During air quality monitoring in the Greater Toronto Area, it was found out that a major part of air pollutants or what is specifically known as particulate matter comes from road dust. Immediately after receiving the results, the major municipalities in the GTA made efforts to clean the roads to achieve cleaner air and thus, the, "Clean Roads To Clean Air Initiative" was formed.
The report also prompted studying several road sweeping techniques and technologies, which could effectively reduce the particulate matter or PM content of ambient air. The testing was done over a period of fifteen days, of which the goal was not just to find the best technology that could resolve the road dust issue but do it and still have a good overall environmental performance. One of the technologies that stood out was a new type of vehicle called, "Regenerative Air Road Sweeping Vehicles." It was the latest of its kind.
Overall Human Health And Environmental Performance Criteria
The first reason why these road sweeping vehicles stood out was that they were efficient in cleaning roads by picking up both debris and particulate matter without causing large air disturbances in the process. Compared to traditional mechanical broom types that just sweep the dirt and dust upwards, this technology uses a closed-loop air system that works in a cycle. High velocity air is responsible for loosening dirt and debris on the road while the vacuum by forming the high velocity air is used to pick up the dirt and debris off the ground. This system also uses very little water, unlike the mechanical broom types.
Before the study was made, the GTA used all mechanical brooms, which used a lot water to flush debris off the street. Although it is an effective road cleaning process, it uses too much water- which makes it a y/no friendly procedure. In addition, these types of machines were not usable under all types of weather conditions. Regenerative Air Road Sweeping on the other hand, can be used during smog days, winter, summer and even under slight rainy conditions.
Drawbacks to using these new, road sweeping vehicles:
Despite the good performance, several drawbacks raised environmental and cost concerns. The first drawback was that this type of vehicle used two engines and each required fuel. This is outside the scope of conserving natural resources if it used twice the amount of fuel compared to mechanical types. It would also have higher fuel combustion emissions. However, the testing revealed that the tailpipe emissions produced by these vehicles were rather insignificant compared to the airborne particulate matter they reduced.
The second drawback was the cost of the vehicles themselves.
These vehicles cost more than twice the amount of mechanical types and since one vehicle was not enough to cover a whole city or municipality, several vehicles will have to be purchased, which will result to a hefty amount. But after a costing analysis, the low maintenance costs and year-round usability of these road sweeping vehicles offset the total cost.
Currently, in a major city in Ontario, there is a fleet of about 50 of these vehicles, which maintain clean streets and improvie ambient air quality.
Although this perfect street cleaning technology and process has yet to achieved, the sustainable future goal of this city and surrounding municipalities continues. These vehicles are to date the most effective solution that addresses the environmental performance of overall human health issues
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