{"id":493,"date":"2024-10-01T14:48:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.terraria.com\/casi-studio\/opera\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T09:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T07:23:10","slug":"opera","status":"publish","type":"casi-studio","link":"https:\/\/www.terraria.com\/en\/case-studies\/opera\/","title":{"rendered":"OPERA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Air quality: Operational Procedure for Emission Reduction Assessment<\/h2>\n

The OPERA project is a natural continuation and extension of the JRC-funded RIAT project in 2009 and aimed to provide regions with an operational tool and methodology to support local\/regional authorities in the definition, implementation, and monitoring of air quality remediation plans aimed at reducing population exposure to PM10, PM2.5, NOX<\/sub> and O3<\/sub> and ecosystem exposure to NOX<\/sub>\u202fe O3<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Project<\/span><\/b>:\u202fOPERA \u2013 Operational Procedure for Emission Reduction Assessment<\/span>
\nProject Type<\/span><\/b>:\u202fEUROPEAN LIFE+ ENV\/IT\/000092<\/span>
\nBudget<\/span><\/b>:\u202f2\u2019301\u2019010 Euros<\/span>
\nDuration<\/span><\/b>:\u202f2010 \u2013 2013<\/span>
\nNumber and Partners involved<\/span><\/b>:\u202f5 project partners; Arpa Emilia Romagna (IT), University of Brescia (IT), CNRS \u2013 Centre national de la recherche scientifique (FR), Universit\u00e9 de Strasbourg (FR), TerrAria srl (IT)<\/span>
\nRole<\/span><\/b>: Partner
\nProject website<\/span><\/b>:\u202foperatool.terraria.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n		\"\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The methodology makes it possible to identify the efficient set of technical and non-technical measures that should be encouraged or introduced to <\/span>decrease concentrations of <\/span><\/b>secondary <\/span>pollutants <\/span><\/b>(PM, ozone and NO2<\/sub>) while minimizing the costs of intervention. Two decision-making paths are envisaged: <\/span>scenario analysis <\/span><\/b>and <\/span>optimization<\/span><\/b>. The project led to the development of a software tool, <\/span>RIAT+ <\/span><\/a>(Regional Integrated Assessment Tool PLUS<\/span>), which can support regional authorities in choosing <\/span>effective policies<\/span><\/b>. RIAT+ is a modular tool, developed with open-source technologies and a “user friendly” interface, which is efficient and exportable to any European region by isolating the specificities of the application domain in the input databases to the system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The key inputs to the system are the regional emission inventory, measurement database, and source-receptor (S\/R) models. These models are used to <\/span>link emissions <\/span><\/b>to an air quality index (AQI). To limit computational time, RIAT+ normally uses a nonlinear relationship identified by means of <\/span>artificial neural networks <\/span><\/b>(ANNs), tuned <\/span>to replicate the results of a limited set of simulations performed by users with the <\/span><\/b>site-specific calibrated deterministic <\/span>air quality model.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The system allows a choice between two different decision paths: <\/span>scenario analysis and optimization<\/span><\/b>. The main outputs of RIAT+ consist of quantification of emission reductions over the domain, a table with the application rates for each technology used, a series of maps of the main air quality indicators (AQIs), and the Pareto Curve that provides the best efficient solutions that can be implemented at varying costs to be incurred (only in the case of optimization).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RIAT+ has been tested and applied in different European regions and with different specific goals:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n