Natural gas shortages during the “coal-to-gas” transition in China have caused a large redistribution of air pollution in winter 2017

The Chinese “coal-to-gas” and “coal-to-electricity” strategies aim at reducing dispersed coal consumption and related air pollution by promoting the use of clean and low-carbon fuels in northern China. Here, we show that on top of meteorological influences, the effective emission mitigation measures achieved an average decrease of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations of ∼14% in Beijing and surrounding areas (the “2+26” pilot cities) in winter 2017 compared to the same period of 2016, where the dispersed coal control measures contributed ∼60% of the total PM2.5reductions. However, the localized air quality improvement was accompanied by a contemporaneous ∼15% upsurge of PM2.5concentrations over large areas in southern China. We find that the pollution transfer that resulted from a shift in emissions was of a high likelihood caused by a natural gas shortage in the south due to the coal-to-gas transition in the north. The overall shortage of natural gas greatly jeopardized the air quality benefits of the coal-to-gas strategy in winter 2017 and reflects structural challenges and potential threats in China’s clean-energy transition.

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Natural gas shortages during the “coal-to-gas” transition in China have caused a large redistribution of air pollution in winter 2017

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15706 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Siwen Wang ◽

Hang Su ◽

Chuchu Chen ◽

Wei Tao ◽

David Streets ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Natural Gas ◽

Southern China ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Control Measures ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Grand Challenge ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Coal Consumption

Improving air quality is an important driving force for China&#8217;s move toward clean energy. Since 2017, the &#8220;coal-to-gas&#8221; and &#8220;coal-to-electricity&#8221; strategies have been extensively implemented in northern China, aiming at reducing dispersed coal consumption and related air pollution by promoting the use of clean and low-carbon fuels. Our analyses show that on top of meteorological influences, the effective emission mitigation measures achieved an average decrease of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations of &#8764;14% in Beijing and surrounding areas (the &#8220;2+26&#8221; pilot cities) in winter 2017 compared to the same period of 2016, where the dispersed coal control measures contributed &#8764;60% of the total PM2.5 reductions. However, the localized air quality improvement was accompanied by a contemporaneous &#8764;15% upsurge of PM2.5 concentrations over large areas in southern China. We find that the pollution transfer that resulted from a shift in emissions was of a high likelihood caused by a natural gas shortage in the south due to the coal-to-gas transition in the north. The overall shortage of natural gas greatly jeopardized the air quality benefits of the coal-to-gas strategy in winter 2017 and reflects structural challenges and potential threats in China&#8217;s clean-energy transition. Our finding highlights the importance and necessity of synergy between environmental and energy policymaking to address the grand challenge of an actionable future to achieve the cobenefits of air quality, human health, and climate.

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Spatio-Temporal Variations of Multiple Primary Air Pollutants Emissions in Beijing of China, 2006–2015

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos10090494 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 494 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yifeng Xue ◽

Shihao Zhang ◽

Zhen Zhou ◽

Kun Wang ◽

Kaiyun Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Air Quality ◽

Air Pollutants ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Source Control ◽

Energy Structure ◽

Pollution Mitigation ◽

Air Quality Improvement

Air pollution in Beijing, China has attracted continuous worldwide public attention along with the rapid urbanization of the city. By implementing a set of air pollution mitigation measures, the air quality of Beijing has been gradually improved in recent years. In this study, the intrinsic factors leading to air quality improvement in Beijing are studied via a quantitative evaluation of the temporal and spatial changes in emissions of primary air pollutants over the past ten years. Based on detailed activity levels of each economic sector and a localized database containing source and pollutant specific emission factors, an integrated emissions inventory of primary air pollutants discharged from various sources between 2006 and 2015 is established. With the implementation of phased air pollution mitigation measures, and the Clean Air Action Plan, the original coal-dominated energy structure in Beijing has undergone tremendous changes, resulting in the substantial reduction of multiple air pollutants. The total of emissions of six major atmospheric pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NOX, VOCs and NH3) in Beijing decreased by 35% in 2015 compared to 2006—this noticeable decrease was well consistent with the declining trend of ambient concentration of criterion air pollutants (SO2, PM10, PM2.5 and NO2) and air quality improvement, thus showing a good correlation between the emission of air pollutants and the outcome of air quality. SO2 emission declined the most, at about 71.7%, which was related to the vigorous promotion of combustion source control, such as the shutdown of coal-fired facilities and domestic stoves and transition to clean energy, like natural gas or electricity. Emissions of PM decreased considerably (by 48%) due to energy structure optimization, industrial structure adjustments, and end-of-pipe PM source control. In general, NOX, NH3, and VOCs decreased relatively slightly, by 25%, 14%, and 2%, respectively, and accordingly, they represented the limiting factors for improving air quality and the key points of air pollution mitigation in Beijing for the future.

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Environmental Effective Assessment of Control Measures Implemented by Clean Air Action Plan (2013–2017) in Beijing, China

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos11020189 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 189 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yifeng Xue ◽

Shihao Zhang ◽

Teng Nie ◽

Xizi Cao ◽

Aijun Shi

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Air Pollutants ◽

Action Plan ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Control Measures ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Total Reduction ◽

Clean Air ◽

Pm2.5 Concentration

The Beijing government initiated the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) in 2013. Through a series of actions to control air pollution, the emissions of major atmospheric pollutants are reduced to improve urban air quality. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of control measures taken to mitigate atmospheric pollution, we investigated and analyzed the implementation of the CAAP in Beijing from 2013 to 2017, estimating the corresponding reduction in emissions of major air pollutants. The contribution of different control measures to the improvement of air quality was quantified and the experiences of managing air pollution were summarized, which provided references for the continuous improvement of air quality in Beijing and the surrounding areas. The results showed that the emission of SO2, NOX, PM10, PM2.5, and VOCs from air pollution source have been decreased by 119,924, 116,091, 116,810, 46,652, and 97,267 tons after the implementation of the CAAP. The sum of these five air pollutants emissions have been reduced by 39% in 2017 compared with 2013, the largest decrease in SO2 emissions was 87%, which was related to the vigorous control on coal-fired combustion. The control measure with the greatest contribution to decreasing the ambient PM2.5 concentration was the clean energy transformation of coal-fired power plants, which contributed 27% of the total reduced concentration and 6.1 μg/m3 of the average PM2.5 concentration reduction in Beijing. Clean Residential coal use also significantly decreased the PM2.5 concentration by 5.4 μg/m3, which was 23% of the total reduction. In addition, the industrial restructuring and the management of automotive vehicle use and dust could also contribute to efficiently reducing the PM2.5 concentration by 4.0, 3.2, and 2.3 μg/m3, or 17%, 14%, and 10% of the total reduction, respectively. Due to the implementation of control measures of Clean Air Action Plan, the energy and industrial structure of Beijing have been adjusted and optimized, leading to the reduction of pollutant emissions, which is the secret of urban long-term air quality improvement.

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Abstract 36: Mapping and Multilevel Modeling of Climate Change and Air Pollution With Risk of Stroke in the United States and China: Findings From the Drexel-SARI Low Carbon and Healthy City Study

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.47.suppl_1.36 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 47 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Longjian Liu ◽

Hui Liu ◽

Xuan Yang ◽

Feng Jia ◽

Mingquan Wang

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Index ◽

The United States ◽

Potential Interaction ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Multilevel Regression ◽

Healthy City ◽

Nationally Representative

Introduction and Hypothesis: Stroke is a leading cause of death and the major cause of disability in the world. However, few studies applied multilevel regression techniques to explore the association of stroke risk with climate change and air pollution. In the study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the disproportionately distributed stroke rates across the counties and cities within a country are significantly associated with air pollution and temperature. Methods: We used data from U.S. 1118 counties in 49 states, which had estimated measures of particulate matter (PM)2.5 for the years 2010-2013, and data from China 120 cities in 32 provinces (including 4 municipalities), which had measures of Air Pollution Index (API) for the years 2012-2013. We assessed the association between air quality and prevalence of stroke using spatial mapping, autocorrelation and multilevel regression models. Results: Findings from the U.S. show that the highest average PM2.5 level was in July (10.2 μg/m3) and the lowest in October (7.63 μg/m3) for the years 2010-2013. Annual average PM2.5 levels were significantly different across the 1118 counties, and were significantly associated with stroke rates. Multilevel regression analysis indicated that the prevalence of stroke significantly increased by 1.19% for every 10 μg/m3 increase of PM2.5 (p<0.001). Significant variability in PM2.5 by states was observed (p=0.019). More than 70% of the variation in stroke rates existed across the counties (p=0.017) and 18.7% existed across the states (p=0.047). In China, the highest API was observed in the month of December, with a result of 75.76 in 2012 and 97.51 in 2013. The lowest API was observed in July, with a result of 51.21 in 2012, and 54.23 in 2013. Prevalence of stroke was significantly higher in cities with higher API concentrations. The associations between air quality and risk of stroke were significantly mediated by temperatures. Conclusions: The study, using nationally representative data, is one of the first studies to address a positive and complex association between air quality and prevalence of stroke, and a potential interaction effect of temperatures on the air - stroke association.

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Clean air in the Anthropocene

Faraday Discussions ◽

10.1039/c7fd90032e ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 200 ◽

pp. 693-703 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Jos Lelieveld

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Air Quality ◽

Human Health ◽

Atmospheric Chemistry ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Atmospheric Composition ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

Years Of Life Lost ◽

Clean Air

In atmospheric chemistry, interactions between air pollution, the biosphere and human health, often through reaction mixtures from both natural and anthropogenic sources, are of growing interest. Massive pollution emissions in the Anthropocene have transformed atmospheric composition to the extent that biogeochemical cycles, air quality and climate have changed globally and partly profoundly. It is estimated that mortality attributable to outdoor air pollution amounts to 4.33 million individuals per year, associated with 123 million years of life lost. Worldwide, air pollution is the major environmental risk factor to human health, and strict air quality standards have the potential to strongly reduce morbidity and mortality. Preserving clean air should be considered a human right, and is fundamental to many sustainable development goals of the United Nations, such as good health, climate action, sustainable cities, clean energy, and protecting life on land and in the water. It would be appropriate to adopt “clean air” as a sustainable development goal.

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EURODELTA-Trends, a multi-model experiment of air quality hindcast in Europe over 1990–2010

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-10-3255-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 3255-3276 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Augustin Colette ◽

Camilla Andersson ◽

Astrid Manders ◽

Kathleen Mar ◽

Mihaela Mircea ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Boundary Conditions ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Modelling Experiment ◽

Technical Features

Abstract. The EURODELTA-Trends multi-model chemistry-transport experiment has been designed to facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of air pollution and its drivers for the period 1990–2010 in Europe. The main objective of the experiment is to assess the efficiency of air pollutant emissions mitigation measures in improving regional-scale air quality. The present paper formulates the main scientific questions and policy issues being addressed by the EURODELTA-Trends modelling experiment with an emphasis on how the design and technical features of the modelling experiment answer these questions. The experiment is designed in three tiers, with increasing degrees of computational demand in order to facilitate the participation of as many modelling teams as possible. The basic experiment consists of simulations for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. Sensitivity analysis for the same three years using various combinations of (i) anthropogenic emissions, (ii) chemical boundary conditions, and (iii) meteorology complements it. The most demanding tier consists of two complete time series from 1990 to 2010, simulated using either time-varying emissions for corresponding years or constant emissions. Eight chemistry-transport models have contributed with calculation results to at least one experiment tier, and five models have – to date – completed the full set of simulations (and 21-year trend calculations have been performed by four models). The modelling results are publicly available for further use by the scientific community. The main expected outcomes are (i) an evaluation of the models' performances for the three reference years, (ii) an evaluation of the skill of the models in capturing observed air pollution trends for the 1990–2010 time period, (iii) attribution analyses of the respective role of driving factors (e.g. emissions, boundary conditions, meteorology), (iv) a dataset based on a multi-model approach, to provide more robust model results for use in impact studies related to human health, ecosystem, and radiative forcing.

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Using Costs and Health Benefits to Estimate the Priority of Air Pollution Control Action Plan: A Case Study in Taiwan

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10175970 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (17) ◽

pp. 5970

Author(s):

Hsin-Chih Lai ◽

Min-Chuan Hsiao ◽

Je-Liang Liou ◽

Li-Wei Lai ◽

Pei-Chih Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Action Plan ◽

Health Benefits ◽

Control Measures ◽

Cost Ratio ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Kriging Method ◽

Quality Modeling

A comparative analysis was conducted between the costs and health benefits of the Air Pollution Control Action Plan (APCAP), which can be implemented in any country to improve air quality and human health. In this study, air quality modeling was used to simulate several scenarios and implement the Kriging method to describe the PM2.5 reduction concentration instantly. Then, health benefits were estimated using the environmental benefit mapping and analysis program (BenMAP) with results from the air quality modeling and Kriging method. To estimate the priority of APCAP, 14 pollution control measures that cover point, mobile, and area sources of air pollution in Taiwan were analyzed. The results indicate that the health benefits of the Taiwan APCAP (TAPCAP) are generally greater than the technical costs. Thus, the implementation of this strategy may result in net benefits. In addition, the benefit-to-control cost ratio for health for the 14 pollution control measures was calculated. The results provide evidence to prioritize the implementation of air quality policies with a higher benefit-cost ratio.

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Understanding Public Response to Air Quality Using Tweet Analysis

Social Media + Society ◽

10.1177/2056305119867656 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 205630511986765

Author(s):

Supraja Gurajala ◽

Suresh Dhaniyala ◽

Jeanna N. Matthews

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Machine Learning Algorithms ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Quality Data ◽

Public Health Issue ◽

New Delhi ◽

Public Response ◽

Pollution Levels ◽

Adverse Health Effects

Poor air quality is recognized as a major risk factor for human health globally. Critical to addressing this important public-health issue is the effective dissemination of air quality data, information about adverse health effects, and the necessary mitigation measures. However, recent studies have shown that even when public get data on air quality and understand its importance, people do not necessarily take actions to protect their health or exhibit pro-environmental behaviors to address the problem. Most existing studies on public attitude and response to air quality are based on offline studies, with a limited number of survey participants and over a limited number of geographical locations. For a larger survey size and a wider set of locations, we collected Twitter data for a period of nearly 2 years and analyzed these data for three major cities: Paris, London, and New Delhi. We identify the three hashtags in each city that best correlate the frequency of tweets with local air quality. Using tweets with these hashtags, we determined that people’s response to air quality across all three cities was nearly identical when considering relative changes in air pollution. Using machine-learning algorithms, we determined that health concerns dominated public response when air quality degraded, with the strongest increase in concern being in New Delhi, where pollution levels are the highest among the three cities studied. The public call for political solutions when air quality worsens is consistent with similar findings with offline surveys in other cities. We also conducted an unsupervised learning analysis to extract topics from tweets in Delhi and studied their evolution over time and with changing air quality. Our analysis helped extract relevant words or features associated with different air quality–related topics such as air pollution policy and health. Also, the topic modeling analysis revealed niche topics associated with sporadic air quality events, such as fireworks during festivals and the air quality impact on an outdoor sport event. Our approach shows that a tweet-based analysis can enable social scientists to probe and survey public response to events such as air quality in a timely fashion and help policy makers respond appropriately.

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Effects of air pollution control measures on air quality improvement in Guangzhou, China

Journal of Environmental Management ◽

10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.046 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 244 ◽

pp. 127-137 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Meifang Yu ◽

Yun Zhu ◽

Che-Jen Lin ◽

Shuxiao Wang ◽

Jia Xing ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Air Quality Improvement

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Ambient air quality in an urban area and its effects on plants and human beings: a case study of Tiruchirappalli, India

Kathmandu University Journal of Science Engineering and Technology ◽

10.3126/kuset.v6i2.4007 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 13-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sirajuddin M Horaginamani ◽

M Ravichandran

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Developing Countries ◽

Air Quality ◽

Human Health ◽

Urban Area ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Control Measures ◽

Human Beings ◽

Ambient Air Quality

Though water and land pollution is very dangerous, air pollution has its own peculiarities, due to its transboundary dispersion of pollutants over the entire world. In any well planned urban set up, industrial pollution takes a back seat and vehicular emissions take precedence as the major cause of urban air pollution. Air pollution is one of the serious problems faced by the people globally, especially in urban areas of developing countries like India. All these in turn lead to an increase in the air pollution levels and have adverse effects on the health of people and plants. Western countries have conducted several studies in this area, but there are only a few studies in developing countries like India. A study on ambient air quality in Tiruchirappalli urban area and its possible effects selected plants and human health has been undertaken, which may be helpful to bring out possible control measures. Keywords: ambient air quality; respiratory disorders; APTI; human health DOI: 10.3126/kuset.v6i2.4007Kathmandu University Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Vol.6. No II, November, 2010, pp.13-19

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