Air Quality
Author: Hanlie Liebenberg Enslin on behalf of National Association for Clean Air (NACA )
( Article Type: Overview )
Benefits to business
These include being able to actively participate in air quality management planning processes, and gaining assurances due to the establishment of a more comprehensive regulatory environment.
Civil society – Affected parties and polluters
The public has much to gain from effective air quality governance under the Air Quality Act.
Provision is made for access to air quality information and opportunities for participation in air quality management processes, and the public is promised protection from impacts on their health and wellbeing due to air pollution including odour, dust and noise.
Given the commitment to the fair and proportional control of all significant sources of air pollution under the Air Quality Act, provision is made for the identification of sectors of society as direct polluters. Such sectors may be subject to regulations and related penalties for offences, and or the subject of focused education and awareness campaigns aimed at achieving emission reductions through behaviour changes.
Motorists and persons undertaking fuel burning at their residences are likely to receive the most attention.
Possible interventions aimed at reducing the extent and hence the impact of household fuel combustion include:
measures to reduce the energy requirements of households
replacing of traditional fuels with cleaner fuels, and
measures to reduce the extent of emissions and impacts due to the use of such fuels.
Integrated Clean Household Energy Strategy
The Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) formulated an Integrated Clean Household Energy Strategy, which was adopted by the Minister during 2003. For poor households, the DME focus is on least-cost options.
Emphasis is being placed on the Basa Njengo Magogo (‘the way in which the old lady lights a fire’) intervention in the short- to medium-term. This method of ignition involving a top-down approach to fuel loading in Mbawulas and stoves is estimated to result in at least a 50% reduction in smoke emissions and a 20% reduction in coal use at no additional cost to the household.
Energy efficiency in housing projects
The low-cost and no-cost energy-efficient housing measures published by the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) are being implemented in some provinces on a project-byproject basis. Measures currently being implemented within cities include energy-efficient housing projects and smokeless Mbawulas.
Control of exhaust emissions
Vehicle exhaust emission reductions will be achieved through technology and fuel specifications stipulated by national policy, with the phasing out of leaded fuel.
The Implementation Strategy for the Control of Exhaust Emissions from Road-going Vehicles in South Africa currently being proposed by the DEAT in collaboration with the DME comprises the stipulation of Euro technologies for new petrol and diesel-driven vehicles, while also making provision for phased reductions in the sulphur, benzene and aromatics content of fuels.
The growth in vehicle activity and the ageing of the vehicle fleet is projected to offset air quality improvements due to the proposed national regulation of fuel composition and new vehicle technology.
It is therefore considered imperative that national vehicle emission reduction efforts be supplemented by informed traffic management and land-use planning within urban areas.
The promotion of energy-efficient public transportation systems, dissuasion of single occupancy of vehicles and the reduction of travel times though land-use planning represent just some of the methods of securing vehicle emission reductions.
Conclusion
The legislative framework is being put in place and air quality management tools are being developed to facilitate the ranking of atmospheric pollution sources based on air pollutant concentrations and associated health risks rather than emissions.
This will ensure that the sources that are resulting in the greatest risks to human health and the environment will be addressed in order of priority.
This will provide the basis for the cost-optimisation of mitigation and management measures with the costs of such measures possibly being offset, or partially offset, by resultant health cost savings.
The Air Quality Act also provides the framework for diverse and flexible air pollution prevention measures. This is imperative given the need to address household fuel burning and vehicle emissions as a priority in addition to a diverse range of industrial and mining operations.
The viability of the new air quality approach will however depend on effective and timely capacity building at all tiers of government and within the private sector. Furthermore, it will depend on the level of buy-in of business and civil society and the extent to which co-operative air quality governance is realised.
