Project Leader: Darwyn Coxson

Lichenologist Curtis Bjork assesses changes in lichen community composition at a Prince George site that experiences high levels of air pollution. This research project is developing a biomonitoring protocol using lichens to monitor air quality.

The research project will develop a biomonitoring protocol using lichens to monitor air quality in the Prince George area. The goals of the research project are to: 1) synthesize the body of knowledge on lichens as biomonitors for air pollution (particularly sulphur dioxide) and adapt monitoring protocols for application in BC; 2) set up a program that will monitor changes in air quality over time in Prince George and surrounding area, assessing the effects of emission reductions from the Canfor Northwood Pulp Mill; and 3) develop a plan for engaging a public audience (high school students) in this process and facilitate public understanding of: a) the effectiveness of technology for improving air quality, b) the effectiveness of using bioindicators to track environmental changes, and c) the quality of urban habitats for people and other organisms.

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Project Leader: Lee Failing

Many communities in BC are currently exploring options to develop district energy systems to meet sustainability goals. Some of these options deliver benefits related to cost and greenhouse gas reductions, but may have air quality and other sustainability implications. Stakeholder support for different district energy systems tends to be mixed, the reasons for which are poorly understood. This project has three objectives: to explore stakeholder perceptions and values with respect to air quality; to demonstrate the use of multi-attribute evaluation methods to explore trade-offs among a range of competing objectives (expected to include local air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, aesthetics, cost and energy security, among others); and to help develop a rigorous, transparent and repeatable process for municipalities to incorporate stakeholder values in local energy and air quality decisions. In partnership with the City of Vancouver and BC Hydro, the project engages a multi-stakeholder group in a series of workshops to explore choices among neighbourhood-scale energy options (including biomass, natural gas and heat pumps) in a Lower Mainland context.

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Project Leader: Allan Bertram

It is well known that there is a strong correlation between atmospheric concentrations of particles less than 2.5 microns in size (PM_2.5) and negative health effects. A key component of PM_2.5 is black carbon. Researchers will assess the importance of long-range transport of black carbon from Asia to British Columbia by a combination of field measurements, data analysis and modelling studies. Understanding background levels of black carbon and the impact of transport from Asia on these levels is an important factor for air quality management issues. For example, an increase in background black carbon levels can make it more difficult to meet provincial ambient air quality criteria.

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Project Leader: Jeff Grant

The significance of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from airports and air travel is growing to meet increasing demand for air services. An important but often neglected component of the carbon footprint associated with air travel is from the myriad of specially designed “off road” ground support equipment (GSE). Ballard Power Systems, BAE Systems and Setton Consulting Group are conducting a technical and commercial feasibility study on bringing fuel cell-battery hybrid drive GSE to market to serve airlines and ground handlers. If shown to be feasible, this product would not only bring new ancillary benefits to GSE such as zero-emission operations, positional tracking and predictive maintenance capabilities, but would also provide a means of introducing fuel cells to an airside environment interfacing directly with aircraft.

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Project Leaders: Roland Stull and George Hicks

Through the collaboration of the Alberta and British Columbia Ministries of Environment, the University of British Columbia (UBC), and the Canadian Wildfire Information System at Natural Resources Canada, a computational framework, called BlueSky, was developed for predicting smoke creation and dispersion by wildfires in Western Canada. This research project builds on the success of BlueSky by extending its forecast range in Canada from British Columbia to western portions of Ontario, including southern portions of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and improving the predictive capabilities of the dispersion model that determines how forest fire smoke spreads. These results are in turn being used to evaluate wildfire smoke-related health effects at the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. View BlueSky forecasts online.

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Project Leader: Michael Brauer

BlueSky is a modelling system that predicts the air quality impacts of forest fire smoke. BlueSky forecasts have been used to make public health recommendations during the 2010 fire season; however, there has been no formal evaluation to date of BlueSky’s performance in smoke-impacted areas. The first research objective is to evaluate the performance of BlueSky around smoke-impacted communities in BC during the 2010 and 2011 wildfire seasons by comparing forecast output to particulate matter (PM) measurements from air quality monitoring stations and satellite-based smoke plume tracings. The second research objective is to evaluate the association between BlueSky estimates and several measures of public health across BC to support the eventual development of a surveillance system for health effects related to smoke exposure.

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Project Leader: Peter L. Jackson

A challenge to managing and improving air quality is to identify the pollution sources with the largest impact, and to target these for reduction. Air pollution dispersion models, such as Calpuff, are used to calculate the impact of air pollution sources (vehicles, industries, etc.) on air quality across an entire airshed. For some pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM), there may be hundreds or even thousands of sources in an airshed. The problem is that the large databases of dispersion model outputs are difficult and time-consuming for non-modellers to access and manipulate. This project will develop a web-based interactive tool for air quality managers to use, query, and visualize a spatial database of results for Prince George from the Calpuff air quality dispersion model. This will allow those involved in air quality management, and even the public, to interactively perform source reduction scenarios and visualize their potential impact. In the future, the prototype developed for Prince George could be extended to other airsheds.

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