Air emissions inventory of the public transport in maracaibo municipality. Part 1: Passenger car

Abstract

The first phase of mobile source emission inventory based on the 2001 census (specifically, passenger car) for the Maracaibo Municipality, is presented in this work. The estimation was carried out using the methodology developed by the U S. EnvironmentaI Protection Agency. The following gases were included in the inventory: carbon monoxide (CO), total hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). It was verified using the inventory, that the main pollution emitted to the atmosphere was the CO (5307.88 ton/year) representing the 86,42%. folIowed by the HC (6.96%) and NOx (6,62%). In Addition, Maracaibo downtown was the most important area that contributed lo the pollution in the municipality (94.37%).This study is a tool to deve!op a calculus method to evaluate the remaining categories of the public transport, and also for the private sector; provides a methodology for the emission inventory generated by this source, more accurate than the applies in Venezuela and shows the first results to determine the contribution of these gases in the urban environmental pollution and the Heal Island effect.

Keywords

• emission factors
• mobile sources
• air emission inventory