest contribution to a body of evidence that links exposure to air pollutants to the deadliest effects of the virus.

Researchers from the MRC Toxicology Unit at the University of Cambridge analysed the data on total coronavirus cases and deaths from seven regions in England against the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), collected between the years 2018 and 2019, before the virus hit the country.

When the team compared the annual average of daily NOx and NO2 levels to the total number of coronavirus cases in each region, they found that the higher the pollutant levels, the greater the number of coronavirus cases and deaths.

This was particularly true across London and the Midlands, where concentrations of NO2 were the highest.

Last month, scientists at Harvard University also suggested that just a small increase in long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) leads to a large increase in coronavirus death rate.

Then there was a German study that looked at coronavirus deaths across the continent.

It specifically analysed 4443 fatalities in Germany, France Spain and Italy due to Covid-19 by March 19, 2020. According to the research, 83% of all fatalities occurred in regions where NO2 levels were high, 15.5% occurred areas where is was mid-level, and only 1.5% of all fatalities occurred in regions where the maximum NO2 concentration was considered low.

The common thread between all these studies suggests that because exposure to air pollution is known to damage the heart and lungs, it increases vulnerability to experiencing

the most severe coronavirus outcomes.

Contributed to the tragedy Whilst NO2 has fallen, it has been less reported that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution has risen to dangerous levels in the UK during the pandemic.

Spring is traditionally a peak time for air pollution due to garden waste burning, agricultural muck spreading, industrial emissions blowing over from the continent and the warmer weather.

In late March when our lockdown was in full swing, Defra declared ‘very high’ air pollution warnings for much of Wales and southern England, with at risk people urged to stay indoors to protect respiratory health.

Simon Birkett from Clean Air In London told Air Quality News that air pollution has ‘contributed to the tragedy’ of coronavirus.

He even believes some of the additional deaths caused by the virus have been caused by the high spring PM2.5 episodes, as the pollution would have hit people who were

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already having respiratory difficulties making them more vulnerable to coronavirus.

Mr Birkett also had sharp words for Defra, accusing them of ‘covering up’ the spring particle episodes whilst the country is in the midst of the pandemic. He also said Public Health England and the Met Office should have done more to warn people about the health risks of exposure to the pollutants, whilst much of the media were hailing NO2 reductions, perhaps giving a false impression of the reality of air quality.

‘Defra systematically covers up these air pollution episodes. They do a worse than appalling job in that respect,’ he said.

Pre-lockdown Manchester.

Hope springs eternal A whole country ordered to stay indoors is a dystopian nightmare for some but images of near empty thoroughfares such as the M1 is positively utopic. So what will change once it’s over?

Companies have been forced to adapt and working from home has

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Feature

been a hit with many office workers.

A poll for Earth Day in April found that 77% of office workers believe working from home is an effective way of boosting the environment.

In the same poll, workers said before coronavirus they would spend on average nearly an hour a day commuting to work, with 75% saying they felt guilty about doing so.

Simon Birkett of Clean Air In London hopes the lockdown will give time for reflection.

‘People have stopped and noticed air pollution is lower and thought about it in a way they hadn’t before,’ he says. ‘Take a deep breath, pause and ask yourself do you enjoy this? Do you enjoy a quieter city? This is something we know how to do, let’s try and head to this a bit faster.’

However, the forecasts for a post-coronavirus economy are grim, and the economic realities might not match our hopes for change. Clean Air Zones in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester have been put on the shelf and some are worried that it might be

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convenient to return to bad habits to get the economy going again.

Dr Gabriel da Silva, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne, wrote that whilst satellites have witnessed drops in air pollution ‘almost overnight’, as economies eventually recover, there is likely to be an ’emissions surge’ which will leave the environment worse off.

In his article, he pointed to the global financial crash in 2008 which was followed by a sharp rebound in pollution as the world economy recovered.

He adds that there is also a risk that environmental policies will be relaxed during this time of crisis, as is already starting to happen in the US with President Trump rolling back emissions standards during the pandemic.

In the UK, there have already been warning signs. Electric vehicle (EV) supply chains are already being significantly hit, which could ripple well into the 2020s, slowing growth in EVs when the sector badly needs to

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accelerate past 2019’s underwhelming 3.4% share of all vehicle sales.

With the UK and European governments spending tens of billions to rescue stricken economies, a coalition of green groups including Greenpeace, the WWF and Transport & Environment said government bailouts must be conditional on environmental and climate objectives.

Simon Birkett from Clean Air In London is fearful that the ‘free market anarchists’ in the UK cabinet could suspend all the environmental rules and regulations and essentially let the polluters do what they want.

‘We may survive the coronavirus pandemic but that would be absolutely catastrophic and the end of the planet as we know it,’ he says. ‘That is how important it is to re-engineer things wisely.

‘The problem with the climate crisis is it’s not something you can recover from, but the positives are that millions could be spent wisely. So for heaven’s sake, let’s put pressure on the government to do so.’

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Local Government

Has air quality got lost in the corridors of power?

By Jamie Hailstone.

Westminster.

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A

ir quality might be high on the agenda for many people, but despite political speeches and demands for action, the fact remains there is no single Whitehall department responsible for pushing the agenda forward.

As anyone familiar with the workings of the corridors of power will tell you, it’s complicated. Westminster is a difficult beast at the best of times, and the remit for air quality is scattered across SW1.

This means the Department for Transport (DfT) is responsible for matters regarding vehicles and infrastructure, while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has the environment portfolio.

On top of that, policies relating to energy are drawn up by another ministry, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), while local government resides with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

On top of that, the Treasury inevitably holds the purse strings and then there is the question of what role the Department for Health and Public Health England should play. If air quality is a health issue, then why are those particular departments not playing a bigger part in leading

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the government’s response to the issue?

For the ordinary man in the street, the situation probably sounds ridiculous, but spare a thought for the local authorities, who have been tasked by ministers to introduce Clean Air Zones and have to deal with Whitehall on a daily basis.

In February, Birmingham City Council announced the delay of the introduction of its Clean Air Zone for the second time, blaming Whitehall’s botched introduction of a vehicle checking tool. And Leeds’ Clean Air Zone has also been delayed for the same reason with both now set for further delays due to coronavirus.

‘I think local authorities do get mixed messages from Whitehall,’ says Oxford City Council’s cabinet member for zero carbon Oxford, Cllr Tom Hayes.

‘In part it’s because the conversation you have with one part of government is not happening with other parts of government, or the outcomes of that conversation are not being shared with other departments.’

‘We have probably the most centralised state apparatus in Western Europe, but it’s unable to communicate clearly with itself,’ adds Cllr Hayes.

‘We also have a prime minister who wants to level up the

Local Government

regions and one way to do that is sending power out to the regions. But the government is caught between these two things.’

The Green Alliance’s policy analyst, Jonathan Ritson, tells Air Quality News there is also an issue of ‘inaction for a long period’ in Whitehall, followed by ‘extremely short deadlines’, which mean longer-term projects have ‘not been given as much prominence as they should’.

There is some inter-departmental working over air quality in Whitehall in the shape of the Joint Air Quality Unit (Jaqu), which was set up by the DfT and Defra, back in 2016.

The original remit of Jaqu was to focus on delivering the UK’s national air quality plans to reduce levels of NO2, including proposals to establish Clean Air Zones in five UK cities (Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton) by 2020.

It was also set up to develop more detailed proposals for the Clean Air Zone framework and legislation to mandate zones in certain cities.

Cllr Hayes says while the civil servants who work in Jaqu are ‘fantastic’, there is something structurally in the organisation, which ‘means they are not communicating as well as they ought to’.

‘One big concern is you are seeing Clean Air Zones in different parts of the country having to be delayed because Jaqu has not been able to do all the things it is meant to do,’ he adds.

‘I know concerns have also been voiced by some local authorities that when they put in their outline business cases [to Jaqu] around cleaner air zones, they did not have the speedy and detailed response needed to progress the plans.’

Centre for Cities researcher, Valentine Quinio, says she believes the problem with Jaqu is ‘not necessarily a Whitehall issue’.

‘It’s more about how local councils have been applying the mandate they had received [from central government] to address air pollution, although this transfer of responsibility must come with more funding,’ she tells Air Quality News.

‘There is nothing, legally speaking, which binds local authorities to do something to tackle air pollution. The document produced by Whitehall was first published in 2015, and then revised in 2017.’

‘In this document, five cities were mandated to have Clean Air Zones by 2020. They should have been implemented by now and none of them has a Clean Air Zone.’

‘These cities do not have enough incentives,’ she adds.

‘Beyond monitoring and developing plans, there is a lack of clarity on the responsibilities of local authorities, which have no legal duty to meet the objectives set by the plan, and no punitive system if they don’t.’

‘In addition, in the 2017 plan, local authorities were encouraged to seek alternatives to Clean Air Zones before they implement them.

All that explains the sluggish reaction from some local governments.’

Ms Quinio says Jaqu needs more legally binding powers ‘in order to tell local authorities not just what they should do, but also what will happen if they do not implement Clean Air Zones’.

And then there is the issue of whether air quality should be a health issue. After all, pollution leads and exacerbates many health conditions, which cost the NHS millions of pounds to treat every year.

But the Green Alliance’s Ritson is not convinced.

‘I’m not sure the Department for Health would have the skills and knowledge to deal with the transport and air pollutant modelling required,’ he comments.

Cllr Hayes recalls that he had the ‘privilege’ of spending Valentine’s Day 2019 at a clean air summit, hosted by the-then environment secretary, Michael Gove and health secretary Matt Hancock.

‘I thought it was a really positive step forward to see the health and environment secretaries discussing air pollution,’ says Cllr Hayes. ‘Health is the thing that causes people to recognise that pollution is a subject which needs to be urgently addressed.’

‘I would want government to recognise that and join up health and environment more, as an approach to achieve air quality. But I’m not sure that we’ve seen any progress since that summit. It felt potentially like it was the start of something great, which has not been developed.’

In the aftermath of Boris Johnson’s general election victory in December, there was a lot of speculation that his chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, would take something of a wrecking ball to Whitehall.

There was even talk of the Department of Energy and Climate Change returning, although Air Quality News spoke to several people who were agnostic about the idea of bringing it back.

In the end, the wholesale reorganisation did not happen and now the outbreak of the coronavirus has pushed the notion of reform back down the agenda.

But the clock is still ticking for the 2020 Clean Air Zones and councils, more than ever, need a more coherent package of support from Westminster in order to tackle pollution.

If Boris Johnson is serious about levelling up the forgotten parts of Britain, then Whitehall will have to make the signposts to support in the corridors of power a lot clearer.

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Investigation

The deadly air pollution cost of crematoria’ Data obtained by Air Quality News through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that various crematoriums across the UK are producing particulate matter far higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended guidelines.

By Pippa Neill.

600,000 people die in the UK every single year and around 75% of these funerals are processed by cremation.

Cremations are often cheaper than traditional burials and for many years have been viewed as an environmentally friendly option because no land is disturbed.

However, the cremation process requires temperatures of around 900 degrees Celsius. To generate this extreme heat, crematoriums tend to burn natural gas which then releases high quantities of greenhouse gases; one cremation produces an estimated 250kg of carbon dioxide.

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During the cremation process, a coffin, which is usually made from wood is burned, this burning process leads to high levels of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide.

This is a major health concern with these pollutants linked to respiratory problems, heart disease and brain cancer.

By law, 50% of crematoriums in the UK must be abated. If a cremator is abated this means it has better filtration so there are fewer air pollutants. However, installing abatement equipment can cost upwards of ÂŁ1m, meaning that as many as 150

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crematoriums across the UK are still pumping out toxic pollutants every single day.

Leeds City Council provided us with their annual emission reports for three cremators at Lawnswood crematorium between 2016 and 2019.

In these reports, a 60-minute average emission reading was taken once a year. This figure is meant to be representative of the average emissions from each cremation, of which there are up to 12 a day.

The data reveals that the Lawnswood cremators were emitting particulate matter at massive levels

Investigation

in every single test in this three-year period.

On February 21st, 2018, the particulate matter reading was 161µg/ m3.

This level of pollution is considered to be ‘unhealthy,’ meaning that everyone in the area may begin to experience health effects.

A spokesperson from Leeds City Council commented: ‘Spikes and differences in emissions can occur for different reasons and does not mean that the cremator is in breach.’

Air Quality News questioned this because as stated earlier, the data provided is a ’60-minute average’ it is not a spike, and the data is consistently high for every single reading provided.

The council responded: ‘All cremators are regularly monitored, and any issues are picked up and rectified as part of the 12-monthly service.’

However, the data clearly shows that the emissions are in fact increasing.

For example, in November 2016, the emission reading for cremator 2 was 37µgm3, in February 2019, the emission reading had almost tripled to 96µgm3.

We have raised these questions with Leeds City Council, but at the time of writing they are yet to respond.

At Bushbury crematorium in Wolverhampton a similar picture was found.

Wolverhampton City Council provided us with monthly readings showing the 60-minute mean emission value for particulate matter between 2017 to 2019.

Not only do these pollutants pose a serious health risk to the people working at the crematorium, but Bushbury crematorium is also located near a major housing estate, meaning that hundreds of people are at risk every single day when a cremation takes place.

A spokesperson from Wolverhampton council commented on these reports: ‘As a council, we take our statutory duty to improve air quality very seriously.

‘We are looking at upgrading the cremator apparatus to ensure we control emissions in accordance with legal requirements and continue to make Wolverhampton a cleaner city.’

Date

60-minute average particulate matter emissions

29/11/16 – Cremator 1, Test 1 29 Cremator 1, Test 2

40

Cremator 1, Test 3

79

28/11/16, Cremator 2, Test 1

37

Cremator 2, Test 2

52

21/02/18, Cremator 1, Test 1

85

Cremator 1, Test 2

127

Cremator 1, Test 3

161

19/02/18, Cremator 2, Test 1

96

Cremator 2, Test 2

72

Cremator 2, Test 3

91

20/02/18, Cremator 3, Test 1

113

Cremator 3, Test 2

108

Cremator 3, Test 3

161

28/01/19, Cremator 1, Test 1

25

Cremator 1, Test 2

61

Cremator 1, Test 3

51

30/01/19, Cremator 3, Test 1

128

Cremator 3, Test 2

140 2017

2018

2019

January

20.8

25.5

31.8

February

132

89.2

20.5

March

103

14.8

43.8

April

98.4

25

15.8

May

84.1

38.8

21.9

June

27.4

6.7

18.5

July

24.7

38.9

20.1

August

26.6

14.3

2.4

September

30.5

15.5

0

October

36.7

18.1

2

November

18.6

111.7

11.9

December

34.4

36.5

4.8

Date

Total particulate matter, mass emissions

March 2014

99.3

March 2015

109

March 2016

125

February 2017

97.7

February 2018

71.4

In a similar pattern the same thing can be seen at Yardley crematorium in Birmingham.

Birmingham City Council provided us with the average 60-minute particulate matter readings once a year from 2014 – 2018.

Particulate matter is known to

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travel far from its source, and this crematorium is located less than half a mile from a local nursery, therefore, these emissions pose a serious health risk to the children nearby.

At the time of writing, Birmingham City Council has been unable to provide a comment on this issue.

17

Freight & Transport

Were trams the answer to our air pollution woes all along?

Pippa Neill, reporter at Air Quality News, speaks to Jim Harkins from the All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group about the use of trams as a tool to tackle air pollution in cities.

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18

T

he first fully electric tram appeared in the UK in 1890, and as a piece of machinery it has hardly changed since.

At one point the UK was covered in trams, with networks in virtually every town and city, however as buses have become cheaper and the private car has become more readily available many tram networks have become redundant, with now just eight networks still active in the UK. As we have transitioned towards a petrol and diesel-powered transport fleet, we have been left with the consequence of air pollution. A

problem so bad that it is now estimated to kill over 60,000 people in the UK every single year.

In a desperate attempt to solve this problem, and enable the UK to reach its legally binding net-zero targets, the future of our transport system is undoubtedly electric, so perhaps it’s time to admit that we actually got it right in the 19th century.

Jim Harkins from the All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group said: ‘Trams are better for urban pollution because there is no pollution.’

Trams are powered by electricity with an overhead wire and earth

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return through the steel rails, there are no tail-pipe emissions and if the tram is powered by 100% renewable electricity, then there are zero carbon emissions.

Trams are often criticised for their extraordinary cost. According to the Economist, the capital cost per mile of a tram is anywhere from £25m to £60m. Whereas a bus service can cost as little as £2.5m per mile.

However, Harkins, who has spent his career dedicated to trams and ultra-light rail, argued that the cost of trams needs to be viewed as ‘generational.’

‘People say there’s such a tremendous cost to build trams, but if you look in some places, there are tram systems that have been running for over 140 years.’

‘Trams can last for up to 50 years, whereas a bus only lasts about 10.’

At the moment, the focus in the UK is on the transition towards electric vehicles (EV).

EV sales have sky-rocketed in the last few years, with sales increasing by 140% between 2018 and 2019.

However, according to Harkins, as long as we continue to drive rubber bottomed vehicles, we continue to ignore the elephant in the room, tyre dust pollution.

According to Defra, non-exhaust emissions are responsible for the majority of primary particulate matter (PM2.5) from road transport.

Every time a tyre rotates, it loses a layer of rubber, which then blows into the air as dust and becomes a deadly pollutant once breathed in by human lungs.

Research by Emissions Analytics has shown that driving a 2011 VW Golf for 320 km at high road speeds resulted in a mass loss of rubber dust of 1,844g. This equates to 5.8g per km.

And according to researchers at King’s College London this dust may

Freight & Transport

be just as bad for the lungs as the PM2.5 from diesel exhausts, which has known links to brain cancer, heart and lung disease, and premature death.

And yet, at the moment there is no legislation in place to specifically reduce tyre-dust pollution.

For Harkins, this is ‘outrageous’ and provides further evidence in favour of trams: ‘Trams have electric breaks, it is steel on steel, there is no friction and so no dust’ he said.

One of the main battles in modern society is getting people out of their cars, whether that is to reduce carbon emissions, reduce congestion, or reduce pollution, and according to Harkins, trams are an essential part of this solution.

‘In this country, a vehicle with one passenger gets priority over a public service vehicle.

‘We need to reallocate the road hierarchy, if you’ve got a vehicle with one driver and 300 passengers,

they should get priority.’

‘Our government is so frightened of the motorists lobbying that they’ll shy away from readdressing the hierarchy, but with climate change, which we

know is happening, and air pollution which continues to get worse, the more we focus on a switch to electric vehicles the more acute the problem is going to get.’

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19

Construction

Can we solve the housing crisis and protect air quality at the same time?

By Jamie Hailstone.

I

f there is one subject that politicians of all persuasions can agree on, it’s that there is a shortage of housing in this country.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, it was one of the biggest issues on the agenda in Westminster with ministers promising to take action and build more homes.

In March, housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced proposals to ‘get the country building’ in order to deliver 300,000 homes a year and in January, the-then housing minister, Esther McVey, said £6m will be allocated to help new locally-led garden towns and villages build up to 200,000 new homes.

The scale of the issue was also highlighted by the Chartered Institute of Housing’s 2020, which warned that the UK needs a10-year investment programme of more than £12bn a year to deliver 145,000 new homes annually, 90,000 of which would be at social rent.

But what impact will these proposed new homes have on the environment, and specifically air quality? The government has already said it wants tree-lined streets to become the ‘norm’ and a ban on gas boilers being installed in new homes from 2025, but is it enough?

In the rush to meet targets for new housing, will councils be able to insist on quality and environmentally friendly developments, or will it become a numbers game?

The UK Green Building Council’s sustainability advisor, Sophia Cox, says the construction industry is still ‘finding its feet’ in terms of how to respond to growing public concerns

20

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about the environment, but she adds ‘the will to respond to it is definitely there’.

‘There is sometimes conflict between delivering a low carbon home and a home that has a positive impact on local air quality,’ explains Cox. ‘For example, we are seeing net-zero homes coming forward which rely on solid fuel energy generation, which will have a much worse impact on local air quality.’

‘The impact on air quality from buildings needs to be understood right across the development life cycle. The impact has to be considered in terms of heating, material selection and emission from construction vehicles.’

She adds that another problem for local authorities in terms of planning is that ‘it’s not clear’ what the targets are for healthy air quality.

‘We have not adopted the World Health Organisation limits for PM2.5, which makes it hard for local authorities to understand what they should be recommending,’ she adds.

‘There’s a new policy which requires developers to provide a biodiversity net gain of at least 10% on new development.’

‘There is now talk about widening it out to environmental net gain, which could include air quality. The problem is what is the benchmark for good air quality? Should it be for PM2.5?

PM10? Or nitric oxide? And then what is the acceptable level of those pollutants.

‘We need a bit more clarity in terms of those targets for an environmental net gain to include air quality.’

Wayne Reynolds, a director at Atriarc Planning & Construction says there is also a ‘tendency in the planning system’ to allocate housing on sites adjacent to main roads, where there are already issues around poor air quality.

‘Housing developers are therefore often on the back foot to create good quality development with low levels of air pollution,’ explains Reynolds.

‘There would need to be a fundamental shift in how sites are allocated to tackle this problem, potentially through supporting the creation of new towns to accommodate growth or releasing better quality land for development purposes.’

Reynolds adds technological improvements will offer the greatest impact for improving air quality in new developments.

‘The improvements and use of electric vehicles will be the biggest benefit, but home-working solutions can also reduce travel demands and assist in improving air quality,’ he explains.

‘However, this is reliant on developers putting in the infrastructure to facilitate this transition. Developing new or retrofitting existing infrastructure needs to go hand in hand so people can shift work-practices and the reliance on the private car.’

‘However, one of the other major challenges for developers going forward, will be the requirement to comply with net-zero emissions by 2050 and decarbonising the way buildings are

Construction

heated,’ adds Reynolds. ‘Decarbonising will seek to improve wider air-quality emissions by reducing and eventually removing the reliance on burning fossil fuels. Great in theory.

However, based on current financials for installing a smallscale heat or energy generation network; many small to medium scale sites will need significant support to develop appropriate infrastructure.’

Independent consultant and founder/chief executive of Mesh Energy, Doug Johnson, believes that architects, developers and energy experts will have to work together to make more efficient and low carbon homes.

‘We should have been following a trajectory for improving building quality, but it’s been subdued for a long time,’ Johnson tells Air Quality News. ‘In the next decade, we will have to do three decades worth of work to catch up. There’s a lot of learning for people who are building new houses, buildings and offices.’

Johnson believes, in the short-term, developers may have to ‘readjust’ their budgets to deliver low energy homes.

‘But that won’t last forever,’ he adds. ‘There are studies out there, which show just 5% added to the build cost will create a home with virtually zero energy usage. You could be making a long-term impact for a negligible increase in build costs.’

How a home is heated is a big factor in its carbon footprint and its impact on air quality.

Although there is a lot of talk of hydrogen boilers being used to replace gas heating systems, Johnson is not convinced.

‘There are quite considerable technical issues with hydrogen,’ he explains. ‘It only produces a third of the energy that natural gas does.’

‘So, you would have to use three times the hydrogen to get the same amount of heat as natural gas. The effort and energy you expend to liquefy hydrogen is also very intensive at the moment.’

‘Personally speaking, I can see it will be talked about, but it won’t be a viable alternative to the systems we’ve already got. I wouldn’t put money on hydrogen.’

It might be sometime before housing comes back up the political agenda, but there are signs that more developments will be built with the environment in mind.

Last year, the Royal Institute of British Architects named a council estate in Norwich as the best new building in the country. Designed by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, Goldsmith Street, comprises 100 ultra low-energy homes and boasts a passive solar scheme, designed to minimise fuel bills for residents.

In the future, schemes like Goldsmith Street will need to become the norm if we are to ensure that the environment around us does not pay the price for solving the current housing crisis.

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21

Indoor

Keeping indoor air quality in check during the lockdown We’re spending more time indoors than ever before so Colin Timmins, director of member services at BEAMA, offers readers some top tips on ensuring clean indoor air during these unprecedented times.

Vacuum Clean Did you know carpets contain around 200,000 bacteria per square inch on average, making them 4,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat? Carpets harbour dirt, pet hair, fungus and other harmful particles that can cause and exacerbate allergic reactions and health conditions such as asthma.

Clean your carpets regularly to ensure they are not making your indoor air quality worse.

Free your feet Going for a walk every day to get some fresh air and make use of the limited availability to get outdoors? Make sure you remove your shoes when you go indoors to stop pollutants from spreading. Shoes can collect unwanted chemicals, dirt and dust from outside and bring them into the home; 96% of shoes contain over 420,000 units of bacteria.8

W

ith large parts of the population now working from home for the foreseeable future, it is an important time to remind yourself and others of the importance of maintaining healthy indoor air quality (IAQ) to maximise not only cognitive performance but also general health and wellbeing in your home. In general, we spend around 90% of our time indoors and 16 hours a day on average at home – for many people this will now be even higher, if not exclusively the case.

The risk of exposure is therefore considerably greater than that of outdoor air pollution, particularly given that indoor air can contain up to 900 potentially dangerous chemicals, particles and biological materials.

Below we have included some simple top tips to help with this process: Ventilate One of the most effective ways to reduce indoor air pollution and your exposure to harmful particles is to make sure your home is properly and continuously ventilated.

Consider having a ventilation system installed and, if you have one, make sure it is switched on and properly maintained.

Go Natural Swap your aerosols for roll-on and choose ecofriendly household products. Many people are not aware that consumer products like spray-on deodorant and air fresheners release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can be harmful to your health. In fact, products like these can contribute as much as 10-20% of VOCs indoors, similar to the levels that transport emits to outdoor air.

22

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Dry wise Dry your clothes outside or in a room that has a ventilation system (e.g. your bathroom). 65% of Europeans dry their clothes indoors but this creates damp and mould which is responsible for 2.2 million asthma cases and the deterioration of your building fabric, which itself can release harmful toxins into your home. The reality is that many people with an asthma condition, including children, will now be in their home for the vast majority of their day, making the risk even greater, and the need for action all the more important.

Watch paint dry Thinking about using your time at home to give your room a new paint job? Paints release VOCs which can be harmful to your health, so make sure the paint has properly dried before using a newly painted room.

Keep that extractor fan on!

Cooking on a gas hob gives off nitrogen dioxide, acrolein, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, which have all been linked to respiratory symptoms and cancer. If it is not practical to replace your gas hob with an electric alternative ensure your extractor fan is kept on!

Avoid wood burners Particle pollution in smoke can damage lung tissue and lead to serious respiratory problems when breathed in high concentrations. If you can, avoid using a wood burner, or consider an electric alternative instead to maintain a cosy atmosphere.

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Air pollution, climate change and Clean Air Zones IS AIR POLLUTION CORRELATED WITH CLIMATE CHANGE?

Vortex IoT award winning multi-gas,PM, temperature and humidity sensing device.

24

Dr Behzad Heravi is Co-Founding CTO at Vortex IoT and leads the product Research and Development implementation of our innovation led technology strategy. Behzad is an award-winning computer scientist highly skilled in product R&D, with a PhD in Communication Systems, MSc in Aerospace Engineering and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering. Behzad is an Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University and is both passionate and driven by innovation and embracing emerging technologies.

He is a published research author in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Statistical Inference and Signal Processing. Behzad has a long and accomplished history in R&D and has successfully secured several funding awards from Innovate UK. In this paper, Behzad discusses the science behind ‘Is air pollution correlated with climate change, how this relates to Clean Air Zones within major cities and the benefits and impacts Clean Air Zones can have.

Growing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been directly linked to climate change and the warming of the planet in recent decades. On the other hand, increasing air pollution has become yet another global issue with severe consequences for the environment, health and quality of life.

The main substances in air pollution are nitrogen dioxide and airborne particulates whilst the most worrisome greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. Since the main substances of concern in these two problems are different, one might assume they are separate and unrelated, and need to be tackled in different ways. However, a closer look into their common substances, common contributory sources, common trends and their causal links based on data gathered over the last 60 years, shows a strong correlation between the two.

“Correlation does not imply causation” but can reveal a common cause.”

levels. Low-level ozone is a shortlived and local pollutant, yet it is a greenhouse gas and is associated with the warming of the troposphere (EEA2014). Moreover, studies have shown that the increase in global temperature will lead to warmer summer days and higher local ozone levels, known as high-ozone days [Archer et al., 2019].

Black Carbon and Particulates Black carbon is a fine particulate matter (PM) generated by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. Recent research conducted at Nagoya (Japan) and Cornell Universities [Matsui et al., 2018] has shown how black carbon aerosols are able to absorb sunlight and contribute to warming of higher levels of the atmosphere; this is also known as global dimming.

The dimming effect may regionally decrease the temperature in affected areas by reducing the amount of sun energy reaching the earth’s surface and mask the global warming signs; however, since it increases the amount of atmospheric water vapour and warming at high atmospheric levels, at a global scale, it contributes to climate change [Stanhill, 2015].

Common Substances Carbon Monoxide Ozone While the stratospheric ozone (aka the good ozone) protects life on earth by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation, the ground-level (tropospheric) ozone is a harmful pollutant causing respiratory and pulmonary diseases in humans and damage to plants and crops in the environment. Low-level ozone is a secondary pollutant generated by photochemical reactions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under ultraviolet rays.

Human activities (transport, coal and gasoline burning, paints, solvents etc) have increased NO2 and VOC

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Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a harmful air pollution gas formed by the combustion of fossil fuels. CO is not a major greenhouse gas, but it has an indirect effect on global warming.

The reaction of carbon monoxide with hydroxyl radicals (OH) increases CO2 and decreases OH levels. This prevents OH from breaking down methane in the atmosphere; hence indirectly, contributing to greenhouse gas growth [Wolfe et al., 2019]. Carbon monoxide is also a precursor for tropospheric ozone. Nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react under ultraviolet exposure and create tropospheric ozone.

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Common Sources The emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides have common anthropogenic sources including: electricity and heat production, transport, manufacturing, industries and construction (residential, commercial and public services).

In the UK, road transport is similarly responsible for more than 20% of both PM2.5/PM10 and 40% of NO2 pollution as well as over 20% of CO2 emission. Energy production is the second most similar source covering over 60% of CO2, 20% of methane and 25% of NO2 emission.

CAN CLEAN AIR ZONES HELP? Solutions and strategies put forward for controlling greenhouse gases can affect air pollutants and vice versa. Both problems are strongly correlated and need to be jointly tackled. Targeting common sources of air pollution and climate change, using particulates and NO2 source apportionment methods for carbon dioxide and methane is an example of an integrated strategy in addressing both issues [Heal et al., 2011].

Current measurement methods for air quality and greenhouse gases use high-cost monitoring stations that are sparsely deployed in cities, creating deficiencies and gaps in the continuous real-time monitoring of air pollution hot-spots. An example of this is the introduction of ‘Clean Air Zones’ within UK cities but what is a Clean Air Zone?

A Clean Air Zone is defined as an area where targeted action by a local council or government is taken to improve air quality within a confined area. It is often confined to a single road or a part of a city, where air pollution plays a significant part of pollution within the city and therefore requires urgent action. The aims and long term strategy set out by the Government is to improve air quality across the country by discouraging the use of older, more polluting, vehicles.

Short term, the government aims to reduce the number of areas in the UK where air pollution breaches legal limits. To date, five cities in the UK,

including Birmingham, Leeds and Southampton have been ordered to introduce a Clean Air Zone in 2020.

The government has also named 23 local authorities where it expects pollution levels to reach illegal levels by 2021. Following this, they must all carry out a feasibility study to determine whether or not a Clean Air Zone is required within their authority.

Due to the mandatory obligations set out by government, national and local authorities, councils, governments and conservation agencies are looking at air pollution effects and sensor manufacturers are investing in developing modern solutions for measuring low-level local pollutants at a hyper-local level, using network sensors deployed at high density; these can pinpoint air pollution hotspots as well as identify greenhouse gas emission spots.

Hyper-local air sensors can also provide valuable real-time heatmaps of greenhouse and pollutant gases to study, enabling localised alerts for vulnerable citizens.

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(PM) sensor uses optical-based technology and advanced sensor fusion algorithms to sense and count fine particles in the air. When particles travel through the air chamber, a light source illuminates them and records the resulting optical scatter on a photoelectric detector array.

Different types of optical scattering occur due to diffraction, refraction, and variations in shape and size of the particles obstructing the beam. Detected particles and their concentration are analysed in realtime by the device and readings are transported via the Vortex Mesh Network TM to Edge Gateways for transmission to the required endpoints.

LiPAPS offers continuous real-time, particulate monitoring for harsh environments.

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For all reference data, please refer to the full article on www.airqualitynews.com

25

Feature

The politics of an electric vehicle (EV) battery lifecycle Without a foothold in the minerals required to produce EV batteries, the UK automotive industry faces an uncertain future, so could recycling be the answer.?

By Thomas Barrett.

The UK has been an automotive powerhouse for decades, but with the advent of EVs they now are facing a lot more competition for resources.

Jaguar Land Rover has plans to build EV batteries in Wolverhampton, but other companies such as Honda, have mothballed UK plants and have decided to build their EVs on the continent or in Asia.

Part of the problem, says Mr Bloodworth, is the UK has no foothold on the minerals needed to produce a battery and there is currently no indigenous supply of battery raw materials.

There are some, such as lithium in Cornwall and cobalt in Alderley Edge, but Mr Bloodworth calls them mineral ‘occurrences’ rather than deposits, and says it’s not enough to sustain a whole EV sector and we’ll have to rely on imports or recycling.

Shady practices

I

n 1986, China leader Deng Xiaoping approved a research and development program to make the country a global leader in minerals.

After aggressively making moves into mineral-rich Africa, Deng famously declared in 1992 that ‘the Middle East has oil and China has rare earths,’ setting into motion the next 100 years of electric vehicles (EVs) - can the UK ever catch up?

Enough in the crust To manufacture an EV battery you need as many as 20 minerals, including cobalt, lithium and nickel as well as other rare earth metals.

According to Andrew Bloodworth from the British Geological Survey, there’s enough ‘metal in the crust’ to support the battery industry globally.

But from a UK standpoint much of the resources are inconveniently located, and there are other political and non-geographical factors that can hamper production and squeeze supply chains, which are tightly controlled by China.

‘China is a metals superpower’, he told Air Quality News. ‘They produce a lot and import a lot and are a very powerful force.’

26

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Cobalt, a key component in an EV battery, is largely mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but news reports there have regularly exposed shady practices including child labour and criminality.

Carmakers have been accused by green groups of ‘turning a blind eye’ to informal mining in favour of protecting their profit margins. But according to Hans Eric Mellin, an expert in circular energy and EV batteries, this narrative is unfair.

He told Air Quality News: ‘To say that mining is a particular problem for lithium ion batteries is wrong,’ he says.

‘More than 60% of Cobalt comes from DRC, of that maybe 5% to 10% is mined “informally”.’

Last year, BMW announced they would only be sourcing lithium and cobalt directly from ethical mines in Morocco and Australia and there are encouraging signs that blockchain technology, which allows the ability to trace every stage of the mining process, could expose the bad practices and lead to them being stamped out for good.

Andrew Bloodworth from the BGS says that the UK car industry needs to be more aware of where the minerals come from, but also where the ‘pinch points’ might be in the system, so they can have mitigation plans and alternative suppliers in case of disruption in the market, with the current coronavirus pandemic being a prime example.

‘The supply chain must prove and be careful where materials come from,’ he says.

‘In a world where trade is relatively free, there’s nothing

Feature

to fear, the market operates and we have to be aware sometimes there are problems.’

‘A lot of mining companies raise their funds in the City of London. The London Metal Exchange is the biggest trading floor in the whole world and we have a natural advantage, because we’re a big trader. We can understand global trade.’

Economy of scale Thanks to the economy of scale, the price of producing an EV battery has dropped massively over the last decade.

Measured in dollars to kilowatt hours, the price of a battery has fallen by almost $10,000 dollars since 2010.

This is despite there being very high prices for cobalt and lithium.

Before batteries are sold to manufacturers, the most carbon intensive part of the whole lifecycle is the production.

However, Mr Mellin says this can vary wildly and depends on the location and the mine.

In the DRC there is a lot of hydropower, so it’s not as carbon intensive because it’s using renewables, whereas in other countries in Africa they may still be relying on diesel generators at the mines, which makes a huge difference.

‘Today a battery can be very carbon efficient, but it can

also be the other way around, using coal-powered electricity and a lot of oil and gas used for treatment. It is really important to not generalise,’ says Mr Mellin.

Once out of the ground, the cobalt is shipped to China to be processed and turned into precursor. This is applied together with lithium to make a cathode which is then used to make the battery pack.

‘That’s quite an energy intensive process, you need a lot of heat to thermally treat it,’ says Mr Mellin.

Electric car lithium battery pack.

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Feature

‘There is also some energy intensity in the aluminum that produces the pack. That depends on whether you are using recycled aluminum or not. Also how the electronics are produced in the pack.’

The battery will then head to manufacturing plants to be put into the vehicle. Usually an EV battery will outlive the vehicle, and the UK is hopeful that what they lack in rare earth minerals they can capitalise on end of life solutions, including recycling. But in a familiar way, they are playing catch up with - you guessed it - China.

can use them again, but we’ve outsourced much of our production to Asia. That is the main reason why we don’t recycle, because we export it to where it’s needed.’

The current UK government has spoken regularly of building our own EV battery ‘gigafactories’ here. It’s a term coined by Tesla founder Elon Musk that emphasises scale, and many within the industry believe it’s the giant jump required to make the UK a player in the global market.

‘When we start to make cells here then we’ll need materials to go into them, then we’ll do more to keep the batteries here,’ says Mr Bloodworth.

Making batteries in the UK

Processing Plant at Galaxy Lithium Mine in Ravensthorpe, Western Australia.

28

Mountains of waste?

A 2019 University of Birmingham study said the UK has to act now to prevent a ‘mountain of waste’ regarding EV batteries. It’s dramatic imagery, but experts in the report warned it could be the reality unless we get a grip on how to recycle them.

Currently, the UK sells its end-of-life batteries to recyclers in Asia because they have a sophisticated recycling infrastructure.

Because the majority of batteries are created in China they need materials, which has given them the incentive to invest in recycling also.

Andrew Bloodworth from the BGS says once volume of EVs grows and people are driving around in them there is a ‘phenomenal possibility’ to recycle elements.

‘Those metals in theory can circulate through the system again and again and again,’ he says.

But he warns the UK will have to change its perspective on waste, which has traditionally been, send it abroad where it can be somebody else’s problem.

‘It’s not simple and requires a big change in the way we think about recycling.’

‘Real recycling is about recovering materials so we

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The Faraday Institution in the UK is hoping to transform the country’s fortunes when it comes to EV battery manufacturing. Backed by the government, they’ve launched a £55bn battery challenge to encourage innovation in the technology, and they are also hoping to make breakthroughs in recycling and end-of-life solutions.

Gavin Harper from Faraday told Air Quality News that recycling is essential for our automotive industry, which has been rocked by Brexit and now the coronavirus crisis.

‘If you haven’t got the ability to recycle you become that much less attractive as a nation overall, compared to places where the supply chain is that much shorter.’

‘It’s a chicken and egg thing,’ he adds. ‘You need the materials to make the batteries. China has been very forthright in how it’s gained access to all different resources in the world but at the moment the UK doesn’t have a hook into those supply chains.’

The aim of Faraday’s ReLiB project is to recycle close to 100% of the materials from the EV batteries. It’s a significant challenge as at the moment there isn’t a single recycling facility in the UK that can process and recycle batteries all the way to the end.

‘We need to establish some domestic capability to recycle batteries here,’ says Mr Harper.

There are companies on the continent that use pyrometallurgy, which is putting the materials under extremely high temperatures to extract the minerals. But he says the UK needs to move to recycling methods that recover more of the value.

‘Pyrometallurgy is a simple process, but the challenge is in terms of materials value, whilst it recovers high value stuff like cobalt and nickel and copper some materials, like aluminum, manganese and lithium gets consumed in the process and end up in a slag,’ says Mr Harper.

The Faraday Institution also is pioneering AI and robotic improvements around the methods for taking batteries out of vehicles, which currently is a manual and laborious process.

There are risks around safety and fires.

‘At the moment, we are not prepared for waste down the line,’ says Mr Harper.

‘We think one of the great challenges is that the technology that exists for battery recycling isn’t well suited to the scale of ways that we anticipate.’

‘But there’s every opportunity to get prepared in time so we have the right capabilities.’

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NERC Air Quality Supersite

Reaching for the clouds at Manchester’s air quality ‘supersite’ AQN editor Thomas Barrett recently visited the University of Manchester’s new air quality ‘supersite’, which could radically change how we understand air pollution.

F

our shipping containers placed on top of each other in the University of Manchester’s Fallowfield campus might not seem like the most hi-tech way to house millions of pounds worth of air quality equipment, but this could be the place that transforms how we understand sources of urban air pollution.

Dr Nick Marsden, a scientist at the university, talked us through the dazzling array of kit that measures everything from black carbon in the air to particulates in the clouds.

It’s been funded as part of a £6m investment into three new air quality supersites – the other sites are in the University Birmingham and King’s College London– established by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The three sites will help to improve the understanding of different sources of urban air pollution through its main OSCAR project.

The supersites also include stateof-the-art instruments that detect a variety of greenhouse gases and ozonedepleting chemicals.

the country, they are not doing just monitoring, they are being used for scientific research as well.

‘Quite often, you get lots of air quality monitoring sites but you can’t do research there because they are just for monitoring, but here, we want to do research, so understanding sources and different measurements,’ says Dr Marsden.

There are machines that suck in air from outside and measure elements in the gas, ammonia, ozone, NO2 and multi-carbon.

Every 10 seconds they get different samples. The data is then collected and shared with whoever might need it, from policymakers to other scientists to the general public.

What makes the supersite at the cutting edge of monitoring particulates is that not only does it measure levels of particulates, it studies what they are made up of, from ammonia, sulphates, nitrate and chlorine in particles, which Nick says is hugely important for understanding non-exhaust emission sources from brakes or tyres.

Science capabilities

Excited by the possibilities Dr Marsden has been here most days since the cabins became operational in August 2019 and is excited at the possibilities that the data will offer.

‘The evidence [on air pollution] is growing all the time,’ he says. ‘But what isn’t growing are the reasons why air pollution does what it does, which is one of the reasons we are doing research in the field like this.’

‘The data will reduce uncertainty in estimates of current real-world emissions of NOx and PM in road transport, non-tailpipe and exhaust and give a more accurate picture of what is measured.’ Unlike Defra’s AURN monitors that are located across

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Academics and PhD students are already working on this data to interpret it, analysing particulate matter to a level of detail that’s not usually done.

The data is also being shared at the other sites in Birmingham and London, where everything is being done the same. They do the inlets in the same way and where possible, they use the same instruments so they can make accurate comparisons.

But what sticks out to Dr Marsden, is that the sites will provide a data resource and experimental platform to enable an application of further science capabilities.

‘What we’ve got here is quite

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unique, that we have all these instruments in one space, but we also have spare lab space,’ he says.

‘We hope it will be interdisciplinary.

What we want is engagement from the medical experts to make measurements with us.’

‘What tends to happen is they work separately, and the clinical experiments take place in simulated conditions which are not necessarily representative of the real-world.’

‘We want to invite collaboration to do studies here, where the air is extremely well characterised, in a realworld situation.’

But as complex as the streams of

NERC Air Quality Supersite

data and machinery are, Nick says solving the air pollution conundrum will come down to something much more obvious.

‘Fewer car journeys are the only real way to stop pollution as far as I can see and more public transport.’

The supersites also include stateof-the-art instruments that detect a variety of greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting chemicals Cloudbusting The supersite not only measures pollutants it will add knowledge to how

weather shapes air quality and vice versa.

On the rooftop there is a mass spectrometer that takes individual particles, vapourising them, and measuring the chemical composition.

There are also wind speed direction measurements, a raindrop distrometer, and ceilometer to measure cloud height and concentrations.

This fires laser pulses into the air that reflect back off the cloud so you can see the height of the cloud and find out what particles are inside.

The supersite really is reaching for the clouds, but on the ground, it doesn’t get more real-world than the building

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site next door to the supersite, where a congregation of builders shout, diggers groan and tools whack. There is dust everywhere.

When back inside, Nick shows me the machine that monitors PM2.5 levels, pointing out a seismic peak of over 500 ug/m3.

‘I know what time the builders come to work, put it that way,’ he says.

Manchester.

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The Big Interview

Dr Maria Neira, World Health Organisation (WHO) Air Quality News editor Thomas Barrett spoke to Dr Maria Neira, director in public health and the environment at the WHO, about why she believes air pollution is one of the biggest public health tragedies of our times.

The WHO has been at the forefront of tackling the coronavirus pandemic, but if there is to be a silver lining it’s the dramatic reductions in air pollution seen across the globe.

At the start of 2020 nobody could have foreseen the sight of post-apocalyptic visions of once-bustling streets in Beijing, London or Rome becoming deserted almost overnight. However it perhaps, albeit crudely, highlights how action can be taken that sees immediate benefits in air quality.

‘I don’t want to say we need a coronavirus,’ says Dr Neira, ‘but the [air quality] conclusion is a positive one.

Even with short term measures, you can quite quickly have a rapid reduction in air pollutants.’

Since the UK government lost its landmark legal case in 2015 against ClientEarth they’ve been criticised for a slow response to tackling air pollution. 83% of areas are still not complying with EU legal limits and the tougher WHO guidelines look even further away from being met.

Whilst the WHO guideline is not a legal instrument, Dr Neira says it should be the minimum goal for leaders who want to get serious about tackling air pollution.

‘You don’t have a limit to your ambitions,’ says Dr Neira.

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‘Of course you want things to happen as soon as possible. My invitation to mayors is the sooner you do it, and the more ambitious you are, you will be accountable for an important health benefit for your citizens.’

‘Think about that. If you postpone by one year, you will postpone reduction of deaths. I hope this will be a motivation.’

However, the latest figures from the EU show that the WHO annual guideline of 10 μg/m3 for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was exceeded at 69% of monitoring stations across the continent. Dr Neira says it will require boldness and a willingness to go against some powerful lobbies.

‘Even with short term measures, you can quite quickly have a rapid reduction in air pollutants.’

‘This is a dialogue that we have very often with the EU authorities. We are really hoping they are moving more and more to WHO standards. Unfortunately, at the moment, very few countries are at the level of WHO. It will require a strong political decision.’

The UK has danced around the WHO guideline for PM2.5, disappointing many campaigners. In Michael Gove’s last speech as environment secretary he vowed that

The Big Interview

the guideline for PM2.5 would be enshrined in law.

When the Environment Bill was finally published, there was only a vague ambition to set a target before 2022, with no mention of the WHO guideline, which some called a fudge.

The government’s lukewarm approach to the guideline was confirmed when the Bill reached committee stage in late March. Air quality minister, Rebecca Pow, questioned the ‘economic viability and practical deliverability’ of the WHO guideline.

‘We need to create a healthy competition among mayors.’

Dr Neira says the WHO were happy with the UK government’s 2019 clean air strategy, but with the Environment Bill they need to ‘raise level of ambition’.

‘Our recommendation is for all governments to try to move as soon as possible to our guidelines because we need to save the lives of those who are dying because of exposure to air pollution and those who are suffering.’

‘We need to create a healthy competition among mayors and put them in front of the number of deaths that are recorded in their cities and invite them to reduce that as dramatically as possible.’

‘When we can see a decrease in number of deaths, they can all be confronted with their impacts or interventions.’

A terrible figure Dr Neira has been encouraged with how the WHO has brought the discussion around air quality into the open, with mayors and policy makers now more aware on how air pollution is impacting on other diseases.

The next big challenge will be the alignment of climate change and air pollution policies, which has been misunderstood in the past.

Air pollution also must go beyond the health sector, which will take time.

‘Seven million premature deaths need to be brought to all discussions around climate change,’ she says.

‘Seven million is an incredibly terrible figure, but sometimes it takes a long time to mobilise people around that.’

‘This requires a lot of political work, we need to influence sectors like energy, this goes far beyond the health sector.’

‘We need to talk to each other and influence the way we consume and the way our cities are built. This is at the heart of all our development as a society. The role of the health sector is a ‘huge responsibility, we need to influence a lot because this will reduce the mortality rate enormously

and wellbeing of the people.’

‘It’s about reducing greenhouse gases but moving to cleaner sources of energy and planning our urban development that doesn’t destroy our health.’

Influence and advocacy The WHO uses its influence in developing countries to try and influence behaviour around cooking and heating, which contributes greatly to local air pollution in south east Asia or sub-Saharan Africa.

But for people living in a Nairobi slum or in the Cambodian countryside, for example, it may not be as simple as giving up your car and using public transport. Dr Neira says the approach has to be different.

‘We cannot make them feel guilty for things that are decisions of politicians,’ she says.

‘I don’t want to say to a woman at a household level, “what you are doing is killing your children and you need to stop using wood or charcoal for cooking”, as that’s not going to happen.’

‘Because, what can she do? She has to cook and feed the house.’

‘Our approach is based on influencing those who have the power to improve energy or introduce better fuels at the household level. This is done at the highest possible level of government, rather than telling citizens.’

‘We work a lot on advocacy. Then we show governments if they support the wrong choice of energy it might have immediate economic benefits but will be very bad for the health of their people.’

‘Seven million premature deaths is unacceptable.

The world has to do something about it.’

Language of environmentalism The language of environmentalism can be increasingly polarising and whilst the likes of Extinction Rebellion have received widespread media coverage, penetrating into the mainstream, Dr Neira says it’s important that messages around air pollution and climate change are positive.

Otherwise, the argument may be lost.

‘What we need to do in Europe is to gain people to our movement,’ she says.

‘If you want to gain citizens at large, not just the elite, well-educated and environmentally friendly, we need to be very conscious of their reality.’

‘However, we will use our institutional power, our influential capacity and our media to mobilise citizens because this is a tragedy. Seven million premature deaths is unacceptable. The world has to do something about it.’

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Local Government

The opportunities and obstacles of Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is set to be the largest in the country, but they’ve been locked in a war of words with the government over funding.

Megan Black, Transport for Greater Manchester.

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n March, Air Quality News met Megan Black, interim head of logistics and environment at the authority’s transport arm, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGm), to discuss the process of delivering a clean air initiative on a large scale.

The CAZ spans 10 local authority areas across Greater Manchester and is complemented with a vehicle upgrade programme and 600 new electric vehicle charging points.

HGVs, LGVs, buses and taxis would be charged to enter the CAZ if they don’t meet nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions standards. Private cars would not be charged, which has taken the sting out of it for some,

with Friends of the Earth dubbing it a ‘cop-out.’

It’s not over the line yet, either, and the authority is currently at an impasse with government over funding.

GMCA is refusing to submit final plans until the government gives them legal clarifications. With the coronavirus pandemic delaying the Birmingham, Oxford and Leeds low emission zones, it’s likely to lead to a further delay.

Megan says TfGM has a liaison officer who meets regularly with the government’s Joint Air Quality Unit (Jaqu).

She says like every relationship it ‘has its up and downs and we try and work through it the best we can.’

GMCA insists that all councils within Greater Manchester are working collectively to deliver the plan whilst following the guidance from the government.

But has this guidance been clear enough? Councils across the UK have scrambled to come up with different versions of CAZs, which has been criticised by business groups such as the Freight Transport Association (FTA) for being confusing to businesses.

UK100, the network of city leaders, has called for the introduction of a national CAZ, with clearer and more direct outcomes.

This is where it’s been important to engage Manchester businesses and residents, says Ms Black, who insists that it’s important that the plans can be adapted to meet their specific needs.

‘Since we submitted the case [to the government] we’ve done lots more work,’ she says.

‘We’ve done lots more engagement activities with business, research with businesses and continue to refine the proposal when we get to consultation.’

‘That’s part of the additional

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evidence we submit to the government and why we feel there needs to be an exemption to 2023 for the vans.’

‘We’re concerned about supply for compliant vans. We don’t feel it’s there. You’re potentially asking people to upgrade to something that’s not available for them or extremely expensive.’

Initial government modelling showed 11 exceedances in 7 authorities in Greater Manchester but collectively GMCA identified 250 points of exceedance that they need to address across 10 authorities. Some have more than others, so has this caused tensions among authorities?

‘I’m going to disappoint you! From an officer’s point of view, we have a steering group that meets around every two weeks.’

‘There is a lot of collective experience sitting around that table in years of service. Everybody is quite clear about what we need to do, and why we need to do it.’

‘There are different opinions about how we do it but we have a really good rep on working together not just on this but other infrastructure projects too, we always come to collective agreements.’

So in an alternate universe where ClientEarth didn’t take the government to court over air pollution, what would GMCA or TfGM be doing to tackle the problem? Ms Black suggests the situation wouldn’t be much different.

‘We have an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA), and off the back of that, we have an air quality action plan.

‘We’d already had an action to investigate Clean Air Zones. It’s ironic that the next thing that happens is a requirement from the government to look into Clean Air Zones.’

‘But I haven’t got a time machine and I’m not Mystic Meg!’

EV infrastructure

The future of transport - building EV growth into the energy network

By Stephen Cirell.

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limate change has raced up the list of priorities for the public during the last year or so. MORI polls have shown that this is now at the top of the public’s concerns, sharing importance levels only achieved

by Brexit, social care and the NHS. But there is much to do in order to meet the government’s legally binding targets of the UK being net zero carbon by 2050. Of the key areas of electricity supply, heating and transport, progress in the latter is slower by some margin. So, what are the answers?

Government policy is lagging behind where it should be and attracting criticism from the independent Committee on Climate Change. The automobile industry is moving ahead regardless, perhaps seeing the way the wind is blowing. Local authorities are declaring climate emergencies and introducing wide ranging local plans to achieve even more stringent targets.

More infrastructure is being delivered to facilitate EV charging but, more importantly, this is being linked to wider green agenda aims via vehicle to grid chargers. These fit EV ownership nicely into the thread of ‘homes / buildings as power stations’ in their own regard and the very definition of decentralisation. All of these will play a role in the future.

Government policy looks forward to 2035 but perhaps by then the deep seated and intractable desire of the British individual to own a car at all might be starting to fade, with car clubs and shared transportation becoming the norm.

Climate Change There is a whole international infrastructure which oversees climate change across the globe. The UNFCCC and IPCC have been saying for years that global warming is worsening and that urgent action needs to be taken.

However, the IPCC report of October 2018 touched a particular nerve with the public. This was the most hardhitting report to date and effectively said that the world has 12 years to get a grip on global warming, or there will be irreparable damage to the world’s ecosystems and environment.

From this report sprung a new vigour of climate action.

Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion were but two indicators of this. More important, though, was the trend for local authorities to express their concerns through passing motions declaring a climate emergency in their areas. Bristol City Council was the first and has been followed by another 280 local Councils.

Most have chosen the date of 2030 by which they intend to be net zero carbon and are developing action plans to support those pledges.

Of the big areas of buildings, heating and transport, the latter has had less attention up to now, but this is changing.

Local authorities traditionally have large fleets of vehicles.

Islington Council has 500 vehicles and traditionally these would all have been driven by an internal combustion engine.

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Gridserve is constructing the first of a nationwide network of over 100 Electric Forecourts® near Braintree, Essex.

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EV infrastructure

Gridserve with a solar PV roof, the facility provides electricity back to the grid.

The race to make the fleet electric is well and truly on. Such commitment has not hitherto been apparent in the civic space.

There is also the so called ‘grey fleet’ which is comprised of vehicles owned by staff employed by the council. This too is a big opportunity for action. The more progressive organisations are starting to link payment of mileage allowances to the polluting value of the car, very much as HM Treasury has done for taxation of vehicles. These policies are progressive but demonstrate the commitment to the goal.

Local authorities are also reviewing their functions and policies. Refuse collection is under consideration for moving to underground refuse systems or use of EV or hydrogen vehicles; home working policies aim to reduce commuting to work; video conferencing reduces the need to attend meetings.

Government Policy The government has developed a policy agenda over the last decade to assist with the move towards a decentralised and decarbonised energy supply. The remainder of the ‘4D’s’ (digitalisation and democratisation) have been less prevalent to date but this will change over time.

The Road to Zero policy paper was published in July 2018 and provided a detailed insight into how the government would facilitate the transition to electric vehicles and impose a total ban on the sale of vehicles fuelled by an internal combustion engine by 2040. This has subsequently been brought forward to 2035 and it is widely believed that this deadline will be moved again, most likely to 2030.

The announcement of the move to 2035 was not unexpected but there was surprise when hybrids were also included in the ban.

Also, on government policy, HM Treasury has ruled that the ‘benefit in kind’ level for EVs under tax rules will be reduced to zero this month (April 2020) which should

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provide an effective fillip for the market.

Electric Vehicles The government wants the UK to lead in the EV marketplace, by developing a strong R&D capacity and leading in innovation.

The automobile manufacturers have sensed the way that public opinion on climate change is going and seen the growing support for electric cars. There has been an inevitable time lag, filled only by Tesla, but the wider industry is now catching up and a huge array of different EVs are now on sale or close to launch. These range from the bottom of the price range to the luxury and sports brands.

Car performance is improving rapidly, with newer vehicles in a different league. Ranges of 300 miles in the summer and 250 miles in the winter are not uncommon amongst the reasonably priced new entrants.

The ‘benefit in kind’ changes mentioned above will now ensure that it is cheaper to have a company electric car than a traditional model. This means that sales are likely to soar as employees switch and this also means that the second hand market for EVs will be boosted in two to three years’ time.

Electric Vehicle Infrastructure The Road to Zero paper recognised the need for the transition to electric vehicles to be supported by new infrastructure, principally charging stations. There are, however, differing views on the necessity for widescale public charging to be available.

In fact, most EV charging takes place at home, at least where there is a drive or space off road. This provides the most convenient and cost- effective charging and is apparently where 80% of charging takes place.

Where flat owners, or those living in terraces, cannot enjoy this privilege, other provisions have to be available.

A good example is in Westminster, where lamp post

EV infrastructure

chargers have been added along the entire length of Sutherland Avenue.

The government made clear early on that it had no intention of operating a charging network and saw this as industry led. Accordingly, charging networks have been established across the country by numerous different companies.

Sadly, the VHS vs Betamax tussle seems to have reconfigured with CCS or CHAdeMO connectors for EVs, but at least the government has legislated under the Automatic Vehicles Act 2018 in relation to ceasing the necessity to have a club card to work a specific charger.

Availability via a standard contactless debit card is a big step forwards. The next challenge will be preventing overcharging for EV connection, which is shimmering on the horizon already.

The Electricity Grid Another of the impressive steps forward that the EV charging industry has demonstrated is the ability to develop faster chargers. At home, a 3 kW or 7 kW charger may have seemed fine for an early model Leaf with a modest battery, below 30 kW capacity, but it starts to take a long time to charge up larger batteries. Tesla have been making 100 kW battery cars for some time.

The early rapid chargers on the motorway system, pioneered by Ecotricity, were 50 kW DC chargers, but these are already looking outdated. The Hyundai Kona will take 100 kW of charge, meaning that on the motorway, the car can take double the capacity that the charger is capable of distributing, thereby adding to the time.

This challenge has been risen to by others. Fastned introduced the first 350 kW charger in the UK to a station in Sunderland in a scheme funded by EU money. This is the future. The new motorway services that are not covered by the Ecotricity deal are making alternative arrangements, such as the Ionity deal in the new Skelton Lake services on the M1 in Leeds. Again, a station with six 350 kW chargers is looking much more like it.

But a window into the future is perhaps provided by the Electric Forecourt plans of Gridserve, who plan over 100 rapid charging stations across the country. Squeezing the ‘joined up’ approach to the maximum, the company has 24 350 kW rapid chargers in what looks like a modern filling station, but with a solar PV roof, facilities to shop and rest and the ability from the facility to provide electricity to the grid and trade it. The flagship site is currently under construction in Braintree, Essex.

But faster EV chargers need ever larger grid connections and the UK grid is under huge pressure as the transition trundles on towards a decentralised and decarbonised system.

A side effect of this pressure is the cost of some connections.

Again, the Gridserve model shows the way. Instead of just an EV filling station providing charges to electric vehicles, the Electric Forecourt is a mini power station, linked to its own renewable energy facilities (where possible) and incorporating battery storage. This means that the station can take power from the grid when there is too much (and charge

the batteries) and discharge it into the grid at peak times for premium rates (when more power is needed). As such the business case looks very different and is significantly more robust.

Is Car Ownership Really Essential?

For a true look into the future, though, surely we need to move beyond individual car ownership. Cars cost excessive amounts of money but often stand idle for 80% of the time; they take up space; they cost to tax, insure and maintain.

One of the exciting developments in energy is the move towards ‘energy as a service’. This means looking at the wider aim of something, rather than a narrow angle. Here, surely the wider aim is to get from A to B as easily as possible. To do this, do you need to own a car?

The answer must surely be no and car clubs are now demonstrating this to be true. The idea is not new – you join the club and can then go on line and in a couple of clicks have a car available to rent by the hour. No tax, no insurance, no liabilities from ownership – just the ability to get from A to B.

Now this idea is being updated with all cars being EVs and may well end up with automated vehicles when they finally arrive. Cars on chargers when they are parked in their bays and so readily available with ample range. What is there not to like?

It is difficult to pin down exactly the path that transport will take over the next twenty years. But there are enough exciting developments

Gridserve – facilities to shop and rest while your vehice charges

Stephen Cirell is an independent consultant on the green agenda specialising in local government and the public sector. He is author of a number of books on renewable energy, energy services companies and climate emergencies.

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Legislation

Could 2020 be a milestone year for air pollution legal remedies?

By Anita Lloyd and Robert Biddlecombe from Squire Patton Boggs.

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new inquest into the death of a nine-year-old girl, who lived near one of London’s busiest roads, may lead to the courts recognising air pollution as a cause of death for the first time. This could open up the possibility of further legal actions, particularly on human rights grounds, in cases where deaths or injuries are found to be attributable to air pollution.

Ella Kissi-Debrah lived near London’s South Circular Road. In the three years before she died, she reportedly suffered seizures and was hospitalised with breathing difficulties 27 times. The original coroner’s inquest recorded that she died of “acute respiratory failure”. However, research in 2018 by the University of Southampton concluded that Ella’s hospital admissions coincided with high levels of air pollution recorded near her home. This led to a review of the original verdict in the courts. In May 2019, the High Court quashed the original verdict and granted a new inquest.

In December 2019, the coroner made a provisional ruling that the new inquest will be an “Article 2” inquest.

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This means it will consider evidence as to whether public bodies failed in their duty to protect life, contrary to Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

The inquest, likely to take place in late 2020, will address whether air pollution caused or contributed towards Ella’s death, how air pollution levels were monitored, and what steps were taken to reduce the pollution.

It is estimated that up to 40,000 deaths annually result from inhaling particulates and from nitrogen dioxide exposure. If the coroner finds a causal link between air pollution and Ella’s death, her mother could seek to bring an action for negligence against the Mayor of London, Defra, or the local authority. Others may then seek to bring similar claims. When a new legal principle of cause of action emerges, once the first claim has been brought (whether successful or not), the associated publicity often leads to similar claims, learning from the building case law decisions and modifying the content and nature of the claims slightly, until eventually one succeeds.

In terms of action already being taken, the government acknowledges that, in areas where the UK is exceeding air quality limits, approximately 80% of roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations are due to road transport. To address this, it has mandated many local authorities to meet air quality targets as soon as possible. In many major cities, Clean Air Zones (CAZ) are being implemented or planned (the first wave is London, Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton) where vehicles will be required to meet certain emission standards or pay to travel in the zone. London has had the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) since April 2019, and Birmingham and Leeds were due to introduce their CAZ in 2020. These two schemes were initially scheduled to start in January, then July, then September. However, both councils have now asked to delay the CAZ schemes indefinitely due to the coronavirus crisis. Other cities planning a CAZ may follow suit, so an unintended consequence of the coronavirus may be a slower reduction in air pollution levels in cities, putting aside the immediate but temporary effect major transport restrictions have had on air quality.

The coroner’s provisional ruling in the case of Ella KissiDebrah already shows that the judiciary are increasingly willing to interpret clean air as a human right. It remains to be seen how this will flow through into actual legal claims on human rights or other legal grounds, such as negligence.

Delays in implementing CAZ, and different approaches to types and scopes of CAZ in different cities, could further compound the liability position of the authorities when put under scrutiny in relation to the steps they are taking to tackle air pollution in their areas.

International

Car-free cities Oslo has become the first car-free capital city in the world – could London be next?

By Pippa Neill.

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ince the 20th century, the car has dominated towns and cities across the world.

Streets have been widened, motorways have been built and petrol stations have popped up on every corner.

However, the days of the traditional passenger car are becoming increasingly under threat. If the UK is serious about achieving its legally binding net-zero targets and tackling air pollution, the biggest environmental health risk that faces the world today, then the car as we know it is going to have to go.

Oslo, the capital of Norway is in many ways a step ahead of the game.

In 2015, the government removed 700 parking spaces from the city and in 2018 they closed two of the main roads into the city centre. By 2019, Downtown Oslo, an area of about 1.3km2 became car-free, with an exception made for paramedics, delivery drivers and some taxis.

Bjørnar Sølvik-Jensen, communications advisor at the Agency of Urban Environment for the Oslo Municipality explained: ‘When we’re talking about a car-free city, we’re talking about removing all unnecessary journeys and since 2017, 90% of car journeys have been reduced.’

In terms of air pollution, removing

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unnecessary car journeys has had vast benefits.

Data from the World Air Quality Index shows that in January 2020, the daily average PM2.5 in Oslo was below the legal limit at 20µg/m3.

In comparison, in the same month in 2014, the daily average was 35µg/ m3. To put this into perspective, the daily average PM2.5 in London in January 2020 was 57 µg/m3, a level which is considered dangerous to human health.

Seth Piper an environmental campaigner based between Norway and the UK told Air Quality News: ‘We have gone from a situation in Oslo where every winter we had

Oslo, Norway.

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International

dangerous levels of air pollution, to a situation now where that has basically been solved.’

‘The authorities in the UK are looking at what they can do without upsetting drivers and they can’t. They won’t make any meaningful progress on air pollution unless they buck this rampant domination of cars.’

In March 2020, a ‘City Wellbeing Index’ published by London-based estate agents Knight Frank revealed that Oslo is the best city in the world for well-being, according to the index that is largely due to its good air quality and its vast green space.

When the Oslo Municipality removed 700 parking spaces, they were able to free up space for bike lanes, parks and green spaces.

According to think tank Centre for London, on-street parking takes up 1,400 hectares of space in London, this is equivalent to the size of ten Hyde Parks.

Seth Piper added: ‘The vast

majority of people in London do not drive cars, yet cars take priority and are given so much space.

‘In Oslo the hierarchy is walking, cycling, public transport, electric cars and then fossil fuel cars at the bottom.

‘It’s about quality of life, not just about emissions, we want cities to be places where people enjoy living and visiting.’

Steps are being taken in London to transition away from the passenger car, for example in September 2019, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, introduced London’s first ever car-free day, which saw the closure of over 20km of roads across 27 Boroughs.

This day was deemed a success by the Mayor with reports stating that 65% of Londoners said the events inspired them to drive less.

However, according to research published in March 2020 by Centre for London, car ownership has hardly moved in London in the past decade and the proportion of trips made by

public transport, walking or cycling hasn’t changed at all in the last three years. In a survey conducted for the report, it was revealed that despite measures such as the carfree-day, only 20% of car owners in London would be willing to consider alternatives to owning a car, such as joining a car club.

This doesn’t mean that becoming car-free is an impossible task, but clearly London still has a long way to go.

London already has many advantages, for example the congestion charge which could be used to continually dissuade people from driving.

Erica Belcher from Centre for London said: ‘We need to understand why people are driving, and then we need to offer them a viable alternative.’

‘I think we can get there, but it’s going to take a lot more political will and one extremely brave politician.’

‘An admirably clear book and an appropriately urgent one.’

The Sunday Times

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GRAMM is the UK leading specialist in the design, supply & installation of environmental acoustic barriers. We have constructed literally 1,000’s of Km’s of acoustic barriers of all types of materials throughout the UK and Europe.

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Founded in 1983 and now active in over 67 countries with a multi-million pound turnover, ET evolved over 37 years to become a global provider of air quality and emissions monitoring systems and servicing. The company sell and lease equipment, systems and services covering the monitoring of ambient air quality (AQM), continuous emissions (CEM) and indoor air quality.

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Vacancy: Safety, Health & Environment Technician Apprentice Location: Kirklees Metropolitan Council Salary: National Minimum Wage, Currently £8,20 As a Safety, Health and Environment Technician Apprentice you will be partly office based and partly at the work front providing advice to others on how to work without harming themselves or others. You will work with management and the team to advise on statutory health, safety and environmental requirements and how they affect and impact on service delivery.

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