Determining the ‘optimal’ level of pollution (PM2.5) generated by industrial and residential sources

This study provides an optimization model that explicitly determines the ‘optimal’ level of pollution of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) by analyzing various options for reducing emissions from industrial and residential sources in the second largest urban area in Chile. Several conclusions that had not been previously addressed or sufficiently highlighted in the literature were discerned. The most notable conclusions included the importance of regulating all emission sources and not just industrial sources (which are typically fewer in number and easier to monitor), the homogeneity in ‘optimal’ levels of pollution from urban districts when considering the long-term effects on human health (which would support the adoption of uniform regulations), and the asymmetry in confidence intervals associated to the ‘optimal’ level of pollution.