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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%. At the same time, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide concentrations tended to go up. 3 , respectively, being 2.7
Average annual percentage of black carbonpollution related to Chinese exports. Dust, ozone and carbon can accumulate in valleys and basins in California and other Western states. We’ve outsourced our manufacturing and much of our pollution, but some of it is blowing back across the Pacific to haunt us.
In a statement released this morning, President Barack Obama said he has requested that US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson withdraw the agency’s draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) rulemaking. Earlier post.) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
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. Click to enlarge. °C (within a likely range of 0.2-0.7
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new, stronger standards to promote clean air and reduce pollution from heavy-duty vehicles and engines starting in model year (MY) 2027. In 2045, the proposed Option 1 would result in total annual monetized ozone- and PM 2.5
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.
About 4 million children worldwide develop asthma each year because of inhaling nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) air pollution, according to an open-access study published in The Lancet Planetary Health by researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH). —Susan Anenberg.
US EPA Region 9 8-hour ozone trends, 1979-2000. These State Implementation Plans (SIPs) are the roadmaps to meeting the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 0.08 In 1997, EPA first established the 8-hour ozone standard, which replaced the older 1-hour ozone standard (0.12 Source: EPA.
A study by researchers at the University of Texas found that in general, use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can lead to an increase in ozone during nighttime hours (due to decreased scavenging from both vehicles and EGU stacks) and a decrease in ozone during daytime hours.
A University of Utah engineer has developed an inexpensive new method to remove oil sheen by repeatedly pressurizing and depressurizing ozone gas, creating microscopic bubbles that attack the oil so it can be removed by sand filters. Emerging contaminants, such as wastewater polluted with medications and personal care products.
Extraordinarily cold temperatures in the stratosphere during the winter of 2010/2011 caused the most massive destruction of the ozone layer above the Arctic so far, according to a study by climate researchers at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology). These chemical conversion products attack the ozone layer and destroy it partly.
The Asian monsoon circulation provides an effective pathway for pollution from Asia, India, and Indonesia to enter the global stratosphere, according to a new international study led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. NCAR scientist William Randel, the lead author.
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.
The rapidly growing space industry may have a greater climate effect than the aviation industry and undo repair to the protective ozone layer if left unregulated, according to a new study led by UCL and published in the journal Earth’s Future as an open-access paper. The space industry is one of the world’s fastest growing sectors.
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.
Boxes represent pollution reading locations during that window. Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego have built a portable pollution sensors that transmit transmit their air quality readings to smart phones, allowing users to monitor air quality in real time. Nikzad et al. Click to enlarge. Click to enlarge.
US Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) introduced the Super Pollutant Emissions Reduction Act (SUPER Act) of 2013, legislation aimed at combating short-lived climate pollutants, which are only somewhat addressed by disparate government programs. C in projected cumulative warming by 2050 and 1.1 °C
A new statistical method developed by researchers at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia) can detect abnormal ozone levels within large bodies of monitored data. The monitoring methods can quickly and accurately detect ozone anomalies—localized spikes in ozone concentration indicated by sensor data.
HFCs are synthetic gases that are used in a variety of applications, but mainly to replace ozone-depleting substances in aerosols, foams, refrigeration and air-conditioning. Technology exists that makes it possible for new facilities to use refrigerants with very low-GWP today, such as carbon dioxide or ammonia.
The Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor mission, also known as Sentinel-5P, is dedicated to monitoring air pollution by measuring a multitude of trace gases as well as aerosols. Recent data have also shown a decline of air pollution over northern Italy coinciding with its nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Led by the tiny Pacific island of the Federated States of Micronesia, a growing group of low-lying islands and other vulnerable countries are calling for fast action on the approximately 50% of global warming that is caused by pollutants other than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). million lives lost each year due to black carbon soot.
Through a recent modeling experiment, a team of NASA-funded researchers have found that future concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere and of nitrogen in the soil are likely to have an important but overlooked effect on the cycling of water from sky to land to waterways. Credit: NASA. 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.
Cutting HFCs, black carbon, tropospheric ozone, and methane can buy us about 40 years before we approach the dangerous threshold of 2°C warming. —co-author HFCs are powerful greenhouse gases originally developed as substitutes for ozone-depleting chemicals. Black Carbon. With indoor air pollution killing 1.6
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.
Renault’s comparison of the carbon footprint of EV and ICE vehicles over production, operation and end of life. Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (kg Ethene equivalent). Quantifies the production of pollutantozone (? to ozone layer), the results of the reaction of sunlight on NO x and volatile organic compounds.
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 study also shows that the proportion of gaseous aromatic compounds—apart from benzene—in hydrocarbon emissions is two to three times greater in pollution plumes in Paris than in Los Angeles, even though the total quantity of hydrocarbons emitted in Los Angeles remains considerably greater than in Paris. Borbon, A., Gilman, W.
The human health benefits associated with improvements in air quality related to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions improvements can offset 26–1,050% of the cost of US carbon policies, depending upon the type of policy, according to a new study by a team from MIT. Carbon-reduction policies significantly improve air quality.
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.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted its final Report to Congress on Black Carbon , in response to an October 2009 request from Congress to advance efforts to understand the role of black carbon (BC) in climate change. —Report to Congress on Black Carbon. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge. Earlier post.).
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is made up of eight counties in California’s Central Valley: San Joaquin,Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin portion of Kern. The District is currently working on reaching attainment for the federal 8-hour ozone and PM 2.5
Panels show (a) PM 2.5 , (b) elemental carbon (EC), (c) NO x , (d) CO, (e) formaldehyde, and (f) sum of target VOCs. They found that the level of emissions of regulated and unregulated pollutants in diesel exhaust depends on fuel, load, engine calibration, and exhaust aftertreatment technology. Emission rates for the 1.7
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.
In particular, the study led by Drew Shindell found that methane emissions have a larger warming impact due to those interactions than accounted for in current carbon-trading schemes or in the Kyoto Protocol. And hydroxyls drive long chains of reactions involving other common gases, including ozone. Shindell et al.
Relying more on natural gas would reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, but it would do little to help solve the climate problem. The burning of coal releases more carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, as well as comparatively high levels of other pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particles such as ash.
Urban regions account for an ever increasing fraction of Earth’s population, and are consequently an ever increasing source of air pollutants. These pollutants include anthropogenic aerosols, which have important climate and health implications.
Cars, buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming, while emitting few aerosols that counteract it. And biomass burning—which occurs mainly as a result of tropical forest fires, deforestation, savannah and shrub fires—emits large amounts of organic carbon particles that block solar radiation.
Cars’ average carbon dioxide emissions have dropped by 25% since the early 2000s, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but this gas only accounts for part of the total. —Cliff et al. While some VOCs are released in exhaust, others may arise from an unexpected source—e.g.,
The study found that 60% of the winter primary hydrocarbon hydroxyl radical reactivity in London is from those diesel-related hydrocarbons; the authors predicted that the longer-chain HCs contribute up to 50 % of the ozone production potential in London. —Dunmore et al. Dunmore et al. Dunmore et al.
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has released , for public review, a concept paper to initiate discussion on the development of a Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy. Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) include methane, tropospheric ozone, black carbon, and fluorinated gases.
Since 1990, nationwide air quality has improved significantly for the six common air pollutants: ground-level ozone; particle pollution; lead; nitrogen dioxide; carbon monoxide; and sulfur dioxide, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report “Our Nation’s Air - Status and Trends through 2008”.
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.
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