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Article

Evaluating Emissions from Select Urban Parking Garages in Cincinnati, OH, Using Portable Sensors and Their Potentials for Sustainability Improvement

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
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Sustainability 2025, 17(15), 7108; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157108
Submission received: 1 June 2025 / Revised: 17 July 2025 / Accepted: 2 August 2025 / Published: 5 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Control of Traffic-Related Emissions to Improve Air Quality)

Abstract

Urban parking around the world faces similar challenges of inadequate space, pollution, and carbon emissions. Although various smart parking technologies have been tested and implemented, they primarily aim to reduce the time spent searching for parking, without considering the impact on air quality. In this study, the air quality in three urban garages was investigated with portable instruments at the entrance and exit gates and inside the garages. Garage emissions measured include CO2, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and total VOCs. The results suggested that the PM2.5 levels in these garages tend to be higher than the ambient levels. The emissions also exhibit seasonal variations, with the highest concentrations occurring in the summer, which are 20.32 µg/m3 in Campus Green, 14.25 µg/m3 in CCM, and 15.23 µg/m3 in Washington Park garages, respectively. PM2.5 measured from these garages is strongly correlated (with an R2 of 0.64) with ambient levels. CO2 emissions are higher than ambient levels but within the indoor air quality limit. This suggests that urban garages in Cincinnati tend to enrich ambient air concentrations, which can affect garage users and garage attendants. Portable sensors are capable of long-term emission monitoring and are compatible with other technologies in smart garage development. With portable air sensors becoming increasingly accessible and affordable, there is an opportunity to integrate these devices with smart garage management systems to enhance the sustainability of parking garages.
Keywords: portable instruments; air sensors; parking garages; smart parking; particulate matter; air emissions portable instruments; air sensors; parking garages; smart parking; particulate matter; air emissions

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MDPI and ACS Style

Yerkeson, A.; Lu, M. Evaluating Emissions from Select Urban Parking Garages in Cincinnati, OH, Using Portable Sensors and Their Potentials for Sustainability Improvement. Sustainability 2025, 17, 7108. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157108

AMA Style

Yerkeson A, Lu M. Evaluating Emissions from Select Urban Parking Garages in Cincinnati, OH, Using Portable Sensors and Their Potentials for Sustainability Improvement. Sustainability. 2025; 17(15):7108. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157108

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yerkeson, Alyssa, and Mingming Lu. 2025. "Evaluating Emissions from Select Urban Parking Garages in Cincinnati, OH, Using Portable Sensors and Their Potentials for Sustainability Improvement" Sustainability 17, no. 15: 7108. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157108

APA Style

Yerkeson, A., & Lu, M. (2025). Evaluating Emissions from Select Urban Parking Garages in Cincinnati, OH, Using Portable Sensors and Their Potentials for Sustainability Improvement. Sustainability, 17(15), 7108. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157108

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