Italy smog: Milan bans cars for three days to fight pollution 

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Italy’s iconic Vespa scooters will vanish from the streets of Milan for three days next week, as authorities ban cars and motorcycles in an attempt to curb the city’s smog problem.

Drivers in the northern city will have to leave their vehicles at home between 10am and 4pm, beginning on Monday.

Authorities have introduced a special “anti-smog” all-day public transport ticket for €1.50 ($1.65).A lack of rainfall has led pollution levels to climb in recent weeks.

Giuliano Pisapia, the mayor of Milan, appealed to all the city’s municipalities to observe the three-day ban. “In these days of major emergency we cannot remain indifferent,” he said in a statement (in Italian).

The administration of the Lombardy region, of which Milan is the capital, also appealed to local officials to cancel traditional firework displays to prevent conditions worsening.

What is smog?

Smog is a type of pollution involving fine particles less than 2.5 microns (0.0025mm) in diameter. It has been linked to lung damage and respiratory illnesses.

Milan was named as Europe’s most polluted city in 2008 and it remains among the worst on the continent. City officials have limited traffic on several occasions in the past, first trying out a ban in 2007.

The capital Rome has limited traffic on several occasions.

Two major Spanish cities have also imposed measures to reduce pollution. A 90km/h (56mph) speed limit was introduced in the Barcelona area last week and parking for most vehicles has twice been banned from the centre of Madrid since last month.

Red alert

Along with Vespas, another Italian staple looked under threat in parts of the country earlier this week, when the mayor of San Vitaliano, just outside Naples, banned the use of wood-fired pizza stoves.

Under the edict, the stoves need to be fitted with special pollution filters before they are allowed back into action.

The Chinese capital Beijing has introduced similar restrictions in recent days after some of the worst smog in the city’s history. The city last week declared a red pollution alert – the most severe of its kind – for the second time this month.

The restrictions in Beijing mean cars can only be driven on alternate days, depending on whether their number plates end in an odd or even number. Statistics show that about 112,800 vehicles violated the rule in just four days, according to Beijing News.

Source: Italy smog: Milan bans cars for three days to fight pollution – BBC News

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Air Pollution In Delhi Breaches ‘Severe’ Levels

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air quality in Delhi last night plunged to the ‘very poor’ level with real-time readings of PM 2.5, the tiniest and most damaging of all the particulate matters, breaching the ‘severe’ category in areas across the national capital.

Around 10 PM, in three stations of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), PM 2.5 fell in the severe category which affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases.

Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s (DPCC) reading of Anand Vihar station, one of the most polluted spots in the city, had PM 2.5 at 534 micrograms per cubic metre at 9.50 PM while PM 10 was at 853.

The corresponding safe limits are 60 and 100.

Mandir Marg and Punjabi Bagh, localities far away from each other, had PM 2.5 levels at 271 and 315 micrograms per cubic metre, nearly 5 times above the safe limit respectively.

R K Puram’s PM 10 was at a staggering 1135, 10 times above what is considered safe.

Central Pollution Control Board’s National Air Quality Index was not available and its official website continued to display almost two week figures.

Very poor quality air signifies PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels between 351 and 420, and 211 to 252 micro gram per cubic metre while severe is declared when PM 2.5 and PM 10 cross 253, 421 micro gram per cubic metres respectively.

PM 2.5, microscopic in size, is considered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the best indicator of the level of health risks from air pollution.

Source: Air Pollution In Delhi Breaches ‘Severe’ Levels

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Poor air quality prompts city to activate emergency measures again this morning 

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Shanghai environmental authority activated emergency measures against air pollution this morning.

It is the second time such measures were launched within eight days.

Schools and kindergartens have been ordered to cancel outdoor activities, operations at constructions sites within the Outer Ring Road suspended, and vehicles carrying construction waste banned from the roads, after a blue heavy pollution alert was issued at 6 am.

Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center forecast the pollution yesterday due to a change in wind direction, which was expected to bring pollutants from the northern and western provinces into the city.

The Air Quality Index went beyond 300, or “severely polluted,” at 4 am and lingered around that level since then.

Local education commission issued a notice this morning that all schools and kindergartens should cancel outdoor activities, while students late or absent would not be punished.

Schools are also asked to carry out PE classes indoor and rearrange teaching schedule according to student attendance.

The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau also asked housing construction, traffic and other departments to adapt emergency measures to keep road clean and stop works that would increase dust in the air, such as tearing down houses and excavating roads.

Source: Poor air quality prompts city to activate emergency measures again this morning | Shanghai Daily

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Weather worsens seasonal air pollution in Italian cities 

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Rome is limiting auto circulation, and other Italian cities have been offering free bus rides to encourage public transport use as the country battles seasonal air pollution that has been worsened this year by long spells of no rain and little wind.

As it has done several times this fall, Rome this week limited the number of cars and motorcycles on its roads using a system based on license plates. Vehicles with plates ending in an odd number were banned Monday and vehicles with plates ending in an even number were banned Tuesday.

“The high concentrations of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide continue, aggravated by the weather situation of high pressure and absence of wind,” Rome’s city hall said. Traffic police scrutinized license plates of passing cars. Violators risk a 150-euro ($165) fine.

In northern Turin, public transport was free for two days this month to try to entice commuters away from cars. Milan recently put limits on more-polluting diesel cars for three days, and the city’s residents were asked to turn down thermostats by 1 degree. Parents accompanying their children to and from Milan’s schools could ride free on buses and trams.

Little relief is in sight, with more rainless days predicted for the rest of the month.

“Smog, there’s an alarm in all of Italy,” read a headline in Turin daily La Stampa Tuesday. Levels of particulate matter, considered especially harmful to health, are expected to run two or three times the level allowed by the European Union, especially in the Milan area, experts have predicted.

The Italian health and environment ministers have agreed to back anti-pollution measures with a special 5-million-euro ($5.5 million) fund, in part to compensate cities for lost revenues when public transport is free on smoggy days.

Rome merchants have voiced fears that limiting cars will discourage shopping in the holiday gift-buying season.

Source: Weather worsens seasonal air pollution in Italian cities | Daily Mail Online

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China Issues ‘Red Alert’ Over Devastating Air Pollution 

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

It’s only the second time the country has issued the high-level warning

Beijing has issued its most severe air pollution warning for only the second time ever as unhealthy levels of smog in the city are expected to persist through Tuesday.

The red alert warning, reportedby state-owned CCTV News, comes just weeks after the first ever red alert since the country instituted the warning system in two years ago. The alert requires that some cars be kept off the road and orders a pause in work at some factories. School may also be cancelled at the discretion of local authorities.

Recent research has shown that pollution in China kills more than 1.5 million people each year (4,400 each day), amounting to 17% of the nation’s annual deaths. The red alert system is one of many changes instituted by the Chinese government to curb the number of deaths. The country has also committed to boosting production of energy from renewable sources that don’t pollute as much as the coal fired plants that dominate the country’s current energy landscape.

Source: China Issues ‘Red Alert’ Over Devastating Air Pollution | TIME

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Beijing may miss annual goal to improve air quality due to smog 

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Frequent spells of smog, which has hit Beijing four times since last month, may make it difficult for the capital to achieve its annual air quality improvement goal, a municipal official said on Sunday.

Beijing has set a target of cutting the concentration of PM2.5－particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns that can penetrate the lungs and harm health－by 5 percent year-on-year.

Readings of the pollutants averaged 86 last year, and the figure was 74 for the first 11 months of this year.

But in recent days, when the city has twice been forced to issue the highest-level red alert warning for smog, the average reading was 241, more than three times the national safety level.

This will definitely make the annual average reading for PM2.5 higher and the pollutant-reduction target harder to achieve, said Zhang Dawei, head of the Beijing Municipal Environment Monitoring Center.

On Friday, Beijing issued its second red alert, which helped to reduce hazardous pollutants by up to 30 percent, the municipal environmental watchdog said.

“From 7 am on Saturday to 10 am on Sunday, the PM2.5 concentration was reduced by 10 to 30 percent, compared with the situation if no red alert had been issued,” Zhang said.

The peak reading for PM2.5 in Beijing as of 7 pm on Sunday was 391, recorded in the southern suburbs, data from the center showed.

The red alert took effect at 7 am on Saturday and will remain in force until midnight on Tuesday. Under the emergency measures, industrial operations are suspended and the number of vehicles on the roads reduced by half based on odd and even license plate numbers.

The smog is forecast to last until Wednesday when a strong cold front is due to sweep across northern China.

Beijing is not the only place finding it hard to achieve its air quality goal.

Baoding in Hebei province, one of the cities with the worst air quality last year, is facing the same challenge this year.

To achieve its goal, the city has decided to extend the red alert for smog for the rest of December, a government statement said.

It saw a PM2.5 reading of about 1,000 recently, forcing the authorities to take the strictest measures to date to lower pollution.

Production has been suspended or restricted at 2,045 major companies this month and work at 562 construction sites has also been halted.

Restrictions are being placed on the city’s thermal heating plants to guarantee only basic services and to cut coal consumption, which has been a major source of smog. – See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/21/beijing-may-miss-annual-goal-improve-air-quality-due-smog.html#sthash.Ts3IwTR2.dpuf

Source: Beijing may miss annual goal to improve air quality due to smog | The Jakarta Post

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Iran closes capital’s schools due to air pollution 

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Iran is to close schools for two days in Tehran, state media said Saturday, following air pollution three times the acceptable level that has blanketed the city in smog.

Air quality in Iran’s capital was the worst in at least nine months this week, media said, and floating particles from car emissions were at “seven times the standard level.”

Traffic will also be limited in the center of town and some factories will be closed, according to reports.

The Air Quality Index on Monday showed an average reading of 162 — a “red status” warning that the air is unhealthy for everyone, according to World Health Organization standards.

A normal healthy level is between zero and 50.

Authorities advised the elderly, the sick and children to stay indoors and emergency services were on standby.

Peak pollution hit 180 in some areas of Tehran, where poor air is worsened due to high altitudes — between 1,100 and 1,700 meters above sea level — in a basin surrounded by mountains.

Visibility was low as a grey fog blanketed the capital, a megacity of an estimated 14 million people.

The snow-capped mountains of the Alborz range were invisible from the city center.

Exhaust fumes from five million cars make up 80 percent of Tehran’s pollution, which increases in winter as emissions fail to rise above cold air.

Iran’s government has tried to cut pollution by supplying lower emission fuel in large cities, Masoumeh Ebtekar, a vice president responsible for environmental protection, said this week.

In 2012, pollution contributed to the premature deaths of 4,500 people in Tehran and about 80,000 in the country, according to the health ministry.

Source: Iran closes capital’s schools due to air pollution – Al Arabiya News

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NASA scientists track air pollution from space 

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

It’s possible to track air pollution from space.

NASA scientists did that with high-resolution satellite maps. To gather the data, they used an ozone monitoring instrument on board NASA’s Aura satellite. That tool tracks atmospheric gasses.

Nitrogen dioxide levels in 2005 are shown in the top image. 2014 levels are shown in the bottom image. CREDIT NASA GODDARD MEDIA STUDIOS

The team of NASA scientists tracked emissions of nitrogen dioxide from 2005 to 2014. Nitrogen dioxide comes from cars, power plants, and industries, and it plays a major role in forming smog.

Air pollution around the Great Lakes region

Bryan Duncan is an atmospheric scientist with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He says nitrogen dioxide emissions have decreased significantly around the Great Lakes region in the last decade.

He says they observed that emissions decreased by 40% in Detroit, by 42% in Chicago, and by 30% in Toronto.

“And this is mainly due to regulations — environmental regulations associated with the Clean Air Act,” Duncan says. “There were emission controls required to be placed on cars and power plants.”

The pollutants tracked 

Nitrogen dioxide doesn’t last in the atmosphere for very long, Duncan says.

“It only hangs around for a day or two,” he says. “So you can actually see where it’s being emitted.”

He says you can track other gasses this way too.

“There’s a number of gasses we can measure from space,” he says. “In particular, with the ozone monitoring instrument, we can see sulfur dioxide. That’s a major ingredient in acid rain.”

Duncan says sulfur dioxide levels also fell over the last decade.

Tracking these pollutants from space, he says, gets a little bit complicated.

On the left you can see nitrogen dioxide levels for Chicago between 2005-2007. On the right, you can see the levels between 2009-2011. CREDIT NASA GODDARD MEDIA STUDIOS

“To give a short answer, the satellite actually intercepts sunlight, then it’s reflected back from the Earth’s atmosphere and is intercepted by the satellite,” he says.

It’s that process that allows NASA scientists to determine the concentrations of different pollutants in the atmosphere.

“The satellite data is at such high quality that we can actually zoom in to the city level and we can look at spatial changes in pollution within an urban area,” Duncan says.

He says they can also see differences when power plants implement emission controls.

“We can see the level of pollution drop dramatically just in the course of a few months,” he says.

What can people do with this data?

Duncan says having access to high quality data like this is exciting for scientists. Many are using the data to monitor pollution levels around the world.

“Some people are actually using it for health studies, to understand the health effects of pollution on the local population,” he says.

And Duncan says you don’t have to be a scientist to learn from the data. He says anyone can use it to find out what pollution levels look like in their areas.

“And I think that’s the first step for many people, is just understanding what their pollutant levels are,” he says.

To find out air pollution levels near you, you can visit this NASA website.

 

Source: NASA scientists track air pollution from space | Michigan Radio

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