Most Polluted Air in Europe - 35,000 Households in Krakow Use Coal for Heating

From the years 1038 to 1569, the ancient city of Krakow was known as the capital of Poland. In 2000, it became known as the official European Capital of Culture. Now, it known for having some of the most polluted air in Europe.

Link to the article
Citing Too Many Deaths From Air Pollution, Polish City Says Goodbye To Coal 

This is largely because of emissions from coal, a fuel that makes up about 90 percent of the country’s electricity. The majority — about 50 percent — of Krakow’s winter air pollution comes from coal-powered domestic stoves. The other half comes from traffic and power plants.

But despite winter fast approaching, Krakow has taken an unprecedented step of banning coal for the purpose of home-heating. On Monday, local Krakow officials voted to ban residential wood and coal-burning come 2018. As of now, 35,000 households in the central area of Krakow use coal for heating, according to the BBC.

“Hundreds of people are dying each year because of air pollution,” Deputy Marshal of the assembly Wojciech Kozak said in a statement. “This resolution is a precedent on a national scale, it will introduce many changes in Poland and the region.”

The vote was a partially a result of a two-year campaign by the Krakowski Alarm Smogowy, a human health advocacy group dedicated to improving air quality in the city. But they were not the only ones fighting against coal use and air pollution.

“People in Krakow actually hate coal,” Andrzej Gula, a campaigner for cleaner air in the city, told the BBC. “They know it is the major source of the problem, they are demanding that politicians do something about this.”

Estimated 4,000,000 Deaths from Household Cooking Smoke - A Note from Dr. Kirk Smith

The ban is a great step for Krakow in reducing the harmful effects of air pollution, but Poland still has a long way to go in the fight against global warming. In 2012, the Polish government vetoed EU proposals that would have set goals to reduce carbon emissions significantly from 2020 onwards. That deal, which Poland alone blocked, would have agreed to a target of a 20 percent reduction in emissions compared to 1990 levels by the year 2020, and an 80 percent reduction by 2050.

“There is no point whatsoever in gambling with [the] European economy’s future, introducing policies that might put our industries in jeopardy versus our competitors,” Polish Environment Minister Marcin Korolec said at the time. Poland is home one to one of the largest coal arsenals in Europe.

Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (The Lancet)

A spokesman for Greenpeace told the Polish DPA news agency that Poland was “holding to ransom the rest of the continent on an issue of real economic and environmental importance.”
The country also recently scheduled a high-level coal industry summit to take place at the same time the United Nations held its annual climate change conference in Warsaw. A report in Salon said many in the international community saw the overlap as “an extremely passive-aggressive move — and to some environmentalists, an outright provocation.”

Krakow is the second place in the world in the last seven days to ban coal use. On Thursday, the Premier of Ontario, Canada — the country’s most populous and second-largest province — announced the upcoming closure of its last coal-fired electricity plant. When that happens, there will be no more coal produced in Ontario.

Ontario has a population of approximately 13 million, compared to Krakow’s population of around 775,000.

Measuring and Characterizing Particulate Pollution in Accra, Ghana (ERL)

Cities in the developing world often suffer poor air quality, which can be hazardous to health, yet there have been relatively few studies. With that in mind, a team has assessed the particles causing air pollution in rich and poor neighbourhoods of Ghana’s capital Accra.

Link to the press release.
Link to the journal article in ERL.

"Sub-Saharan African cities are increasingly among the most polluted cities in the world," Zheng Zhou of Harvard School of Public Health, US, told environmentalresearchweb. "However, the availability of air pollution data in this region is limited. Most current studies have focused on the indoor environment in the rural area; substantially less work has been done in the urban area."




Accra, which had a population of 2.27 million in 2012, is one of Africa’s fastest growing cities. Zhou and colleagues from Brazil, the US, Ghana and the UK took particulate matter samples in four neighbourhoods of the capital between September 2007 and August 2008. The areas – James Town/Usher Town, Asylum Down, Nima and East Legon – lay on a straight line from the coast to Accra’s northern boundary.
James Town/Usher Town and Nima are densely populated, low-income areas where most people use biomass for cooking at home and for street food. Asylum Down is a middle-class area and East Legon is an upper-class district where most families live on large plots of land in modern low-rise homes, according to the researchers.

Study neighbourhoods and measurement sites. The polygons on the central panel show census enumeration areas (EAs). Each EA has approximately the same population; hence the area of an EA is inversely related to population density. EAs are categorized according to quintile in terms of per cent of household using biomass fuels. Each colour represents a different quintile. The sites were at locations that were typical of each neighbourhood's living environment, with the EL site being far from major traffic and the AD site being next to a road with moderate traffic. In NM we also had a second site next to a road with heavy traffic. The distances of measurement sites to the ocean coast were: JT 0.5 km, AD 3 km, NM 4.5 km, and EL 9 km.

Biomass combustion was responsible for between 10.6 and 21.3 µg/m³ of fine particle mass, contributing more in the poorest neighbourhood, the team found. Other particles came from sea salt, vehicle emissions, tire and brake wear, road dust, and burning of solid waste. As for biomass combustion, burning of solid waste was a greater source of pollution in poorer areas, where waste is collected less frequently. At the measurement stations near traffic routes, in Asylum Down and Nima, there were more road dust and traffic aerosols.
"We have seen large contributions from biomass burning to PM2.5 levels – particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size – in urban Accra," said Zhou. "On average, biomass combustion contributed 40 to 50% of total PM2.5 mass outside the windy and dusty Harmattan period. Road dust and vehicle emission also accounted for 10 to 30% of total PM2.5 mass. We found that contributions from sea salt and crustal dust varied significantly by season."

Between December and January, the Harmattan, a dry and dusty West African trade wind, blows from the Sahara south towards the ocean in the Gulf of Guinea. "During peak Harmattan season, crustal dust was the largest contributor to PM, accounting for about 40% of total PM mass," said Zhou. The period saw about 10 times as much particle mass from crustal sources as usual, as well as an increase in resuspended road dust and particles from biomass burning.

"Our results show that urban air pollution in Accra is a complex mixture of both natural and anthropogenic sources," said Zhou. "Urban air quality in African cities can benefit from reducing dependence on solid fuels and improving road conditions. [This] requires policies related to energy, transportation and urban planning, and forestry and agriculture, with explicit attention paid to the impacts of each strategy in poor communities. Such cross-sectoral integration requires emphasis on the urban environment and urban poverty in the post-2015 development agenda."

For example, as the team writes in Environmental Research Letters (ERL), large-scale transitions to cleaner fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) may require targeted subsidies for fuel, and financial assistance towards the initial cost of an LPG stove for poor households. "Perhaps more importantly, sustained use of clean fuels requires improving the energy delivery and distribution infrastructure so that people can have regular trouble-free access to fuel purchase, something currently not available in poor neighbourhoods," the researchers added.

There’s also a need for research on the acute and chronic health effects of exposure to crustal particles, the team believes, and whether air pollution regulations in developing countries should be based on total particle mass or specifically target combustion sources.

"We hope to pursue studies that quantify the health effects of air pollution in Accra, noting its different chemical composition and sources," said Zhou. "We would also like to continuously examine whether energy and environmental policies are influencing air pollution, either as improvement or deterioration."

500 Barbecue Grills Seized and Destroyed for Better Air Quality in Beijing

Beijing is waging a war against air pollution, one barbecue at a time. Officials have destroyed more than 500 open-air barbecues to cut particulate matter.

Link to the article on the Guardian.
 

Air Pollution in Beijing - By Numbers

Photos carried by state media showed workers cutting pieces of metal as city wardens looked on. A media officer at Beijing's Xicheng district administration bureau said hundreds of barbecue grills had been confiscated in a three-month campaign and cut up so they could not be used again.

Ma Jun, an environmental campaigner, said residents had complained to environmental agencies in the past about the odour and smoke from open-air barbecues.

"This action will help local residents, but to deal with the bigger air quality problem we need to have priorities and I think one of the major priorities should still be the motor vehicle emissions," said Ma, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

He said the focus should be on improving the fuel quality and emissions control of heavy duty diesel trucks, while also involving the surrounding regions, not just Beijing.

Environmental Immigrants - Urbanites Flee China’s Smog for Blue Skies (NYT)

The capital's pollution regularly reaches hazardous levels. The city government announced last month that emergency measures such as factory shutdowns and traffic limits would be imposed when air pollution levels were particularly heavy.

Delhi Government to Dismantle the 6km BRT Lane in the City !!

After facing major resistance to the concept of bus rapid transit (BRT), Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday said her government was considering dismantling the system between Ambedkar Stadium and Moolchand.

Link to the article in the Indian Express.

New BRT Guide for Decision Makers & India

"I think so," Dikshit said when asked whether the BRT between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand would be dismantled.


Speaking at the Idea Exchange programme of The Indian Express on Tuesday, the chief minister said Delhi was not psychologically ready for the concept.



"BRT, I am afraid and must admit, wasn't the kind of success we had hoped it to be. Therefore, the other six corridors that were supposed to be constructed have been stopped. I think we are going to close this... I don't think we were ready for it psychologically."

Why BRT is Better for Future Urban Transport (WSJ)

She added that the existing corridor, opened to public in 2008, was already broken down.

Against Public Interest - Undermining BRT in Delhi, India

Asked if dismantling the corridor would result in wastage of public funds, Dikshit said, "Do you want us to carry on with it? I can, but then things will become really bad..."



Delhi government had, in fact, abstained from giving any substantial funding to the project under the proposed budget of 2013-14. The project was allocated a paltry Rs 10 lakh out of the Rs 100 crore that the Transport department had requested for.

Follow the Discussion on BRT - Can US Adapt BRT like the Latin American Countries?

Following a court case and controversy related to the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand BRT corridor, the construction of 14 such corridors was put on hold. A report on the corridor by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), produced before the court, had also suggested a removal of the BRT.

Delhi BRT is Now in a Society Class Divide (BBC)

However, the government has already spent money on assigning agencies such as DIMTS to carry out preliminary studies on some of the proposed BRT corridors.

Meanwhile, touching upon Congress's manifesto promises of constructing double-decker flyovers and introduction of monorail and trams in Delhi, Dikshit said tackling increasing number of cars and traffic volume was one of the greatest challenges in Delhi.

BRT in India - Ahmedabad City Honored for Improving Mobility

"I have spoken of double-decker flyovers, which we need to take up. The traffic here is growing enormously. Everybody knows we have the largest number of cars. Tackling this is one of our greatest challenges. We will bring in the monorail and the tram system, which is being revitalised in many European countries,'' Dikshit said.

Push for More Public Transport in India

The first monorail is planned to be constructed between Shastri Park and Trilokpuri in Delhi.
"It was going to be a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, therefore, it has been taking time,'' Dikshit said.

USA's Largest Bike Share Program to Open in New York City

New York City is preparing to set up the largest bike share system in the nation. The city is issuing a request for proposals for one-way, short-term bike rentals, a system that has augmented the transportation network in dozens of European cities as well as in Denver, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC.

Link to the article on Common Dreams.

Underground Bicycle Parking in Japan

In a bike share system, riders can rent a bike at one location, like Union Square, and drop it off at another, for example the Lower East Side. Minneapolis, Denver and Washington DC all started bike shares programs this year. With greater density than any of those cities, New York believes it can make a profit on a bike share program.

Space for Cycling Must be Central to a Bold Transport Policy

New York City's transportation commissioner wouldn't comment on the details of the request for proposals, which will be released Wednesday morning. But Janette Sadik-Khan frequently speaks at confererences promoting the idea of bike share.

WHO on Climate Co-benefits of walking and bicycling

"We're ideal for it," Sadik-Khanhas said. "We have the density. We're flat. Eighty one percent of people in the central business district of Manhattan don't own a car. In this age of transit cuts, this is an ideal way to add to New York's transportation system."

Bicycling for an Aging America

The city is looking to set up a twenty-four hour network of around 10,000 bikes, with the entire bill footed by the private sector, but with the city sharing in any revenues. In other cities with bike shares, sponsorships and advertising help pay for the bikes. Earlier generations of bike share in many European cities required subsidies, but the city believes that with wireless technology, gps and solar-powered bike stations, a system in New York can be run far more efficiently.

Catchy Ad: 1 car = 10 Bicycles

"New York is made for bike share," said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, a group that promotes biking and walking, "so this announcement is very exciting. The characteristics that make bicycling an everyday form of transportation, New York has in spades: density, flat terrain, temperate climate, lots of short trips and an on the go lifestyle. This nimble and inexpensive way to get around will fit easily into New Yorkers' constantly shifting errands and schedules."

Effective Design to Increase Cycling (ERL)

The city hopes for the system to be running in 2012. Boston is preparing to start a bike share program soon. Montreal was the first North American city to have bike share.

Bicycle Thief !!

Up 48% - CO2 Emissions from 1990

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) increased by 45 % between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tons in 2010. Increased energy efficiency, nuclear energy and the growing contribution of renewable energy are not compensating for the globally increasing demand for power and transport, which is strongest in developing countries.

Link to the article on Environmental News Network.

This increase took place despite emission reductions in industrialized countries during the same period. Even though different countries show widely variable emission trends, industrialized countries are likely to meet the collective Kyoto target of a 5.2 % reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 as a group, partly thanks to large emission reductions from economies in transition in the early nineties and more recent reductions due to the 2008-2009 recession. These figures were published today in the report "Long-term trend in global CO2 emissions", prepared by the European Commission's Joint Research Center and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

Climate Change - 2 b 2 or not 2 b 2 (deg C)

Over the period 1990-2010, in the European Union and Russia CO2 emissions decreased by 7% and 28% respectively, while the USA’s emissions increased by 5% and the Japanese emissions remained more or less constant. The industrialized countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol (so called ratifying Annex 1 countries) and the USA, in 1990 caused about two-thirds of global CO2 emissions.

Climate Lessons from Ozone Hole History (Scientific American)

Their share of global emissions has now fallen to less than half the global total. Continued growth in the developing countries and emerging economies and economic recovery by the industrialized countries are the main reasons for a record breaking 5.8% increase in global CO2 emissions between 2009 and 2010. Most major economies contributed to this increase, led by China, USA, India and European Union with increases of 10%, 4%, 9% and 3% respectively. The increase is significant even when compared to 2008, when global CO2 emissions were at their highest before the global financial crisis. It can be noted that in Europe, CO2 emissions remain lower in absolute terms than they were before the crisis (4.0 billion tons in 2010 as compared to 4.2 billion tons in 2007).

WHO on Climate Co-benefits of walking and bicycling

Figure from http://www.commondreams.org

The "Climate and Clean Air Coalition" Announced

At present, the USA emits 16.9 tons CO2 per capita per year, over twice as much as Europe with 8.1 tons. By comparison, Chinese per capita CO2 emissions of 6.8 tons are still below the Europe average, but now equal those of Italy. It should be noted that the average figures for China and Europe hide significant regional differences.

Bounding the Role of Black Carbon in the Climate System: A Scientific Assessment

After a 1% decline in 2009, global carbon dioxide (CO2)emissions increased by more than 5% in 2010, which is unprecedented in the last two decades, but similar to the increase in 1976 when the global economy was recovering from the first oil crisis and subsequent stock market crash. CO2 emissions went up in most of the major economies, led by China and India with increases of 10% and 9% respectively. The average annual growth rate in CO2 emissions over the last three years of the credit crunch, including a 1% increase in 2008 when the first impacts became visible, is 1.7%, almost equal to the long-term annual average of 1.9% for the preceding two decades back to 1990. However, most industrialized countries have not recovered fully from their decreases in emissions of 7 to 12% in 2009.

Pandora's Promise - How do we Continue to Power Modern Civilization Without Destroying it? (Documentary)

Pandora's Promise (2013)
Documentary - 15 November 2013 (UK)
Ratings: 6.1/10 from 161 users
Director: Robert Stone
Writer: Robert Stone
Stars: Stewart Brand, Gwyneth Cravens, Mark Lynas
 

A feature-length documentary about the history and future of nuclear power. The film explores how and why mankind's most feared and controversial technological discovery is now passionately embraced by many of those who once led the charge against it. Operating as history, cultural meditation and contemporary exploration, PANDORA'S PROMISE aims to inspire a serious and realistic debate over what is without question the most important question of our time: how do we continue to power modern civilization without destroying it?

A debate from the TED talks below.

Environmental Immigrants - Urbanites Flee China’s Smog for Blue Skies (NYT)

A typical morning for Lin Liya, a native of Shanghai transplanted to this ancient town in southwest China, goes like this: See her 3-year-old son off to school near the mountains; go for a half-hour run on the shores of Erhai Lake; and browse the local market for fresh vegetables and meat.

Link to the article on New York Times.

She finished her run one morning beneath cloudless blue skies and sat down with a visitor from Beijing in the lakeside boutique hotel started by her and her husband.

Air Pollution in Beijing - By Numbers

“I think luxury is sunshine, good air and good water,” she said. “But in the big city, you can’t get those things.”

1 Million Lung Cancer Patients in China by 2025

More than two years ago, Ms. Lin, 34, and her husband gave up comfortable careers in the booming southern city of Guangzhou — she at a Norwegian risk management company, he at an advertising firm that he had founded — to join the growing number of urbanites who have decamped to rural China. One resident here calls them “environmental refugees” or “environmental immigrants.”

At a time when hundreds of millions of Chinese, many poor farmers, are leaving their country homesteads to find work and tap into the energy of China’s dynamic cities, a small number of urban dwellers have decided to make a reverse migration. Their change in lifestyle speaks volumes about anxieties over pollution, traffic, living costs, property values and the general stress found in China’s biggest coastal metropolises.

Air Quality in Beijing

Take air quality: Levels of fine particulate matter in some Chinese cities reach 40 times the recommended exposure limit set by the World Health Organization. This month, an official Chinese news report said an 8-year-old girl near Shanghai was hospitalized with lung cancer, the youngest such victim in China. Her doctor blamed air pollution.

China Needs Olympic Period Regulations or Similar to Cut Pollution Problems

The urban refugees come from all walks of life — businesspeople and artists, teachers and chefs — though there is no reliable estimate of their numbers. They have staked out greener lives in small enclaves, from central Anhui Province to remote Tibet. Many are Chinese bobos, or bourgeois bohemians, and they say that besides escaping pollution and filth, they want to be unshackled from the material drives of the cities — what Ms. Lin derided as a focus on “what you’re wearing, where you’re eating, comparing yourself with others.”

The town of Dali in Yunnan Province, nestled between a wall of 13,000-foot mountains and one of China’s largest freshwater lakes, is a popular destination. Increasingly, the indigenous ethnic Bai people of the area are leasing their village homes to ethnic Han, the dominant group in China, who turn up with suitcases and backpacks. They come with one-way tickets from places like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, all of which have roaring economies but also populations of 15 million people or more.

On Internet forums, the new arrivals to Dali discuss how to rent a house, where to shop, how to make a living and what schools are best for their children. Their presence is everywhere in the cobblestone streets of the old town. They run cafes, hotels and bookstores, and the younger ones sit on the streets selling trinkets from blankets.

Some become farmers here, and some spend their days home schooling their children. Their presence has transformed Dali and surrounding villages into a cross between Provence and Haight-Ashbury.

One magnet is the village of Shuanglang, which became a draw after the famous Yunnan natives Yang Liping, a dancer, and Zhao Qing, an artist, built homes there. As at other lakeside villages, the immigrants, some with immense wealth, live near fishermen and farmers.

“All kinds of people come here with different dreams,” said Ye Yongqing, 55, an ethnic Bai artist from the region who has lived mostly in cities, including London, but bought a home here five years ago. “Some people imagine this place as Greece or Italy or Bali.”

“Dali is one of the few places in China that still has a close tie to the earth,” he added, sitting in front of a table of squashes in his garden courtyard. “A lot of villages in China have become empty shells. Dali is a survivor of this phenomenon.”

Ms. Lin said she first fell in love with Dali when she came as a backpacker in 2006. She returned twice before moving here. In 2010, on the third visit, she and her husband, whom she had met trekking in Yunnan, looked for land to lease to build a hotel on Erhai Lake. It has not all been easy going, Ms. Lin said, citing negotiations and misunderstandings with local officials, villagers and employees.

“We just wanted to switch to a different life,” said Ms. Lin, who had lived in Shanghai as well as Guangzhou. “My friends in Shanghai are struggling there — not only in their work, but also just to live. The prices are too high, even higher than in Europe. They become crazy, go mad.”

Ms. Lin moved here less than two years after giving birth to a son. “It’s good for the baby because it’s like my mother’s childhood,” she said. “My mother’s childhood in Shanghai — the air was still clean, you could see blue skies, there was clean water.”

That is a common refrain among parents here. One afternoon, four mothers, all urban refugees, sat outside a bookstore cafe, Song’s Nest, practicing English with one another. “The one thing we all have in common is we moved here to raise our children in a good environment,” one woman said.

The bookshop’s owner, Song Yan, moved here this year and translates books by an Indian philosopher popular with Chinese spiritual seekers. One night, she and another translator and urban refugee, Zheng Yuantao, 33, talked over dinner about their moves.

“I’ve never felt so free in my life,” Mr. Zheng said. “I grew up as a city boy, and I never realized how much I like living close to nature.”

From the nearby lakeside village of Caicun, Huang Xiaoling, a photographer, flies back to Beijing to shoot portraits and events for clients. She had once lived in a courtyard home in the Chinese capital, but fled in September with her 3-year-old son and husband, an American who works remotely as a technology director for a New York publishing company.

“I’m still productive even though I don’t go into an office,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s the weather and the environment, or just me feeling that, ‘Oh, I got out of the cave that I wanted to escape.’ ”

Co-benefits - China's Action of Air Pollution Now Reducing Carbon Emissions

It's been a week of mostly bad news for the planet but there may be a small glimmer of hope as new research shows the growth of emissions from China, the world's biggest emitter, may be slowing due to its efforts to clean up the air pollution problem in many of its cities.
Link to the article on The Guardian.

Air Pollution in Beijing - By Numbers

The United Nations climate change talks in Warsaw are so far not making sufficient progress to ensure the agreed goal of keeping global temperature increases to below 2C and new research shows that global CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels will rise to a record high of 36 billion tonnes in 2013. The research from the Global Carbon Budget also estimates that in 2012, China contributed 27% of global CO2 emissions.

Science: Want to Fight Global Warming? Don't Just Focus on CO2

However, the latest Climate Change Performance Index published by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe suggests that China is taking action to clean up its act as it tries to deal with its hazardously high levels of air pollution.

The report states:

"Recent developments indicate a slower growth of CO2 emissions and a decoupling of CO2 growth and GDP growth. Both, its heavy investments in renewable energies and a very critical debate on coal in the highest political circles, resulting from the heavy smog situation in many towns, give hope for a slower emission growth in the future."

China's slower growth of emission is linked to its attempts to improve its air pollution that rather than being linked to international efforts to improve climate change. However, the source of both its hazardous air pollution and its CO2 emissions is its reliance on coal to fuel its massive economic growth. So efforts to improve its air quality will also bring reductions in CO2 emissions.

China Needs Olympic Period Regulations or Similar to Cut Pollution Problems

Air pollution is a big problem during the winter months as heating systems get switched on. While only the off the scale levels gets media attention, the reality is that many Chinese cities at this time of year experience levels of air pollution well above the levels considered as healthy by the World Health Organisation.

Coal and China - How Bad is it? (Grist Magazine)

The Chinese government has been under pressure internally to take firm action on air pollution and in September introduced a plan to bring improvements in air quality in key areas by 2017. The measures planned include closing polluting factories, and improving fuel quality. But more importantly, the plan also aims to reduce the country's reliance on coal.

5 things for cutting coal consumption

At a time when any environmental issues including climate change are way down the political agenda for many countries due to economic concerns, in China the environment is top of the agenda as smog and water pollution are taking a toll on the health of its citizens.

1 Million Lung Cancer Patients in China by 2025

In a recent blog post, Li Shuo, Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace said there is strong media and public perception that sees climate change and air pollution in the same vein.
And in a recent interview on this blog, one of China's top environmentalists Ma Jun said: "In China most people don't need to be convinced about climate change before they want to take action ... Hundreds of millions of people are exposed to a bad pollution problem and they do want to solve this problem."

Renewable Energy to Power the World (IPCC)

China has also experienced a number of extreme weather events in recent years and this week at the United Nations climate change negotiations, the government released its National Strategy of Climate Change adaptation.

According to the report, extreme weather conditions in China has caused an average of more than 2,000 deaths and up to 34bn pounds in economic losses each year since the 1990's. Xie Zhenhua, China's top climate negotiator said that China has pledged to cut its carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 from 2005 levels.

However any optimism must also be tempered by the fact that China's position in the Climate Change Performance Index is still ranked as poor. Global emissions are still rising and the first three positions of the Index remain empty as no country is considered to be on track to prevent dangerous climate change.

The UN climate negotiations are once again at a standstill. China's stance at the international level remains the same, that developed countries are more responsible for climate change due to their historical emissions and they should pay for the damage caused while developed countries want current and future emissions to be included in any new climate change agreement.


But there at least domestically perhaps China's actions can bring some international benefits and Xie said during the talks that China's climate change policy is not determined by "international pressure" but from "the inherent requirement of China's sustainable development".

Forecasted Surface Winds and Mixing Heights Over Delhi !!

Dusty Roads in Chennai

Gridded Vehicle Emissions Inventory for PM2.5 in Chennai 2010

The Chennai Corporation will develop an action plan for reducing dust on roads.

Link to the article from the Hindu

It is planning to find ways to cope with air pollution caused by road cuts, ongoing Metro Rail work, inadequate sweeping of roads, garbage, and construction debris.

Let us hope that it is not a vacuum cleaner

This is in accordance with a direction from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to the civic body and other agencies, such as Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, traffic police, Chennai Metrowater and the transport department, to take steps to control air pollution in the city.

After the commencement of a project by CPCB to set up continuous real-time air quality monitoring stations in Chennai and 15 other cities, for which action plan is being prepared by the State governments as per the orders of the Supreme Court, the Chennai Corporation has been trying to put in place a detailed plan for reducing dust on roads.

Chennai city needs more monitoring stations

The Corporation is likely to focus on infrastructure renewal and technological intervention to tackle the problem of dust on roads.

“A number of motorists suffer from eye irritation and poor visibility because of air pollution. Many roads are dusty and vehicle movement causes dust particles to hover, along most stretches,” said R.B. Saravanan, who rides a motorcycle daily.

According to a recent report of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) on air quality, places such as Anna Nagar, Kilpauk and T. Nagar exceed the permissible limit of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) of less than 10 micron size.

Air pollution in Chennai, India

TNPCB’s annual reports also indicate a rise in pollution level on roads. RSPM levels have gone up in the past few years.

Publication on the air pollution analysis for Chennai (2010)

In areas such as Kathivakkam, the RSPM has been consistently above 300 microgram/cubic metre.

According to an official of the Corporation’s public health department, Wall Tax Road, Mint, T. Nagar and Chennai Central neighbourhoods have potential for causing high incidence of respiratory problems for motorists because of dust on roads.

1 Million Lung Cancer Patients in China by 2025

China’s heavy air pollution and tobacco smoking habits have already been linked to the decline in respiratory health of its citizens, and it’s only expected to get worse. Experts are now estimating that China will be the home to the most lung cancer patients in the world by 2025.

Link to the article on International Business Times.

According to the Shanghai Daily, experts attending a forum last weekend in the capital city of Beijing, said there will be roughly one million people suffering from lung cancer across the country by 2025, becoming the deadliest cancers of all in China by then.

Mean Rank of Health Risks in China - from Global Burden of Disease Assessment 2010

Global Burden of Disease Assessments 2010

The United Nations public health bureau, the World Health Organization, said the surge in lung cancer cases has a lot to do with the country’s struggle to kick its smoking habit, but the effects of air pollution should not be marginalized either.

The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer reported last month that air pollution is considered to be a carcinogen, with effects comparable to known cancer-causing elements like asbestos and ultraviolet radiation.

In China, citizens are combatting the air pollution particulate known as PM2.5, which are able to travel deeply inside the respiratory tract. PM 2.5 particles come primarily from vehicle exhaust, construction, and burning fuels like coal. China’s breakneck economic growth and urban expansion over the past decade have come at a very heavy price -- hazardous air quality that endangers the health of its people.

But tobacco remains the greatest threat -- WHO said that smoking accounts for 80 percent of lung cancer cases reported in the country, where a staggering 350 million people light up.  By comparison, the total number of smokers in the whole world is 1.1 billion.

With the incidence of lung cancer rising by 26.9 percent year-on-year in China, other environmental factors are also said to contribute to the increase. Aside from smoking and air pollution, work-related hazards, chronic lung disease and genetic susceptibility are all factors that are affecting citizens, Wang Changli, a member of the Chinese Society of Lung Cancer and doctor at the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute, said.

While China will soon earn the unwanted title of having the most lung cancer patients on the planet, they currently allegedly have the youngest. Earlier this month, local state media confirmed that an 8-year old girl in eastern China was diagnosed with lung cancer as a result of rampant air pollution. The unidentified girl was diagnosed with the disease after inhaling an assortment of dangerous dust pollutants while living nearby a busy road.

3-Dimensional Air Quality Map for Paris (Video)

The AIRCITY Project aims to develop a routine high-resolution air quality now-casting and forecasting tool for the City of Paris. Based on the PMSS code, the simulation system covers a 12x10km area with 3m resolution.

Click here for more details.

 

Air Pollution News and Alerts - November 19th, 2013

Last on November 6th, 2013

South China Morning Post, November 19th, 2013
Inventors battle to help Beijing beat chronic pollution problem.

EDF, November 19th, 2013
Clean Air Standards Create Opportunities, Not Problems for Texas.

UB Post, November 19th, 2013
Luxury apartment sales increases in Ulaanbaatar.

UB Post, November 19th, 2013
Mayor promotes electric cars to reduce air pollution.

Xinhua Net, November 18th, 2013
Inspection uncovers air pollution problems.

ECNS, November 17th, 2013
Baoding, China, tries odd-even scheme.

China Daily, November 16th, 2013
Organization launched to curb air pollution.

The Wall Street Journal, November 15th, 2013
Cleaning Up: China Reform Plan Tackles Pollution.

The New York Times, November 15th, 2013
Beijing’s Car Problem.

The Hill, November 14th, 2013
EPA assailed on power plant regulations.

The Grist, November 14th, 2013
Heavily polluted Beijing now has 8-year-old lung cancer patient.

China Times, November 14th, 2013
200,000 electric cars on Beijing's roads by 2017.

China News, November 14th, 2013
Coal for heating identified as top air polluter in NE China.

India TV, November 14th, 2013
Ludhiana, Kanpur among world's top 10 cities with worst air pollution.

China Digital Times, November 13th, 2013
China Does a “180? on Air Pollution Policy.

Times of India, November 12th, 2013
20% lung cancer caused by air pollution.

Progress Report, November 12th, 2013
North Chinese Lose 5.5 yrs of Life to Air Pollution from Coal.

ECNS, November 11th, 2013
Beijing seriously considering implementing congestion tolls by 2015.

Public Radio, November 11th, 2013
Beijingers don masks to defend themselves against dirty air — and to make a fashion statement.

Hindustan Times, November 11th, 2013
Guard against cold, stay protected in Delhi Winters.

Hindustan Times, November 11th, 2013
Diwali fog is warning for car capital draped in perpetual haze.

The Guardian, November 10th, 2013
Pollutionwatch: Petrol or diesel?

Scientific American, November 10th, 2013
Ozone Hole History Offers Climate Lesson.

November 9th, 2013
Lucknow braves rising pollution level.

BBC, November 9th, 2013
Smoggy Beijing sees lung cancer cases soar.

The Week, November 9th, 2013
China's massive pollution problem.

WRI, November 9th, 2013
Recent Progress Shows China’s Leadership on Carbon Capture and Storage.

China TV News, November 8th, 2013
Heating causes pollution spike in Northern China.

Phys.Org, November 7th, 2013
New approach to climate preparedness essential to help people adjust to coming changes.

Times of India, November 7th, 2013
No faraway sources, pollutants at home behind smog.

New York Times, November 7th, 2013
China’s Dirty Air.

Global Times, November 7th, 2013
China faces a long battle for blue skies.

DNA India, November 7th, 2013
Indore: Rs 1 crore device to monitor 100-metre pollution.

Zee News, November 7th, 2013
When humanity goes to sleep on Diwali.

November 7th, 2013
China's Airpocalypse Didn't Kill Me, It Only Killed My Spirit.

Slate, November 7th, 2013
Guilty but Green - Why India keeps coming out on top of environmental sustainability surveys.

The Guardian, November 7th, 2013
Abundant fossil fuels leave clean energy out in the cold.

Japan Times, November 6th, 2013
China must kick costly coal addiction.

China Daily, November 5th, 2013
Pollution 'to ease in five to 10 years'.

New York Times, November 3rd, 2013
Power Plants Try Burning Wood With Coal to Cut Carbon Emissions.

Green China, November 1st, 2013
Cleaner Beijing, moaning neighbors.

New York Times, October 25th, 2013
Clearing the Air in China.

Business Recorder, October 22nd, 2013
Hong Kong to tighten power plant emission limits.

200,000 Electric Cars on Beijing's Roads

To help clean up the city's notorious air pollution, Beijing plans to have 200,000 electric cars on the roads by 2017, of which 150,000 will be privately owned, said Yan Yaoshuang, director of the Beijing Committee on Science and Technology.

Link to the article on China Times.


In an interview with local television, Yan revealed that the city's plan for new energy vehicles, scheduled for release by the end of the year, will put 30,000-40,000 new electric cars in public use for transportation, environmental protection, hygiene and logistics. The plan requires newly built communities to install 10%-15% of their parking spaces with charging posts for electric cars. For older communities, charging posts can be installed in separate locations.

Public charging posts will be set up every five kilometers on roads in downtown Beijing by 2017, Yan said.



"I will try my best to bring more electric cars to the road, a rather difficult task in view of the city's traffic jams," said Yan. Exemption of new electric cars from existing restrictions on auto use in the city is still under discussion, with the final results expected to be out by the end of the year.
According to the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection, of the 74 cities monitored by the ministry in 2013, the 10 cities with the worst air pollution are Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and their surrounding areas. The Beijing city government recently announced plans to invest 200-300 billion yuan (US$32-$65 billion) in combating the problem over a period of five years.


In principle, electric cars can be exempt from restrictions related to poor smog conditions. Currently the city has create the red-level grading mark for air pollution levels, which indicates heavy smog conditions for at least three consecutive days. Following a 12-hour notice, at this point cars would be placed on a daily rotation for road use.



"According to our plan, electric cars will be given a special quota for auto licenses, separate from gasoline vehicles whose licenses are subject to an annual quota distributed according to lot drawing," said Yan.

Climate Lessons from Ozone Hole History (Scientific American)

In the 1970s, chemists Mario Molina and Sherwood Roland found that mundane household items posed a serious worldwide threat. The two chemists discovered that chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, from air conditioners and canisters of hair spray could destroy the ozone layer. That insight got them a Nobel Prize.

Listen to the podcast on Scientific American.

By the 1980s, folks like then Secretary of State George Shultz woke up to the threat, despite a campaign of denial from scientific doubters. He convinced President Reagan that the danger was real and that action was necessary. By 1989, the U.S. and the rest of the world had crafted an international treaty to curb CFCs known as the Montreal Protocol.

As a result, the hole in the ozone layer that forms above Antarctica has mostly stabilized.
Now we know that Montreal also bought us a little more time to deal with another air pollution problem: climate change. That's according to a new analysis in the journal Nature Geoscience. The study found a statistically significant correlation between the onset of the Montreal Protocol and a reduction in the pace of global warming. Because CFCs are also greenhouse gases.

The finding is good news. It shows that cutting back on greenhouse gas pollution can slow catastrophic climate change. Sadly, the campaign of denial against global warming continues, denying us the chance to make the necessary response.

Power Plants Trying to Burn Wood, Instead of Coal? (NY Times)

Using modest amounts of wood at a large number of coal plants could be a relatively quick way to phase in renewable energy. 

 WASHINGTON — Even as the Environmental Protection Agency considers requiring existing coal-fired power plants to cut their carbon dioxide output, some utilities have started to use a decidedly low-tech additive that accomplishes that goal: wood.

Link to the article on New York Times

Ranging in size from sawdust to chunks as big as soup cans, waste wood from paper mills, furniture factories and logging operations has been used with varying levels of success. Minnesota Power, which once generated almost all of its power from coal and is now trying to convert to one-third renewables and one-third natural gas, found that co-firing with wood was a quick way to move an old plant partly to the renewable category.

“We’re finding an emissions improvement benefit, and an economic benefit,” because the wood is cheaper than coal, said Allan S. Rudeck Jr., Minnesota Power’s vice president for strategy and planning.

One boiler at the company’s Rapids Energy Center, near Grand Rapids, Minn., has run at up to 90 percent wood.

For companies like Minnesota Power, co-firing will be one of the leading options if the E.P.A., which recently proposed limits on carbon emissions for new plants, follows through on its plan to develop limits for old ones.

Using modest amounts of wood at a large number of coal plants could be a relatively quick way to phase in renewable energy. And unlike wind or solar power electricity from a boiler, burning wood is easy to schedule and integrate into the grid.

The E.P.A. is in the midst of “listening sessions” in 11 cities around the country, to gather ideas from the public about putting carbon limits on existing plants. Last week it held an eight-hour session in Denver.

Wood does release carbon when burned, as nearly all fuels do. But taking woody material from forests or farms leaves space for new growth, which will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows. Although some opponents of using wood say that disrupting forests means added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for generations, regulators usually count its use as zero carbon.

Coal plants are finely engineered, designed to burn one particular kind of coal, and adding wood can be tricky. But their carbon output, like their overall efficiency — that is, the amount of coal burned compared with the amount of electricity generated — has grown worse in many cases in recent years. Earlier E.P.A. rules that cover emissions of soot, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants have required plants to install pollution control equipment that itself consumes a lot of energy.

Many companies, to minimize the loss of capacity, have taken another step that the E.P.A. would like to encourage: replacing their aging steam turbines, which often date to the 1970s and 1980s, with more efficient ones. Turbines take the energy from steam and use it to spin a shaft that turns a generator.

Plants that have already installed modern turbines cannot get big improvements from installing even newer ones and may face a bigger challenge meeting new carbon regulations. Duke Energy, for example, upgraded many turbines to offset the capacity loss as it added scrubbers.

“A lot of the low-hanging fruit has already been harvested” for efficiency improvements, said Thomas Williams, a spokesman for Duke. If Duke and other companies are forced to cut emissions, a crucial question for them will be what year is selected as the baseline, the year to which the final result is compared; many will seek to make that year the one before they replaced their turbines.

In the end, some older plants, less efficient to begin with, are more likely to be retired and replaced with natural gas ones, industry executives say, but younger ones judged to have decades of life left in them are good candidates for co-firing.

Co-firing has its drawbacks. In some cases, particularly for bigger companies, there is simply not enough wood. American Electric Power, trying to meet Ohio’s renewable energy standard, tried wood twice at its Picway plant south of Columbus, which was built in 1955. In 2003, it used sawdust from a cabinet manufacturer, and in 2010, waste wood chunks. But it dropped the test.

“The material is difficult to get in any quantity and any predictable form,” said Mark C. McCullough, American Electric Power’s executive vice president for generation.

Wood was “difficult to introduce in our combustion systems, if we don’t know what to expect,” he said. The feeder system had trouble handling the bigger chunks, he said.

The larger size of wood compared to coal is also an issue. A pound of wood can produce only about two-thirds as much heat as a pound of coal, and it is a lot bigger. So to produce the same amount of energy, companies must enlarge their fuel-handling systems. And coal-fired power plants are not used to fuel that can rot or grow fungus.

Small amounts of wood can be mixed in with coal and added to existing equipment that pulverizes coal into powder, which is then burned, but that limits co-firing to about 5 percent of fuel, and some companies say that their pulverizing equipment cannot handle the wood. Other companies have cut holes in the boiler and blown in wood, chopped into confetti-size pieces. That requires expensive modifications, but it allows wood to substitute for 15 percent of the coal, or sometimes more.

European utilities have experimented with heating the wood in a chamber outside the plant, producing a fuel gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and pumping that into the boiler, but that is even more expensive.

But “close to 200 plants have conducted test burns, worldwide,” said David L. Nicholls, a forest products technologist at the United States Forest Service and a specialist on co-firing, who is based in Sitka, Alaska. In the long term, experts say, to reach carbon goals, power companies will have to capture the carbon from all the coal they use, and probably most of the natural gas, too.

 But in the meantime, Mr. Nicholls said, “You could look at co-firing as a bridge strategy.”

Post Diwali, Air Quality is Super Bad in Delhi

THE National Capital is staring at another spell of thick smog as Diwali fire- crackers have significantly increased air pollution. On Tuesday, Delhi remained in the grip of smog which triggered a host of respiratory infections and other health problems.

(Article from Mail Today, November 5th, 2013)

The day was cloudy with a nip in the air, and the minimum temperatures settled three notches below the season’s average at 12.3 degrees Celsius. Health experts said that air pollution would be at its worst for a couple of days, putting people at risk of scores of ailments.

With temperature set to dip as low as 10 degree Celsius and showers expected this week, they advised people to get ready for an early winter.

The fluctuating weather conditions coupled with air pollutants air may cause severe health hazards that will harm ear, nose and throat tract.

“ The level of suspended particles in the air increases alarmingly during Diwali, causing breathing, eye and throat problems.

The pollution level rises due to bursting of crackers during the festival,” said Sandeep Sindhu, senior ENT consultant of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.

“ Those having hypersensitive bronchial airways need to be extra careful. People are advised to stay indoors to avoid inhalation of smoke. People suffering from asthma can increase medication and should immediately approach the doctors, if the problem aggravates,” he said.

Heavy metals remain suspended in the air after Diwali due to fog.

“ Crackers such as sparklers ( phuljhari) and flower pots ( anar) emit highly- toxic heavy metals such as copper, cadmium, lead, manganese, zinc, sodium and potassium. These metals, if present in the air, can cause asthma.

They can also cause severe headache, respiratory diseases and chronic cough,” Dr. Rakesh Kumar, senior consultant ( Internal Medicine) at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.

With the rise in the levels of pollutants in the air, city hospitals have witnessed a significant increase in the number of patients suffering from asthma and other allergies.

“ There is a 20- 30% increase in the number of OPD patients in just one day,” said Dr. Manav Manchanda, senior respiratory specialist, of Asian Institute of Medical Sciences.

The Indian Meteorological Department ( IMD) has forecast that the maximum and minimum temperatures would hover around 28 degree Celsius and 13 degree Celsius in that order. “ There would be thunder showers in coming days. The sky may become partly cloudy in coming days with little rain,” said an IMD official.

The city experienced similar weather on Monday and the maximum temperature was recorded two notches below the season’s average at 28.3 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 12.6 degrees Celsius — three notches below the season’s average. Delhi hospitals are expected to admit more patients of heart, lung and respiratory ailments. Dr Purshotam Lal, chairman of Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute, said, “ During Diwali, cardiac and respiratory problems are on the rise due to increase in pollution because of crackers. The climate also suddenly changes during this time and patients of bronchial asthma are more prone to developing infections.” “ Post- Diwali, people suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and breathing disorders queue up in hospitals as they do not adhere to the precautionary measures prescribed by doctors.

people should avoid being too close to burning fire crackers and avoid smoke,” he said.

City hospitals witness a sudden rise in the number of asthma patients

TIPS TO KEEP RISKS AT BAY

• People are advised to stay indoors to avoid inhalation of smoke
• People suffering from asthma can increase medication and should immediately approach the doctors if the problem aggravates
• Crackers such as sparklers and flower pots emit highly toxic heavy metals such as copper, cadmium, lead, manganese, zinc, sodium and potassium. These metals, if present in the air, can cause asthma.
• Reschedule or plan outdoor activities for early in the morning or late in the day when pollutant levels are considerably lower
• Seek doctors’ help for those complaining of symptoms such as tightness in their chests, coughing, wheezing, excessive weakness or fatigue
• Keep away from high traffic areas to reduce exposure to vehicle exhaust