Air Quality or the lack there of.....

Air Quality - Blog Assignment

“Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere.” (Wikipedia)

The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, however in 2002 at least 146 million Americans were living in non-attainment areas – regions in which the concentration of certain air pollutants exceeded federal standards. Those pollutants are known as the criteria pollutants, and include ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead.

These pollutants can harm your health and the environment, and cause property damage. Of the six pollutants, particle pollution and ground-level ozone are the most widespread health threats. EPA calls these pollutants "criteria" air pollutants because it regulates them by developing human health-based and/or environmentally-based criteria (science-based guidelines) for setting permissible levels. air pollution: Effects on Health and the Environment — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0856526.html#ixzz1XkHbHmGK

The most satisfactory long-term solutions to air pollution is the elimination of fossil fuels. Efforts have begun in the United States, Japan, and Europe to develop alternative energy sources as well as different kinds of transportation engines, perhaps powered by electricity or steam. Other proposed solutions include raising electricity and gasoline rates to better reflect environmental costs and to discourage waste and inefficiency, and mechanical controls on coal-fired utility plants.

air pollution: Solutions to Air Pollution — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0856527.html#ixzz1XkHGMETd

Air pollution may possibly harm populations in ways so subtle or slow that they have not yet been detected. For that reason research is now under way to assess the long-term effects of chronic exposure to low levels of air pollution—what most people experience—as well as to determine how air pollutants interact with one another in the body.

A recently discovered result of air pollution are seasonal “holes” in the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica and the Arctic, coupled with growing evidence of global ozone depletion. This can increase the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth, where it damages crops and plants and can lead to skin cancer and other ailments. This depletion has been caused largely by the emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from refrigerators, air conditioners, and aerosols. Closer to home, smoke and wildfires emit large amounts of carbon monoxide as well.

There are various air pollution control technologies and land use planning strategies available to reduce air pollution. At its most basic level land use planning involve zonings and transport infrastructure planning. In most developed countries, land use planning is an important part of social policy, ensuring that land is used efficiently for the benefit of the wider economy and population as well as to protect the environment.

Control devices

The following items are commonly used as pollution control devices by industry or transportation devices. They can either destroy contaminants or remove them from an exhaust stream before it is emitted into the atmosphere.

Particulate Control (some examples)

Mechanical collectors (dust cyclones, multicyclones)

Electrostatic precipitators An electrostatic precipitator (ESP), or electrostatic air cleaner is a particulate collection device that removes particles from a flowing gas (such as air) using the force of an induced electrostatic charge. Electrostatic precipitators are highly efficient filtration devices that minimally impede the flow of gases through the device, and can easily remove fine particulate matter such as dust and smoke from the air stream.

Baghouses Designed to handle heavy dust loads, a dust collector consists of a blower, dust filter, a filter-cleaning system, and a dust receptacle or dust removal system (distinguished from air cleaners which utilize disposable filters to remove the dust).

Particulate scrubbers Wet scrubbers is a form of pollution control technology. The term describes a variety of devices that use pollutants from a furnace flue gas or from other gas streams. In a wet scrubber, the polluted gas stream is brought into contact with the scrubbing liquid, by spraying it with the liquid, by forcing it through a pool of liquid, or by some other contact method, so as to remove the pollutants.

air pollution: Solutions to Air Pollution — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0856527.html#ixzz1XkHGMETd