AIRSENS

The project lies in acquiring and installing air quality sensors for local monitoring with emphasis on the issue of household heating (so-called local heating sites) accompanied and verified by reference measurements. Measurements of dust particles will be carried out over one year in six selected municipalities of the South Moravian Region (SMR) and in two selected urban districts of the city of Brno, which to some extent, still have a predominantly rural character. The emphasis in the selection will be on the possibility of comparing municipalities with different ratios of heating sources. In addition, sensors will be installed in up to 4 locations in each evaluated municipality so that the monitoring covers the entire municipality, its built-up area, the landscape relief and all the main meteorological conditions. Beyond the sensor measurements, the project activities will also include the analysis of dust particles in RECETOX laboratories - accredited analysis of 29 PAHs to identify potential health risks to which the population in the localities is exposed. Through this analysis, it will be possible to identify the potential health risks to which the population is exposed in this region. By these concentrations of the most toxicologically important chemical substances bound to dust particles, it will be possible to determine these predictions of the inhalation health risks much more precisely. Following the health risk assessment, an estimate of the economic costs of these health risks will be carried out through a questionnaire survey, which will be based primarily on an analysis of the demographic structure of the population, since different age groups are subject to different levels of risk when exposed to air pollutants. The questionnaires will also be aimed at ascertaining the state and method of heating, at identifying the residents' awareness of the health risks of polluted air, and above all at determining the willingness to change the method of heating or to change the provision of a higher energy standard of their property, including the determination of the willingness to pay for achieving such a change and the identification of key barriers that are subjectively felt by residents. The data will be statistically and econometrically analyzed and evaluated. Semi-structured interviews will also be carried out, thanks to which the perceived problems of air pollution in the village and ways of solving them will be identified, and above all, the potential from the stakeholders for prevention or removal of barriers in the motivation of households to change the heating method will be identified. Recommendations for municipalities will be created based on the results of the questionnaire survey and interviews.