Page 49 - Impiantistica Italiana 5/2016

In recent years the air pollution has been recog- environment and on the climate.
nized as an environmental and social problem
that affects not only the human health, but also To minimize these effects, in recent decades im-
the ecosystems climate and environment.
Air pollutants are emitted both from anthropo- portant steps have been moved through the way of
genic and natural sources and may persist in
the environment for long periods of time. They may air emission reduction from several source sectors.
accumulate in the environment and in the food
chain, affecting humans and animals not only via air Figure 2 shows the development in EU-28 emis-
intake, but also via water and food intake. Finally,
air pollution can also damage materials and build- sions from industry and energy production and dis-
ings, including Europe’s most culturally significant
buildings. tribution sectors from year 2004 to year 2013, ex-
Effective action to reduce the impacts of air pollu-
tion requires a good understanding of the sources pressed as a percentage of 2004 emissions. Data
that cause it, as well as its impact on humans and
on ecosystems: air pollution is still an important are sourced from European Environment Agency
cause of quality of life and life expectancy reduc-
tion of European people. (EEA) report “Air quality in Europe - 2015 Report”
Figure 1 summarises the key effects of the major
air pollutants on human health, vegetation and built and are referred to SOx, NOx, NH3, PM10, PM 2.5,
NMVOCs and BC pollutants.

With respect to industrial installation, the European

Parliament and the Council on Industrial Emis-

sions issued the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)

(2010/75/EU) which entered into force on 6 Janu-

ary 2011. The IED aims to achieve a high level of

protection of human health and of the environment

by reducing harmful industrial emissions across the

Europe and is applied both to new and existing

plants.

Fig. 1 - Impacts of air pollution (EEA Report 5/2014)

Fig. 2 - Development in EU-28 emissions from industry and energy production and distribution sectors (2004-2013)
Impiantistica Italiana - Settembre-Ottobre 2016 47