Scientific Assessment, Addressing Technical, Economic and Social

Aspects for Heilbronn (located in the “Neckartal”) to Discuss the

City Environmental Investment Program

By

Syed Muhammad Ali

Air is the one of basic need of living organisms. All living beings inhale air for the process of
breathing. So, therefore the quality of air must be pure. As, everything has their pros and cons,
so, advancement in science and technology and industrial revolutions on one hand has
revolutionized the world but ,it also produced many adverse effects. One of the main adverse
effect produced by these type of advancements is air pollution. Air pollution is caused by the
particulate matter like different types of smoke, poisonous gases, suspended dust particles and
biological contaminants. These type of matter are very dangerous for living organisms as, these
matter caused number of diseases. Many cities in the world are considering pragmatic approach
towards these type of problems. These cities have adopted different programs in order to purify
the air from particulate matter. World health organization and OECD estimated that about
400,000 premature deaths and billions of euros spend on the health [1]. These includes the cost
of human lives, affect food products, people ability to work. Heilbronn city in Germany also
affected by the air pollution, as the city is on 9th position as Germany worst city for dust
particular position and 8th in affected by NOx pollution [2]. As Particulate matter travels without
boundaries in the air and pollute the air so steps like planting trees, converting vehicle to battery
instead of fuel and following protocols from UN taken by the authority of the city in order to
clean the city.

Air pollution is very dangerous to human health. But in the past few years in Europe, emissions
of many air pollutants have decreased substantially, which results in improving the quality of air.
These types of improvements are due to the actions taken by different cities of Europe to
improve air quality. These actions includes different type of initiatives which are vehicle ban in
city centers. Blue badge might be introduce in Germany which differentiate the other cars with
diesel cars, as diesel cars produced more NOx which are the major constituents of air
pollution.so, these are would be ban form entering into the city centers.
Another initiative taken by different cities of Germany is promoting e- mobility [3]. As diesel
and gasoline cars produced toxic substances in the air which are the main cause of pollution so
now these types of cars would replace by the battery-driven cars and by many countries hoped
that by 2025 gasoline cars would be replace by battery-driven cars.

In city centers more space should provide to the public transport and show less appreciation to
the private transport. Now this step has reduced the number of cylinders which produce toxic
materials and less pollution cause. Similarly tree plantation near city centers is another work
done by the government of different countries because tree absorb most of the gases which are
dangerous to living organisms.

 The power plant industry in Heilbronn is one of the largest industry in Germany having 7 units.
The 7th unit is the largest one which is used by EnBW. This provide electricity and gas in
different cities of Germany [4]. Although the revenue of this industry is very high, it works on
coal base power plant. As coal has many advantages like it is cheaper, reliable and affordable but
coal bring many thread to the environment. It produce gases like CO2 and other which causes the
greenhouse effect. Similarly, coal power plant emit many toxic gases like Sulphur dioxide ,
carbon monoxide and arsenic components and particulate matter like PM10 which is the reason of
air pollution. Most countries in the world are now shifting their industries on technologies other
than coal. Yes, natural gas is replacing the coal very swiftly due to high availability and cleaner
then coal but natural gas also emit CO2 gas, which is much less then coal and it is preferable. The
best technology for power plant is nuclear technology .Though it is expensive but it is 100 %
carbon free and contain minimum amount of other particulate matter. NU scale power plant is
best replacing the coal and other fossil fuel technologies. In 2015, 11.3 gigawatt coal-fired
capacity was retired .Furthermore, EIA project with a total of 30 gigawatt of coal-fired
generating capacity will retire in 2025, 87% of which by the end of 2020 [5]. As to fight with the
problem of air pollution it is necessary for the city manager of Heilbronn to shift the power plant
industry on to nuclear or other technologies which are environmental friendly. It will help in
reduce the particulate matter in Heilbronn.

Another project to purify the air is smog free tower. Smog free tower is tall aluminum tower
which used 1170 watt of electricity to purify the air. This tower was first installed in Beijing in
2016, 45% reduction caused in PM10 and 25% decrease in PM2.5 [6]. Similarly it also produced
reduction in other pollutants. The population in Heilbronn is not very large but as it is polluted
city so city manager should install smog free tower. The tower should designed according to the
need of city but it is install as early as possible in order to reduce the particulate matter in the
city.

Economy is the backbone of the country and the backbone of the economy is the taskforce. This
taskforce include all the members of a society or country which perform their duties in order to
improve the economic condition of the country, but what if this taskforce is not up to the mark.
There may be number of reasons but actually the health factor is the most vital one. Now a days,
the growing threat of particulate matter effect the quality of air which in return affect the health
of people. It is estimated that fine particulate matter has reduced the life expectancy in the EU by
more than eight months.

Labor productivity is the basic factor in economy, as it measures the hourly output of the
country. Growth in labor productivity depends upon three main factors which includes
investment, new technology and human capital. The most important one of all is human capital,
as both other depend upon this factor. With the fast growing industrial period from last few years
has pollute the air around us. This effect the world and especially the European countries. Now
many cities in Europe has initiated the actions to improve the quality of air and remove
particulate matter and dirt from the air. The city of Heilbronn has almost 125,000 inhabitants
which act as labor product of the city. The health and well-being of the people is directly related
to the economy of the city. But the new threat of pollution in air affect the health of the people.
Diseases like pneumonia, lungs cancer, and cardiovascular problems are major cause by the
pollution in air. Around 790,000 extra death caused in Europe due to air pollution. It is now the
responsibility by the authority of Heilbronn city to take certain steps to reduce particulate matter
in air like and improve the quality of air. These steps consist of encouraging people to use local
transport in city centers instead of own vehicle. As the city centers are crowded by the people so
huge number of people will infect from the particulate matter and NOx produced by the vehicle.
Similarly planting trees around city centers also help to reduce the particulate matter as trees help
to clean the air. UN stated that the environmental policies as it stimulates more efficient use of
resources and health benefits would increase up to 10% of GDP [7].

Germany imports around 90.7 million tones crude oil from countries. Majorly this portion is
utilize in transportation purposes. The population of Heilbronn is above 1 lac so obviously many
people use their own vehicle. The pollutant produced by these vehicles pollute the air, result in
decrease the quality of air. The polluted air when inhale by the people, causing many diseases.
Furthermore, it also produce the adverse effect on the economy as 90.7 million tones crude oil
cost billions of euros. Now different cities in Germany has introduced the e-mobility. There are
two types of emissions named as direct emission and life cycle emission. Direct emission is more
dangerous than life cycle because it emitted through tailpipe, through evaporation and during
fueling process. These emission produce different oxide of nitrogen, greenhouse gases which are
injurious to human health. All electric vehicles have zero direct emissions, which helps to
improve the quality of air. Different cities are now converting their transport to battery or electric
[8]. As a matter of fact, Heilbronn authority compel their citizen to convert their vehicles on
battery driven cars and less appreciate the use of gasoline driven cars. This is very easy to
implement in Heilbronn city, as the city have less population. This will reduce the concentration
of pollutants in air and also reduce the importation of oil from outside which decreases the little
burden from economy.

The pollutants in the air also affect the agriculture of the country. Agriculture is damaged by the
by products of technologies which involve different gases. As plants are directly depend upon air
for their different process like photosynthesis, producing flowers, but when the quality of air is
compromised by introducing different poisonous gases then it produces negative effects on
plants and directly effect food and fiber production. The fruit and vegetable produce from these
plants also contained contaminated substances and badly influence humans. Heilbronn is famous
for its viticulture as two-third of its growing is third largest in the Wurttemberg (wine region).
The economy of the city is depends upon this agriculture product. If the environment is polluted
then air is not pure and it will produce negative impact on the production of grapes. So,
environmental policies of purifying the air must introduce to save from economic loss.

As a healthy mind only grows in healthy society and society become healthy when the members
of the society are in good health. Unfortunately, from past few decades the particulate matter in
air has made the air impure which affect the people health, hence produce the negative impact on
the society. The adverse effect comes in the shape of diseases like lungs, cardio vascular and
increase in the mortality rate. Age standard death per 100,000 attribute due to air pollution in
Germany was 22 in 2016 .

Heilbronn is a main city of the Germany as it has very important power plant industry and
agriculture structure .So it is very important for the authority to take serious action against
particulate matter in air. Similarly from past few years Heilbronn has become the education
Centre where different international student’s societies around the world come and get education.
Although emission of air pollutant has decreased from past few years, clearly, decreasing trend
in PM10 which is very toxic and NOx and SO2 concentration were generally below the limit value
of protection of human health, however the amount of concentration is still exceeding the EU
reference value. So, in order to protect the societies the government of the city have to use
suitable approaches to eradicate this problem. Government has to implemented two types of
actions; reduction of exposure of individual to air pollution and the other is reduce of air
emission in levels like governmental, industrial and individual level through the implementation
of target by EU. The control measures which helps to reduce air pollution tend to have better
societies.

In the end, the particulate matter in the air causes different diseases and many other problems for
living organisms. It is the responsibility of the city government to provide facilities for the
people to encounter these situations. Heilbronn city is not much populated city of Germany but it
is in the effects of air pollution. So, city manager should planned environmental cleaning
programs like plantation of trees, less usage of coal in power industry, follow the EU instructions
related to environment, encourage more use of public transport in city centers and bring
awareness to the people that how to protect from environmental pollution and particulate matter.

Declaration of Authorship:

I hereby declare that the thesis submitted is my own unaided work. All direct or indirect sources
used are acknowledged as references.
I am aware that the thesis in digital form can be examined for the use of unauthorized aid and in
order to determine whether the thesis as a whole or parts incorporated in it may be deemed as
plagiarism. For the comparison of my work with existing sources I agree that it shall be entered
in a database where it shall also remain after examination, to enable comparison with future
theses submitted. Further rights of reproduction and usage, however, are not granted here.

This essay was not previously presented to another examination board and has not been
published.

Syed Muhammad Ali

Bibliography

1. http://publications.europa.eu/webpub/eca/special-reports/air-quality-23-2018/en/

2. https://www.thelocal.de/20150424/germanys-most-polluted-cities

3. https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/reducing-pollution-electric-vehicles

4. https://www.enbw.com/index_en.html

5. https://www.nuscalepower.com/

6. https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/smog-free-tower

7. https://www.unece.org/env/welcome.html

8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212827115005004