Air pollution is a growing problem in most cities (big and small). The "Daily Dose" aims to disseminate the best available information on air pollution and engage in discussions to better understand the process of air quality management. For more details visit https://www.urbanemissions.info
The study, carried out by Mark Jacobson of the atmosphere and energy programme at Stanford University, found wind power to be by far the most desirable source of energy. Biofuels from corn and plant waste came right at the bottom of the list, along with nuclear power and "clean" coal. The article is published in Energy & Environmental Science "Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security."
This piece by Daniel Sperling, aired on NPR Radio on January 15th, 2009, discussing the consequences of the doubling on the vehicles, which now stands at one billion, on the environment and sustainability.
Daniel Sperling is a professor of civil engineering and environmental science and policy at the University of California, Davis and the founding director of University of California, Davis' Institute of Transportation Studies.
A compilation of top environmental news in Asia is 2008 is published by IGES (Japan), featuring news & reports from 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and includes 114 articles from three international organizations and 21 countries.
The report covers the topics of global warming, air quality, water, waste and recycling, forests, biodiversity and others.
Also see.. a compilation on daily clean air news from Urban Emissions @
In 2008, 14 working papers were published under the SIM series.
SIM 01-2008: Using Google Earth for GIS Road Maps
For the transport sector emissions analysis, a good database of the urban road maps is required. This working paper describes a methodology to develop a set of road maps in GIS format using Google Earth.
SIM 02-2008: Four Simple Equations for Vehicular Emissions Inventory
This working paper explains four different equations to develop an emissions inventory - using base as (a) number of vehicles (b) fuel consumption by mode (c) passenger kilometers traveled or (d) ambient data followed by source apportionment. Each methodology has its advantages and disadvantages and an explanation is provided for developing the involved parameters.
SIM 03-2008: Informed Decision Support for AQM in Developing Cities SIM 04-2008: Simple and Interactive Models for Air Pollution Analysis
This working paper provides an overview of the SIM-air analytical tool for the rapid assessment and integrated analysis.
SIM 05-2008: Urban Air Pollution Analysis for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
This is an executive summary of the analysis conducted for the city of Ulaanbaatar with 2005 as the base year and particulates as the criteria pollutant. An AQM action plan for year 2020 was developed. A series of management options were analysis following the development of an emissions inventory and dispersion modeling.
SIM 06-2008: Estimating Health Impacts of Urban Air Pollution
This working paper presents a methodology to estimate health impacts - mortality and morbidity - of urban air pollution. A summary of the dose response functions and literature is also presented.
SIM 07-2008: Estimating Road Dust Emissions: Methods & Parameters
Dust 1.01, an excel based tool to calculate dust emissions on paved and unpaved roads, due to vehicular activity.
SIM 08-2008: Co-Benefits: Management Options for Local Pollution & GHG Emission Control
This working paper presents a summary of possible co-benefits of various management options - for outdoor and indoor air pollution.
SIM 09-2008: Air Pollution & Co-Benefits Analysis for Hyderabad, India
This is an executive summary of the analysis conducted for the city of Hyderabad with 2006 as the base year and particulates as the criteria pollutant. A Co-benefit AQM action plan was developed for year 2020 and submitted to local pollution control board.
SIM 10-2008: What is Particulate Matter - Composition & Summary?
SIM 11-2008: Urban Transport in India - Not so Fast for Nano Car
This working paper describe the urban transport - public and private in India and possible implications or benefits of have a small and efficient cars.
SIM 12-2008: DIESEL Program in Bangkok
For details visit - DIESEL Page
SIM 13-2008: VAPIS - Vehicular Air Pollution Information System
This is an explanation for methodology No.1 presented in SIM 02-2008 and an excel based tool to plug and play.
SIM 14-2008: An "Air Quality Management" Action Plan for Hanoi, Vietnam
This is a summary of the AQM action plan for 2020 developed for the city of Hanoi, with 2006 as the base year.
SIM-air - Simple Interactive Models for better air quality @ www.sim-air.org
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The article is published in Energy & Environmental Science
