Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
How far society has come in so short a time I find remarkable. Just in my lifetime, astronauts have landed and walked on the moon. The computer has literally gone from filling up rooms in their entirety to being reduced to the size of a microchip, in some cases no bigger than a fingertip. And … Read more
The below Jan. 20, 2021 press release is from the Center for Biological Diversity. As President Joe Biden takes office today, his administration announced a series of steps aimed at combating the climate crisis and protecting wildlife from extinction. These include reentering the Paris Agreement, cancelling the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, and imposing … Read more
I understand that in the world there are some 1 billion motorized vehicles. That may sound like a lot but what it works out to on average is 1 vehicle for every 7 people essentially. In the United States, on the other hand, the ratio is a lot tighter. On average, that’s roughly 1 motor … Read more
As reported in a ScienceBlog post dated Jan. 7, 2021, in 2020, due to the lockdowns connected with the coronavirus pandemic, this caused emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to drop by seven percent. The dip is temporary as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are expected to bounce back to 2019 levels when the economy … Read more
I can’t help but think back to when I was an editorial associate for a Fresno, California-based publisher. This was a step up from the copywriter assignment that I had had previously. The person who had occupied the then editorial associate spot had just recently quit. So, with no one in charge of magazine editorial … Read more
The below Jan. 4, 2021 news release is from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. BNSF Railway Company … and Wabtec’s … exploration of the future potential of battery-electric locomotives crosses another significant milestone this week as they begin testing the technology in revenue service between Barstow and Stockton, California. As BNSF seeks ways to further … Read more
California can be credited with many air-quality-improvement firsts. Listed among these is a waiver granted by the fed that allowed the state to establish its own more stringent light-duty vehicle tailpipe-emissions standards, that is, apart from those prescribed for the rest of the U.S. In an Oct. 19, 2020 news release, meanwhile, the California Environmental … Read more
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the word “sustainability” come up in conversation lately. The word seems to be all the rage. That straightforward construct here undoubtedly needs no elaboration, no explanation. Not so with climate, another buzzword, catch-phrase of this modern era we’re living in. While the number of times I … Read more
It is no secret that all across the world in the past couple of decades the area of clean energy has experienced leaps-and-bounds growth. One organization, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), annually compiles what it calls a “City Clean Energy Scorecard.” The ACEEE in “Scorecard: Leading U.S. Cities Grow Clean Energy Efforts … Read more
Ozone (O3) is a colorless but not odorless gas. When ignited, ozone gives off a chlorine-bleach-like odor. So, obviously, based on this, there is a point at which ozone ignites, and it is when this ignition point is reached that the chlorine-bleachish smell from the ozone is produced and released. It is in this sense … Read more