Dear All,
this is new in the SIM-air series. This weekly post (on every Sunday) will include interesting news and articles on air pollution and climate change. For more details visit the UrbanEmissions page.
BBC - December 20th, 2008
Harvard physicist and climate change advocate John Holdren will be Mr Obama's scientific adviser.
Asian Times - December 18th, 2008
Vietnam counts cost of development, air pollution a major component.
Hurriyet Daily News - December 24th, 2008
Alarming air pollution in Ankara, Turkey.
Climate-L Daily Feed - December 18th, 2008
Economics of adaptation.
EcoWorld - December 22nd, 2008
Turning on solar thermal power.
Science Daily - December 19th, 2008
95% of the world's population lives on 10% of the world's land.
Science Daily - December 19th, 2008
Olympic Pollution Controls In Beijing China Had Big Impact On Air Pollution Levels.
Science Daily - December 23rd, 2008
A Price on Carbon not enough to save rainforests.
Science Daily - December 23rd, 2008
Developing countries lack means to acquire more efficient technologies.
Science Daily - December 24th, 2008
Does global warming lead to A change in upper atmospheric transport.
Economist - December 18th, 2008
Pocket world in figures - clean energy.
Economist - December 21st, 2008
Climate change diplomacy - fiddling with words.
NPR - December 23rd, 2008
What Mode Of Transportation Is Greenest?
Guardian - December 24th, 2008
Change at what price - Environmental year 2008 in review.
Guardian - December 23rd, 2008
UK - Government buildings emit more CO2 than all of Kenya.
NY Times - December 15th, 2008
Pollution or Technology Problem?
EcoWorldly - December 23rd, 2008
There is no point in calculating your carbon footprint - you need to understand it!
Wired - December 17th, 2008
Oil Is Not the Climate Change Culprit — It's All About Coal.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Clean Air vs. Polluted Air: How much, Where at, Why?
In the developing countries, the monitoring of air pollution is limited, due to limited capacity, supply of equipment, technical training, etc etc. Still, we manage the address the air pollution issues, with what is available. Same can be achieved and enhanced by combining the modeling efforts to forecast and validate air pollution in real time and support the compliance/regulation duties, along with some decision making support.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) offered a course on air quality forecasting at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorological (Pune, India) between December 8-12.
Course material includes training on the modeling tools (WRF-Chem) and 101 lectures on various components of air pollution modeling.
Material for a similar course in Lima, Peru (June, 2006)
Also see
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) offered a course on air quality forecasting at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorological (Pune, India) between December 8-12.
Course material includes training on the modeling tools (WRF-Chem) and 101 lectures on various components of air pollution modeling.
Material for a similar course in Lima, Peru (June, 2006)
Also see
- Air Pollution Forecasting in the Offing in India (ToI, December 7th, 2008)
- AirNOW program by USEPA
- SmogCity - A play tool to understand physical and chemical processes of smog formation in a city
- Air Quality Forecasting in UK
- Mobile Signals to Identify Congestion Zones (India)
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Cleaning the Air Helps Cool the Planet
this is the article published in Scientific American this week.. It is important we talk about climate change, mitigation and adaptation, technological and management options to manage climate change, but if we want to put the money where our mouth is, then "cleaning the local air pollution" is the cost effective and best option.
A note on co-benefits of various management options @ Series 08-2008.
Earlier blog on co-benefits here.
A note on co-benefits of various management options @ Series 08-2008.
Earlier blog on co-benefits here.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
210,000 Christmas lights !!
if this is not waste, then what is.
Other side of Atlantic, we have the UNFCCC convention in Poznan, discussing how to save energy, so another can have 210,000 Christmas lights, synchronized with music on home computer
I will give 10 for the effort and the art work.
Other side of Atlantic, we have the UNFCCC convention in Poznan, discussing how to save energy, so another can have 210,000 Christmas lights, synchronized with music on home computer
I will give 10 for the effort and the art work.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Clean Coal = Healthy Smoking
it is still bad, no matter how little the burning is.
An article on CNN quoting, Al Gore, ".... but Gore, who said that "clean coal" was like "healthy smoking", is convinced that we need to change our habits now."
The argument should not be interpreted as "don't use", but "use wisely".
The discussion is about prevention vs. control. A group of population conserving energy by changing their habits, doesn't translate to reduction in the electricity generation. The generation still continues to happen (and grow) and get diverted to a different population group. But, in theory, the incremental change that might have taken place because of the new population becoming on-grid, is avoided.
By changing our habits, we prevented the growth and by controlling the consumption at the generators, we are reducing the possible pollution levels. However, we are in need of large scale interventions, than clean coal technologies.
The climate change gurus might say this is important for saving the environment on a long term basis, but the near term air pollution, which is interlinked with the climate change, needs immediate attention.
If you look at the numbers projected by WHO on the possible mortality rates due to air pollution, the need to focus on local criteria pollutants, such as particulate matter, is now.
As the quote says, smoking even one cigarette is harmful.. however clean it may be. So, even if the power plant is using the cleanest of the coal, even if a group is using the low emission car abiding all standards, there is nothing better than not using or using less.
Also see
An article on CNN quoting, Al Gore, ".... but Gore, who said that "clean coal" was like "healthy smoking", is convinced that we need to change our habits now."
The argument should not be interpreted as "don't use", but "use wisely".
The discussion is about prevention vs. control. A group of population conserving energy by changing their habits, doesn't translate to reduction in the electricity generation. The generation still continues to happen (and grow) and get diverted to a different population group. But, in theory, the incremental change that might have taken place because of the new population becoming on-grid, is avoided.
By changing our habits, we prevented the growth and by controlling the consumption at the generators, we are reducing the possible pollution levels. However, we are in need of large scale interventions, than clean coal technologies.
The climate change gurus might say this is important for saving the environment on a long term basis, but the near term air pollution, which is interlinked with the climate change, needs immediate attention.
If you look at the numbers projected by WHO on the possible mortality rates due to air pollution, the need to focus on local criteria pollutants, such as particulate matter, is now.
As the quote says, smoking even one cigarette is harmful.. however clean it may be. So, even if the power plant is using the cleanest of the coal, even if a group is using the low emission car abiding all standards, there is nothing better than not using or using less.
Also see
- An article "Carbon Dioxide and Climate" from July, 1959 issue of Scientific American
- Industry Butt Heads Over 'Clean Coal' @ NPR
- Air Impacts
- True Cost of Coal by Green Peace
- Future of Coal by MIT
- Clean Coal Technology by US DoE
- India & Coal Technology by PEW Climate
- World Coal Institute
- Coal Warriors: Enviros Take Aim at Clean Coal 'Myth' by Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
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