Purpose
It has been known for quite some time that there is a link between
air-pollution originating from fossil fuel combustion and human health.
As an example it has been
estimated that the mortality due to particle pollution from cars is
larger than that due
to traffic accidents (in Denmark). Concern about the health effects of
air-pollution, rising oil prises
and the climatic impact from fossil fuels has increased the attention
from politicians and stake
holders. Recent technological progress has resulted in an increasing
optimism regarding new
environmentally friendly methods (e.g. bio-fuels, hydrogen power cells)
for production and
storage/transport of energy. The complicated interactions between
health impacts, economic
considerations and anthropogenic climate changes are generally not well
understood.
However, cost benefit analysis are unavoidable both at the private and
local level and at the national
macro scale. Our common future is best ensured if the relevant
political decisions are based on
(or at least guided by) a solid scientific background.
The purpose of CEEH is to meet these requirements by developing a
support system for decision makers and politicians. This is done by
setting up an
inter-disciplinary research collaboration aiming at mapping the
interactions between the future
Danish energy production, environment and health, and by optimising
these economically. To reach
the needed level of interaction between the different disciplines CEEH
is based on
collaboration between researchers from meteorology, environment,
energy, economy and health/medicine. Furthermore, CEEH will include a
considerable educational component by
including or involving a number of PhD students, by arranging courses,
and by
coordinating exchange of students and scientific personal between the
partners and external
collaborators in shorter or longer periods.
The participating institutions in CEEH are:
- University of Copenhagen (KU). PI and Director of CEEH: Eigil
kaas.
- Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). PIs: Allan Gross and
Alexander Baklanov
- National Environmental Research Institute (NERI). PIs:
Jørgen
Brandt and Jesper H. Christensen
- National Institute of Public Health (NIPH). PI: Henrik
Brønnum-Hansen
- Risø National Laboratory (Risø). PIs: Kenneth
Karlsson and Lars
Henrik Nielsen
- University of Aarhus, Institute of Public Health, Department of
Environmental and Occupational Medicine (UoAa). PI: Torben Sigsgaard
- University of Southern Denmark (UoSD), PIs: Jan Sørensen
and
Kjeld Møller Pedersen
Furthermore, CEEH is planning external collaboration with a whole range
of institutions and international organisations. Among these are: Dong
Energy (Denmark),
University of Queensland (Australia), Freie Universität Berlin
(Germany), Finnish
Meteorological
Institute, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
(Laxenburg, Austria), CEREA
(Marne la Vallét, France), Los Alamos Laboratory (New Mexico,
USA), University of Cologne
(Germany), Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, University of
Leicester (UK), VITO
(Boeretang, Belgium), ENEA (Rome, Italy), ICMMG (Novosibirsk, Russia),
Vienna University of
Technology (Austria), RIVM (Bilthoven, Netherlands), Institute of North
Ecology problems (Russia),
University Medical Centre, ERASMUS MC, (Netherlands).
