Monitoring air quality at Gasværksvej School in Copenhagen

Gasværksvej Street is one of the busiest streets in downtown Copenhagen. The Technical and Environmental Committee at the City of Copenhagen has decided to rebuild Gasværksvej Street by establishing bicycle lanes and introducing one-way traffic. The one-way traffic was expected to reduce traffic and improve the air quality at Gasværksvej School.

FORCE Technology measured the effect of the initiative by examining the air quality in the spring of 2014 and in 2015.

The measurements indicated that the monitored concentrations around the school were lower in 2015 compared to the concentrations in 2014. The results substantiate that the one-way traffic has a positive effect on the air quality on Gasværksvej Street.

City Development - a department at the City of Copenhagen

City Development is a subdivision at The Technical and Environmental Committee at The City of Copenhagen. City Development is responsible for developing the urban open spaces by ensuring development of urban areas and support of sustainable initiatives in Copenhagen by focusing on air quality and noise.

“We contacted FORCE Technology because of an earlier satisfactory cooperation between the City of Copenhagen and FORCE Technology. City Development wanted FORCE Technology - on equal terms with other tenderers – to carry out an air quality examination at the school playground facing Gasværksvej Street”, says Faris Salim Abdali, engineer at City Development. 

FORCE Technology examined the air quality at the playground

FORCE Technology's job was to examine the air quality before and after Gasværksvej became a one-way street to help City Development measure the effect of the initiative. FORCE Technology has extensive experience with this type of measurements, for instance at train stations, heavy trafficking places and from measurements in underground car parks.

The Department Metrology and Air quality at FORCE Technology placed measuring instruments on school premises. The monitoring was performed as the air from the playground was sucked through a pipe through a window and into the main building of the school where instruments measured the amount of pollution compounds coming from the exhausts from cars. The results indicated the quality of the air at the playground.

FORCE Technology measured:

• Ultra-fine particles (small particles less than 0.1 micrometers)
• Nitrogen oxides, also known as NOX, including NO2 (mainly from diesel cars)

Measurement data was then communicated to a website where City Development could login and read it. In that way City Development could easily monitor the air pollution at the playground on a daily basis. 

High level of exhaust emissions at the playground

Measurement of air pollution at Gasværksvej School is the result of a report on air and noise pollution at Gasværksvej School.

The Ecological Council published the report in 2012 at the request of a group of parents and the local committee at the Copenhagen city district Vesterbro.

The report indicated a high level of pollution from car exhausts at the school, especially at the school playground.

As exhaust particles are considered to increase the risk of a variety of health effects, the City of Copenhagen decided to establish one-way traffic at Gasværksvej Street in order to minimize the amount of small particles. The project began in the spring of 2014.