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New analysis has found increasing emissions of several ozone-depleting chemicals despite their production being banned for most uses under the Montreal Protocol—and a loophole in the rules is likely responsible. According to the researchers, emissions from these CFCs currently do not significantly threaten ozone recovery.
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
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. Based on their findings, they suggested that emission increases in Southeast, East and South Asia may be most important for the ozone change.
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.
Reducing emissions of black carbon soot and ground-level ozone would quickly make a considerable dent in the climate change problem and would also contribute to public health and protect crop yields, according to an essay in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs. Besides a danger to breathe, ozone lowers crop yields.
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 ozone pollution damaged millions of tons of wheat, rice, soybean and cotton crops in India in 2005. Surface ozone pollution in India damaged 6 million metric tons (6.7
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.).
A new study provides the most detailed picture available to date of the global, regional, and local health impacts attributable to emissions from four transportation subsectors: on-road diesel vehicles; other on-road vehicles; shipping; and non-road mobile engines such as agricultural and construction equipment. Source: The ICCT.
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.
Springtime ozone distributions for 1984, 1995–2008 in the mid-troposphere (3.0–8.0 Springtime ozone levels above western North America are rising primarily due to air flowing eastward from the Pacific Ocean, a trend that is largest when the air originates in Asia. The US EPA recently proposed new tougher ground-level ozone standards.
Rather, it is the leaking of hydrogen from production, transportation and usage that adds to global warming. Hydrogen is not a greenhouse gas, but its chemical reactions in the atmosphere affect greenhouse gases such as methane, ozone, and stratospheric water vapor. Sand et al. Hydrogen interacts with various biogeochemical processes.
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.
The decrease in CO 2 equivalent emissions of ODSs (ozone-depleting substances: CFCs, halons, HCFCs, and others) may be offset by the projected increase in their non-ozone depleting substitutes (HFCs) (lines designated as HFC scenarios). Climate and the Ozone Layer. Source: UNEP. Click to enlarge.
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.
Among the many climate-related vulnerabilities that can impact its mission, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites a likely increase in tropospheric ozone pollution as potentially making it more difficult to attain National Ambient Air Quality Standards ( NAAQS ) in many areas with existing ozone problems.
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.
Ozone pollution 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. Scenario A2 and RCP 8.5.
used a climate model to analyze the effects of a wide range of chemical species, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, organic carbon, black carbon, nitrate, sulfate, and ozone, from 13 sectors of the economy from 2000 to 2100. Targeting on-road transportation is a win-win-win. Unger et al.
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.
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. This means less of the hydroxyl radical and nitrogen dioxide go away, leading to proportionately more ozone, mostly in polluted areas, Okumura said.
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. Click to enlarge. These narrow-focused models utilize high-resolution information about the geography, meteorology and emissions of these areas.
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.
A team from Duke University in the US and University of York in the UK have utilized a novel method to estimate long-term ozone exposure and previously reported epidemiological results to quantify the health burden from long-term ozone exposure in three major regions of the world. —Karl Seltzer. Karl M Seltzer et al.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer IFF in Germany are designing the distributed and modular production and distribution of green hydrogen for industry, business and transportation throughout the value chain—a hydrogen factory of the future. Another use scenario envisions using the oxygen in agriculture to desulfurize biogas plants.
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.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to $10 million is available ( DE-FOA-0000669 ) this year to demonstrate and deploy electric transportation technologies for cargo vehicles, such as trucks, locomotives and forklifts. systems in roadbeds or rail lines that propel trucks or trains.
Transport Rule states. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized the new Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) (also called the Transport Rule). reductions; annual NO x reductions; and ozone-season NO x. Ozone Season NO x Power Plant Emissions. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge. Upwind and downwind linkages.
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.,
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.
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. Last year, Hyundai Motor also announced its NorCal Zero project, also known as Zero-Emission Regional Truck Operations with Fuel Cell Electric Trucks. Earlier post.)
Ozone pollution 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.
Currently, anthropogenic N 2 O emissions represent the largest contribution to ozone depletion. The study, published online 27 August in the journal Science , for the first time evaluated nitrous oxide emissions from human activities in terms of their potential impact on Earth’s ozone layer. Source: Ravishankara et al. TgCO 2 e, 9.7%).
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.
Hydrous ethanol has been used in the United States as a transportation fuel for at least one hundred years. These distilleries made 192-proof alcohol for human consumption, lantern fuel and transportation fuel. Use of Hydrous Ethanol in the United States. This moonshine was hydrous ethanol. Pursuant to 40 CFR § 80.27(a)(2):
The transportation sector remains the largest source of GHG emissions in the state, and saw a 1% increase in emissions in 2017. Transportation sector emission sources include combustion of fuels utilized in-state that are used by on-road and off-road vehicles, aviation, rail, and water-borne vehicles, as well as a few other smaller sources.
Net warming from NO x emissions is a sum over warming (short-term ozone increase) and cooling (decreases in methane and stratospheric water vapor, and a long-term decrease in ozone) terms. These contributions involve a large number of chemical, microphysical, transport and, radiative processes in the global atmosphere.
The purpose of the federal RFG program is to improve air quality in certain areas through the use of gasoline that is reformulated to reduce motor vehicle emissions that lead to the formation of ground-level ozone. States which are designated by EPA as part of the OzoneTransport Region, such as Maine, can “opt-in” to the program.
When action is taken on these classical pollutants—particulate matter (PM), ozone (O?), PM is primarily generated by fuel combustion in different sectors, including transport, energy, households, industry, and from agriculture. and PM 10 ), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. nitrogen dioxide (NO?)
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. —lead author Carsten Warneke, Ph.D.,
Mineta San José International Airport’s (SJC) has deployed a fleet of 10 Proterra battery-electric buses that will transport passengers and their luggage between SJC’s parking lots, rental car center, and terminals. The electric bus fleet is anticipated to reduce ozone emissions by 1.1
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.
Dust, ozone and carbon can accumulate in valleys and basins in California and other Western states. Los Angeles experiences at least one extra day a year of smog that exceeds federal ozone limits because of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emitted by Chinese factories making goods for export, the analysis found. Click to enlarge.
Maersk Container Industry (MCI) is calling for tougher enforcement of European environmental legislation designed to protect the Earth’s ozone layer and help prevent climate change. Current EU legislation bans the “import” or “placing on the market” of reefer containers with significant potential to damage the climate and ozone layer.
On a per-storage basis, the team found that the NiMH technology was found to have the highest environmental impact, followed by NCM and then LFP, for all categories considered except ozone depletion potential. They also found higher life cycle global warming emissions than have been previously reported.
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