This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
In early 2013, the Chinese government declared a war on air pollution and began instituting stringent policies to regulate the emissions of PM 2.5. Cities restricted the number of cars on the road, coal-fired power plants reduced emissions or were shuttered and replaced with natural gas. Over the course of five years, PM 2.5
Levels of two major air pollutants have been reduced significantly since lockdowns began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a secondary pollutant—ground-level ozone—has increased in China, according to new research. Ozone is harmful to humans at ground-level, causing pulmonary and heart disease.
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).
Ozone levels across much of North America and Europe dropped significantly between 2000 and 2014. People living in parts of southern Europe, South Korea and southern Japan and China also experienced more than 15 days a year of ozone levels above 70 ppb. Trends in daily maximum ozone levels (known as 4MDA8) at urban and non-urban sites.
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.
The approximate linear relationship for each region is notable, suggesting that the dependence of urban NO 2 pollution upon population follows a power law scaling with population. Even though larger cities are typically more energy efficient with lower per-capita emissions, more people still translates to more pollution.)
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.
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.
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 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized the new Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) (also called the Transport Rule). Carried long distances across the country by wind and weather, power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and nitrogen oxide (NO x ) continually travel across state lines. Source: EPA.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Denver represents an interesting case study for exploring potential PHEV impacts because it violates the federal air quality standard for ozone and because several large EGUs [electricity generating units] are located in or near the urbanized area. million vehicles and would have increased by 3 tpd from power plants. Brinkman et al.
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.
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.
The $461,000-project, titled “Heterogeneous Aging Mechanisms of Combustion and Biomass Burning Emissions,” will focus on how gases, such as ozone, react with pollutants emitted from power plants and forest fires. Guzman and his students will study how these pollutants are transformed on surfaces by oxidizing atmospheric gases.
A study by a team of researchers from France and the US found that the origin of volatile hydrocarbons, other than methane, present in city air is mainly gasoline-powered vehicles. times greater than in Los Angeles due to the greater overall volatile hydrocarbon pollution in the latter city. Borbon, A., Gilman, W. Chevaillier, A.
Researchers from Northwestern University and Princeton University have explored the impact on US air quality from an aggressive conversion of internal combustion vehicles to battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs). This despite evidence that suggests air pollution impacts from the transportation sector exceed those from greenhouse gases. …
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.
HFCs are powerful greenhouse gases originally developed as substitutes for ozone-depleting chemicals. The Montreal Protocol has already delayed climate change by seven to 12 years, and put the ozone layer on the path to recovery later this century. With indoor air pollution killing 1.6 Tropospheric ozone.
Data collected during a major 2010 state-federal atmospheric research project show that the first-in-the-nation regulation requiring ocean-going vessels to use clean fuel when near the California coast has been extremely effective in reducing sulfur dioxide pollution from ships, according to the California Air Resources Board (ARB).
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. For the thermal engines, the impacts in the use phase come from: Pollutant emissions (CO 2 , NO x , HC, CO).
It requires anyone who owns, operates, charters, rents or leases any US or foreign-flagged container, passenger or refrigerated-cargo vessel that visits a California port to meet the operational time limits and reduce their power generation fleet-wide, as well as submit statements of compliance.
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. Unregulated pollutants also include ozone precursors and bioaccumulative and toxic compounds. L) and medium-duty (6.4 L/2002 calibration and 6.4
New NASA satellite images released this week demonstrate the reduction of air pollution across the US. After ten years in orbit, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite has been in orbit sufficiently long to show that people in major US cities are breathing less nitrogen dioxide.
As a result of their findings, published in the 30 October issue of the journal Science , the authors argue that assessments of multigas mitigation policies, as well as any separate efforts to mitigate warming from short-lived pollutants, should include gas-aerosol interactions. —Drew Shindell.
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.
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.
The levels of these non-fuel-derived gases will likely remain unchanged, even as more drivers transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles. Another important component of emissions is volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a broad classification of carbon-based molecules that are easily vaporized and that can contribute to ozone formation.
A new report from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds that air pollution at US ports can be reduced significantly at all port types and sizes through a variety of strategies and cleaner technologies. national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Click to enlarge.
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.
In the first empirical study using satellite measurements to explore the relationship between urban form and air pollution, a team from the University of Minnesota has found that cities with highly contiguous built-up areas have, on average, lower concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 , a key component of urban air pollution).
Deterioration of the ozone layer [kg CFC-11-eq.]. The program guides the interested layperson through a selection of parameters: which type of engine should be used, gasoline-burning or diesel, for example, or one powered by natural gas, a fuel cell, or a battery. Depletion of fossil energy resources [kg oil-eq.].
Compared to the 2010 “Business as Usual” scenario—which includes all adopted emission control measures for the South Coast—NO x levels must be reduced by 65% and by 75% to meet the 2023 and 2032 ozone standards, respectively. An 80% reduction of GHG emissions is targeted for 2050, relative to 1990 levels.
CARB also adopted a new plan to curb destructive “super pollutants” including black carbon, fluorinated gases and methane. The plan, California’s Short-lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, maps out the route to more rapid greenhouse gas reductions by clamping down on these super pollutants. emissions by more than 20%.
Politicians in Memphis continue to debate about the pollution concerns arising from the xAI Colossus supercomputer. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) have already expressed interest in filing a lawsuit against xAI over concerns related to air pollution stemming from its gas-powered turbines.
Percent reduction in visible solar energy due to ambient PM (plus a small contribution from ozone) (A), only dust PM deposition (B) deposition of all PM components (C), and atmospheric and deposited combined (D; note change in scale). The Arabian Peninsula loses much more solar power to dust than it does manmade pollutants, Bergin said.
Each of the four recipients will match a percentage of the grant amount with their own funds to purchase compressed natural gas-powered vehicles; retrofit diesel engines with cleaner technology; replace older, more polluting diesel buses with cleaner diesel buses; or purchase hybrid electric-powered buses.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has posted a revised draft of California’s proposed Short-Lived Climate Pollutant (SLCP) Strategy. SLCPs are a category of pollutants which remain in the atmosphere for a relatively brief period, but have global warming potentials that are much higher than those of CO 2.
When ethane and propane—the most abundant non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) in the atmosphere—mix with nitrogen oxides from vehicles and power plants they form tropospheric ozone—a key component of smog and directly linked to increases in mortality. —Professor Ally Lewis, a co-author of the study.
OptiFuel Systems, a system integrator of Cummins and BAE Systems hybrid power products for decarbonizing the rail, marine, and microgrid power market, is in the process of finalizing a $2.6 million US Department of Energy (DOE) grant to demonstrate a pre-production Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) hybrid 4,300 hp line-haul locomotive.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 5,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content