Eye of Modok

A new study at the University of Colorado at Boulder shows that invisible, reactive gases hovering over the earth’s surface form the bulk of organic haze in both urban and rural areas around the world, not direct emissions of particulates as is commonly believed. The study shows that aerosols formed chemically in the air account for about two-thirds of the total organic haze in urban areas and more than 90 percent of organic haze in rural areas.

The research scientists believe that the extended source of particle pollution is reactive, colorless gases called Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs, the same gases that form smog. VOCs emitted in urban and regional areas immediately begin undergoing a chemical transformation that causes them to stick to particulate matter and increase pollution.

“What we’re seeing is that concentrations of secondary organic aerosols decrease little downwind from urban areas,” said assistant professor Jimenez from CU-Boulder’s chemistry and biochemistry department. “That tells us there has to be an extended source or continuous formation for the pollution. We think the gases react over a few days as the air travels downwind into more rural regions, producing more organic haze.”

VOCs include surface ozone, nitrogen compounds and sulfur dioxide. VOCs are released through emissions by cars and trucks, gasoline evaporation at gas stations during fill-ups, by paint thinners and dry cleaning solvents, as well as through some industrial processes. VOCs are also produced naturally by vegetation.

These past few smog filled hazy days in Beijing make me pine for clear blue skies and fresh air. However, there’s only 2 more weeks until we’re all off to Thailand for two weeks vacation!!

[tags] smog, pollution, environment, VOC, Beijing, Olympics [/tags]

Some new regulations regarding the environment, among others, have gone into effect in China this month.

A regulation issued by the Ministry of Construction will fine individuals up to 200 yuan (26 U.S. dollars) for dumping trash illegally.

Work units that dump their daily garbage in unauthorized areas face fines from 5,000 to 50,000 yuan (6,579 U.S. dollars), according to the new regulation.

It requires both work units and individuals in urban areas to promptly pay garbage collection fees, which are set by local governments.

Another regulation effective on July 1 will levy a new “car and ship” tax policy in China, which will double the tax rate on the usage of automobiles and ships.

China, which had 148 million automobiles by the end of March, has been plagued by increasing pollution from exhaust emissions.

Taxes on bicycles have been scrapped, an effort by the government to lessen the financial burden on China’s hundreds of millions of bicyclists, according to the new regulation.

As usual, we’ll have to wait and see how well the new regulations are enforced, but it looks like a step in the right direction. Easy for me to say, though, because I have no desire to own a car in Beijing.

Chinese legislators have suggested setting up a new ministry to control energy use after failing to meet energy consumption goals for 2006. Although they aimed to reduce energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP by 4% in 2006, they only managed to reduce it by 1.23% to 1.21 tons of coal equivalent in 2006. That they managed to reduce it even that much is impressive, as energy conservation awareness is still appallingly low - not surprising when you consider that it isn’t that much better in most of the developed world, and the economy is still going on all guns.

China still has a long way to go to match the energy consumption, along with the accompanying emissions, of the US, but the NDRC is committed to curbing energy use and aggressively pursuing the addition of renewables into the energy mix. However, since the elimination of the Ministry of Energy in 1993 the NDRC alone has managed the energy sector, and Wang Weicheng, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, has suggested that the energy supervision department is woefully understaffed for the task. Wang pointed out that in the US, the Department of Energy employs a staff of over 10,000.

China’s total energy consumption in 2006 included 2.37 billion tons of coal, up 9.6 percent year for the year; 320 million tons of crude oil, up 7.1 percent; 55.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, up 19.9 percent; 416.7 billion kilowatt-hours of hydropower, up 5 percent; and 54.3 billion kilowatt-hours of nuclear power, up 2.4 percent.