AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Outdoor and Indoor Exposure to Traffic Aerosols at Schools: Effect of Anti-idling Campaign
SERGEY A. GRINSHPUN, Jin Yong Kim, Michael Yermakov, Tiina Reponen, Chris Schaffer, Patrick Ryan, University of Cincinnati
Abstract Number: 132 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Exposure to traffic aerosols may be elevated at schools because of the emission from cars and buses transporting students daily. Vehicle idling within school proximity is expected to increase the outdoor concentration of fine particulate matter, which may consequently affect the indoor aerosol concentration in schools. In this study, the impact of an anti-idling campaign on outdoor and indoor air quality was evaluated at four urban schools in Cincinnati (Ohio, USA), which exhibited different levels of exposure to school bus and car emission. At each school, Harvard-type PM2.5 impactors operated in parallel – two indoors and two outdoors; each station was equipped with one Teflon filter and one with quartz filter. The samples were analyzed gravimetrically (for PM2.5), using X-ray fluorescence analysis (for elements, including Si, S, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, Pb) and with thermal-optical transmittance (for elemental and organic carbon: EC and OC). The outdoor concentrations of most of the elements were significantly reduced as a result of the anti-idling campaign. The decrease in outdoor concentrations was followed by a corresponding decrease in indoor concentrations for most of the relevant elements. In contrast to elemental concentrations, the anti-idling campaign did not have a definitive effect on PM2.5. Decreases in outdoor PM2.5 were not always followed by similar decreases in indoor PM2.5. Given that the traffic emission is represented primarily by ultrafine particles, PM2.5 may not serve as a good indicator of changes in traffic aerosol exposures. The findings suggest that changes in outdoor air quality in the school vicinity produced by an anti-idling campaign are capable of reducing the children’s traffic aerosol exposures inside the schools.
This research was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science, through Grant NIEHS R21ES017957. The authors appreciate this support.