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Old 11-17-2009, 12:14 AM   #1 (permalink)
tjts1
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Diesel particulate emission pose problem for London Olympics

This is from Bloomberg subscription service. It should pop up on the public site and google soon if it hasn't already.
Quote:
London’s ‘New Era’ of Air Pollution Threatens Olympics in 2012

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- London, which has some of Europe’s worst air pollution, may have to ban cars and reschedule events during the 2012 Olympics to ensure optimum conditions for athletes, a leading air-quality scientist said.

The U.K. capital is in a “new era” of air pollution, mostly caused by emissions from diesel-powered cars, vans and buses, said Professor Frank Kelly, director of the King’s College Environmental Research Group.

The city of 7.5 million residents has the worst record for nitrogen dioxide pollutants among European capitals and one of the worst for dangerous airborne particles.
Politicians including Mayor Boris Johnson aren’t doing enough to cleanse the air, Kelly said. Beijing last year and Athens in 2004 struggled with air pollution during the games.

“Whether we get a few months of good air quality during the Olympics -- it will be totally in the hands of the gods, it will depend on weather conditions,” Kelly said in a Nov. 11 interview.

Organizers may have to limit traffic, reschedule events to a time of day with better air quality or move them to less polluted sites, he said.

The U.K. is spending 9.3 billion pounds ($16 billion) on construction for the games, one of Europe’s largest building projects. It includes the main Olympic Park in east London. Organizers expect 14,000 athletes to attend, along with 20,000 members of the media, and may sell 9 million tickets.

‘Rain-Dispersal’

China spent $17 billion on cleaning the air, including firing “rain-dispersal rockets” at clouds, removing two-thirds of Beijing’s 3.3 million cars from the road for two months and shutting factories. It won plaudits as weather conditions improved.

London’s dirty air, though less serious than Beijing’s, dates to medieval times, when soft sea-coal was burned in homes, breweries and factories, according to “The Big Smoke,” author Peter Brimblecombe’s book on air pollution.

King Edward I tried unsuccessfully to ban the high-sulfur fuel in 1306. In 1661, London diarist John Evelyn observed that the city was covered “in such a cloud of sea-coal, as if there be a resemblance of hell upon earth.”

In 1879, a coal-smoke saturated fog hovered over London for four months, and another in December 1952 was blamed for as many as 4,000 deaths.

Parliament passed the Clean Air Act in 1956, and natural gas replaced coal in most homes, eliminating the city’s so- called “pea soup” fogs.

Diesel Sales

The popularity of diesel-powered vehicles has boosted airborne particulates, said Kelly, whose Environmental Research Group operates 160 monitoring sites around the city and analyzes the data for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Sales of diesel-powered cars made up 43 percent of Britain’s sales last year, compared with 14 percent in 2000, according to the U.K. Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Diesel engines are generally more fuel efficient than gasoline models.

They produce a type of particle, known as PM10, which can hamper breathing. Factories, construction sites and wind-blown material from other countries also contribute.

Particulate concentrations have increased 0.4 percent a year in London since the late 1990s, according to King’s, a University of London college.


EU rules require an average of no more than 40 micrograms of PM10s per cubic meter of air and a daily level of 50 micrograms may not be exceeded more than 35 times annually. Greater London had an average of 43.3 micrograms in 2007, and exceeded 50 micrograms on 102 occasions, according to DEFRA. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government has asked the EU for more time to meet the particulates and nitrogen dioxide targets.

‘Country Mile’

London’s nitrogen dioxide levels exceed EU rules by “a country mile,” said Gary Fuller, an air-quality expert at King’s. The pollutant is a product of burning fuel by vehicles, aircraft, power stations and heating systems.

Some inner London roadside locations exceed the limits by a factor of two, according to the mayor’s draft Air Quality Strategy. The city estimates that 2.3 million residents were exposed to excessive nitrogen dioxide levels in 2006.

London air pollution contributes to as many as 3,000 premature deaths a year, the city’s legislative assembly said in a May report.

Johnson, who is a member of the Olympic Board that oversees games planning, has reversed some of predecessor Ken Livingstone’s anti-pollution programs. He is scrapping the western section of the congestion-charge zone that requires drivers to pay an 8-pound daily entry fee.

Banning Taxis

He postponed an extension of a low-emission zone that fines the owners of the dirtiest heavy trucks to include smaller vans, saying the rules would be too costly for small businesses during the recession.

The mayor’s clean-air plans include buses powered by diesel-electric hybrid engines, banning older taxis and upgrading public transportation.

His office said Nov. 12 that “the smooth running of London’s Olympic games will not be affected by poor air quality.”

London’s PM10 levels will fall by 25 percent by the time the games begin, Johnson said. Kelly is skeptical.

“If we have heavy cloud cover and very little wind, we’re going to get pollution episodes and everybody will say, ‘Why didn’t we do more to improve air quality in London?’” said Kelly.
I feel like the advocates of diesel cars here in America fail to take into account the health hazard of particulate diesel emissions. A lot of European cities have serious public health issues with diesel soot even after particulate filters went into use on new cars as well as retrofit on older cars.



Last edited by tjts1; 11-17-2009 at 01:23 AM..
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