EVALUATION OF ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACTS OF VEHICULAR EXHAUST EMISSION STANDARDS FOR INDIA

Abstract

Motorized road vehicles overwhelmingly dominate the markets for passenger and freight transport throughout the world owing to their versatility, flexibility, and low initial cost. ―In the developing nations, economic growth has triggered a boom in the number and usage of motorised vehicles. Although a balanced mix of transport modes has been brought about—including non-motorized transport for small-scale applications and rail in high-volume corridors—motorized road vehicles still retain their overwhelming dominance in the transport sector for the upcoming future. Owing to rapidly increasing numbers of cars and limited use of exhaust emission control technologies in motor vehicles ,they are becoming as the largest source of urban air pollution in the world. Air pollution is a significant and alarming public health concern in India. Pollution levels in Indian cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Gwalior, Patna, Allahabad and Raipur exceed those in any city in the industrialized and developed nations. Tens of thousands of excess deaths hev been accounted in developing nations owing to the rising air pollution as the epidemiological studies state and billions of dollars in medical costs and lost productivity every year.‖ Continously rising levels of the air pollution and their repercussions forced the authorities in the nation to look for solutions to the prevalent problem. It is in the wake of these concerns that vehicular emission norms namely Bharat Stage Standards were formulated to curb emissions at their source. This report brings a comprehensive picture of the present scenario of vehicular emission norms adopted by India i.e, Bharat Stage Standards to tackle the alarming levels of the air pollutants released by motor driven vehicles. It throws light on the evolution of these standards and whether they have been successful in lowering the pollution rates and evaluates the human health impacts and environmental impacts owing to the prevalent air pollutants borne by vehicular exhaust and vehicular non-exhaust. This study analyses the emission trend of the various pollutants borne by the vehicular fleet in Delhi for the period 2001-2015 which have endured four generations of Bharat Stage standards for vehicular emissions in India i.e., BS-I, BS-II, BS-III and BS-IV. The total yearly emissions given out by the vehicles are then transformed into the corresponding ambient concentrations which are utilized for the impact assessment of the human health and ecology using various techniques.