News: California lowers goal for zero-emission vehicles
From CNN:
Zero-Emission Vehicle Goals Lowered http://www.atmosp.physics.utoronto.c...s/Picture1.jpg Hmmm. Seems like a great idea :( |
Well, that's a little disappointing.
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That picture is really scary. Just a sky of gray.
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In the 1760s, Spanish missionaries referred to the a place we now call the San Fernando Valley as the "Valley of Smoke." Maybe a couple hundred Indians lived there.
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Joy, brown skys again
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a political decision?
one of the meaningful roles of central government. standardization |
Big Dave -
Quote:
will la air ever become clean (traffic, moving, land) http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...e-clean-2.html Quote:
The Valley of Smokes http://aaaim.com/echo/v4n4/v4n4ValleyOfSmokes.htm Quote:
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Carb
Since it's apparent that the California Air Resources Board is responsible for this weakening of pollutant regs, it hearkens back to "Who Killed the Electric Car", and their involvement.
Carlos- Great History lesson! Since the County Pollution District was the first of its kind, the legacy it generated has likely made homogenization among other States difficult, but good for the Region. This is where I agree with diesel_john, to an extent. The EPA (when operated properly) should be able to ramp-up efforts in hot spots like "The Basin", Denver, and the Northeast Corridor. Conversely, when they do not (or are not quick enough to respond) States tend to employ their own rules and Governing Bodies, and there you go. RH77 |
Most of that stuff isn't true smog, like it was during the days of indians and early settlers. The brownish haze is mostly unburned HC's and NOx, aka photochemical smog.
Los Angeles has a tough time because of an "inversion layer." In most areas, the sun heats up the ground and causes air to be warmed. This warm air and everything within it (smoke, debris, pollution) gets pulled up by convection as air rises to the cold atmosphere. I forget exactly why, but I believe it is due to the Santa Ana winds, that hot dry air is blown above Los Angeles from the deserts north and east of the basin. Essentially, air near the ground is around the same temperature or cooler than air up above so it just sits. During the winters, when NO2 goes to NO (if I remember correctly), the skies really clear up and the area gets really beautiful...especially with the San Gabriels in snowpack. Just biking along the beach the other day I noticed an extremely thick, brown haze over the ocean...so bad that if a glass of water had the same color you'd only drink it by force. The Port of LA is a major polluter, along with anchored container ships just idling in the harbor. Looking the left (south torward Orange County) the skies were clear...panning to the right (north torward Los Angeles) the skies grew to an opaque brown. I hear they are trying to electrify the Port of LA, though...:) Now if only they'd think about electrifying LA... - LostCause |
There are two types of smog.
One is "London smog" which is exactly what it souldns like: smoke+fog. there was a killer smog in London in 1952. Application of particulate emission controls (electrostatic precipitators for the most part) have eliminated the problem in London. It persists is cooler areas of the Third World. The other is "LA smog" and it is what the pictures show. It is a photochemical reaction of VOCs (volatile organic coumounds) and oxides of nitrogen. This smog take quite a bit of sunlight to make the reaction go so you'd only rarely see it in the Great Lakes area. the surrogate for LA smog is ozone. The EPA standard for tropospheric ozone is 75 ppb. this pollutant shows up in concentrations three orders of magnitude less than other pollutants (usually they are in the parts per million) so tropospheric ozone is not the health hazard that Londo smog is. A variant of LA smog is denver smog which uses an entirely different reaction using carbon monoxide and is only seen on sunny winter days. The Great Smoky Mountains were never truly smoky. The "smoke" is actually LA type smog generated from the turpenes (a type of VOC) generated by the piney woods and dixie sunshine. Maybe the best approach would be to dissolve the national EPA and let each state deal with their own conditons their own way. |
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