Institution's response to the Government's Clean Air Strategy

In response to the Government’s Clean Air Strategy published today Dr Jenifer Baxter, Head of Engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said:

“This Clean Air Strategy is a missed opportunity to provide greater clarity on how emissions monitoring equipment and systems will be developed in order to inform decision-making, especially for the transport sector where significant reductions still need to be made.

"For example, electric-diesel bi-mode trains are mentioned in the strategy as a solution to reduce emissions in rail. However, we know these trains produce greater emissions when operating in diesel mode than pure electric trains and are less powerful when working in diesel mode (8.6 kw/tonne) compared with electric mode (11.2 kW/tonne).

"This means that we need to examine the evidence relating to emissions from transport in much more detail before we decide on the best solutions.

"New monitoring systems are needed to record all types of pollution including oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and ultra-fine particles (UFP).

"This will provide us with a complete picture of our baseline pollutants, which would enable us to monitor peaks throughout the day.

"These data will enable prioritisation of investment schemes to reduce pollutants in an evidence-based way

Our "A Breath of Fresh Air" report, released in January this year, called for a Clean Air Act which would mandate the monitoring of transport emissions so pollution can be tackled in a logical way, based on evidence."

Notes to Editors

• For interview requests and queries contact the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Press Office on 020 7973 1261 or email media@imeche.org.
• The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was established in 1847 and has some of the world’s greatest engineers in its history books. It is one of the fastest growing professional engineering institutions. Headquartered in London, we have operations around the world and over 120,000 members in more than 140 countries working at the heart of the most important and dynamic industries such as the automotive, rail, aerospace, medical, power and construction industries.