BELCO Monitoring Impact Of Vehicle Emissions

Today [Aug 18] in cooperation with the City of Hamilton, Bermuda Electric Light Company Limited (BELCO) installed a temporary ambient air quality monitoring station at the Par-la-Ville Road roundabout. The station has been installed as the result of a BELCO management decision to try to determine the impact of motor vehicles emissions on ambient air quality.

BELCO has three permanent air quality monitoring stations that are positioned to maximize the capture of data on BELCO emissions, although the information they collect also reflects emissions from motor vehicles and cruise ships.

By comparison, the temporary monitoring station at the roundabout is positioned at road traffic level, so that it will primarily capture data on motor vehicle emissions. Data from the temporary station and BELCO’s three permanent stations will be analysed by the company’s Environment Business Centre to learn the levels of emissions that can be attributed to vehicles and to BELCO. Input will also be sought from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), which operates the ambient air quality monitoring station on East Broadway. BELCO’s temporary monitoring station will operate from Thursday, 19 August through Sunday, 19 September. This time period was chosen to capture data both when traffic is light and after Labour Day, when schools open for the fall semester and more vehicles are on the road.

BELCO chose to undertake the study as part of its ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, which measures and documents environmental impact, consistent with an internationally recognised standard. While this is not required by Bermuda environmental regulation, BELCO will report its findings to the Ministry of the Environment, along with required quarterly reports. Reports are available to the public from the Ministry.

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Category: All, Environment, News