Energy Use, Global Warming, and Air Pollution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Guo ◽  
Laura Wilcox ◽  
Massimo Bollasina ◽  
Steven Turnock ◽  
Marianne Lund ◽  
...  

<p>The occurrence of severe haze events remains a serious problem in Beijing. Previous studies suggested that the frequency of weather patterns conducive to haze may increase with global warming. The new Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) cover a wide range of uncertainties in aerosol and greenhouse gases emissions. Global and Chinese aerosol emissions are projected to decrease in most SSPs, while increases in greenhouse gases and global warming will continue for the rest of the century. The future, therefore, remains unclear.</p><p>We quantified the air pollution over Beijing and associated weather patterns using multiple indices calculated from the SSPs</p><p>We show that the occurrence of weather patterns conducive to the formation of haze significantly increases by the end of the century due to increases in greenhouse gases. Aerosol reductions also cause an increase in their occurrence, but reduce the severity of haze, and overall reducing aerosol emissions will be beneficial.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 365-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geert Jan van Oldenborgh ◽  
Sjoukje Philip ◽  
Sarah Kew ◽  
Michiel van Weele ◽  
Peter Uhe ◽  
...  

Abstract. On 19 May 2016 the afternoon temperature reached 51.0 °C in Phalodi in the northwest of India – a new record for the highest observed maximum temperature in India. The previous year, a widely reported very lethal heat wave occurred in the southeast, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, killing thousands of people. In both cases it was widely assumed that the probability and severity of heat waves in India are increasing due to global warming, as they do in other parts of the world. However, we do not find positive trends in the highest maximum temperature of the year in most of India since the 1970s (except spurious trends due to missing data). Decadal variability cannot explain this, but both increased air pollution with aerosols blocking sunlight and increased irrigation leading to evaporative cooling have counteracted the effect of greenhouse gases up to now. Current climate models do not represent these processes well and hence cannot be used to attribute heat waves in this area. The health effects of heat are often described better by a combination of temperature and humidity, such as a heat index or wet bulb temperature. Due to the increase in humidity from irrigation and higher sea surface temperatures (SSTs), these indices have increased over the last decades even when extreme temperatures have not. The extreme air pollution also exacerbates the health impacts of heat. From these factors it follows that, from a health impact point of view, the severity of heat waves has increased in India. For the next decades we expect the trend due to global warming to continue but the surface cooling effect of aerosols to diminish as air quality controls are implemented. The expansion of irrigation will likely continue, though at a slower pace, mitigating this trend somewhat. Humidity will probably continue to rise. The combination will result in a strong rise in the temperature of heat waves. The high humidity will make health effects worse, whereas decreased air pollution would decrease the impacts.


Air pollution is the major concern in the recent years because of causing imbalance to the ecosystem and also increases global warming and climate change. This paper, tries to investigate the applicability of photo catalytic cement in removing the pollutants under partially controlled and simpler experimental conditions such that it mimics the ideal state of its use, that is the natural open environment where it always is susceptible to complex physical and chemical interactions. It also gives an overview of the concentrations of the contaminants reduced not limiting to NOx residues alone, by employing Ion Chromatography instead of NOx analyzers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
James J. Tanoos

Greater American regulatory moving from federal to state governments has resulted in varying levels of environmental legislation and regulation. One example is the cap-and-trade system in California, which has been deemed a success in limiting greenhouse gas emissions as well as in earning revenue for the state. However, the coinciding production rates for polluting organizations has not been analyzed on a macro level. This study examined the air pollution and production rates of electricity organizations operating in California since cap-and-trade went into effect and found that since the legislation took effect, not only did production decreased slightly, but also, contrary to much analysis, the rates of air pollution from these organizations increased sharply. 


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Liu ◽  
Xueli Chen ◽  
Jinyang Cai ◽  
Tomas Baležentis ◽  
Yue Li

Air pollution has become an increasingly serious environmental problem in China. Especially in winter, the air pollution in northern China becomes even worse due to winter heating. The “coal to gas” policy, which uses natural gas to replace coal in the heating system in winter, was implemented in Beijing in the year 2013. However, the effects of this policy reform have not been examined. Using a panel dataset of 16 districts in Beijing, this paper employs a first difference model to examine the impact of the “coal to gas” policy on air quality. Strong evidence shows that the “coal to gas” policy has significantly improved the air quality in Beijing. On average, the “coal to gas” policy reduced sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter smaller than 10 µm (PM10), particulate matter smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) by 12.08%, 4.89%, 13.07%, 11.94% and 11.10% per year, respectively. We find that the “coal to gas” policy is more effective in areas with less energy use efficiency. The finding of this paper suggests that the government should continue to implement the “coal to gas” policy, so as to alleviate the air pollution in Beijing, China.


2014 ◽  
Vol 988 ◽  
pp. 702-705
Author(s):  
An Na Won ◽  
Won Hwa Hong

With heightening of awareness on global warming and rationalization of energy use, there is an increasing attention in the household sector about introduction of renewable energy. In terms of policy, distribution plans for 30,000 photovoltaic houses and one million green homes are underway, Studies on awareness of innovators are required to increase supply of renewable energy in the household sector. Accordingly in this study, a survey was conducted for the purpose of examining awareness and willingness to bear cost for introduction of renewable energy, focusing on photovoltaic power, wind power and fuel cells. The results are as follows.


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