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New WHO has issued new Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) that reduce levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change. Since WHO’s last 2005 global update, there has been a marked increase of evidence that shows how air pollution affects different aspects of health. Source: WHO. nitrogen dioxide (NO?)
Since the 1980s, air pollution has increased worldwide, but it has increased at a much faster pace in regions close to the equator. They found that the increase in ozone burden due to the spatial distribution change slightly exceeds the combined influences of the increased emission magnitude and global methane.
A study by a pair of researchers at Northwestern University found that when fuel prices drove residents of São Paulo, Brazil, to switch from ethanol to gasoline in their flexible-fuel vehicles, local ozone levels dropped 20%. Ozone levels are relatively high in São Paulo, with hourly concentrations above 75 and 125 µg m ?3
States covered by the proposed Transport Rule. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing regulations employing the “good neighbor” provision of the Clean Air Act to reduce interstate transport of upwind state emissions from power generation that contribute to air quality problems in downwind states. Click to enlarge.
The results, published in an open-access paper in the journal Science , suggest that the focus of efforts to mitigate ozone formation and toxic chemical burdens need to be adjusted, the authors suggested. Even so, lotions, paints and other products contribute about as much to air pollution as does the transportation sector.
Average annual percentage of black carbon pollution related to Chinese exports. China is responsible for only a small percentage of the annual pollution in the US, but powerful global winds known as “westerlies” can push airborne chemicals across the ocean in days, particularly during the spring, causing dangerous spikes in contaminants.
Transport Rule states. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized the new Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) (also called the Transport Rule). The rule will improve air quality by cutting SO 2 and NO x emissions that contribute to pollution problems in other states. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge.
The study focuses on the period between 2005 and 2018 and tracks combustion emissions of various polluting compounds from various sectors, looking at every state in the contiguous United States, from season to season and year to year. Scientists have long known that pollution observes no boundaries, one of the prime examples being acid rain.
Annual average concentrations of fine particulates from US sources of combustion emissions from (a) electric power generation; (b) industry; (c) commercial and residential sources; (d) road transportation; (e) marine transportation; (f) rail transportation; (g) sum of all combustion sources; (h) all sources. Source: MIT.
Counties where measured ozone is above proposed range of standards, based on 2011-2013 monitoring data. Earlier this year, EPA staff had recommended the further reduction of this primary ozone standard from the current 75 ppb (parts per billion) to a revised level within the range of 70 ppb to 60 ppb—and preferably below 70 ppb.
Large improvements of air quality in China during the lockdown have been widely reported, but new research shows that two pollutants harmful to human health—fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and ozone—were only slightly reduced. and ozone were only slightly reduced or barely affected.
Ozone, the main component of smog, is a plant-damaging pollutant formed by emissions from vehicles, cooking stoves and other sources. New research shows that ozonepollution damaged millions of tons of wheat, rice, soybean and cotton crops in India in 2005. Smog in India. Credit: Mark Danielson/Flickr.
A new report prepared by the World Bank at the request of the G8 identifies ways that the World Bank can do more through its projects to reduce the emission of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs): black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone, and fluorinated gases known as HFCs. Transportation projects. degrees Celsius.
Researchers from Rice University and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report in a paper in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry that particularly in Northeastern cities, ozone levels dropped even beyond what was anticipated by cutting emissions of NO x from 2002 to 2006. —Daniel Cohan, co-author. Earlier post.).
Among the many climate-related vulnerabilities that can impact its mission, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites a likely increase in tropospheric ozonepollution as potentially making it more difficult to attain National Ambient Air Quality Standards ( NAAQS ) in many areas with existing ozone problems.
The two combine in the atmosphere to make either nitric acid or peroxynitrous acid; the so-called branching ratio of these two chemicals is important in models of ozone production. has fully characterized a key chemical reaction that affects the formation of pollutants in smoggy air in urban areas. Credit: Caltech/Mitchio Okumura.
Ozonepollution across the continental United States will become far more difficult to keep in check as temperatures rise, according to new work led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Ozone formation. Even short periods of unhealthy ozone levels can cause local death rates to rise.
Cars, buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming, while emitting few aerosols that counteract it. But such efforts are also eliminating some of the cooling effect of such pollution, eliminating a form of inadvertent geoengineering that has likely counteracted global warming in recent decades.
EPA’s TAG program aims to reduce air pollution in areas of the nation with the highest levels of ambient ozone and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) pollution. Under the TAG program, eligible state and local air pollution control agencies must directly apply to EPA, but can select partners for a project consortium.
Fast action on pollutants such as black carbon, ground-level ozone and methane may help limit near term global temperature rise and significantly increase the chances of keeping temperature rise below 2 °C (3.6 °F)—and Extraction and transport of fossil fuel. for 2030 and beyond. Source: UNEP. Click to enlarge.
The European Community’s air pollutant emission inventory report released by the European Environment Agency finds that in 2007, sulphur oxides (SO x ) emissions were down by 72 % from 1990 levels. EU-27 emissions of all four pollutants were lower in 2007 than in 2006.
Black carbon and tropospheric ozone are harmful air pollutants that also contribute to climate change. Reducing black carbon and tropospheric ozone now will slow the rate of climate change within the first half of this century, the study said.
As California continues to reduce local sources of ozone, ozone entering the state from the Pacific makes up a larger fraction of measured ozone levels. An ozonesonde is a balloon which measures ozone from the surface to more than 10 kilometers above the ground.
Illustration of projected ozone changes in the South Coast region due to climate change in 2050. Areas in orange and red could see ozone concentrations elevated by 9 to 18 parts per billion. Our study reveals that climate change and regional air pollution are intertwined problems. Click to enlarge.
The FY 2011-2012 plan focused primarily on five areas of interest: sustainable communities; behavior and technology adoption; health and air pollution exposures; air pollution science; and greenhouse gas targets. These regulations have led to considerable improvements in air quality throughout California.
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are collaborating in the $20-million CalNex research project to examine the nexus between air pollution and climate change. The complex roles that ozone and aerosols play in the atmosphere provide examples of such trade-offs.
Cooking, cleaning and other routine household activities generate significant levels of volatile and particulate chemicals inside the average home, leading to indoor air quality levels on par with a polluted major city, according to a study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. Earlier post.).
A scatter plot of CO, as a tracer for pollution, versus CO 2 , as a tracer for the amount of combustion, for 2002 and 2010. VOCs, primarily emitted from the tailpipes of vehicles, are a key ingredient in the formation of ground-level ozone which, at high levels, can harm people’s lungs and damage crops and other plants.
The studies use case studies to demonstrate the co-benefits of tackling climate change in four sectors: electricity generation, household energy use, transportation, and food and agriculture. Black carbon is a short-lived greenhouse pollutant which, along with ozone, is responsible for a significant proportion of global warming.
The first peer-reviewed study to directly quantify how emissions from oil and natural gas (O&NG) activities influence summertime tropospheric ozone (O 3 ) pollution in the Colorado Front Range confirms that chemical vapors from oil and gas activities are a significant contributor to the region’s chronic ozone problem.
Ozonepollution near Earth’s surface is one of the main ingredients of summertime smog. It is also not directly measurable from space due to the abundance of ozone higher in the atmosphere, which obscures measurements of surface ozone. —Jin et al.
Based on their findings in a new study, researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota suggest that modifying urban form—as a means of affecting motor vehicle usage—may be a strategy to mitigate urban air pollution. Their paper appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.
This despite evidence that suggests air pollution impacts from the transportation sector exceed those from greenhouse gases. … solar, wind, hydroelectric, and nuclear) as compared to the eastern US (EUS), where the electricity market is dominated by pollutant and precursor emitting combustion sources (i.e., —Schnell et al.
CSIRO scientists have developed a new way to account for ozone in computer simulations of the climate. This latest modeling shows that the oceans take much less ozone out of the atmosphere than previously thought. Ozone (O 3 ) is formed by reactions of chemicals such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds—i.e.,
There are widespread policy assumptions that the phase-out of gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines will over time lead to much reduced emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from road transport and related fuels. While some VOCs are released in exhaust, others may arise from an unexpected source—e.g., Lewis, Marvin D.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have conducted a statistical analysis of pollution exposure and yields from 1980 to 2015 on a key sector making up about 38% of the state’s total agricultural output: perennial crops such as almonds, grapes, nectarines, peaches, strawberries and walnuts.
Population-Weighted Multi Pollutant Index (PW-MPI) values for different regions. The emission scenario assumes that population and economic growth largely determine energy and food consumption and consequent pollution sources with the current technologies (“business as usual”). Source: Pozzer et al. —Pozzer et al.
Freight transportation is a pillar of the US national economy, but while long-haul trucks account for less than 6% of the vehicle miles traveled over US highways, they account for about 40% of the emissions of air polluting particulate matter and about 55% of nitrogen oxides, the precursor to ozone in the atmosphere, the study said.
However, emissions do not just remain in conurbations; particles and gaseous pollutants can be transported thousands of kilometers by the wind. The aim is to better understand and predict the extent and impact of urban air pollution on Earth’s atmosphere. Previously, the researchers studied European conurbations from the air.
In part it is difficult to identify significant air quality improvements from a specific program—especially one targeted at a small area within a large city—against the backdrop of broader regional pollutant and weather changes. Within the CCZ, the investigators projected a net decline of 1.7 µg/m 3. in PM 10.
The researchers analyzed pollutant monitoring and pulmonary health effects information as well as multiple covariates that they had collected over more than 20 years from participants in several cohorts recruited into the Children’s Health Study (CHS) in Southern California. HEI typically receives balanced funding from the U.S.
Air pollution is the leading environmental cause of death worldwide according to the State of Global Air 2018 , the annual report and interactive website published by the Health Effects Institute (HEI). Population-weighted seasonal average ozone concentrations in 2016. million early deaths from outdoor air pollution in 2016.
Deterioration of the ozone layer [kg CFC-11-eq.]. Up to now, when it comes to the environmental impact of different means of transportation, arguments are still too often based on ill-founded results with biased assumptions behind them. Depletion of fossil energy resources [kg oil-eq.]. Depletion of fresh water reserves [m 3 ].
The on-road transportation (ORT) and power generation (PG) sectors are major contributors to CO 2 emissions and a host of short-lived radiatively-active air pollutants, including tropospheric ozone and fine aerosol particles, that exert complex influences on global climate. Unger et al. 2009) Click to enlarge. Unger et al.
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