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Departmental Research Seminars Series
Transport Decarbonization and Sustainable Urban Environment
Date: 24 JAN 2025 (Friday)
Time: 10:00-11:30 (HKT)
Venue: Chamber, Faculty of Social Science, 11/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Registration link: https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=98400
Vehicle emissions control and urban air quality
Abstract:
Vehicle emissions are the most important source of air pollution in the urban environment worldwide, and their detection and control are critical for protecting public health. This seminar will report the use of on-road remote sensing (RS) technology for fast, accurate, and cost-effective identification of high-emitting vehicles as an enforcement program for improving urban air quality. Using large emission datasets from chassis dynamometer testing, RS, and air quality monitoring, we found that significant percentages of in-use petrol and LPG vehicles failed the emission standards, particularly the high-mileage fleets. The RS enforcement program greatly cleaned these fleets, in terms of high-emitter percentages, fleet average emissions, roadside and ambient pollutant concentrations, and emission inventory. The challenges of the current enforcement program are conservative setting of cut points, single-lane measurement sites, and lack of application experience in diesel vehicles. Developing more accurate and vertical RS systems will improve and extend their applications.
Dr. Yuhan HUANG
Senior Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Dr Yuhan Huang is currently a DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. He received his BEng degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in 2011 and PhD degree from UTS in 2017. After his PhD, Yuhan remained at UTS and has advanced through various roles, including Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Chancellor’s Research Fellow, Lecturer, DECRA Fellow, and Senior Lecturer. Meanwhile, he was also a Visiting Research Fellow in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Heavy Vehicle Emissions Testing and Research Centre during 2017 to 2019 and an International Hydrogen Collaboration Research Fellow at the University of Oxford in 2023. Yuhan's research interests include computational fluid dynamics, air pollution, urban planning, renewable energies, and industrial decarbonisation. He has published over 100 papers in the leading journals in his field such as Nature Sustainability, Science Advances, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, and Environmental Pollution. As of Jun 2025, he has obtained over 3400 total citations and an h-index of 35 in Google Scholar. He has been listed as a World Top 2% Scientist by the Stanford University since 2022. He has led or participated in 17 research projects, in total accounting for over AU$3M, such as ARC DECRA, CSIRO IntH2, HK RGC and HK ECF.
Data-driven modeling and management of traffic emissions and air quality in megacities
Abstract:
Traffic emissions have become an increasingly significant source of air pollution (PM2.5, O3, and NO2) in megacities. While intelligent transportation systems can provide real-time data on traffic volume and speed, their spatial coverage is often limited by the costs of the infrastructure. As a result, advanced data-driven approaches are valuable for simulating high-resolution (e.g., link-level, hourly) traffic patterns in urban areas. This presentation will introduce a land use-machine learning approach for mapping real-time traffic emissions, a method that has been applied in policy decisions for short-term traffic management during major sporting events. Additionally, the dynamic interaction between traffic and air quality will be explored within this data-driven framework, highlighting how dynamic traffic data are crucial for capturing traffic-related exposure disparities and addressing environmental injustice.
Prof. Shaojun Zhang
Associate Professor, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, China
Prof. Zhang’s research examines the environmental impacts of emissions from road transportation systems on air quality, climate and public health by using measurement, atmospheric modeling, life-cycle assessment and integrated environmental impact assessment. His current research interests include vehicle emission measurement, urban air quality monitoring and modeling, zero-emission vehicles, battery and fuels, and sustainable aviation. Before joining the faculty of Tsinghua University, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Michigan and Ford Motor Company (2015-2017), and Cornell University’s Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2019). He has published more than 100 peer reviewed articles, including several featured publications in Nature Energy, Nature Sustainability, PNAS, One Earth and ES&T.
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