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Protecting the environment and, over the longer term, the climate, requires the thorough and integrated analysis and moderation of emissions. While much attention has previously been focused on industrial sources of pollution, today private spheres of life (e.g. energy consumption) and urban planning aspects must be increasingly considered. In this context, AIT has been working for years to develop integrated solutions for national emission analysis and moderation, particularly with a view to exploring the options for improvement and to evaluate and compare potential measures.

This is the rationale behind the integrated emikat.at solution developed by AIT. It is the product of AIT's years of experience in evaluating emissions, and is based on its scientific expertise in emissions modelling and data capture. The central element is a context-specific data management system for emissions data that applies relevant models to huge volumes of input data in order to calculate emissions per source. Simulators, scenario managers and visualisation options have been developed and integrated into the system to allow it to support decision-making in evaluating potential air quality measures.

Use Case 1: Documenting emissions per source

Background

Statutory provisions require the establishment of an emission inventory, which stores emission data categorised by space, time and  source categories.

Solution

Emikat.at provides spatially resolved information for each sector. The following pollutants are taken into account: 

  • Particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), heavy metals and many other air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions

The following sectors are taken into account:

  • Road traffic, households, industry, trade, infrastructure, nature & agriculture, air traffic, shipping

Use Case 2: Analytical planning and monitoring of emissions/energy target pathways

Background

The regional and national impact of emissions reduction measures is not easy to assess and difficult to plan along a timeline and to monitor for progress.

Solution

emikat.at offers a ‘what-if’ toolset to compare the effectiveness of potential emission reduction measures. It indicates an appropriate efficient and effective target pathway to reducing energy demand and emission levels within the given financial framework. This target pathway can also be followed over time in emikat.at. This makes it possible to make forecasts for the future and demonstrate progress based on comparisons with previous years.

More details are available at https://cooperative-digital.solutions/emikat/

Our services

  • Emikat.at – full service for the provision of a complete emission platform (set up, operating and maintaining the data management system; data analysis and support services)
  • Contract research and targeted development
  • Consulting on solutions and services in the field of emission analysis and control

Our solutions

  • Calculating emissions per source category using existing and/or new input data (acquisition of single units, road traffic counts, regional statistics, etc.)
  • Emikat provides an integrated solution for conducting simple and cost-effective online surveys which automatically stores the results into the database, making them immediately available for use in calculations.
  • Scenario manager for comparing and visualising different datasets, e.g. technological developments in drive technologies in transport, changing heating technologies in residential buildings, or to compare different years. 
  • Simulating air quality measures
  • All results are clearly presented on maps, as diagrams, or in simple tabular form.

Our references

  • City of Vienna, Municipal Department 22 - Environmental Protection / Emission Reduction - Air - (Air Quality)
  • Regional Government of Lower Austria, Department of Environmental Engineering / Air Quality Monitoring - (Emission Inventory)
  • Regional Government of Upper Austria, Directorate of Environment and Water Management, Department of Environmental Protection - (Air, Climate)
  • Regional Government of Styria, Technical Environmental Control / Air Quality Monitoring - (Clean Air)
  • Regional Government of Burgenland, Department 5 / Nature Conservation and Environmental Protection Research Burgenland
  • Regional Government of Tyrol, Department of Geoinformation
  • EFA Emissions Forschung Austria Gmbh and TRIGON plan Planungs- und Beratungsgesellschaft für Landschaftsökologie und Technischen Umweltschutz GmbH