California Air Resources Board

CARB will host a seminar for a research study measuring light-duty vehicle exhaust emissions using roadside-deployed remote sensing device at eight California locations. The seminar will also discuss the results of using these measurements and other relevant data to analyze several policy-relevant topics, including long-term vehicle emission trends and emission characteristics disparities for communities of different socioeconomic status.

Background

Light-duty vehicles (LDV) continue to be a major source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and reactive organic gases (ROG) emissions in California, contributing to air pollution at both community and regional levels. Between 1999 and 2018, CARB and partner organizations have sponsored studies to measure LDV exhaust emissions using a remote sensing device (RSD) at a West Los Angeles roadside location. The longitudinal data showed that the LDV fleet had generally become cleaner in real-world driving over the years. The data also suggested significant emission rate disparities between vehicles registered in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities (DAC) and those registered in non-disadvantaged communities in the Los Angeles area.

In order to continue tracking the progress of CARB’s air quality programs and policies and to inform their future potential updates, CARB needs a substantial set of vehicle emissions data throughout California, especially those reflecting real-world driving conditions such as RSD measurements. This seminar discusses CARB’s most recent study measuring exhaust carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and NOx emission rates from LDV and heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) with downdraft exhaust tailpipes at eight (8) California locations. The seminar will evaluate trends in LDV emission rates, the emission rate disparities for vehicles registered in DAC and non-DAC, the prevalence of electric vehicles registered in those communities, emission rates for vehicles crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, HDV emission rates, and Smog Check Program attributes.