UC Irvine Institute of Transportation Studies

Rapid, but unplanned urban development and the consequent urban sprawl coupled with economic growth have aggravated auto dependency in India over the last two decades. This has resulted in congestion and pollution in cities. The central and state Governments have taken many ameliorative measures to reduce vehicular emissions. However, evolution of scientific methods for accurate emission inventory is crucial. Therefore, an attempt has been made to estimate the emissions (running and start) from on-road vehicles in Chennai using IVE model in this paper. GPS was used to collect driving patterns.

The estimated emissions from motor vehicles in Chennai in 2005 were 431, 119, 46, 6 and 4575 tons/days respectively for CO, VOC, NOx, PM and CO2. It is observed from the results that air quality in Chennai has degraded. The estimation revealed that two and three-wheelers emitted about 64 percent of the total CO emissions and heavy-duty vehicles accounted for more than 60 percent and 36 percent of the NOx and PM emissions respectively. About 19 percent of total emissions were that of start emissions. The estimated health damage cost of automobile emissions in Chennai is Rs. 6488.16 million (US$162.20 million). This paper has further examined various mitigation options to reduce vehicular emissions. The Study has concluded that advanced vehicular technology and augmentation of public transit would have significant impact on reducing vehicular emissions.