Today, the remote sensing technology is well embraced in many Asian Pacific countries and cities, including: Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and India. Additionally, Dubai, Australia and New Zealand have recently adopted the technology as well. Some have officially accepted the use of RSD as a regulatory tool to carry out monitoring of vehicle emissions on a daily basis. Others are actively exploring the use of this advanced technology in their localities to bring convenience both to the administrative offices and to the motoring public. Understanding that the diversity of each city or country means there is no one solution for all, ESP tailors a solution for each individual requirement. From localizing its software to modifying special hardware, we ensure that our technology suits each location perfectly.

With over 20 years of experience behind us, we are well-positioned to provide turnkey solutions to both governments and private organizations alike looking for a sophisticated way of monitoring motor vehicle emissions.

ESP is proud to have been part of the effort right from the start to help improve air quality in the region via enhanced monitoring of car emissions using a scientific, accurate and mature technology. With a regional office in Hong Kong, ESP endeavors to stay close to this part of the world and answer its needs promptly and effectively.

Contact

For more information on RSD in Asia, please contact
ESP Holdings Hong Kong Office
Level 30, Bank of China Tower
1 Garden Road, Central
Hong Kong
(852) 2251-8275

Singapore currently operates a station-based lug-down opacity inspection program for its domestic fleet and a pullover-free acceleration opacity inspection program for the border-crossing Malaysian trucks. The traditional opacity testing programs are growing increasingly ineffective for the modern diesel fleet, which emits finer diesel particles and is inadequate in keeping up with the volumes of diesel vehicles.

The goal at the end of the pilot project is to have the technical basis to promulgate regulations to screen light and heavy duty vehicles on Singapore streets and at the border using RSD technology.

ESP is the world leader in remote emissions monitoring and enforcement and has facilitated such program development in other Asian jurisdictions. ESP is serving as the technology provider, while the Singapore NEA and a local IM contractor serve as our operating partner.
The Singapore pilot is being conducted in 3 phases:
During Phase 1, two RSD4600 systems were delivered and commissioned in Singapore and the local contractor was trained in their operation.
During Phase 2 a test plan to demonstrate an empirical correlation to the station-based lug-down opacity test was developed and is now being executed. An interim report will present the result of Phase 2 correlation experiments and identify the methodology and cutpoints that can be carried into the final field demonstration phase.
During Phase 3, the screening methodology developed in Phase 2 will be applied in a real-world environment at the Singapore/Malaysia commercial vehicle border crossing. RSD4600s will be used to screen and pull over high emitting HDVs.
A final report will present the results and suggest an ongoing enforcement program design.

Colorado's Greeley Pilot Study (1997)

Through a combined effort, remote sensing began in the mid-1990s to satisfy the Clean Air Act's requirement to test 0.5% of the I/M area fleet each year using an on-road measurement technique. The annual Denver 0.5% RSD campaign generated considerable interest in on-road screening within the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE).

The Greeley on-road data was collected using a single AccuScanâ„¢ Model RSD-2000. Over a year and a half, nearly 600 vehicles were measured multiple times with RSD and immediately followed up with IM240 tests. The data provided a measure of the potential for remote sensing to identify both clean and high emitting vehicles on the road.
This landmark study is published on the U.S. EPA website (www.epa.gov/oms/rsd.htm). The Greeley study served as the basis for not only the U.S. EPA's clean screen guidance document that emerged in early 1999, but also Colorado's clean screen program, which was launched in October 2003. Within a year of the guidance release in early 1999, Missouri launched the first clean screen program of its kind in April 2000. Based on the Greeley study, the U.S. EPA's FACA committee established that up to 50% of the clean vehicles in a registered area could be identified and exempted from their next scheduled I/M test with minimal loss of excess repairable emissions.

Colorado's Total Screening Program (2003 - present)

Colorado's Bill HB06-1302, which passed in May 2006, called for:
-The growth of remote sensing clean screening as cleaner new cars stay cleaner longer.
-The addition of high emitter identification to address the fewer high emitters today that represent a growing majority of the excess repairable emissions from light duty motor vehicle fleet.
-The continuous survey of on-road vehicle emission to track inventories and evaluate the I/M program's performance.

Colorado's RSD program began with three RSD4000s and a focus on clean screening in October, 2003. By July 2008, Colorado's total screen program was operating 18 RSD4600s around the Denver and North Front Range areas, was clean screening over 30% of its inspected vehicle population and was expanding high emitter identification which had started in late 2007. Colorado's clean screening and high emitter identification, in combination with I/M program evaluation is not only the largest RSD program in the world, collecting over 10M RSD measurements each year, but the most comprehensive (clean, high emitter and general monitoring), hence known as a "total screening" program. Under HB1302, Colorado plans to have RSD serve as the basis of tailpipe inspection in the future, requiring vehicles new and old, OBD-equipped or not, submit to a tailpipe test should their drive-by RSD reading indicate probable cause. At the same time, clean running vehicles can continue to demonstrate their compliance and earn exemption from more rigorous inspection, while the RSD-based general fleet emissions profiles dictate changes that may be required to the I/M program proceeding.

In 2004, ESP was selected to conduct a study that verified the MBTA's bus clean-up and designed the most cost-effective inspection program for the MBTA. The MBTA's RSD-based bus inspection program now operates at all eight urban bus depots and quickly reports high-emitting buses to depot mechanics.
During the first trimester of testing for the MBTA (August 13, 2007 to December 6, 2007), there were a total of 3,906 measurements of 908 active buses, and despite the relatively new and modern fleet, 10 high emitters were identified for repair.
Today, the MBTA boasts one of the cleanest and most modern fleets in the country and periodically posts a bus emissions report card on its website.

The pilot, which started in spring 2007, examines whether LDV high emitters can be solicited to participate in voluntary repair and/or retirement through incentives that offer up to $500 for repair and up to $3,000 for retirement to qualified motorists.
Despite the rigorous restrictions on who qualifies as a high emitter under the Carl Moyer rules, 25,000 high emitters were identified for solicitation in a program that collected over 1.8 million measurements of more than 700,000 unique SCAQMD registered vehicles. Using three of our RSD4600 units, the data collection effort continued this spring. Results showed the rate of high emitters in the SCAQMD area to be higher than most inspected US light duty vehicle fleets.

These "commuter polluters" would be notified and subject to the core county I/M test. This program survived for over three years, but Texas once again came under pressure to expand its I/M network and, this time, upgrade to an ASM test. ESP began operating the Texas on-road remote sensing program in December 2001. The on-road remote sensing program is aimed at:
-Identification of commuter polluters.
-Raising public awareness.
-Deterring vehicle tampering and fraudulent inspections.

The new remote sensing program grew to focus on more than commuter polluters. By 2004, it became a comprehensive on-road testing program that included identification of core I/M area high emitters and fleet evaluation in an I/M area that would gradually expand from 4 to 15 counties.

Today, ESP collects over 7 million measurements (about 2 million measurements of unique vehicles) within 17 core counties, including two in metropolitan Austin. High emitters registered with the 17 core counties as well as frequent "commuter polluters" from 28 additional surrounding counties are screened with seven RSDs that operate from dawn to dusk.

The program has strict 20% fleet coverage requirements in each of the 17 counties and requires high emitters to be notified of the need for an off-cycle inspection within 30 days. ESP provides the Texas Department of Public Safety a turnkey service that:
-Collects measurements on-road.
-Processes and maintains all records in a secure database.
-Regularly selects the highest emitters for TX DPS review.
-Sends approximately 400 registered notices to high emitters each month.

Over the life of this program, using remote sensing technology, ESP has successfully customized our system to accommodate the changing needs for Texas.

The Virginia program is a turnkey service to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) that collects, manages and processes data, and issues about 15 official VDEQ notices each month, requiring those that have registered the two highest readings within a 120-day period to be re-inspected at an I/M station.

Although the volume is conservative at this stage, the Virginia program makes full use of the RSD data by applying all three authorized RSD applications (high emitter testing, clean screening and fleet characterization). In addition to issuing high emitters notices, the same number of clean screen notices is issued to cars registering the two lowest clean readings. Finally, data is collected in three non-I/M areas so that Northern Virginia's inspected fleet may be compared to an un-inspected control fleet as a USEPA-approved measure of the I/M program's effectiveness.

"Total Screen" is the most efficient utilization of RSD, maximizing all three applications for concurrent use.