Carbon Dioxide Emissions by the Transportation Sector and its Impact on Health in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2017

Publication Title

Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture

Volume

11

First page number:

184

Last page number:

193

Abstract

Air pollution is one of the leading cause of death for underdeveloped as well as developed countries. In 2011, the air pollution was the second leading cause of death in one of the main hospitals of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, and it was the third leading cause in the United States. Burning fossil fuels for transportation was one of the major causes. Among various impacts of the air pollution, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) was one of the main consequences. In the 570 sq. km Kathmandu Valley,vehicle registration was increased from 45,871 in 1990/1991 to 570,145 in 2010/2011, an increase of over 12-fold over 20 years. The vehicle registration and number of COPD patients’ data were collected from various government divisions. In addition, the average daily travel distance and fuel mileage data were collected with a survey with residents of the Kathmandu Valley. This paper calculates the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by transportation sector and determines correlation between CO2 emissions and COPD patients. Results show that there was a very high level of CO2 emissions, and it was positively correlated with the number of COPD patients in the valley.

Keywords

Carbon dioxide emissions, Health impact, Kathmandu.

Language

eng

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