MKUBI 2

UNIT 15

The City Exports Some Dirty Air

Member of Team

1. FADHILAH ATIKAH

2. MUHAMMAD RIDWAN SAMI

3. CHANDRA AJI NEGARA

STUDY PROGRAM CIVIL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF BENGKULU

THE CITY EXPORTS SOME DIRTY AIR

The worst effects of photochemical air pollution originating in New York City and the immediately surrounding area are visited on the neighboring states to the northeast, researchers have found.

Connecticut and Massachusetts pay for the area’s environmental sins because of a delayed chemical reaction. Ozone, which in heavy concentrations is an irritating and possibly dangerous pollutant, is created by the reaction of the sun’s rays on certain compounds emitted by autos and industry, but the reaction takes a few hours. By that time, air currents can have the irritant as much as 200 miles north-eastward.

This patterr, discovered through computer analysis by Bell. Laboratory researchers, concurs with previous studies of regional air pollution. Scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute, a plant research center, have found trajectories across the United States often carry air pollutants hundreds of miles away. So it is probable that while Connecticut and Massachusetts are the unfortunate recipients of the New York City area’s dirty air, the city and its environs are likewise inheriting pollutants from industrial centers elsewhere.

Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulates, or biological materials that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans, damage other living organisms such as food crops, or damage the natural environment or built environment.

The atmosphere is a complex dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems.

Indoor air pollution and urban air quality are listed as two of the World’s Worst Toxic Pollution Problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World's Worst Polluted Places report.

AIR POLLUTANT CONCENTRATIONS

Air pollutant concentrations, as measured or as calculated by air pollution dispersion modeling,[1] must often be converted or corrected to be expressed as required by the regulations issued by various governmental agencies. Regulations that define and limit the concentration of pollutants in the ambient air or in gaseous emissions to the ambient air are issued by various national and state (or provincial) environmental protection and occupational health and safety agencies.

Such regulations involve a number of different expressions of concentration. Some express the concentrations as ppmv (parts per million by volume) and some express the concentrations as mg/m3 (milligrams per cubic meter), while others require adjusting or correcting the concentrations to reference conditions of moisture content, oxygen content or carbon dioxide content. This article presents methods for converting

concentrations from ppmv to mg/m3 (and vice versa) and for correcting the concentrations to the required reference conditions.

All of the concentrations and concentration corrections in this article apply only to air and other gases.

CAUSES OF AIR POLLUTION

INDUSTRIAL EMMISIONS

Manufacturing facilities, power plants, and waste incinerators are all industries that emit high levels of carbon monoxide, organic compounds, and chemicals into the atmosphere, just to name a few. Possibly the most devastating thing about this particular cause is that it effects every single corner of the globe. There is not an ecosystem that isn’t exposed to industrial emissions in some way shape or form. There have been efforts to limit the amount of harmful particulates and filter the materials which are produced by these facilities. However, there is a good amount of research that states that the damage has already been done and the regulations that are now being passed are too little too late.

In addition to these typical industrial emission contributors, there are also a number of other culprits. Petroleum refineries release a variety of particulates and hydrocarbons into the Earth’s atmosphere. Also, though a bit more rare, radioactive fallout from nuclear facilities is also one of the causes of air pollution.

BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels are emitted from our cars, and has become a big part of our everyday lives. Fossil fuel is even used to extract greater amounts of fossil fuel from the earth, where it is naturally occurring, and is also used to break it down into its individual components. As a result, this is typically among the highest on every pollution list today. It is also the most controversial of the causes of air pollution, as fossil fuels are a necessary element of today’s society, despite the fact that their effects are causing great harm to us and to the environment. Without using fossil fuels, factories would not produce goods and we would not experience the ease of travel that we do today. Essentially, most of us are extremely dependent upon what fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, provide us. Until an alternative is widely accepted, we run the risk of further damaging the environment and our overall health.

CHEMICALS

This cause encompasses a number of chemicals, such as those commonly used household cleaning products or painting supplies. However, it can be argued that the main chemical that most associate with pollution are pesticides. Crop dusting, fumigating homes, and over the counter insect/pest killers emit harmful chemicals into the environment, to contribute to the overall poor air quality that most regions experience today. Another pollutant found in the this category is fertilizer dust, which is released into the air from agricultural grade fertilizers.

A health condition is even directly related to this particular group of pollutants, known as Sick Building Syndrome, whereby the toxic fumes we use daily in our homes and offices, as well as mold, can cause us to become ill if the area is not properly ventilated. It might not seem as though simply eradicating some termites from your house or spraying for ants makes that much of a difference when it comes to cluttering the air we breathe, but every little bit counts.

HEALTH EFFECTS

Air pollution is a significant risk factor for multiple health conditions including respiratory infections, heart disease, and lung cancer, according to the WHO. The health effects caused by air pollution may include difficulty in breathing, wheezing, coughing and aggravation of existing respiratory and cardiac conditions. These effects can result in increased medication use, increased doctor or emergency room visits, more hospital admissions and premature death. The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the body's respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. Individual reactions to air pollutants depend on the type of pollutant a person is exposed to, the degree of exposure, the individual's health status and genetics.

The most common sources of air pollution include particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Both indoor and outdoor air pollution have caused approximately 3.3 million deaths worldwide. Children aged less than five years that live in developing countries are the most vulnerable population in terms of total deaths attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution.

The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon whereby greenhouse gases create a condition in the upper atmosphere causing a trapping ofheat and leading to increased surface and lower tropospheric temperatures. Carbon dioxide emissions from combustion of fossil fuelsare a source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Other Greenhouse gases include methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons,

chlorofluorocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and ozone.

This effect has been understood by scientists for about a century, and technological advancements during this period have helped increase the breadth and depth of data relating to the phenomenon. Currently, scientists are studying the role of changes in composition of greenhouse gases from natural and anthropogenic sources for the effect on climate change.

A number of studies have also investigated the potential for long-term rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to cause increases in the acidity of ocean waters and the possible effects of this on marine ecosystems.

REDUCTION EFFORTS

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 is likely to involve zoning 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.

Efforts to reduce pollution from mobile sources includes primary regulation, expanding regulation to new sources (such as cruise and transport ships, farm equipment, and small gas-powered equipment such as lawn trimmers, chainsaws, and snowmobiles), increased fuel efficiency (such as through the use of hybrid vehicles), conversion to cleaner fuels (such as bioethanol, biodiesel, or conversion to electric vehicles).

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

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 particulates 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 ScrubbersWet scrubber 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 itthrough a pool of liquid, or by some other contact method, so as to remove the pollutants.

Tips for Reducing Air Pollution

1. Reduce Auto Pollution

Drive less. Walk, ride your bike, carpool, and take public transportation. Combine errands in a single trip. Limit the use of your air conditioning. Change your car's air filter. Accelerate gradually. Don't speed. Fill your gas tank in the morning or early evening, and not at mid-day. Avoid idling (even 3 minutes is too long to idle). Check and maintain your tire pressure. If you cannot follow all of these tips every day, pick a few and pitch in to reduce

auto pollution.

2. Reduce Your Home's Energy Usage

Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Can't change all of them? How about resolving to change 5 of them today?

Turn off the lights when you leave a room (even if you own stock in the power company!).

Buy Energy Star appliances. Limit your use of air conditioning whenever possible, and make sure your air

conditioning system is maintained properly. Reduce waste by increasing recycling in your home.

3. Around The House

Avoid mowing the lawn or using other gas-powered garden equipment during the middle of the day (between 11am and 6pm), and don't use them at all on air pollution action days (they contribute to ozone formation).

Try to avoid using charcoal lighter fluid and items that have volatile organic compounds (i.e. spray paint, paint thinners, etc).

4. Where Can the Kids Help Best?

Make it a family project to turn off lights and appliances when you leave a room in your home. Appoint a child as director of recycling in the household.

Develop a family competition to save energy and reduce pollution.

5. What Else Can We Do?

Help local advocacy efforts to reduce pollution from older diesel school buses, trucks, and off-road construction vehicles (which contribute significantly to air pollution).

Join a campaign to reduce air pollution from two old coal-fired power plants and to force new power plants to use the best available pollution control technology.