China’s air pollution could affect America’s West Coast

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

The New York Times reports that the air pollution, originating in China, can affect the air quality in Korea, Japan and even the United States.

According to the new research quoted by the NYT, fin-particle pollutants from China have been found in other countries and, depending on the city, between 40 percent and 60 percent of pollution found in Japan originated in China. It is estimated that China’s emissions also contribute to ozone layer depletion in the neighboring countries.

Although the distance between the US and China acts as a form of protection, the people living on the West Coast can still be exposed to pollutants coming from China with the transpacific air currents. The risk of exposure grows with altitude of the residence, but it is still quite small. Scientists are concerned that the problem will become more serious in the future and therefore it should be tackled now, before it becomes a major ecologic threat.

China is the world biggest market for coal, relies on coal-fired power plants for most of its growing energy production and has very lax environmental standards. Attempts at imposing higher standards have been met with fierce resistance, because higher environmental costs will have a negative influence on the country’s economy that needs to grow at least 7 percent per year in order to maintain social stability. Paul Harris, the chair professor of global and environmental studies at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, told the New York Times in an email that other countries have very limited possibilities in regard to changing the pollution situation in China.

One of the options would be to pay China for upgrading its environmental standards, but most Americans would reject such a solution. Threatening China is useless, while starting a “commercial war” with China may be dangerous for the US economy. Sadly, the only viable option is to wait until the levels of pollution in mainland China become highly uncomfortable forcing Beijing to enact tougher environmental regulations for the good of the Chinese citizens.

via China’s air pollution could affect America’s West Coast – News – Reality Check – The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video.

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Experts say persistent winter air pollution in Marin poses health risks

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Health experts advised caution Friday as the sixth consecutive “Spare the Air” alert was issued for Saturday, but they say aren’t seeing a dramatic increase in health problems — possibly in part due to the advisories.

“If we’re not seeing a spike, it may be because this is an effective way to protect people,” said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County public health officer.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issues Spare the Air alerts when fine particulate air pollution reaches unhealthy levels. Wood burning, the largest single contributor to particulate air pollution, is banned during these alerts, and advisories are issued warning certain populations to limit outdoor exertion.

“There is really good evidence that this is something to take seriously,” said Janice Nolen, the American Lung Association’s assistant vice president of national policy.

“Fine particles do shorten life,” Nolen said. “They can cause heart attack and strokes. They can cause asthma attacks. And more recently, long-term exposure has been linked to lung cancer.”

Nolen said it is believed that particulate matter from burning coal for heat in London caused the death of 12,000 people in 1952.

The district tailors its advisories to the amount of pollution it expects on a given day. On Saturday, the air in many parts of Marin is expected to be “unhealthy,” meaning that the district advises active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, to limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

There was a string of 11 consecutive Spare the Air days in the Bay Area this winter season prior to the current run, said Ralph Borrmann, a spokesman for the air quality district.

“We’ve never had more than four in a row in previous years, so it’s an unusual year,” Borrmann said. He said the unusually dry weather means there have been no storms to disperse the pollution.

The largest number of Spare the Air days in the Bay Area, 30, during the four-month winter season, occurred in 2006-07. With 21 Spare the Air days already this season, that record appears likely to be broken.

Dr. Schuman Tam of the Asthma and Allergy Clinic of Marin in Kentfield, said, “I have been seeing many of my asthmatic patients having asthma attacks the past couple weeks.”

Tam said, however, “It’s difficult to say if it is because of the air quality or viral infections triggering their asthma. Right now, it is the viral infection season.”

Mitesh Popat, chief medical officer at the Marin Community Clinics, which treats Marin’s low-income residents, said, “Maybe there has been a little bit of an uptick in respiratory complaints but nothing drastic so far.”

Popat said he lacks the data to say with any certainty whether a small increase in respiratory cases is caused by air quality or typical winter viral infections.

via Experts say persistent winter air pollution in Marin poses health risks – Marin Independent Journal.

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China faces $176bn bill to clean up air pollution

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Cleaning up China’s air pollution will cost 1.75 trillion yuan (£176b) between 2013 and 2017, a high-ranking environmental official has estimated.

Wang Jinnan, deputy head of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, said that the investment –part of an anti-pollution “action plan” announced by China’s cabinet in September – “would drive up GDP by nearly two trillion yuan (£202b) and create over two million jobs,” China’s official newswire Xinhua reported.

The total cost will be higher than the 2012 gross domestic products of most countries, including Finland, Israel and Portugal.

“36.7 percent of the investment, or 640 billion yuan (£64.5b) should go on cleaning up industry, followed by 490 billion yuan (28.2 percent) on cleaner energy sources. Cleaning up motor vehicles will absorb 210 billion yuan,” Xinhua reported, citing Wang.

In 2013, broad swaths of China recorded their highest air pollution levels in 52 years, causing widespread outrage over the massive environmental toll wrought by decades of unchecked economic growth.

While Beijing has long been notorious for its pea-soup air, a number of traditionally clearer cities, including Shanghai and the northeastern metropolis Harbin, have registered pollution levels high enough for local authorities to ground flights, close schools and pull cars from the roads.

On Friday, Shanghai’s concentration of airborne PM 2.5 – particulate matter small enough to lodge deep within the lungs – rose to 214 micrograms per cubic meter, three times China’s national limit. The official Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center warned children and the elderly to stay indoors.

In its five-year action plan, China’s State Council pledged to reduce the level of airborne particulate matter by at least 10% in major cities by 2017.

Yet many smog-related government measures, such as curbing street-side barbecues and certifying pilots to land in low-visibility conditions, have drawn criticism for glossing over the problem. In October, one Beijing official blamed the smog on “the traditional way of cooking Chinese dishes.”

In response, many Chinese people have taken measures into their own hands. Face masks have become a fashion statement; air purifier sales have spiked. An elementary school in north China’s Shijiazhuang, one of the country’s most polluted cities, has begun teaching its students a smog-defying aerobics routine involving acupuncture points associated with respiratory health.

Last week, a hospital in the southwestern Chinese city Chengdu opened a “smog clinic” to treat air pollution-related ailments such as coughs and asthma; it has been treating roughly a dozen patients a day. “We should not fear smog. It’s preventable and curable,” says a banner hung by its entrance.

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5 Things to Know About Delhi’s Air Pollution

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

New Delhi has been engulfed in a dense blanket of smog – a mix of fog, car exhaust and manufacturing soot – in recent days. A look at what prompted skyrocketing levels of pollution and tips on how to get through it.

1 What causes the smog?

Delhiites are no strangers to smog. As temperatures dip each year, exhaust fumes from the capital’s 7.2 million vehicles combine with construction dust, soot from the mass-burning of agricultural waste in the neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana, and emissions from factories, to produce a lethal mix, Vivek Chattopadhyay, an air pollution analyst at New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, said. For the landlocked northern Indian metropolis, the problem is worsened by the absence of coastal breeze, which helps steer away polluted air.

Car emissions account for around 75% of the capital’s pollution, CSE estimates. Despite attempts to upgrade infrastructure, the number of people using public transportation has actually gone down over the years, according to a government report.

2 Is it really that bad?

Air Pollution is typically judged by “PM 10” and “PM 2.5” levels in the atmosphere. PM 10 levels measure pollutants with a diameter of 10 microns or less, while PM 2.5 measure pollutants with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less.

By U.S. standards, for both measurements, a level of more than 201 is classified as “very unhealthy,” and levels higher than 301 are considered “hazardous” to health. Pollution levels above this, “would trigger health warnings of emergency conditions” according to a U.S. government body, which warned that in such a scenario “everyone should avoid any outdoor exertion.”

Over the last few days, the air quality index for PM 10 and PM 2.5 in New Delhi has ranged from 400 to 500, according to data collected by India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences. Early Thursday, the average air quality index for PM 10 was 410 and for PM 2.5 was 417, both levels described by the ministry “very unhealthy.”

In 2010, the capital’s PM 10 averaged 249, according to data from India’s Environment Ministry. That made it India’s most polluted city.

3 How does this affect me?

If you’re catching a flight out of New Delhi this week, particularly if you’re setting off in the morning, there’s a chance you could be in for a delay or even a cancellation. On Monday, when the dense blanket of smog enveloped the Indian capital, at least 140 flights were either cancelled or delayed, according to an airport spokesman. On Tuesday, 19 flights were cancelled, while on Wednesday, another 40 were delayed. Several trains in the city have also been stalled or cancelled this week, local media reported.

Doctors said weather conditions have worsened the condition of patients suffering respiratory ailments such as bronchitis and asthma. Manoj Goel, who heads the pulmonology department at Delhi’s Heart and Lung Institute, says he’s attended to dozens of patients in the last few days. He estimates that is a 25% increase from the number of patients he attended to when winters set in this time last year.

4 What can I do to get through it?

Mr. Goel suggests wearing surgical masks to block polluted particles, but cautions that they can’t always filter poisonous gases such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone, which are all on the rise in the Indian capital. His advice: “Step out of the house only when the smog subsides.” He also warns against outdoor exercise — at least until the smog clears. Exercising accelerates the flow of air pollutants into your lungs and to the rest of your body, increasing the chances of respiratory ailments.

For a long-term solution, follow the footsteps of India’s Oil Minister: hop onto a public bus or the subway at least once a week.

5 What next?

You can begin to breathe a little easier.

“The worst is over,” Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior official at India’s Meteorological Department, said. The MeT expects rainfall over the next week, which Mr. Jenamani said, is likely to dissipate the smog.

via 5 Things to Know About Delhi’s Air Pollution – Five Things – WSJ.

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London told to cut air pollution by 2020 – or face fines

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

London and other European cities which are defying European law by illegally polluting the air will have to dramatically reduce their vehicle emissions by 2020, the European commission has said.

In a signal that Europe is running out of patience with countries that consistently fail to meet air pllution targets, environment commissioner Janez Potočnik served notice that the EC would start fining countries from 2020.

“Poor air quality is the number one environmental cause of premature death in the EU with a toll that outstrips road traffic accidents. It is an ‘invisible killer’ and it prevents many people from living a fully active life,” he said.

Potočnik said air pollution already costs Europe €330-940bn (£277-789bn) a year in extra health costs and prematurely killed over 100,000 people a year.

Large cities like London have claimed to be unable to meet NO2 targets set in 1999 until 2025 at the earliest. They have argued for extensions but the new initiative is expected to force them to take traffic off the road using charges, and stricter low emission zones.

Potočnik proposed a package of measures aimed to avoid 58,000 premature deaths a year by 2030. The benefits, he claimed, would be about €40bn a year, or more than 12 times the costs of pollution abatement needed, estimated to reach €3.4bn a year in 2030.

The proposals, which will have to be studied by countries, included setting stricter emission ceilings by 2030 for six major pollutants, including particulate matter (PM) or the fine dust emitted by vehicles and shipping, sulphur dioxide which contributes to acid rain and soil acidification, and nitrogen oxides emitted by road vehicles.

He also plans to reduce pollution from large buildings, tighten up existing targets and fund cities to reduce pollution.

But environment groups said they were disappointed that Europe was not insisting on earlier targets. “We’re encouraged that they recognise the scale of the problem, but disappointed they’ve bowed to pressure from industry and countries like the UK to put off taking action until 2030,” said Alan Andrews, a lawyer with ClientEarth.

“The government, London mayor and local councils must take bold action to tackle air pollution – building new roads and expanding airports will simply add to the problem. The UK has been allowed to drag its heels on delivering clean air for far too long,” said Jenny Bates, air pollution campaigner with Friends of the Erath.

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China seeks to curb worst air pollution in 50 years

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

China’s air pollution in 2013 is at its worst for some 52 years, with 13 provinces hitting record-high levels of air pollution, according to the ministry of environmental protection. In recent days, traffic has been delayed in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong; construction projects suspended in Wuhan City; and schools closed in several cities, including Shanghai.

Nearly half of China has been hit by smog, with the southeastern regions experiencing severe conditions.

Authorities have found it difficult to tackle pollution, but recognising the scale of the challenge, governments, laboratories and universities in China are now working intensively and collaboratively to better understand sources of air pollution and how they are dispersed or concentrated in the atmosphere.

The country’s five-year action plan has provisons to improve environment technology, planning and regulation. Its focus is on “air pollution control led by government, enforced by companies, driven by market and participated in by the public”. It emphasises on making polluters pay and rewarding energy efficiency, conservation and emissions reduction efforts. The plan also aims at reducing heavy pollution by a large margin and improve air quality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei province, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

Currently the public and private sector use computer models to simulate how emissions from transportation, power plants and industry affect the atmosphere. This information is then used to determine levels of concentration of toxic gases and particles at street level.

Increasingly, more cities are now monitoring air quality in real time using meteorological towers and remote sensing from satellites to track pollutants. In Beijing concentrations of micro particles in the atmosphere have been found to be more than 10 times the safe level recommended by the WHO. This has prompted authorities to take measures such as limiting industrial emissions and reducing traffic across the nation.

In Shenzhen and Guangzhou air pollution levels are now decreasing after peaking in 2007. Air quality in Shanghai is also recognised as better than in Beijing. In part, this is because Shanghai now has strict regulations for ships entering its harbours and has advised that vessels should both switch to cleaner fuels when they are about 100 miles away, and make use of electrical power when they have docked.

But even in these cities the haze is so thick that often in winter it blocks out the sun, reducing natural light and warmth significantly. As a result temperature drops, households use more energy for heating; pollution gets worse, causing respiratory diseases and eventually more people are hospitalised.

However, improvements could be made with more data becoming accessible and fed into simulation models to provide accurate assessments of how changes to transportation, industry and power plants and even agricultural practice could help to reduce pollution. Dust and pollution concentrations can also be reduced by better overall planning, including size and type of economic activity, designs of buildings, roadways and green spaces.

China is also applying existing technologies more extensively. This is resulting in cleaner emissions from power stations, replacement of coal-power heating systems with electric and gas-fired systems, and bio-processing of agricultural waste (rather than burning which adds to pollution). The government’s aim is to reduce the country’s coal consumption to below 65% by 2017.

The country is also taking up affordable battery-driven cycles, priced at $200.

In the near future, roadside detectors will be able to monitor emissions from individual cars. Already, trams and buses with monitors are able to survey street pollution more thoroughly.

Air pollution can also be forecast a few days ahead, even on a street by street basis, by using models of how traffic and atmosphere are likely to change. This will help tourists, cyclists and others to avoid polluted areas.

Smart traffic systems to lessen congestion on roads are also being considered. These are already being trialled in Singapore.

Air pollution continue to pose a serious health risk in China but efforts are underway to clean up the air. The government has set up special funds to subsidise environmental-friendly industries, it is improving policies on pricing and taxation and encouraging private funds to invest in air pollution control technology. There are also plans to rank air quality of key cities regularly and establish mandatory environmental information disclosure system for companies causing heavy pollution.

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London’s air pollution ‘a forgotten crisis’, says Policy Exchange

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Think tank Policy Exchange has published the minutes from their discussion on London’s air pollution, which they warn is a public health crisis comparable with smoking tobacco.

In a roundtable discussion on London’s road transport emissions, experts including Martin Strobel from Bosch and Elliot Treharne, Air Quality Manager for the Greater London Authority debated how to avoid worsening the public health crisis caused by air pollution.

Poor air quality in London already causes an estimated 4,000 deaths per year, with strong links to respiratory and heart diseases.

Environmental campaigners expect the development of road and airport infrastructure to worsen air quality further.

Key to tackling the problem, the attendees agreed, is increasing public awareness on the dangers of air pollution.

Compared to the prevalance of smoking in the 1960s, it was noted that experts are now fully aware of the health risks of poor air quality, but the general public remain broadly uninformed as to the extent of the problem.

The attendees also agreed that policymakers are now hindered by a range of projects which did not achieve their goals in the past, resulting in a “boy who cried wolf” response to air quality policy advocates.

The discussion group confirmed that transport provision still needs to increase to accomodate an expected influx of new residents that could fill a city the size of Birmingham, meaning that air pollution measures must move quickly.

“Policymakers should look at a wide range of things that affect air quality, including home working and other technological change”, the report states.

“They should also think more about whether it makes sense for everyone to be making their commutes at the same times of day”, it adds.

The attendees agreed unanimously that tackling the problem “may require a fundamental rethink in the way we use and get around our cities”.

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China, Japan, South Korea to jointly combat air pollution

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

China, Japan and South Korea on Sunday agreed to jointly combat air pollution, a common challenge to East Asia, to boost sustainable development for greater ecological improvement.

At the end of a two-day summit in Xianghe, a county about one hour\’s drive east of Beijing, representatives from the three countries said that they will to join hands to boost sustainable development.

Wang Chunzheng, vice chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, said that the northeastern Asian nations of China, Japan and South Korea share common benefits as well as common responsibilities in joint air pollution control, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Wang pointed out that Japan and South Korea have advanced technologies and experience in energy saving, environmental protection and air pollution treatment. He added the three nations have great potential for cooperation in the environmental protection industry as the Chinese leadership has vowed greater efforts for ecological improvement.

Japanese Ambassador to China Masato Kitera said that environmental issues including climate change, as well as air, water and soil pollution, are shaking the foundations for human life, a situation which requires all nations to join hands in seeking solutions.

Kitera said the pollution is a common challenge to East Asia and that cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea is essential.

Cheong Young Rok, minister of economic affairs at the South Korean embassy in Beijing, said that the East Asian nations should learn from each other and build a mechanism for smog mitigation. He called on these countries to use environmental pollution as a spur to boost the green industry and create new job opportunities.

Lingering smog covering large parts of China for about the past month have caused traffic jams and school closures. The bad air has also led to an increase in patients visiting hospitals due to respiratory problems.

Experts blame over-dependence on coal, an unreasonable industrial structure, as well as surging numbers of cars on the roads for the worsening air quality.

China’s State Council, the cabinet, released an action plan for air pollution treatment in September, requiring heavily polluted regions to take measures to improve air quality by 2017.

via China, Japan, South Korea to jointly combat air pollution – The Times of India.

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