Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
The below Apr. 10, 2019 press release is from University of California at Berkeley. The Central Valley’s heavy wintertime tule fog – known for snarling traffic and closing schools — has been on the decline over the past 30 years, and falling levels of air pollution are the cause, says a new study by scientists … Read more
According to information in an Apr. 11, 2019 press release, the American Lung Association is soon to publicly release its much anticipated 2019 State of the Air report that, presumably, will once again confirm what many already know: that California’s San Joaquin Valley has America’s worst air quality where fine particulate matter pollution is concerned … Read more
Buses are on the move … again. Though driving the revolution this time is electricity, not diesel fuel. That’s the difference. In Shenzen in China, as a matter of fact, the bus fleet is wholly electric, according to Clean Energy Canada in a press release issued on Mar. 21, 2019. And, just how many electric … Read more
Giant fans put in position, the flow of air through which would allow for the separating out of carbon from it. That carbon, in turn, through a number of intermediate processes, steps, to be converted into fuel for use in aircraft, automobiles, ocean-going vessels and trucks. An absurd notion? Apparently not. In a New York … Read more
By now, ground-level ozone is a subject most everyone is familiar with – it is more commonly referred to as smog. But, I would say, what most people probably are unsure of is what exactly it is that feeds it. In other words, what makes ground-level ozone form in the first place? Well, what I … Read more
Earth Day, which is just around the corner, is a time for celebrating Earth. One day during the year is designated for doing just that, this day being April 22nd. Every year here at the Air Quality Matters blog since 2013, a post (or two) has been devoted to this day. Ditto for 2019. In … Read more
Chuckwagons; you know, those food trucks that bring meals to the masses in place of the masses driving to a local fast-food establishment or eatery to obtain the same. So I was watching the T.V. news broadcast in my area the other day and in the news lineup was this article about a local food … Read more
It’s official: miles driven on America’s roadways in 2018 totaled 3.225 trillion. To repeat: 3.225 trillion miles, can you imagine?! This is according to information in the “Traffic Volume Trends – December 2018” report from the branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation known as the Federal Highway Administration. That’s a quarter-of-a-trillion more vehicle-miles driven … Read more
I think it’s silly: There are people who get all worked up over the mention of light rail and/or streetcar transit. What appears to get their gooses more than anything else is the thought of unsightly overhead catenary wire (the electrical distribution system for powering such networks – hint: there are some that operate catenary-free … Read more
The below Mar. 20, 2019 news release is from the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board. California air quality regulators today [Mar. 20, 2019] released a report recommending actions to improve emergency and routine air monitoring at California’s major oil refineries and in the communities that surround them. “Many communities near major refineries live … Read more