Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
The below Nov. 13, 2018 press release is from the Diesel Technology Forum “The new Cleaner Trucks Initiative announced today sets the vision for the heavy-duty diesel engines of the future as high-value assets which help achieve our nation’s future energy and clean air goals while also expanding economic growth. Diesel has always been a … Read more
Every day around 93% of the world’s children under the age of 15 years (1.8 billion children) breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk. Tragically, many of them die: WHO estimates that in 2016, 600,000 children died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air. A … Read more
There is nothing wrong with having ideas, visions. Even better when ideas are turned into materials, products or processes that are practical, useful, can make life easier and provide for better quality of life. In fact, I encourage such creative if not inspired thought and follow-through. One of the more recent ideas has come to … Read more
Nine to 33 million visits to the emergency room (ER) for asthma worldwide may be triggered by breathing in air polluted by ozone or fine particulate matter—pollutants that can enter the lung’s deep airways, according to a study published today. Scientists have long known that breathing in air sullied by car emissions and other pollutants … Read more
It was back on Nov. 5, 2012 that I wrote the post: “Smog more than an eyesore – it’s a wake-up call.” Almost six years later, I ask: Is it? I mean, is it, really?! Here is some of what I conveyed back on that date: “I know for a fact there are people whose … Read more
So, let’s begin this journey with something as basic as one-way streets. With one-way streets, the entire roadway width, besides eliminating opposite-direction travel on part of the street, same-direction (or current-of-traffic) vehicle movement enables same-direction parking on both sides of the street. Such a provision can make locating a parking space somewhat less encumbered and … Read more
I have heard at least once if not more times that July 2018 is California’s hottest month ever recorded. 124 years ago, it should be noted, is when such temperature-data recordkeeping first began. On Saturday, a friend in Bakersfield texted that the Air Quality Index there had reached an unhealthy (for everyone) 151. Ozone was … Read more
I have heard that the windiest spot in California, maybe up and down America’s entire west coast, is at Point Reyes, located north of the City by the Bay – San Francisco. Been there, seen that. Altamont Pass is another windswept Golden State fixture, and, yet another, the Palm Desert region of the south state. … Read more
Stepping outside the other evening I bore witness to an anomaly. Never before in my life had I seen anything like it: A red-colored ball on the western horizon. It was a celestial scene, the kind seen both in silver screen productions and television programs and presentations from the likes of your Gene Roddenbury’s and … Read more
The heat is on in many parts of the northern hemisphere. And, that, in places, means ozone buildup in air. California’s San Joaquin Valley being one such place. With the many wildfires burning in the western U.S., what if any affect could this be having on localized ground-level ozone? Soot from the fires, you should … Read more