VEHICLE EMISSIONS IN THE CITY OF LEPTOKARIA (GREECE) AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ATMOSPHERIC AIR AND NOISE POLLUTION

Main sectors and activities driving air pollution in Western Europe and in Greece in the past three decades have been energy, transport, industry, agriculture, solvent use and storage, and distribution of fossil fuels. Although economic recession in the early 1990s was a driver in the decrease of air pollution by industry, the sharp growth in the use of private cars has made transport an increasingly important contributor in air and noise pollution problems, especially in major cities. Leptokaria is a modern Greek city in Pieria prefecture, Central Macedonia which lies on the coast of Aegean Sea, under the Mount Olympos. The atmospheric pollution in an urban environment poses a serious problem, since the joint consequences of vehicle emissions and traffic noise affect dramatically the physical and mental health of the citizens as well as the quality of life and services. In this paper, exhaust gas data from spark ignition (SI) engine vehicles were taken with inter-seasonal measurements by monitoring the tailpipe gases. In particular: CO, CO sub(2), O sub(2), and HC were measured both at idle and 2000 rpm. In addition, sensory observations on the qualitative noise, optic and nasal evaluation of the operation of gasoline engine vehicles were carried out, as well as controls of possession of exhaust gas cards. Furthermore, a novel emission control process has been proposed and presented for the detection of gross polluting vehicles. Based on these data, the main result that has been found is that in Leptokaria there is 1 vehicle which pollutes as much as the rest of 4 vehicles, simultaneously.