Speaker: Dr Erik Velasco, Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling in the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.
Date: Thursday, 27 October 2011
Time: 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Venue: ESI Conference Room
29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Block A, #10-01
Singapore 119620
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Abstract
Singapore has many laudable environmental accomplishments to its credit. Available data on air quality indicates that all criteria pollutants satisfy the standards of both the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO), with the exception of PM2.5 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm) which is not considered a criteria pollutant in Singapore but is potentially the major local air pollution problem and health concern. Levels of other airborne pollutants as well as their processes associated with formation, transformation, dispersion and deposition are unknown. Some information is available on health effects, but the impacts on the ecosystem and complex interactions of air pollution and climate change at a regional level are unknown. According to available emission inventories, Singapore’s contribution, at the regional and global scales, to the total atmospheric pollution and carbon budget is small. While emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) are comparatively low, Singapore’s per-capita GDP and per-capita emissions are among the highest in the world.
This presentation reviews the existing available information on atmospheric pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and proposes a multi-pollutant approach to greenhouse-gas mitigation and local air quality. As a potential model of a high density, livable and sustainable city, Singapore has a unique opportunity to assume a leading role in air quality and greenhouse gas assessment and management in Southeast Asia and other tropical regions worldwide.
The Built and Natural Environment research group of the Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM), which is part of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), is conducting two studies in this field. The first investigates the levels and characteristics of pollutant particles in selected microenvironments here in Singapore; and the second evaluates the emissions of carbon dioxide in a specific neighborhood, using direct measurements that include emissions from all emission sources. These two research projects will be briefly introduced in this presentation.
About the speaker
Erik Velasco is a Research Scientist at SMART-CENSAM. He is involved in research concerning air pollution and micrometeorology in (sub)tropical cities. He investigates the interactions between the urban surface and atmosphere in terms of mass and energy exchange, and their association with airborne polluants. He received his PhD from Washington State University and over the past twelve years has been involved in air quality studies with the Molina Center for Energy and Environment, National Institute of Ecology of Mexico, MIT and NUS.
This seminar will be held under Chatham House rules: “when a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant may be revealed.”
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