Intake fraction, which is the fraction of emissions that are inhaled by people, quantifies the "exposure efficiency" of an emission source. We use three methods to estimate intake fractions for vehicle emissions in US urban areas. First, we use a one-compartment steady-state mass-balance model, incorporating meteorological and demographic data. Second, we use an empirical emissions-to-concentration relationship for vehicle carbon monoxide developed for 15 US urban areas. Third, we analyze model results for benzene and diesel particulate matter from the US Environmental Protection Agency's National-scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). The population-weighted mean intraurban intake fraction for nonreactive gaseous vehicle emissions in US urban areas is estimated to be in the range 7-21 per million, with a best estimate of 14 per million. The intake fraction for diesel particles is 4 per million, based on NATA results. An intake fraction of 4 per million means that 4mg of pollution are inhaled per kg emitted. Intake fraction values for urban vehicle emissions are usually higher in winter than in summer because of seasonal variability in the atmospheric mixing height. The results presented in this work can be used in health risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and other investigations that require a summary of the emission-to-intake relationship. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The intake fraction is defined for a specific species and emission source as the ratio of attributable population intake to total emissions. Focusing on California's South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) as a case study, we combine ambient monitoring data with time-activity patterns to estimate the population intake of carbon monoxide and benzene emitted from motor vehicles during 1996-1999. In addition to exposures to ambient concentrations, three microenvironments are considered in which the exposure concentration of motor vehicle emissions is higher than in ambient air: in and near vehicles, inside a building that is near a freeway, and inside a residence with an attached garage. Incorporating data on motor vehicle emissions estimated by the EMFAC2000 model, we estimate that the 15 million people in the SoCAB inhale 0.003-0.009% (34 85 per million, with a best estimate of 47 per million) of primary, nonreactive compounds emitted into the basin by motor vehicles. This population intake of primary motor vehicle emissions is approximately 50% higher than the average ambient concentration times the average breathing rate, owing to higher concentrations in the three microenviromments and also to the temporal and spatial correlation among breathing rates, concentrations, and population densities. The approach demonstrated here can inform policy decisions requiring a metric of population exposure to airborne pollutants. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban population density may influence transportation demand, e.g., as expressed through average daily vehicle-kilometers traveled in private motor vehicles per capita. In turn, changes in transportation demand influence total passenger vehicle emissions to which populations are exposed. Population density can also influence the fraction of total emissions that are inhaled by the exposed urban population. Equations are presented that describe these relationships for an idealized representation of an urban area. Using analytic solutions to these equations, we investigate the effect of three changes in urban population and urban land area (infill, sprawl, and constant-density growth) on per capita inhalation intake of primary pollutants from passenger vehicles. For the system considered, the magnitude of these effects depends on density-emissions elasticity (epsilon(e)), a normalized derivative relating change in population density to change in vehicle emissions. For example, based on the idealized representation of the emissions-to-intake relationship presented herein, if urban population increases, then per capita intake is less with infill development than with constant-density growth if epsilon(e) is -0.5, the reverse is true. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.