Emissions of air pollutants from the road transport sector in Greece: year to year variation and present situation.

It is common knowledge that atmospheric emissions of various pollutants, from mobile and stationary sources, affect quality of life and public health. The impact of these emissions can be of a small (urban smog) or regional scale (acid deposition, troposheric ozone), as a result of the transportation of pollutants in the atmosphere. In terms of a local scale, road traffic is considered to be the most important pollutants source. In the present work, air pollutants emissions from road transport in Greece will be presented. The reference date for the calculations is the year 2000, but additionally, a year-to-year variation (from 1992 to 2000) of the emissions will be examined in order to clarify the impact of the vehicle fleet and the engine technology changes. To calculate emissions, a methodology developed for the European Commission in the framework of the CORINAIR project has been applied. This methodology was further improved and adjusted to the greek fleet characteristics taking into account the vehicle age, the level of the vehicle maintenance etc. Calculations have shown that, despite during the last years the amount of the emitted pollutants per vehicle has significantly decreased, the total pollutants emitted have increased as a result of the increase the number of circulating vehicles. More specifically, in heavy duty vehicles and passenger cars have the most important role for emitting NOx, whilst motorcycles are the most important polluters for non-methene article organic compounds.