Norwegian Institute for Air Research

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© Photo: Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)
NILU headquarters building.

The Norwegian Institute for Air Research (Norwegian: Norsk Institutt for luftforskning) or NILU is a private Norwegian research institute that is one of the leading specialized scientific institutes in Europe dealing solely with problems related to air pollution.

NILU investigates and assesses technical, economic, hygienic and other environmental questions related to air pollution and the cleaning of polluted air.

Location

NILU's head office is at Kjeller on the outskirts of Oslo in Norway. A specialised office for Arctic related matters is an integrated part of the Polar Environmental Centre in Tromsø.[1]

NILU has two subsidiaries in other countries:

Staff

NILU has a staff of 140 scientists, engineers and technicians with specialized expertise for working on air pollution problems. It also has accredited laboratories for chemical analyses.

The staff perform more than 250 projects annually for research councils, industries, international banks, governments and national and international organizations.

Fields of work

NILU was founded in 1969 and the institute conducts environmental research with emphasis on the sources of air pollution and on air pollution dispersion modeling,[4][5][6] transport, transformation and deposition. It is also involved in the assessment of the effects of pollution on ecosystems, human health and materials. Integrated environmental assessments and optimal abatement strategy planning has been a field of priority during the last few years. Assessment of transboundary transport of air pollutants, acid rain and global air quality are important tasks.

NILU has the responsibility as a national research institution for air pollution in Norway and is also being used as an international air pollution expert by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the World Health Organization.

NILU has developed an automatic surveillance program for air quality in cities and background areas. NILU has specialized in computerized automatic air pollution surveillance, planning and optimal abatement strategy planning. Their AirQUIS system is a GIS- based air pollution management and planning system designed for managers and decision-makers.[7]

References

  1. NILU in the Polar Environmental Centre
  2. NILU Polska
  3. NILU AEA
  4. Turner, D.B. (1994). Workbook of Atmospheric Dispersion Estimates, 2nd Edition. CRC Press. ISBN 1-56670-023-X.  www.crcpress.com
  5. Beychok, M.R. (2005). Fundamentals of Stack Gas Dispersion, 4th Edition. self-published. ISBN 0-9644588-0-2.  www.air-dispersion.com
  6. Schnelle, Jr., Karl B. and Dey, Partha R. (2000). Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling Compliance Guide. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-058059-6. 
  7. AirQUIS