Starting from an ecological perspective of urban-industrial areas, environmental accounting is used to analyse and to evaluate which environmental impacts are the result of communal activities (e.g. the results of different kinds of water supply systems). Therefore, the anthropogenic fluxes, the changing quality of areas as well as the processes between the environmental fields are taken into account. The approach is based on methodical elements of te Life Cycle Analysis and the Environmental Impact Assessment.Looking at the ‘urban systems’ within the communal activities, ‘ecological modelling’ gives us a new and fuller picture of the spatial and temporal character of urban metabolism. The approach supports the perception of cumulative effects and the postponement of environmental problems and opens new horizons for process-oriented environmental planning within the community. Greater efficiency and a decrease in costs can be arrived at by leaving ‘end of the pipe’ strategies; opportunities for a better planning process and measures for different individuals and organisations can be drawn up. A data base which acts as a ‘support system’ implements the computer-aided approach to environmental accounting.

The photo-induced degradation of naphthalene, 1,4-naphthoquinone, 1-naphthol and 1-NO₂ naphthalene, adsorbed on silica gel, and with the addition of nitrogenous air pollutants e.g. NO₂ (as KNO₂) was investigated. Results indicate that compounds adsorbed onto a solid carrier are degraded when irradiated with UV light (λ > 290 nm) in the presence of nitrites. The key species initiating the naphthalene degradation is the OH-radical which is generated through the photolysis of NO₂. Reaction products identified were 2-formyl-cinnamaldehyde, 1,4-naphthoquinone, nitronaphthol, o-phthaldialdehyde, phthalide and nitronaphthalene. A mass balance between 40–50% was achieved. Under the same irradiation conditions, 1-NO₂ naphthalene is mainly degraded by direct photolysis while degradation of 1-naphthol and 1,4-naphthoquinone proceeds via the reaction with OH-radicals. Identified products were hydroxy-nitro-nitroso- and quinones compounds.

In order to improve the link from Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) studies to environmental policy, a translation is made from the SFA overview of flows and stocks into a limited set of indicators. This set is designed to evaluate a region’s substance regime with regard to environmental quality and sustainable development, including problem shifting in time and space.

An overview of the application of organic geochemistry to the analysis of organic matter on aerosol particles is presented here. This organic matter is analyzed as solvent extractable bitumen/ lipids by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The organic geochemical approach assesses the origin, the environmental history and the nature of secondary products of organic matter by using the data derived from specific molecular analyses. Evaluations of production and fluxes, with cross-correlations can thus be made by the application of the same separation and analytical procedures to samples from point source emissions and the ambient atmosphere. This will be illustrated here with typical examples from the ambient atmosphere (aerosol particles) and from emissions of biomass burning (smoke).Organic matter in aerosols is derived from two major sources and is admixed depending on the geographic relief of the air shed. These sources are biogenic detritus (e.g., plant wax, microbes, etc.) and anthropogenic particle emissions (e.g., oils, soot, synthetics, etc.). Both biogenic detritus and some of the anthropogenic particle emissions contain organic materials which have unique and distinguishable compound distribution patterns (C₁₄-C₄₀). Microbial and vascular plant lipids are the dominant biogenic residues and petroleum hydrocarbons, with lesser amounts of the pyrogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and synthetics (e.g., chlorinated compounds), are the major anthropogenic residues.Biomass combustion is another important primary source of particles injected into the global atmosphere. It contributes many trace substances which are reactants in atmospheric chemistry and soot paniculate matter with adsorbed biomarker compounds, most of which are unknown chemical structures. The injection of natural product organic compounds into smoke occurs primarily by direct volatilization/steam stripping and by thermal alteration based on combustion temperature. Although the molecular composition of organic matter in smoke particles is highly variable, the molecular tracers are generally still source specific. Retene has been utilized as a tracer for conifer smoke in urban aerosols, but is not always detectable. Dehydroabietic acid is generally more concentrated in the atmosphere from the same emission sources. Degradation products from biopolymers (e.g., levoglucosan from cellulose) are also excellent tracers. An overview of the biomarker compositions of biomass smoke types is presented here. Defining additional tracers of thermally-altered and directly-emitted natural products in smoke aids the assessment of the organic matter type and input from biomass combustion to aerosols. The precursor to product approach of compound characterization by organic geochemistry can be applied successfully to provide tracers for studying the chemistry and dispersion of ambient aerosols and smoke plumes.