EcoSenseWeb

The text on this page is taken from an equivalent page of the IEHIAS-project.

EcoSenseWeb - the latest version of the EcoSense-Model - is an integrated atmospheric dispersion and exposure assessment tool implementing the impact pathway approach developed within ExternE. It was designed for the analysis of single point sources (electricity and heat production) in Europe but it can also be used for analysis of multi emission sources in certain regions. EcoSenseWeb was developed to support the assessment of priority impacts resulting from the exposure to airborne pollutants, namely impacts on human health, crops, building materials and ecosystems. The current version of EcoSenseWeb, covers the emission of ‘classical’ pollutants SO₂, NO_x, primary particulates, NMVOC, NH₃, as well as some of the most important heavy metals. It includes also damage assessment due to emission of greenhouse gases. Impacts of ‘classical’ pollutants are calculated on different spatial scales, i.e. local (50 km around the emission source), regional (Europe-wide) and (northern) hemispheric scale. The version EcoSenseWeb has a web-based user interface and was developed within the European Commission projects NEEDS and CASES.

Model description

Purpose

EcoSenseWeb is an integrated atmospheric dispersion and exposure assessment tool implementing the impact pathway approach developed within ExternE.

Boundaries

Fields of model:

• Outdoor Air,
• Exposure,
• Dose-Reponse,
• Integrated Assessment system;
• Monetary Evaluation,
• Radio Nuclides,
• Climate change,
• biodiversity losses (deposition and land use change)
• health effects of classical and non-classical pollutants
• European wide decision support system

Pollutants:

• SO₂,
• NO_x,
• primary particulates (PPM_2.5, PPM_10s/sub>),
• NH₃,
• NMVOC,
• radio nuclides,
• N- and S- deposition
• green house gases
• HM

Input

Single source calculations

Type	Source	Format
1) Definition data of a facility, e.g. coal fired power plant:	1) (Reported) technical parameters of the point source, e.g. coal fired power plant. Expert estimations for missing values.	1) csv-file or direct input by the user via a web based user interface.
1 a) technical parameters (e.g. stack height, Latitute, Longitude, flue gas volume) 1 b) Emissions (SO2, NOx, primary particulates, NMVOC, NH3, heavy metals) 1 c) Land use change 1 d) Emissions of GHG 1 e) Radio nuclide emissions

Multi source calculations

Type	Source	Format
2) Sector specific emission data on a grid (default grid: EMEP50-grid). Reference scenario and case scenario.	2) External databases, e.g. EMEP, EPER, or from emission models e.g. IER-emission model	2) Files in ASCII format
3) Alternative to (2): concentration maps	3) Atmospheric air quality models, e.g. EMEP or Polyphemus	3) Files in ASCII format
4) included data: meteorology, receptor data, concentration response functions, monetary values, land cover	4) external studies, databases, ..	4) included in the databases of EcoSense

Output

Type	Spatial scale	Format(s)
1) concentration levels of primary and secondary particles and ozone	1) Gridded data, default on the EMEP 50 - Grid	1) csv-file; x, y, val1, val2, …; XML file to define the values.
2) Receptor (i.e. population, crops, building material) exposure	2) Gridded data, default on the EMEP 50 – Grid; or on country level	2) csv-file; x, y, val1, val2, …; XML file to define the values
3) Physical impacts resulting from exposure to airborne pollutants	3) country level	3) ASCII-File; detailed report with endpoints per country
4) (Damage) Costs due to impacts on human health, crops, building materials, ecosystems and due to climate change.	4) Aggregated (total) and on country level	4) ASCII-File; detailed report

Description of processes modelled and of technical details

Process

EcoSenseWeb is an integrated atmospheric dispersion and exposure assessment tool which implements the impact pathway approach developed within ExternE. It was designed for the analysis of single point sources (electricity and heat production) in Europe but it can also be used for analysis of multi emission sources in certain regions. EcoSense was developed to support the assessment of priority impacts resulting from the exposure to airborne pollutants, namely impacts on human health, crops, building materials and ecosystems. The current version of EcoSenseWeb, covers the emission of ‘classical’ pollutants SO2, NOx, primary particulates, NMVOC, NH3, as well as some of the most important heavy metals. It includes also damage assessment due to emission of greenhouse gases. Impacts of ‘classical’ pollutants are calculated on different spatial scales, i.e. local (50 km around the emission source), regional (Europe-wide) and (northern) hemispheric scale. The version EcoSenseWeb has a web-based user interface and was developed within the European Commission projects NEEDS and CASES

Management of the model

• Database: Paradox, MS-Access (GUI: mySQL)
• Operating system: WINDOWS
• Portability: No
• Software requirements: C++, MS Visual Studio, PERL interpreter, MS-Access, Web-server with php support
• Time required for a typical run: Depends on used modules: from 15 Minutes up to 4 hours; if chemical transport models like Polyphemus are used: 1+ week
• Programming languages and functions: C++, Perl, VBA
• Developed by/support/available from: contributions from: Philipp Preiss, Volker Klotz, Till M. Bachmann, Bert Droste-Franke, Thomas Heck, Wolfram Krewitt, Dirk Malthan, Petra Mayerhofer, Frank Pattermann, Stephan Schmid, Alfred Trukenmüller, Ralf Ungermann, Peter Bickel and Rainer Friedrich
• Intellectual property rights: owned by IER, University of Stuttgart
• Unit responsible for running and maintenance: The model exclusively runs at the IER, University of Stuttgart, servers.
• Degree of mastery: Expert user
• EcoSenseWeb

See also

• ExternE