VOLUME 9 No 1 / FEBRUARY 1975 / PRICE $2.00

Vo l . 9 No. 1 / February, 1975

C l e a n A i r / February , 1975

EDITORIAL

A i r Pol lu t ion and the Demand f o r Energy,

W. Strauss 1

TECHNICAL PAPERS

The Pol i t ical Economy of the Pol lut ion So lu t i on : A Review Ar t i c le , Michael Ber ry 2

Photochemis t ry of Smog Format ion , Paul Durb in and Thomas A. Hecht 8

N i t rogen Oxides ( N O 2 and N O x ) in the A i r a t Aspenda le and Other Places in V i c to r i a , Ian E. Galbal ly 12

FEATURES

NSW Legis lat ion on Lead in Petrol 1

Travel Grants 1

Ob i tua ry — R. S. W i l l i ams 16

NSW A i r Po l lu t ion Adv isory Commi t tee 16

Branch News, NSW Branch 20

Book Reviews 17

Index f o r 1974 A8

JOURNAL OF THE CLEAN AIR SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND President: J.G. Schroder Secretary: R. W. Manuell, Box 4047, G.P.O., Sydney, N.S.W. 2001

EDITOR Publication is quarterly in February, W. Strauss May, August and November.

Annual Subscription rates (inc. ASSOCIATE EDITOR postage) for non-members and S.J. Mainwaring libraries: EDITORIAL BOARD Australia $A5.50 J. G. Schroder U.S.A. $US12.00 L. Garner , U.K. £4.50 H. Hartman Germany DM30.00 J. O'Heare Elsewhere $A8.50 W. H. Cock Single copies $A2.00

EDITORIAL OFFICE Subscriptions and subscription Department of Industrial Science enquiries should be directed to the University of Melbourne Circulation Manager, Parkville, V ic , 3052, Australia Mr. A. S. Denholm, 1 Fernhill Avenue, ADVERTISING Epping, N.S.W. 2121, Australia.

H.E. Pett &. Co. 'Clean Air' is listed in Current Contents 31-37 Russell Street, Abbotsford 3067 and Environmental Periodicals.

A1

EDITORIAL Air Pollution and the Demand for Energy As most of our air pollution comes from the conversion of stored energy in fossil fuels — oil, coal and natural gas — into thermal and electrical energy, any changes in fuel consump­tion and application will result in immediate changes in the pattern of air pollution.

It is now apparent that there is no magic formula for solving the world's energy problems, just as there is no magic formula for solving air pollu­tion problems. What has however be­come obvious is that the next thirty years may see a reduction in the in­crease in primary energy consumption — for heating, transportation and electrical energy — from a current 5 to 7% each year, to about 2% each year. This reduction will be achieved by extensive energy savings in in­dustry, in private houses and in transport.

The estimated savings thought possible are 20% in industry, and about 50% in transportation and domestic / commercial consumption. The means to be used are more effi­cient energy utilisation in industry, somewhat more efficient electrical motors, much more effective internal combustion engines, driving smaller, lighter units, and better insulation on houses, hot water storages, etc., etc These estimates have been made for Europe and North America, where the use of electricity and individual transport is well developed, and the heating of houses in winter is a major

NEW NSW LEGISLATION ON LEAD IN PETROL Sir John Fuller, NSW Minister for Planning and Environment, promul­gated Australia's first regulations governing the lead alkyl content of petrol during December 1974.

The regulations issued under the NSW Clean Air Act 1961 specify max­imum lead contents for petrol sold, stored or used in the Newcastle-Syd-ney-Wollongong region of New South Wales. They became operative on January 1, 1975, and are as follows —

Maximum Lead Content January 1, 1975 to

December 31, 1976 0.64 g/l January 1, 1977 to

December 31, 1979 0.45 g/l January 1, 1980 on 0.40 g/1

Penalties for proven contravention range from $500 for individuals to $5,000 for corporations.

It remains to be seen whether this action will lessen air pollution or associated health hazards.

item on the energy ticket. However the less developed coun­

tries of the world, with less sophistic­ated requirements have much greater needs for energy if they are to achieve some degree of stability and pros­perity. In these the rate of energy consumption increase may be much greater in the coming years, and so they too will have air pollution prob­lems as a result of this. Furthermore, with their limited financial resources, they will not be able to choose low sulphur oils, or install expensive con­trol devices, while their fundamental needs are unfulfilled.

A partial solution to this dilemma is that the less developed countries use better urban planning and trans­portation, as well as introducing energy saving at the same time as energy consumption. One example could be the immediate use of solar energy for domestic hot water and air conditioning, which is feasible as most of these countries lie in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

Australia, with its well developed educational facilities and active re­search programmes in tropical hous­ing and solar energy utilization, can play a major role in helping the less developed countries by training its architects, planners and engineers in special post-graduate courses directed towards these subjects. Their needs are not for research nuclear physi­cists, but for practically trained per­sons to solve their increasing urban problems. In this way can air pollu­tion be minimised in spite of in­creased prosperity and energy con­sumption.

W. STRAUSS

TRAVEL GRANTS

Dr. Sergeant, Hon. Secretary of the 1974 Waste Management and con­trol Conference held at the University of New South Wales in July, 1974, has advised that the Committee of the Conference has,decided to award two travelling grants of $250.00. The awards are open to all members of Institutions and Associations asso­ciated with the organisation of the Conference. This includes our Society.

Successful applicants must show that they can spend time, while over­seas, studying in some detail a project considered to be appropriate prior to the trip; and also submit a report to the Committee on their return.

Those interested should make enquiries through their Branch Sec-retaries or apply directly to Dr. Ser-geant at: The Department of Feul Technology, University of New South Wales, PO Box 1, Kensington, NSW 2033.

Clean Air / February, 1975 1

Michael Berry

This article is an extended review of "The Politics of Finding Out: Environmental Problems in Australia", edited by Rob Dempsey and published by Cheshire Books, Melbourne, at $6.95, and of "The Un-Politics of Air Pollution", by Matthew A. Crenson, published by John Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

Mr. Berry is a lecturer in Politics and Urban Studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Variations on a Political Theme: Both books help to plug a glaring gap in the on-going pollution debate; they deal explicitly with the political dimension. It may seem unnecessary to emphasise what, upon reflection, appears obvious — viz. that the re­lated problems of pollution and con­servation are political phenomena and depend tor their solution on political action (and inaction). Yet so much of the debate about the nature and di­mensions of these problems and the most appropriate policies for solving them is carried on in a political vacuum. Politics is a polluted word. Each participant in the debate claims to let the facts speak for themselves. The resulting noise is a confusion of partially conflicting truths since each participant has selected from amongst the universe of facts those relevant to his particular viewpoint. Selection presupposes some criterion of choice and, hence, a set of values. Conflicts over environmental issues are, at base, a reflection of conflicting value per­spectives and the latter form the stuff of politics.

Of course, each participant in the environment debate tends to view the matter in a more asymmetrical fashion. Since he has presented the facts of the situation, anyone propos­ing an alternative viewpoint must be either a knave or a fool; either they are deliberately suppressing or dis­torting the true facts for selfish reasons or they are incapable of analysing reality. If pushed suffi­ciently the participant will reveal his implicit value bias by claiming that his analysis (alone) will further "the public interest" while those of his opponents reflect their desire for private gain (or, alternatively, a con­genital defect). In so far as private gain is the dominant motive behind an opponent's stance he is held to be acting politically.

This peculiar but familiar argu­ment betrays an even more curious and naive view of politics. Politics is tied to the battle for private gain in a particular way; to be above politics

is to champion the public interest. The political naivette of this approach resides not in the recognition of sel­fish motivation in the realm of the political — on the contrary, private gain is the key to understanding in most political situations and the ex­isting pattern of conflicting sectional interests should be kept in the fore­front of any political analysis — but in the 'holier-than-thou attitude' that characterises one's opponents' position as sectional and therefore political and one's own position as altruistic and therefore above politics. Politics is not simply a perjorative tag to be applied to one's opponents but refers to the social processes which elicit and resolve conflicting attitudes as to how a society's resources are to be utilised. Politics is, thus, centrally concerned with the social distribution of power and with the social distribu­tion of values underlying conflicting attitudes — i.e. with implicit, half-hidden, sometimes unconscious value-systems, themselves the outcome of processes of attitude formation or socialisation impinging differentially on the members of that society. This is not to argue that all potential issues over which people disagree will be resolved in terms of positive action, still less that everyone has an equal opportunity to put his case and make his values count. The realities of a pronounced inequality in the distribu­tion of power in societies such as ours preclude this possibility. The major theme of Crenson's book is that in­action in the air pollution field is as politically significant as action and the power to suppress potential issues — i.e. to prevent them from ever be­coming a matter for public consider­ation at all — as unequally distributed as the power to directly influence the outcome of overt issues. In short, politics is all about the clash of con­flicting value perspectives and is, thus, centrally concerned with force and persuasion. Referring to the great German sociologist, Max Weber, Hughes notes that "he had seen that

Clean Air / February, 1975

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE POLLUTION SOLUTION :

A REVIEW ARTICLE

2

more than force and fraud were in­volved: politics, he realised, consisted of something beyond mere jungle warfare among embattled power groups; ultimately it was a contest of ethical values." (1) In failing to recog­nise fully, the political dimension of the environment question, participants in the debate are doing less than justice to their particular causes and are materially reducing their chances of successfully influencing public policy.

By attempting to stand above or outside "politics" on the basis of an alleged commitment to the public in­terest (good, welfare, cause, benefit, etc.) a participant renders himself subject to a rude shock — viz the probability that other conflicting viewpoints and policies will also be advanced under the same banner. For example, representatives of a large in­dustrial concern may persuasively argue that further expansion in a particular locality is for the public good in the face of one or more view­points to the contrary. The contro­versy over the proposed new power station at Newport in Melbourne is a clear example of a political dispute in which both sides claim the support of the public interest in advancing radically opposed policies.

The public interest appears as a highly paradoxical entity. It is both everywhere and nowhere; on the one hand it is abundant in the extreme since all interests claim it and, on the other hand, it disappears whenever any attempt is made to define it to the satisfaction of all interests con­cerned. All that remains after an ex­haustive search for this elusive creat­ure is the conviction on all sides that only they know what favours and what threatens the public interest. This stalemate results In the mutual tend­ency to invoke the knave/fool dich­otomy mentioned earlier.

It is quite accurate to assert that knavery is often behind the altruistic assertions of a particular group. Politically, the sectional interests of a group are often best served by success­fully camouflaging their advancement in altruistic garb. The recent can re­cycling programme carried out by the public relations department of BHP is a case in point. (2) It is this potential likelihood that prompted the sugges­tion, above, to keep the pattern of sectional interests concerned in the forefront of any political analysis of of environmental issues. However, in some situations conflicting viewpoints will seemingly reflect genuine dis­agreement over what the public inter­est is and how it can be advanced. The tendency here is for those sin­cerely holding opposing viewpoints to characterise each other as fools. If only they (the opposition) will open their eyes to the full facts of the mat­ter all disagreement will vanish. Thus,

for example, if only the economically entranced will reflect on the scienti­fically predictable outcome of observ­able ecological trends associated with economic growth and, in return, if only the biologically blinkered will recognise the economic potential for flexible readjustment following fur­ther further growth, the debate over the desirability of growth would be resolved.

One way of breaking free from the fool syndrome is to reject the possi­bility of a genuine disagreement at all. Holding to this position does not necessarily imply a belief in the uni­versality of consciously selflsh motiv­ation and sectional interest in politics — though this is a possible and popular stance for political analysts. It implies, instead, the need to distin­guish between two levels of analysis. At the visible level conflicting view­points may superficially reflect a dis­agreement over sincerely (con­sciously) held conceptions of the public good, at a deeper level of ana­lysis such conceptions may be found to be ideological masks covering a deep-seated opposition of sectional in­terests. For example, disagreements between the new, trendy middle class and old working class residents of inner-city suburbs like Carlton over environmental issues, such as the forced relocation of industry further out, can be viewed as an extension of the general class struggle. The trendies are treated as invaders, tak­ing over an area and arranging the local environmental to suit their tastes for reduced noise and traffic, clean air, aesthetically appealing build­ings, parks, etc. at the expense of accessible factory jobs for working class neighbours. The sincere claim of the trendies to the effect that they are improving the local environment for all, working class residents included, becomes even more suspect as the middle class attractions, mentioned above, encourage more trendies to arrive, driving property prices, rents and rates up and the working class out in the search for cheaper accom­modation. (3) Altruistic claims, in this context, can be viewed — at least in part — as ideological justifications for private gain.*

A second and complementary approach is to recognise that the notion of public good is, itself, norm­ative. It is not an objective piece of reality waiting to be discovered by the perceptive investigator but an ex­pression of the latter's subjective in­clinations. To pronounce on the public good is necessarily to imply a moral commitment — i.e. to invoke a set of criteria defining what is good (and bad) and for whom. When pros and * Ideology here refers to the collection of

assumptions, values and rationalisations which allow the individual to construct his view of the world and his place in it.

anti environmentalists disagree over the effects of specific events on the public good they are implicitly putting forward different sets of moral crite­ria rather than an insufficient grasp of the total facts of the situation. Each side is using its own moral criteria to choose some facts as relev­ant and to ignore the remainder. Thus, disagreements over subjective judgments of relevant fact, grounded in conflicting ethical stances, be at the heart of political debate and con­dition the political development of issues such as pollution control, re­source conservation and the like. The discussions of the following two sec­tions should help to illustrate this point.

Ecologists v Economists Many of the varied viewpoints on the environment to come to light in the past decade have revolved around a central question — viz are the econ­omies of the advanced nations of the world growing too quickly and should steps be taken now to slow down their future rates of growth? This question is a relatively recent one. Eccentrics (and some social thinkers in their darker moments) apart, few post in­dustrial commentators have seriously questioned either the desirability or possibility of further growth. Econ­omic growth has become the universal panacea for social ills and acquired, in the process, a respectable face; econ­omic growth in its industrial form was equated with human progress and ap­propriated the latter's favourable aura. To be anti-growth was, therefore, con­strued to be anti-progress — to opt for a return to the savage past in which a vast majority of mankind was reduced to a state of grinding poverty and despair. What is crucially import­ant about the recent rise of the en­vironmental movement is that a con­certed though uncoordinated attempt is at last being made to dispute this connection. Rather than promote human progress, it is claimed, further growth promises to undermine it.

Such a clear cut head-on clash should be easily resolved by resource to the facts of twentieth century social and economic development. Yet, as stated earlier, there is no general agreement as to what the relevant facts are, nor to the correct methods of interpretation, nor, for that matter, on a suitable definition of progress. Disagreement on these grounds has crystallised into two opposing schools, which, for convenience, have been termed the economists and ecologists.

The former, as the name suggests, base their stance on the assumptions and approach of modern economics. Boyden, a contributor to Dempsey's volume and decidedly a member of the opposition camp, asserts.

Clean Air / February, 1975 3

"It appears, at lease to an outsider, that the emphasis in university de­partments of economics is on the development of more and more so­phisticated techniques for analysing economic trends and for predicting short-term economic development; and this work appears to be based almost entirely on the assumption that economic and industrial expan­sion ad infinitum is possible, inevit­able and desirable. By and large, the efforts of economists are aimed at lubricating the machinery so that the expanding and spiralling processes go faster and faster. (4)

The discipline of economics, based securely in the British utilitarian tradition, treats human progress or welfare as dependent on access to the consumption of material goods and services. Resources — natural and man-made, human and non-human — are transformed by the act of pro­duction into consumable utilities or commodities which, when consumed, satisfy the wants of consumers. The ever-increasing circle of resource in­put, utility output and waste gener­ation services a range of wants which is itself expanding — an economic dog chasing its tail. Ecomonic growth, de­fined as the increasing capacity to satisfy consumer wants through mat­erial production, is, in a tautological sense the pathway to progress when the latter, in turn, is defined as in­creasing capacity in the act of mat­erial consumption. An ethical commit­ment to the notion of consumer sovereignty or the rights of the indi­vidual consumer to attempt to maxim­ise his utility forms the normative base on which the positive achiev-ments of economic science have risen. Thus, the relevant facts in terms of the approach concern the economising be­haviour of men — i.e. the social pro­cesses by which resources are mobil­ised and allocated to alternative uses and the fruits thereof distributed to satisfy the competing and, in the aggregate, unlimited wants of con­sumers.

The ecological school, on the other hand, dispute both the possibility (and therefore inevitability) and de­sirability of further economic growth. The various components of the pre­dicted eco-catastrophe — the inter­locking vicious spirals of technological development, resource depletion, population growth, waste generation and environmental decay — are well known and summarised in a number of the contributions to Dempsey's book. The implication of this approach is that these spiralling processes fuelled by continuing growth will, in the foreseeable future, halt and re­verse genuine human progress, defined not as increasing consumption but as improving 'quality of life.' Quality of life is a far more nebulous notion

than material consumption and one that admits of a large number of in­terpretations, reflecting the various value biasses of the motley crew marching under the ecology banner. However, one general point can be made. Whereas economists tend to picture an open-ended upward growth trend, ecologists seem pre-occupied with steady-state systems of delicately poised and interacting components. The ecological approach therefore singles out as relevant those facts re­lating to the by-products of economic growth and their interrelated func­tioning. Furthermore, many of the aspects of quality of life valued by ecologists and upset by the conse­quences of growth — such as aesthetic countryside, clean air, unique flora and fauna, etc — are implicitly de­valued both by the growth process itself and its conventional measure, gross national product.

GNP is simply the money sum or market value of all goods and services produced in an economy over a given period of time. The mechanics of national income accounting are some­times inconsistent and often arbit­rary. GNP is largely made up of straightforward values — the market revenues of privately produced goods to which a selling price attaches and expenditure on government provided public and merit goods like defence and education for which no price is charged. In a few cases activities deemed productive by laying outside the money economy are imputed a market value — the rental value of owner-occupied housing is a case in point. However, in a vast majority of such cases no computation is made, due either to the value judgments of national income statisticians as to what is and is not productive or to the inherent difficulties involved in reducing some resource uses to mone­tary terms. Thus, the productive ser­vices of unpaid housewives are ignored even though the fruits of their productivity are consumed by households all over the nation. Such an omission can have ludicrous con­sequences; for example, if a housewife gets sick and can't work around the house, GNP increases not just by the price of a doctor's services and pre­scribed drugs but also by the amount spent by her husband on the services of a commercial laundromat, catering firm, cleaning firm and so on.

Economists will normally dismiss such shortcomings in the national accounts as unavoidable in view of the practical impossibility of accurately estimating the productive worth of the household economy. This dis­claimer is less persuasive in the following example. It is generally re­cognised that, in principle, the value of goods produced and consumed on the spot should be Included in GNP.

Thus, some estimate of the value of food produced by a farmer and con­sumed in his household (rather than sold on the open market) is war-minted. Such an estimate may be con­sidered too difficult and farm pro­duced consumption excluded from GNP calculations — but only on prag­matic grounds. On the other hand, government unemployment benefits paid to surfies are treated as transfer payments and excluded from GNP. Yet, surfies may be viewed as produc­ers of leisure services which they con­sume on the spot. Why argue to include farm produce consumed on the farm and exclude beach leisure consumed on the beach, particularly as in the latter case a ready made market valuation is at hand — viz unemployment benefits? The answer to this seeming paradox is simply that a value judgment distinguishing pro­duction from non-productive activity has been smuggled in — a value judgment rooted in the protestant ethic. It is, however, conceivable to imagine an ecologically minded statis­tician opting to include beach leisure, so produced and consumed, as con­ducive to an improving quality of life and to include, as well, home con­sumed farm produce to the extent that it had been organically grown.

Such anomalies, reflecting both the difficulty of reducing some activities and consequences to monetary terms and the value judgment buried in statistical series, have been dismissed as insignificant by national income statisticians to date. GNP is, after all, only an approximate measure. The question now being asked is, how approximate? It is into the residual, neglected category of activities and consequences that most of the recent concern expressed for the quality of life fits. The sum total of these neglected consequences, argue the ecologists, form an overwhelming in­dictment of the GNP concept.

Goods like clean air and aesthetic landscapes are not priced and don't enter GNP calculations, nor do pollu­tion of the air and aesthetic sen­sibility figure on the negative side. They are implicitly imputed as zero market value. Ecologists do not share the economist's ethical commitment to consumer sovereignity nor the latter's faith in market processes. Man is not considered to be an infinite maximiser of utilities and appro-pirator of resources but as a unit in a complex ecology, constrained by en­vironmental parameters which, if violated, promise imminent disaster. The implicit ecological value judg­ment is based not in utilitarian philosophy but in an earlier humanit­arian tradition; a tradition exhorting the individual to restrict and regulate his desires and actions in ways con­sistent with the continued prosperity

4 Clean Air / February, 1975

(in this context, survival) of the living universe. The two value judgments are irreconcilable, leading to different perceptions of reality and opposing programmes for action — more inten­sive industrial growth versus the quest for the steady-state economy. The ecological viewpoint, value emphasis to the fore, is lucidly expressed in the following passage, along with the tendency to see fools under every economist's hat:

"Of course there are bound to be some amongst us, even in academic institutions, let us admit, who have been so effectively conditioned by their cultural backgrounds that their faith in the growth gospel is quite unshakeable. But there are also others who can think for themselves, who are capable of assessing the situ­ation objectively and who are begin­ning to become concerned on human­itarian grounds . . . . There must be a renewed interest in the quality of life and a lessening of concern for quantity per se. It must involve a total rejection of the gospel of perpetual growth and technological advance at all costs, and also a complete reap­praisal of the current concept of 'pro­gress.' It must lead to a new kind of economy that provides prosperity and opportunity for self-fulfillment and enjoyment of life in the absence of continued expansion of industry and population." (5)

It is not true, as an earlier quot­ation suggests, that economists ignore the environment. A thriving new sub-discipline, environmental economics, has prospered recently and its roots reach at least as far back to the works of the neo-classical economist A. C. Pigou at the beginning of the century. Such provocative works as the Club of Rome's "Limits to Growth" may have encouraged but did not initiate the economic reaction. The key con­cept of environmental economics is the notion of externality or external effects. Externalities are unpriced by­products of the market allocation of resources.

"The operations of firms, or the doings of ordinary people, frequently have significant effects on others of which no account need be taken by the firms, or individuals, responsible for them. Moreover, in-as-much as the benefits conferred and the damages inflicted — or 'external economies' and 'external diseconomies,' respect­ively — on other members of society in the process of producing or using certain goods do not enter the calcul­ations of the market price, one can no longer take it for granted that the market price of a good is an index of its marginal value to society." (6)

Pollution is, perhaps, the prime ex­ample of an external diseconomy. Take the example of a factory whose production discharges particulates or

sulphur dioxide into the air and im­poses various costs on neighbouring residents — health hazards, aesthetic blight, dirty washing, etc. The implicit economic solution is to price these effects. In this example the profit maximising factory has no incentive to take into account the unfavourable effects of its production on local resid­ents. From the factory's point of view the resource, clean air, is free and is treated as such; vast amounts of clean air are used up in the productive pro­cesses as unwanted industrial wastes are dumped into the atmosphere. If, on the other hand, someone owned the clean air the factory would have to pay a price for its use as a dumping ground in the same way that it must pay for its other raw materials. The factory would then only continue to use up clean air (i.e. pollute) if the whole operation (pollution charge in­cluded) was profitable — i.e. if market demand for the factory's products, based on individual consumer wants, was sufficient to cover the total costs of production. Moreover, the factory would have an economic incentive to improve production standards and apply or develop pollution control techniques whenever the cost of doing so fell below the pollution charge ex­acted on the old methods. Because of the technical properties of air it is not possible to initiate private property rights in its ownership nor, therefore, to set up a private market in its use. Economists have suggested, instead, vesting ownership rights in the gov­ernment on behalf of the people. The government is then required to simul­ate a private market by charging pollution taxes on the use of clean air.(7)

The rationale of the economic solution is simply to internalise ex­ternalities — i.e. to create a situation in which a profit or utility maximising unit must take into account all the consequences of its actions — and thereby ensure that the price of each good and resource is an index of its marginal value to society. By pricing all externalities an optimal allocation of resources is achieved; it is not possible, given consumer tastes and technological possibilities, to re­arrange production and consumption activities to make everyone better off in their own eyes. Thus, the value judgment implicit in the economic approach is again apparent; resources are to be allocated in such a way as to best satisfy the self-perceived wants of individual consumers. As always the argument returns to the economist's ethical commitment to consumer sovereignty.

The position has immediate polit­ical implications. Instead of prices being set in an impersonal market setting, pollution taxes and the like are determined by government decree.

Such decisions carry with them the potential for significant private gains and losses and will therefore attract the attentions of politically powerful interests. Polluting industries and their spokesmen will be keen to keep pollution taxes at minimum levels and will act accordingly. The distribution of political power will influence the outcome and, hence, the extent to which consumer tastes regarding en­vironmental protection are realised. In this vein environmentalists have attacked Victoria's Environment Pro­tection Authority as a paper tiger — i.e. as a body with intentionally in­sufficient powers to force polluters to pay.

The economist's position also en­tails a further value judgment; who should pay for clean air? Pollution externalities can be internalised either by vesting property rights in clean air in the public and forcing would-be polluters to negotiate with the government on their behalf, as de­scribed above, or by vesting property rights in the polluters and requiring the government to buy clean air from them (i.e. to purchase a reduction in pollution) for the public in the same way that governments buy land from private property owners for public open space, freeways and the like. Either way ensures an economic opt­imum of resource use but in the for­mer the polluter pays and in the latter the pollutees pay. The answer to the question, who should pay, depends on the value emphasis attached to equity, justice and other abstract ethical notions. (8)

Ecologists typically reject the value judgment of consumer sovereignty and tend to argue that he who pollutes should pay. They often claim that the individual as consumer is selfish and shortsighted, particularly where the welfare of unborn gener­ations is concerned, and ethically un­fitted to make judgments concerning the management of the environment. Moreover, it is argued, the desires of the average consumer/voter are mani­pulated by and for the requirements of the economically and politically powerful, particularly the large in­dustrial polluters. In short, people don't really know what's good for them in the long term and, claim the ecologists, the market and selection mobilised preferences of the current generation should not be used as the basis for an ethically valid environ­mental policy. Solomon(9) points out that today's average Australian con­cerned with maintaining a house, car, holiday and the "minimal" luxuries of a materialist existence is not willing to forego much of his current living standard for a better environment.

Concern for the environment is as mentioned earlier, a luxury. It is prob­able, as Solomon suggests, that future

Clean Air / February, 1975 5

generations of Australians, enjoying a greater standard of material living, will come to value environmental goods highly. In order to leave the options of future generations open in this area, government action in defi­ance of the preferences of current voters (and powerful vested interests) is warranted. Yet, politically speak­ing, such action is dangerous since any government attempting to do so is likely to find itself swiftly out of office. Moreover, such reforms may clash with other intended policies of government. The need for BHP to legitimise the Australian government's Prices Justification Tribunal has, no doubt, encouraged the latter to over­look many of the unfavourable en­vironmental effects of BHP's oper­ations.

To sum up: the growth debate is an argument over basic values and, hence, basic social priorities. Different sides will push conflicting solutions in the political arena; economists tend­ing towards pollution taxes, etc, and ecologists preferring straight-out pro­hibition and high control standards. Each side will seek to claim the legiti­mising agency of the public interest but will, in fact, operate with con­flicting notions of its meaning. Econ­omists will opt for the quantification of easily measured resource uses and seek to reduce economic growth to a series like GNP. No matter how the crude GNP concept is refined* the intention is to make the price that maximising consumers are willing and able to pay for goods and services the sole basis for social valuation. Ecologists, on the other hand, reject both the utilitarian and protestant ethics and along with them any attempt to reduce the determination of an acceptable environmental policy to willingness to pay.

The Pollution of Politics Both Dempsey's and Crenson's books aid in the understanding of how differ­ent environmental viewpoints are politically expressed and resolved. Each book has its own strengths which tend to complement rather than overlap. Dempsey's book is especi­ally useful for Australian readers since it deals with the Australian scene in the 1970's. As a collection of readings it ranges widely over a number of en­vironment-related issues — air, water, noise and solid waste pollution; nat­ural resources, flora and fauna con­servation; urban renewal; population growth; etc. On the other hand, Crenson's monograph deals primarily with the air pollution issue as it has developed in a number of Northern American cities. Crenson's emphasis * The American economist, Paul Samuelson,

has suggested, subtracting the costs of pollution control from GNP in arriving at his concept of Net Economic Welfare.

6

on the indirect dimension of political power is a necessary complement to the more direct analyses of power which figure in Dempsey's reader.

Dempsey's book is divided into fivs sections; "The Problem, in Perspec­tive," "Flashpoints," "Industry," "An­alysis," and "Eco Action." In the first section articles by Boyden and Bar-wick raise the ecological attack on economic growth in a non-political context — i.e. without considering the ways in which their prescriptions are to be put into effect. This approach is also adopted by Penner ("Population and Economic Growth") in the following section. It is not until the fourth section that the economists flag is hoisted in articles by Solomon (referred to in the previous section) and Stokes ("On Congestion, Noise and Pollution: Any Buyers?"). Be­cause of its importance the growth debate engaged in these articles is worth careful consideration in terms of the discussion of the previous sec­tion and forms one of the major uni­fying themes in Dempsey's book.

The second section, "Flashpoint," is probably the best in the book and directs attention to the political con­text in which some of the important recent environmental issues in Aust­ralia have developed (Clutha, Lake Pedder. Westernport, etc.). These articles demonstrate the complex mix­tures of altruism, ideological nation­alisation and selfishness which define the political stances of the interests involved and the ways in which power is mobilised and used.

Hogan's article on the Clutha bat­tle is a good case in point. It describes the attempt of an American owned coal mining company, Clutha Devel­opment Proprietary Ltd., to build a private railway from its mines just south of Sydney, to the coast and a coal leader down the face of the Illawarra Escarpment and then along a mile-long pier to the company's ships. Several interesting political factors arose in the ensuing struggle — a struggle revolving around the Act rushed through Parliament by the NSW government allowing Clutha to implement its scheme.

Much of the original protest to the scheme came from the newer, en­vironment conscious middle class residents on the south coast and was channelled through the organisational base of the Labor Party •— the local branches dominated by such residents and the local federal electorate coun­cil from which a committee was form­ed to fight the proposal. Local rail-waymen concerned about the threat to their jobs posed by a private rail­way and acting through their unions also mobilised against it. Various tac­tics were employed by these organis­ations. The state Labor caucus was approached and their opposition to

the scheme in Parliament secured. Questions were asked in the Federal Parliament. The support of other unions was also secured and the NSW labor Council condemned the scheme threatening strike action in support of the protest. Public meetings were held on the south coast to publicise opposition to the scheme and, of crucial importance in the existing political situation, meetings were also held in Sydney. The latter helped to delocalise the issue in a way more likely to embarrass the Liberal state government. Middle class interest groups (like the Paddington Society and Ecology Action) and voters in Liberal voting electorates (as opposed to the Labor dominated electorates on the south coast) were enlisted as sup­porters. The advocacy skills of pro­fessionals were mobilised, individually and through groups like the Society for Social Responsibility in Science and the Council for Civil Liberties; of particular importance here were those skills related to gaining access to the media. The whole issue was skillfully widened to touch on economic nation­alism — an important political issue in swinging city electorates in the wake of Labor's developing federal campaign — since Clutha, it was pointed out, was entirely American owned. The end result was that Clutha were forced to drop their scheme.

The stance of the Miners' Feder­ation, on the other hand, was ambi­valent. Ideologically it was opposed to the private ownership of mines, par­ticularly when such ownership was foreign. Yet the scheme promised more jobs for miners in a generally declining industry. This provides a classic example of the conflict between sectional interest and the self-per­ceived exigencies of the public good — a conflict which, in this case, proved debilitating since the Miners' Feder­ation did not play a significant role in the struggle. This conflict is pre­sent in the position of other organis­ations in the general environment debate; for example, the attempts of the Builders' Labourers Federation to preserve historic buildings entails the loss of potential jobs for members and inherently weakens the union's polit­ical stance — a problem tied again to the fact that concern for the environ­ment is a luxury item of most inter­est to the comfortable middle classes.

In the "Industry" section articles stressing the role and value perspec­tive of industry are opposed by other articles pushing the ecology barrow. A clever editorial move — one which highlights the editor's value stance — has an article by a spokesman of the Keep Australia Beautiful Council, whose motto is "things don't create litter, people do," followed by another which points out that this spokesman

Clean Air / February, 1975

is a public relations official of Aust­ralia's largest packaging firm, Aust­ralian Consolidated Industries: "In other words he is the PR man pro­moting stubbies, 'no deposit' soft drink bottles and plastic contain­ers.(10)

The fourth section, "Analysis," brings together a diffuse collection of articles stressing different aspects of the environment, some of which have been mentioned above. A major theme here is the desirable manage­ment of the man-made urban environment. Given the highly ur­banised pattern of Australian develop­ment, the cumulative nature of many environmental problems and the political power concentrated in the cities, such an emphasis is well de­served. The final section raises again the value basis of the ecological view­point. Btrrell's article, which could have been included in the previous section, suggests several reasons for the relative success of environmental groups in America and attributes it largely to underlying social changes in American patterns of child-rearing and educational development— pat­terns which he sees as largely absent in Australia and responsible for the primitive political state of the local environment movement. This argu­ment has important consequences for any attempt to establish a widespread liberal consciousness as a prelude to environmental concern in Australia.

The articles in Dempsey's book part­icularly those in the second section "Flashpoint," deal with what Bach-rach and Baratz term the "apparent face of power" or the relative abilities of various groups to affect the out­come of overt decisions, such as whe­ther or not to build a coal loader on the NSW south coast or a power station at Newport. Yet, as these authors point out, there is a second more indirect but no less important face to power — viz the relative abilities of different interests in con­fining the scope of political debate, perhaps to the extent of preventing certain potential issues from arising at all. This area of analysis might be termed the un-politics of non-deci-sionmaking. Every political system tends to have built-in biasses which filter out some potential political issues and unimportant; such non-issues never get to the stage of public consideration. An example of this phenomena was touched on earlier — viz the impossibility of raising o purely locally based protest to Clutha to the status of a political issue in a state parliamentary political system based on geographic electorates. A full political analysis entails consideration of both faces of power:

"Under this approach the resear­cher would begin by invest­igating the particular 'mobilis­ation of bias' in the institution under

scrutiny Then, having analysed t h e , dominant values, the myths and established political procedures and rules of the game, he would make a careful enquiry into which persons or groups, if any, are handicapped by it. Next he would investigate the dyn­amics of non-decision-making; that is he would examine the extent to which and the manner in which the status-quo oriented persons and groups influence those community values and those political institutions — as, for example, the unanimity 'rule' of New York City's Board of Estimate — which tend to limit the scope of actual decision-making to 'safe' issues. Finally using his knowl­edge of the restrictive face of power as a foundation for analysis and as a standard for distinguishing between 'key' and 'routine' political decisions, the researcher would, after the man­ner of the pluralists, analyse particip­ation in the decision-making of concrete issues" (n)

It is this approach that Crenson successfully applies in his study of air pollution in selected American cities. He finds a systematic bias in city political systems against the de­velopment of air pollution as an issue worthy of government consideration. Air pollution control offers collective benefits to city residents; air pollution control confers benefits indiscrimin-antly on all residents. However, party political systems are more attuned to issues which can deliver specific bene­fits to clear-cut blocs of potential sup­port. A party must mobilise political support by exchanging specific bene­fits to different sections of the popul­ation in return for votes, money, in­fluence, etc (pensions to pensioners, subsidies to farmers, tariffs to busi­nessmen and so on). By spreading political benefits across a city a party can never be certain of securing the support of any single group, particul­arly if concentration on the provision of collective benefits has turned that party's attention away from the gen­eration of specific benefits dear to the heart of section groups. The very structure of pluralist or pressure group politics tends to bias the system against the provision of collective goods, reinforcing the neglect of these goods in the private market, as argued in the previous section. Environment­alists made little headway politically until they started organising pressure groups based on sections of the middle classes willing to see improvements of the environment as a specific benefit alongside or in the face of strictly economic benefits. Further success is constructed by the difficulty of weld­ing together a suitable sectional base or, in Birrell's terms, of encouraging the development of a "class of liber­als." Moreover, although anti-air pol­lution programmes fail to deliver specific benefits they do generate

^specific costs; they impose significant 'costs on clearly recognisable groups, particularly large industrial concerns and their workers. In doing so these programmes naturally act as a focus for organised political opposition.

This leads to Crenson's second major argument; the power of influ­ential section groups may be express­ed in indirect as well as direct ways. Thus political power may be effec­tively exercised by a group even though it is not actively engaged in promoting a cause. In one of his selected cities, Gary Indiana, Crenson found that although the major resid­ent industrial concern, US Steel, re­frained from an active role in the struggle to enact anti-air pollution legislation, its reputed power con­ditioned or restricted the debate at every stage of its development. The groups activity involved in the debate voluntarily modified their positions, in advance, to those deemed acceptable to US Steel. During this process, which took place over several years, unac­ceptable viewpoints were filtered out and, without lifting a finger, US Steel was able to significantly influence the resulting legislation. In a similar fashion, a reputedly powerful group may, simply by its existence, discour­age other groups from attempting to raise certain issues; power is being in­directly applied to ensure inaction. A group wishing to raise the question to the level of a public issue is effectively dissuaded in advance by the anticip­ated reaction of a reputedly powerful opposition. The indirect power to en­sure inaction in a particular issue-area is as important, politically, but much less visible than the direct power to influence the outcome of a fully public issue.

The insights offered in Crenson's American study may usefully be applied to the Australian scene. Thus, for example, a political analysis of Victoria's environment protection legislation should include a study of the interests directly involved, the ex­isting rules of the political game, the dominant political values held and the reputedly powerful groups whose sec­tional interests may be enhanced or threatened by any change in the status-quo. The power of polluters is likely to be expressed, not just in formal advisory committees or through political contacts forged at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, but in the tendency of politicians and others to calculate in advance what their supporters and opponents are likely to reject in any political con­frontation. And it is to clearly recog­nise the force of this hidden face of power that Crenson's small but im­portant book should be read alongside the more obviously relevant contribu­tions to Dempsey's reader.

• References — see page 16

Clean Air / February, 1975 7

E. Galbally

Two years of measurements of nitrogen dioxide at Aspendale show an average daytime concentration of 1.3 pphm NO2. Simultaneous measurements indicate that the NOx concentration is about 1.5 times the NO2 concentration at Aspendale. Measurements at Mt. Buller and Cape Otway in background air give average concentrations between one fifth and one tenth of those at Aspendale.

The nitrogen dioxide concentration at Aspendale shows some decrease with increasing wind speed but no observable change with wind direction. No simple relationship between ozone and nitrogen dioxide is observed.

Mr. Galbaliy is a Research Scientist at CSIRO, Division of Atmospheric Physics, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia.

Introduction: Nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide are common products of combustion processes and so are pre­sent in elevated concentration in urban atmospheres. They are also per­manently present in low concent­rations in the background atmosphere, presumably produced by biological processes.

In this paper some measurements of these gases in the background at­mosphere and at a suburban site are presented. Some measurements made by the Victorian Environmental Pro­tection Authority(1) are included for comparison.

The measurements at Mt. Buller, Cape Otway and Aspendale were made using the Saltzman method for measuring nitrogen dioxide (Saltz­man 1954) (2). The total oxides of nit­rogen were measured using a chrom­ium trioxide prefilter(3) to convert nitric oxide to nitrogen dioxide. These methods have been used for back­ground measurements in the Northern Hemisphere.

The measurements at Aspendale were made from a first storey balcony 70 metres north east of Nepean High­way during 1972 and 1973 and from a rooftop observation area above a single storey laboratory 160 metres north east of Hepean Highway during 1974. Nepean Highway runs approxim­ately northwest-southeast at Aspen­dale, (320°/145°). Aspendale is a bayside south eastern suburb of Mel­bourne, with Port Phillip Bay extend­ing to the west and Bass Strait 60 km to the south, see Fig. 1. The centre of Melbourne's industry, commerce and traffic is approximately 30 km to the northwest.

The measurements at Mt. Buller were made at a location near the summit of the mountain in December 1973, and the measurements were free from any local sources of contamin­ation. The observations at Cape Otway were similarly free from local in­fluences.

Concentrations of Nitrogen Dioxide and Total Oxides of Nitrogen

The concentrations of NO2 and NOx

12

measured at various places in Victoria are presented in Table 1.

At the background sites at Mt. Buller and Cape Otway, away from sources of urban pollution, the typical concentrations of both NO2 and NOx are between 0 and 0.3 pphm and the maximum values reach 0.5 pphm. The total oxides of nitrogen are mainly composed of nitrogen dioxide with nitric oxide being only a minor com­ponent. Simultaneous measurements at these sites show ozone concent­rations of 2 to 3 pphm. Hence the ex­tremely rapid ozone-nitric oxide reaction ensures that most of the nitrogen oxides present will be in the form of nitrogen dioxide.

In the urban environment the levels of nitrogen dioxide are many times greater than those in back­ground air. The observed nitrogen dioxide levels vary little between the sites in outer suburbia (at Aspendale) through the suburbs and the city (Parliament Place).

The total oxides of nitrogen show a marked change from the back­ground atmosphere with maximum levels in the city and suburban areas. The total oxides of nitrogen daily maxima probably occur simultane­ously with early morning peak traffic, about an hour before the first meas­urement at Aspendale. This may ex­plain the lower levels at Aspendale compared with the suburban and city values. The high levels of total oxides of nitrogen at the city and suburban sites are associated with high levels of nitric oxide. Nitrogen dioxide is the minor component of the pair. This reflects the proximity of these sites to combustion sources as these sources emit their nitrogen oxides almost entirely as nitric oxide.

In Fig. 2 the nitrogen oxide con­centrations observed at Aspendale are presented month by month for 1972 to 1974. During 1972 the measure­ments are of total oxides of nitrogen, and in 1973 and 1974 they are of nit­rogen dioxide. Simultaneous measure­ments during 1973 and 1.074 indicate that the total oxides of nitrogen con­centrations are on the average about one and one half times the nitrogen dioxide concentrations. Minimum

Clean Air / February, 1975

concentrations occurred in Spring 1972 and Summer 1973/74. Maximum concentrations occurred in Winter 1972, Summer Autumn Winter 1973, and Autumn 1974. It is probable that these variations are due to seasonal changes in the wind speed and vert­ical mixing of the atmosphere, how­ever some analysis is needed to con­firm this.

Meteorological Factors Studies of ozone, dust and radio­activity in the air at Aspendale by Galbally, Galbally and Goodman and Hicks(4) show a strong de­pendence of these pollutants on wind direction. The daily measure­ments of nitrogen dioxide during 1973 at Aspendale have been sorted accord­ing to wind trajectories for the twelve hours prior to the observations. These trajectories, i.e. the direction and distance of travel of the wind during the previous twelve hours are a useful indicator of the likely areas that the air has passed over prior to arriving at the sampling site. The data presented in Table 2, surpris­ingly, show no systematic variation of nitrogen dioxide concentration with wind direction. Higher nitrogen diox­ide concentrations might have been expected in north winds because of the dense traffic and industrial activity in the city. Similarly the close proximity of Nepean Highway to the sampling site (about 100 m) might lead to high concentrations in south westerly winds, but that all three directions show similar nitrogen diox­ide concentrations indicates that it is a pervasive pollutant at the 1 ppm level in the south eastern surburban and semi-rural areas.

The measurements of nitrogen dioxide concentration in the air com­ing from the south west quadrant to Aspendale can be analysed in more detail. On those occasions when the distance travelled is greater than 80 nm, the air parcel will have origin­ated in Bass Strait or the Southern

Ocean, see Fig. 1, and should contain a background amount of nitrogen dioxide of about 0.2 pphm. Before arriving at the sampling site at Aspendale this air will have passed over a few residential units and Nepean Highway. Assuming Nepean Highway is the only significant source

Table 1.

Place

Concentrations of Nitrogen dioxide, NO2, and total oxides of nitrogen, NO + NO2 at various places in Victoria.

N 0 2 NOx = NO + N0 2

Monthly Highest Monthly Highest Average 1 hr Max 1 hr Max Average 1 hr Max 1 hr Max

Units pphm V.

Period of obs.

Background

Mt. Buller

Cape Otway

less than 0.1

0.2

0.1

0.4

less than 0.1

0.3

0.1

0.5

1 week

1 week

Outer Suburban (Aspendale) 1.3 3.9 6.4 1.0 3.9 6.3

These NO2 and NOx measurements were made in different years. Simultaneous measurements give NOx approx. 1.5 times NO2

2 years

Suburban (EPA Oakleigh, Preston, Altona)

0.7 3.8 8.5 3.2 20.1 48.0 6 months

City (EPA Parliament Place)

1.2 6.3 10.0 4.6 21.6 45.0 4 months

Clean Air / February, 1975 13

concentrations occurred in Spring 1972 and Summer 1973/74. Maximum concentrations occurred in Winter 1972, Summer Autumn Winter 1973, and Autumn 1974. It is probable that these variations are due to seasonal changes in the wind speed and vert­ical mixing of the atmosphere, how­ever some analysis is needed to con­firm this.

Meteorological Factors Studies of ozone, dust and radio­activity in the air at Aspendale by Galbally, Galbally and Goodman and Hicks(4) show a strong de­pendence of these pollutants on wind direction. The daily measure­ments of nitrogen dioxide during 1973 at Aspendale have been sorted accord­ing to wind trajectories for the twelve hours prior to the observations. These trajectories, i.e. the direction and distance of travel of the wind during the previous twelve hours are a useful indicator of the likely areas that the air has passed over prior to arriving at the sampling site. The data presented in Table 2, surpris­ingly, show no systematic variation of nitrogen dioxide concentration with wind direction. Higher nitrogen diox­ide concentrations might have been expected in north winds because of the dense traffic and industrial activity in the city. Similarly the close proximity of Nepean Highway to the sampling site (about 100 m) might lead to high concentrations in south westerly winds, but that all three directions show similar nitrogen diox­ide concentrations indicates that it is a pervasive pollutant at the 1 ppm level in the south eastern surburban and semi-rural areas.

The measurements of nitrogen dioxide concentration in the air com­ing from the south west quadrant to Aspendale can be analysed in more detail. On those occasions when the distance travelled is greater than 80 nm, the air parcel will have origin­ated in Bass Strait or the Southern

Ocean, see Fig. 1, and should contain a background amount of nitrogen dioxide of about 0.2 pphm. Before arriving at the sampling site at Aspendale this air will have passed over a few residential units and Nepean Highway. Assuming Nepean Highway is the only significant source

Table 1.

Place

Concentrations of Nitrogen dioxide, NO2, and total oxides of nitrogen, NO + NO2 at various places in Victoria.

N 0 2 NOx = NO + N0 2

Monthly Highest Monthly Highest Average 1 hr Max 1 hr Max Average 1 hr Max 1 hr Max

Units pphm V.

Period of obs.

Background

Mt. Buller

Cape Otway

less than 0.1

0.2

0.1 less than 0.1

0.4 0.3

0.1

0.5

1 week

1 week

Outer Suburban (Aspendale)

Suburban (EPA Oakleigh, Preston, Altona)

1.3 3.9 6.4 1.0 3.9 6.3

These NO2 and NOx measurements were made in different years. Simultaneous measurements give NOx approx. 1.5 times NO2

0.7 3.8 8.5 3.2 20.1 48.0

2 years

6 months

City (EPA Parliament Place)

1.2 6.3 10.0 4.6 21.6 45.0 4 months

Clean Ai r / February, 1975 13

Fig. 2: Nitrogen oxide concentrations at Aspendale 1972-1974.

Fig. 3: Nitrogen dioxide measurements, 1200 hrs Aspendale 1973. (Wind directions 180° to 260" and wind travel greater than 80 nautical miles during the previous twelve hours).

of nitrogen dioxide we can write (NO2) sampling point = (NO2) back­ground + (NO2) highway.

The contribution of NO2 from Nepean Highway can be calculated using a modification of a formula for a pollutant diffusing from an infinite line source (Turner 1967) (5). When the wind is normal to the highway and the concentration NOx(X) is

measured at ground level, where X is the distance from highway to sam­pling point, (approximately 100 m),

the vertical dispersion coefficient for distance X (10 m for unstable conditions), q the rate of emission of an average vehicle, (4.8 g.mile-1 or 3 x 10-3 g.m-1), U the wind speed in metres sec-1 and N the traffic flow, the formula becomes

Most of this NOx will be in the form of NO, but about 80% conver­sion could take place due to ozone naturally present in the air. Adding a background level NO2 of 0.2 pphm to the NO2 amount due to Nepean High­way (80% NOx) we obtained the ex­pected concentration at the sampling site. These average calculated values, error limits, and the appropriate measured values are presented, in Pig. 3. The error limits are based on a factor of two increase and decrease of the highway contribution due to variations of etc. in the predic­tion equation1'. It appears that the measured values are gener­ally somewhat higher than the aver­age calculated values but they have the correct variation with wind speed. This difference in average values could easily be eliminated by increas­ing either the background level or one of several factors in the calcul­ation of the highway contribution. However, due to the considerable un­certainty in each of the terms and the several simplifying assumptions needed for use of the diffusion equa­tion any such adjustment is unjusti­fied. It does appear that on occasions of south westerly winds the NO- con­centrations observed at Aspendale can be represented by the sum of the background level and a concentration due to vehicular emissions from Nep­ean Highway.

Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone Frequency distributions of ozone and nitrogen dioxide are presented in Fig. 4. Both gases show an approxim­ately log normal distribution in the 10% to 90% range. This distribution is expected for a pollutant with a uniform surface area source due to the wind speed distribution(6). The lack of variation of nitrogen dioxide with wind direction indicates that NO2 probably fulfils this criterion.

There is no single reason for the ozone concentrations to follow a log normal distribution. Ozone is pro­duced when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons are irradiated with sun­light. These processes can be explain­ed in terms of well known and postulated chains of chemical reac­tions (7). However variations in atmos­pheric concentrations can only be explained in terms of the physics, chemistry and meteorology of the

14 Clean Air / February, 1975

Fig. 4: Frequency distribution of half hourly mean ozone and nitrogen dioxide measurements at 1300 hrs (Aspendole 1973).

Table 2. Nitrogen Dioxide concentrations according to wind trajectories, Aspendale 1973 (Mean, Standard Deviation no. observations); (a) 0900 hrs; (b) 1200 hrs

(local time). Units: pphm (v) knots, nautical miles.

Av. Wind Speed

90° to 170° (SE)

180° to 260° (SW)

270° to 80° (N)

DISTANCE TRAVELLED D

D > 80 nm

Knts. 10

(a) 1.4 ± 1.1 (6 ) (b ) 0.8 ± 0.4 (5 )

(a) 0.9 ± 0.4 (23) ( b ) 1.0 ± 0.4 (26)

(a) 1.2 ± 0.4 (23) (b ) 0.9 ± 0.5 (38)

80 nm > D > 10 nm

4

1.0 ± 0.9 (12) 1.2 ± 0.6 (20)

1.1 ± 0.6 (19) 1.2 ± 0.6 (27)

1.4 ± 0.7 (51) 1.3 ± 0.7 (72) J

-1.5 1.6

10 nm > D Calm

< 1 0

± 0.8 (32)1.9 ± 1.1 (60) ± 1.1 (31)2.3 ± 0.9 (10)

situation(8). The nitrogen dioxide and ozone data for Aspendale were ex­amined in the hope that some simple empirical relationship might be found, and the results are presented in Table 3. The average ratio of O3 to NO2 in air at midday at Aspendale is 4 : 1 and the range of values of the ratio for individual occasions varies from 0 to 33. There is no tendency for a particular ratio, as is shown by the lack of any correlation between NO2 and O3 in the midday data.

It was considered that some re­lationships might exist between the ozone-nitrogen dioxide ratio and the global ultra-violet radiation as meas­ured at midday at Aspendale (Collins 1973(9). However no correlation was found in the data. It appears that more complicated relationships in­volving also the concentration of nitric oxide, the composition and concentration of hydrocarbons and the air trajectory prior to sampling will be required to relate nitrogen oxides and ozone.

Conclusions Measurements of nitrogen dioxide and the total oxides of nitrogen show average concentrations that vary from less than 0.1 pphm for both NO2 and NOx in background air at Mt. Buller to 1.2 pphm NO2 and 4.6 pphm NOx in air over the city of Melbourne. Both dispersion calculations and observ­ations show that up to 1.5 pphm of NO2 observed at Aspendale in light south westerly wind conditions could be due to the emissions from the nearby Nepean Highway. Similar con­tributions to the observed concent­rations would be expected in similar conditions at inland sites due to each nearby road with a similar traffic density.

No simple relationship is found between the midday concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and ozone at Aspen­dale.

Acknowledgements Mr. W. Knight made most of the measurements and ran the programme during my absence in 1973. Mr. H. Grimus, Ski Lifts Mt. Buller, the Cape Otway Lightkeepers, Mr. R. McNeill and Mr. P. Scott and the Department of Transport all generously helped with facilities and assistance for the background measurements. Mr. B. Dixon helped with the Cape Otway measurements.

References: 1. Env i ronmen ta l Protect ion Author i ty Vic­

toria , Air Moni tor ing Results , Augus t 1972 to March 1973, 23 p.

2. Sa l tzman , B. E., Analytical Chemis t ry , 26, No. 12, 1949 (1954).

3. Levaggi, D. A., W. Slu. M. Feldsteln and E. L. Kothny , Env. Sci and Tech., 6, No. 3, 250 (1972) Sal tzman, B. E., and A. F. W a r t -bu rg , Anal. Chem., 37, No. 6, 779 (1965).

4. Galbally, I. E., Atm. Env., 5 pp. 15-25 (1971), Galbally, I. E. a n d H. S. Goodman, Atm. Env., 6, 409 (1972), Hicks, B. B., Aust . Met. Mag., 21, No. 1, (1973).

5. Turner , D. B., Workbook ol Atmospheric Dispersion Es t ima tes , U.S. Dept. Heal th Educ. Welfare, N.C.A.P.C. Cinc lna t t i Ohio, 84 pp., (1967). P.H.S. Pub . No. 999-AP-26.

6. Knox, J. B. and R. Lange, J.A.P.C.A., 24, No. 1, 48 (1974).

7. Hecht . , T. A. a n d J. H. Seinfeld, Env. Sci. a n d Tech., 6, No. 1, 47 (1972).

8. Altshuller , A. P.. and J. J. Bufalini, Env. Sci. and Tech., 5, No. 1, 39 (1971).

9. Collins, B. G., Aust. Met. Mag. 21, No. 3, 113 (1973).

Table 3. Relationships between Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone at Aspendale

Clean Air / February, 1975

NSW AIR POLLUTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Following the implementation of some facilitating amendments to the

Clean Air Act to permit the re-establishment of representation from me NSW Health Commission the Air Pollution Advisory Committee has been increased by one member.

The members of the Committee as it now stands are — Mr. E. S. Coffey, SPCC, Chairman. Mr. C. Hopkins, Chemical Engineer. Dr A. Bell, Health Commission of Mr. M. Hunt, Fuel Technologist.

NSW. Prof. F. W. Ayscough, University of

New South Wales. Mr. A. Cornish, Chamber of Manu­

factures. Mr. J. E. Dixon, Metal Trades Industry

Association. Dr J. R. Harry, SPCC.

Mr. V. J. Ryan, Nominated by Depart­ment of Local Government.

Mr. A. McLagan, Labor Council of New South Wales.

Mr. E. Monson, Labor Council of New South Wales.

Mr. R. P. Murphy, SPCC. Dr. T. Wood, University of Sydney.

OBITUARY R. S. Williams

It is with deep regret that I report the sudden death on 24th December, 1974, of our N.S.W. Branch Committee Member, Ron Williams.

Ron was a foundation Council member of the Society and was a member of the original Committee re­sponsible for the production of our journal "Clean Air", and since the formation of the N.S.W. Branch had been an active Committee member.

Ron Williams, until last September, when he retired, had been Municipal Health Surveyor and Building In­spector with the Leichhardt Municipal Council for over thirty years. Ron's interest in air pollution control became widely known when, under his guidance, Leichhardt Council formed a Smoke Abatement Committee whose function was to advise both Council and industry within the Municipality, on matters related to air pollution control. This Committee, which is unique in the Sydney metropolitan area, has now been in operation for almost a quarter of a century and air quality improvement over the period

has justified its concept and continu­ing existence.

The passing of Ron means the loss of both a friend and a stalwart in the field of Air Pollution Control. On behalf of the N.S.W. Branch, I extend our sympathy to his family.

K. M. SULLIVAN President, NSW Branch

References From page 7

1. H. Stuart Hughes, Society and Conscious­ness, Paladin, 1974, p. 335.

2. G. Lafitte, BHP and the Environment, Friends of the Earth, Melbourne, 1973.

3. P. Fisher, How the Trendy Twees Expelled Blue Collars and Ethnics," The National Times, Jan. 14-19, 1974.

4. S. Boyden, Australia and the Environ­mental Crisis, in R. Dempsey, op. cit., p. 13.

5. ibid., pp. 15-16. 6. E. J. Mishan, The Costs of Economic

Growth, Penguin Books, 1969, p. 82. 7. T. D. Crocker and A. J. Rogers III,

Environmental Economics, The Dryden Press, 1971.

8. Mishan, op. cit., ch. 5. 9. D. Solomon, The Economics of Pollution,

in Dempsey, op. cit., p. 160-1. 10. Michael Symons, People make the Utter,

say package-makers, not us — hut . . . ., in Dempsey, op. cit., p. 133.

11. P. Bachrach and M. S. Baratz, Two Faces of Power, in F. G. Castles et al. Decisions, Organisations and Society. Penguin Books, 1971, p. 387.

filter fabrics

cernable. As expected, the buildup of aldehydes complements the olefin decay.

Summary The photochemical smog formation process in the atmosphere is extremely complex, undoubtedly involving hund­reds of different species and reactions. The principal ingredients are organic compounds (e.g., paraffins, olefins, aromatics, aldehydes), oxides of nit­rogen (NO and NO2), and air. When a mixture of these species is irradiated, either by natural or artificial sunlight, the organic compounds are oxidized, forming free radical intermediates that react with NO. The disappear­ance of hydrocarbons and NO is accompanied by the accumulation of NO2, aldehydes, organic and inorganic nitrates, peroxides and ozone — pro­ducts collectively known as smog. Although the flow diagrams presented in this paper are an extreme simpli­fication of the actual smog formation process, they illustrate the basic chemical transformations that occur in a polluted atmosphere.

References 1. Haagen-Smit, A. J., and M. M. Fox; Ind.

Eng. Chem., 48 1484 (1956). 2. Demerjian, K. L., J. A. Kerr, and J. E.

Calvert; Advances in Environmental Sciences and Technology, J. N. Pit ts and R. L. Metcalf, eds., Vol. 4, pp. 1-262, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1974).

3. Hecht, T. A., and J. H. Seinfleld; Environ. Sci. Tech., 6, 47 (1972).

4. Hecht, T. A., J. H. Seinfeld and M. C. Dodge; Environ. Sci. Tech., 8, 327 (1974).

5. Leighton, P. A.; Photochemistry of Air Pollution, Academic Press, New York (1961).

6. O'Brien, R. J.; Environ. Sci. Tech., 8, 579 (1974).

7. Dimitriades, B., and T. C. Wesson; Journ. Air Pollut. Control S o c , 22, 33 (1972).

MANUFACTURERS OF TECHNICAL FABRICS FOR DUST AND FUME CONTROL AND OTHER INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES

D O W N S COULTER (1950) PTY. LTD.

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Telephone: 4 1 3 5 2 5

16 Clean Air / February, 1975

BOOK REVIEWS Automatic Air Quality Monitoring Systems Editor T. Schneider Proceedings of the Conference held at the National Institute of Public Health, Bilthoven, The Netherlands, 5th-8th June 1973 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam — London — New York (1974) Price: A$15.60

This book is a collection of papers presented at a symposium organised by the National Institute of Public Health in Bilthoven with, as co-spon­sors, the World Health Organisation, Division of Environmental Health, and the International Reference Centre, Research Triangle Park, U.S.A. The purpose of this symposium was to exchange knowledge on existing and planned automated air quality monit­oring systems and about the analysis of air pollution data.

In the design of a monitoring system for air quality which will be fully automated there are four aspects which should be considered, (a) the selection of a site and a sample intake which will ensure representative sampling under most conditions, (b) the choice of a reliable sensor which is capable of the required sensitivity, selectivity, accuracy, and response time, (c) the choice of a suitable com­munications channel which can both transmit data to a central point or commands from the central control to the sample site, (d) the means of checking data to ensure that measure­ments have been obtained from an instrument that is functioning cor­rectly and the data have not been distorted in transmission. Several papers describe and discuss monitor­ing systems in the U.S.A., Japan, Great Britain, and the Netherlands and the manner in which the above requirements have been approached. Even if some ideal system existed which would meet all the require­ments to provide absolutely reliable data the problem would still exist of devising efficient methods of hand­ling the large volume of data gener­ated by the system. One important consideration is the display of results in a form which can easily be grasped in order that appropriate action may be taken; an immediate alarm for a local hazard or emission control to check a long-term trend. There are several papers relevant to these con­siderations; on data handling in graphical form, on pattern recog­nition, and on prediction and urban modelling.

The installation of an automated monitoring system with a large num­ber of static sample points is, of

course, a very costly operation. One omission among the papers in this symposium is any sort of cost-benefit analysis of such a monitoring system. One very short comment in one of the discussions indicates that it might be more economical to monitor major sources and then carry out an emis­sion inventory. It is important that Government and other sources of funds should be well-informed about the merits and defects of automated systems. The installation of a complex system may be good public relations but does not necessarily lead to a re­duction in air pollution.

This book can be recommended to all those interested in the field as it provides an excellent coverage of recent work overseas and it would provide a valuable introduction to those workers in air pollution who are not familiar with automated monitor­ing.

J. BAGG

Pollution Control and Energy Needs ed. by R. M. Jimeson and R. S. Spindt ACS Symposium, Aug. 29-30, 1972; Addresses in Chemistry Series No. 127 249 pp. cloth $US 13.95 Paper 7.50. Available from the American Chemical Society 1155 16th St NW, Washington DC 20036

This is a record of the papers deliver­ed at a symposium sponsored by the American Chemical Society. It is very much concerned with pre­sent technology, and readily feasible advances on this technology. The first three papers discussed the supply and demand of gas. low sulphur coal, and oil. The paper by Jimeson (who also edited the volume) is not concerned with a simple account of the methods of desulphurization, but the actual demand for these systems (when de­veloped) now and in the future, while the next paper (by Yeager) considers the effect of selecture source strate­gies, both on the air quality, and the supply available of low sulphur fuels (for the US).

The rest of the book presents state of the art technology for reducing pollution from effluent gases, either directly, or by modifying the fuel. Coal can be changed by removing pyritic sulphur chemically, by solvent refining, or by turning it into a low sulphur oil or char. The flue gases can be sembled with limestone and other slurries, molten carbonates, or treated with activated carbon in a fluidized bed, or by ammonia injection followed by scrubbing and recycling of the am­monia. The chemistry, and possi­bilities of scrubbing oxides of nitrogen

also forms the subject of two papers, but why give listing in an appendix of almost 150 reactions involving nitro­gen and its oxides? The few examples — 35 of them — in the body of the chapter seem adequate.

This is a very useful book at this stage of development; comparatively low in cost, and available as a paper back means that it becomes a possible purchase for individuals and not just another library addition.

W. STRAUSS

Prevention of Air Pollution in the Mon-Ferrous Meta! Industries E. C. Mantle BNF Metals Technology Centre Available from the International Wrought Copper Council 6 Bathurst St., London W2 2SD Price: £35

This manual, prepared under the auspices of the International Wrought Copper Council, presents a good practical approach to the solution of in-plant and environmental control problems. Although orientated to­wards the non-ferrous industries and copper in particular, control prin­ciples are outlined in sufficient depth to enable many other industries to assess their own control needs. The manual is not an engineering text for the design of specific control systems. However the detail given is adequate for the definition of control para­meters or for the evaluation of alter­native control proposals.

Mr. Mantle has aimed at giving management an appreciation of the factors involved in combating pollu­tion and at works engineers concerned with problems of existing plant and the potential environmental issues attached to new installations. As such, this is a valuable contribution. How­ever discussion is confined largely to matters within the factory fence. The very nature of the primary non-fer­rous industry demands a very high degree of involvement with the en­vironment outside and a more exten­sive discussion of environmental monitoring measures would have en­hanced the value as a management guide. To those contemplating new installations some discussions of the significance and preparation of En­vironmental Impact Statements would have been of value.

After introducing the philosophy of air pollution control and the broad legislative alternatives available the production technology of copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and their alloys is reviewed. The pretreatment of materials to reduce emissions, often overlooked as a basic control prin­ciple, is covered in more detail than is customarily found. The contain­ment of fume and the design of suit-

Clean Air / February, 1975 17

able hoods and ductwork are treated in some depth as are the principles of collection. Emphasis is given to particulate collection with the re­moval of gaseous pollutants being less adequately covered.

The use of tall stacks as a means of dispersal is wide-spread in the non-ferrous industries. With many diverse plume-rise formulae to choose from this is perhaps the most con­tentious area of pollution control. While a detailed examination of the physics and meteorology of dis­persion is obviously beyond the scope of the manual, a more extensive re­view of the state of the art would have been in keeping with its overall aims.

The sampling and monitoring of factory atmospheres and duct and stack monitoring is supplemented by the official TLV values for 1972.

B. CARTER-SMITH Mr. Carter-Smith is superintendent of Environmental Services for the Sulphide Corporation Pty. Ltd.

Models for Environmental Pollution Control ed. by Rolf A. Deininger Ann Arbor Science Publishers Inc. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA Recommended Australian Price: $24.50

This book edited by Rolf A. Deininger, Professor of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Uni­versity of Michigan, presents the efforts of an international group of experts, most papers having been pre­sented at an Advanced Study Institute entitled "Systems Analysis for En­vironmental Pollution Control" held in 1972 in Germany. It deals with the use of mathematical models and syst­ems analysis techniques for the con­trol of environmental pollution and resources development. It combines three fields of science, namely mathematical modelling, systems analysis, and computer techniques with environmental pollution control technology. It is addressed to the scientists and engineers who are in­volved in the control of environmental pollution.

The following major parts are covered (the numbers indicate the number of papers in each section): Water Pollution Control (6); Water Supply and Water Resources Develop­ment (4); Air Pollution Control (3); Solid Waste Disposal (4); Noise Con­trol (1); Total Environmental Models (2).

The methods of systems analysis are set out in the introduction, com­prising: Linear programming; Non­linear programming; Dyanamic pro­gramming; Integer programming; Stochastic programming; Queuing

18

theory; Simulation techniques; Net­work techniques; Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT); Critical Path Analysis (CPM): Gradi­ent methods; Digital computer.

It is pointed out that these meth­ods only became really effective through the advent and rapid devel­opment of the high speed computer.

The Editor rightly warns that these techniques by themselves cannot solve any problems; they merely in­crease the capability of generating in­formation that can be used in the decision-making process. One should also be aware that optimal solutions to models are often not the optimal solu­tions to the actual problems, partly due to the inability of engineers, ecol-ogists, and economists to clearly define and quantify many of the im­portant physical, biological, economic and social inter-relationships between the many components of any environ­mental pollution control system. One of the Authors specifically cautions not to rely solely on mathematical modelling. He argues for the proper mixture of formal optimization and practical engineering.

As far as the value of systems analysis and mathematical modelling is concerned I cannot do better than quoting Deininger himself when he says that despite their limitations (which should be clearly recognized) the methods will aid in four major ways — 1. The use of these methods leads to

an increased capability for defin­ing and evaluating possible altern­atives and provides for a wider range of options at every level of decision-making.

2. There is an improved capacity for testing assumptions and data to estimate the effects of economic, hydrologic, political and techno­logical uncertainties.

3. The use of systems analysis forces us to make explicit all assumptions and judgments, the consequences of which are available for all to see and question.

4. Systems analysis is a means of communication between all the participants such as planners, en­gineers, ecologists, hydrologists and economists, helping in understand­ing what each has to do. But above all, systems analysis is

never completed since the problems are continually changing, requiring a continuous updating of information and techniques.

The original articles in the book and the many literature references cited present an extensive review of past studies, present efforts, and the future in this rapidly expanding field. It summarises the state-of-the-art in mathematical modelling for environ­ment pollution control, using mathe­matical formulae and diagrams set

out in excellent fashion. Pollution control and environmental manage­ment is not cheap and resources allo­cated to it have to compete with other needs of society. It is therefore im­portant that they be used efficiently. Decision makers i.e. Governments, Public Authorities etc. should make the best decisions and the techniques outlined offer great opportunities when correctly applied and inter­preted to screen the various techno­logies and show up those that are most efficient. While the resultant methods in themselves will not solve any problems of environmental de­gradation, they will aid the decision maker by showing alternative strate­gies for control, identifying those which are superior to others. Equally important is the fact that mathemat­ical modelling techniques often tend to elucidate problems and their com­ponent parts and the variables in­volved more clearly and by using these in a logical manner increase the reliability of the results.

For most engineers and scientists only a few papers and individual parts of the book will be of specific interest, together with the Editor's excellent introduction. The book requires a con­siderable effort on the part of the reader, even though he may already be familiar with some of the aspects mentioned. It is, however, an indis­pensable addition to any library used by people concerned with any aspect of environmental pollution control be it investigation, planning, comparison of plans, design, or implementation.

L. S. LAYTON

Apparate und Verfahren der Industriellen Gasreinigung (Apparatus and processes in industrial gas cleaning) Part. T, Collection of solid particulates. ( In German) E. Weber and W. Brocke R. Oldenburg Verlag G.m.b.H., Munich, 1973. 512 pp. Price: DM 112 ( $ A 3 5 )

Two German workers have recently published this textbook which covers the field of industrial gas cleaning, with part 1 concentrating on collec­tion of particulates. While it is sound in its theoretical treatment, its great merit is the very extensive sections on gas cleaning equipment and its application. Detailed design data for plant and its intergration into syst­ems, with comprehensive diagrams are produced to a far greater extent than in any other text known to the reviewer.

The first three, short chapters deal with particle behaviour and related material, and the next four chapters, which constitute the bulk of the book discuss (1) dry mechanical collectors,

Clean Air / February, 1975

(2) filters, (3) wet scrubbers and (4) electrostatic precipitators, represent­ing an excellent "state of the art" account. Two further chapters deal with ducts and exhaust systems and the selection of suitable dust collect­ors.

Notable is the treatment of wet collectors, the special field of the first author. The physical basis of scrub­bing are very thoroughly considered, including all possible mechanisms from electrostatic forces to conden­sation effects. The last, currently a popular research field, is shown to have marginal benefits, some of them negative, as condensation leads to the creation of a fine mist which is itself difficult to remove.

A disturbing note is that the auth­ors use diagrams from other sources without acknowledgement: several original diagrams which have appear­ed in the reviewer's own books have been used without their origin being revealed. Although permissions are not required by international copy­right when the book is in a foreign language, courtesy and academic in­tegrity suggest that the source be given. Nonetheless, this is an excel­lent work, which makes a valuable contribution to turning the design of industrial collectors from an art into a science.

W. STRAUSS

The Atmospheric Environment William R. Frisken Resources for the Future Inc. Distributed by Johns Hopkins University Fress Price: $US3.50

This book is one of a series produced by Resources for the Future, Inc. Their aim is to make available, at reasonable cost, comprehensive re­views of important environmental problems. In this day and age, a re­commended price of $3.50 (in the US) must be regarded as reasonable, even for a slim paperback of 68 pages.

The book is not as sweeping in its scope as one might expect from the title; it is concerned only with the impact of man and his activities on the atmospheric environment. The major part of the discussion deals with mesoscale effects, and in partic­ular with the urban atmosphere. In the second section the impact of human activities on large-scale clim­atic patterns is briefly reviewed.

Prof Frisken's text is elegantly structured and is always easy to read, and in general he has done a very good job in presenting abbreviated and essentially non-mathematical re­views of two exceedingly complex subjects. However I think the book has a major weakness in that there is no clearly-defined target audience.

Meteorologists or atmospheric physi­cists who have not been actively work­ing in this field would find the book to be a useful and readable survey o! recent research; however this poten­tial audience is a small one indeed. The book could be used as a text for tertiary-level courses in environ­mental studies, but only if the stud­ents have completed at least a com­prehensive introductory course in meteorology. The "educated layman" without meteorological training will find much of the content baffling, un­less he has some spare time, and ac­cess to a good number of the refer­ences cited in the text. Terms such as "potential temperature," "temper­ature inversion," or "superadiabatic convective mixing layer" are intro­duced with little or no explanation. On page 24 we find a reference to "condensation and freezing nuclei," and then on page 36 to "cloud, Aitken and ice nuceli."

The best sections of the book are those dealing with the numerical modelling of mesoscale and of large-scale circulations. In each case, a com­prehensive survey of recent public­ations is presented, and the results of different workers are analysed and compared in telling fashion. Prof Frisken is careful to point out the deficiencies of the different hier­archies of numerical models, and the likely limitations of the much more complex models that will be developed in the future. However, as in any field in which very rapid development is occurring, there is a high prob­ability that much of the text will become out-of-date within a few years.

Other criticisms are minor and few. I think it is disappointing, in a book published in 1974, to find degrees Fahrenheit used as the main temper­ature unit. On page 23, it is stated that a well-developed sea-breeze front may extend inland as far as 10 or 20 metres! Even if kilometers are sub­stituted for metres, this statement would still be an underestimate; Aust­ralian experience suggests that, in certain locations at least, the inland extent may well be of the order of 100 kilometres. On page 63, the at­mosphere is referred to as a "con-tinum of infrared luminous fuzz"; this is rather extraordinary terminology, not least in that it implies that the atmosphere is hot enough to emit significant amounts of visible radi­ation.

In summary, this book contains compact and highly-readable reviews of the current "state of the art" in two important environmental fields;

but it is perhaps unfortunate that the reader requires a substantial ground­ing in meteorology in order to appre­ciate the subject matter fully.

T. T. GIBSON

Combustion: The Formation and Emission of Trace Species J. B. Edwards Ann Arbor Science Publishers inc., Ann Arbor, 1974. 240 pp. Price: $US 22:50

This small book is an excellent in­troduction into the theory of com­bustion processes and the production of air pollutants which results. Unlike older textbooks, it does not attempt to describe the numerous types of boilers, furnaces and engines in com­mercial use by concentrates on the physical and chemical process which occur in the burning of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.

Following an introductory chapter, the next three concentrate on pre-mixed flames, secondary combustion, and diffusion flames. This group of chapters could form an excellent basis for an introductory course in compus-tion, either as par t of a fuels tech­nology course or for air pollution control specialists. The text is straight­forward, with clear expression. New, simplified diagrams have been used, often with shading to give an effect normally only achieved with the use of several colours. Many of the dia­grams are three dimensional to show the interaction of two parameters, for example air/fuel ratio and carbon/ hydrogen ratio on the combustion temperature.

The chapter on applications is in­tended as a guide to the literature, and in 20 pages refers to almost 300 sources. This of course means that very little detail can be given, which is disconcerting to a reader. The other choice would have been a very much larger book, which would defeat the objective of the present work. Two appendices deal with measures of concentration and their interrelations, which tend to be confusing, and chemical terminology, which should help non-chemists and those with little chemical training to follow the significance of the many chemical species involved in combustion pro­cesses.

Because of the style, size and re­latively low cost, the book should find widespread use among those requiring a clear introduction to combustion, both with self study and as a teaching text.

W. STRAUSS

Clean Air / February, 1975 19

]«.^«BT;M2IrV»EiS»W*WliV:ilWT/1;;~ia.'jJ»Si;s;S1/WJ '!

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Telephone: 61-2041

ELCAD PTY. LTD.

Designers & Manufacturers of

ELECTRONIC DETECTION EQUIPMENT

SPECIALISING IN ANTI-POLLUTION CONTROL

BRANCH NEWS NSW Branch

From ths President's 1974 Report: During 1974 the NSW Branch was both active and healthy. Membership reached 211. and five principal meet­ings were held. These included: (a) Lectures: "Air Pollution Control

in Korea" - Dr. John Harry. "The Design of Stacks for Pollu­tion Dispersion in NSW". Messrs John Court and Neville Lamb.

(b) Symposia: Oxidants Forum. open­ed by Sir -John Fuller. Minister for Environment, and Planning featured a panel of four OECD rapporteurs. Heavy Metal Toxicology in Re­lation to Industrial Pollution, main speaker Prof. Frieberg. sup­ported by Prof. Holland. Doctors Cumpston. Barnes and Field.

(c) Plant Meeting: At CSR Building Materials factory at Rhodes when air pollution control facilities were inspected.

The Branch is represented on the Planning Committee for "Environ­ment "75" the International En­vironment Conference to be held in Sydney from July 1, to i. 1975.

Ths NSW Branch wishes to thank the following organisations for their support during the year: CSR Build­ing Materials, Department of Plan­ning and Environment, NSW Health Commission. Shell Co of Australia, Australian Coal Industry Research Laboratories Ltd.

Swedish Scientist in Sydney

Dr Lars Friberg of the Karolinska Institute. Sweden, was the speaker at a special one day symposium con­ducted by the NSW Branch during November last. Dr Friberg is an inter­national authority on the toxicity of cadmium and other metals.

The symposium was attended by a number of medical doctors and mem-bars of the Occupational Hygiene Society. Dr. Friberg. an accomplished speaker, gave a polished account of his Institute work in establishing Threshold Limit Values on meaning­ful bases, and also toxicity testing utilising several hundred pairs of identical twins. These people particip­ated voluntarily and some interesting if not unexpected correlations were becoming evident.

This was the first symposium where scientists and engineers had ex­changed ideas with medical men and it was generally thought to have been so successful that further meetings of this kind were proposed.

SURVEYS, TESTING, ANALYSIS, SYSTEM DESIGN CONTRACT SUPERVISION

7 Park Road, Surrey Hills, Vic, 3127 Phone: 288-7925

AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS PTY. LTD.

ANALYSIS

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BIRRUS ENGINEERING CO. HIGH SUCTION DUST OR PARTICLE

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Forster Road, Notting Hill. Phone: 544-9022

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CONSULTING CHEMISTS

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CONSULTANTS

Emission Testing for Dusts & Gases Particle Size Analyses etc.

Industrial Hygiene Investigations Analyses of Waste Waters

10.12 Arthur Street, Briar Hill, V ic , 3088 Phone: 435-7492

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Forster Road, Notting Hill. Phone: 544-9022

POLLUTION CONTROL ENGINEERING PTY. LTD.

MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS

OF EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEMS

SPECIALISED CONTROL EQUIPMENT

DESIGNED

110 Kingsway, Glen Waverley, 3150

Phone: 561 1883

P.R. DUST CONTROL PTY. LTD.

ALL TYPES OF DUST & FUME EXTRACTION

UNITS, SHAVING CONVEYORS

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415 Macaulay Road, Kensington

Phone: 33-4240

20 Clean Air / February, 1975

CLEAN AIR FILTER FABRIC

P. & S. TEXTILES SYNONOMOUS

with complete technical service and the widest range of custom designed products

P. & S. TEXTILES PTY. LTD. 36-40 GRAHAM ROAD, HIGHETT, VIC 3190

Telephone: 95 0000 MADE IN AUSTRALIA - FOR AUSTRALIA

PRODUCT MANAGER - DUST COLLECTION APPLICATIONS are invited for an Engineer to head up our Dust Control section.

We manufacture mechanical and fabric filter dust collection equipment, both of our own design and under licence to leading European and US manu­facturers, including the Torit Corporation.

We consider this a senior position which requires wide and recent experience in all facets of industrial dust collection. The successful applicant wi l l be based at our Head Office and wi l l be expected to formulate and put into effect an intensive programme to further increase the market penetration in this section.

A generous salary is envisaged, a Company car provided and superannu­ation, after a probationary period, wi l l be available.

Apply in wri t ing to — The Sales Manager

D. RICHARDSON & SONS LIMITED Fan and Allied Equipment Division

330 Ballarat Road, Braybrook, V ic , 3019

Clean Air / February, 1975

journal of the Clean Air Society of

Australia arid New Zeaiand

VOLUME 8 - 1974

EDITOR: W. Strauss ACTING EDITOR 1974: S. J. Mainwaring Department of Industrial Science, University of Melbourne, Vic, 3052

CONTENTS OF VOLUME 8

TECHNICAL PAPERS Air Pollution Measured by Human Response, A. Auliciems and I. Dick 2 Emissions from Bagasse Fired Boilers, B. W. Flood 5 Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide in the Southern Hemisphere, D. C. Lowe 12 Sonic Gas Cooling Systems Reduce Pollution Control Costs, Arthur J. Muir 16 WHO Activities in Air Pollution Control, G. Geary 26 The Problem of Regional Transportation of Air Pollutants in Northern Europe, Knut Ostergaard 30 Characteristics and Electrostatic Precipitability of Fly Ash from a Laboratory Experiment of Low Sulphur Coals, K. M. Sullivan 33 The Control of NOx Emission in Power Plant Operation, K. N. Sutherland 37 The Effects of Common Air Pollutants on Plants, D. G. Parbery 44 Air Quality Issues of the Day: Changing Perspectives, Arthur C. Stern 51 Measurements of Airborne Particulates in the Melbourne Urban Region, S. C. N. Dixit, J. Alste and J. Bagg 53 The Sizing of Particulates in Polluted Air, Sylvia J. Mainwaring 59 Electric Power — Cost Control, R. D. Waldie 71 Adhesion Probability in Fibre Filters, F. Loeffler 75 Eastern United States High Ozone Concentrations: Chemical Aspects, Lyman A. Ripperton 79 The Effective Utilisation of Queensland Coal, K. M. Sullivan 83 Sulphur Distribution in a Fuel Fired Power Station Boiler, K. M. Sullivan 86

Branch News, New Zealand Branch News, South Australia Branch News, Victoria Clean Air Medal Clean Air Society Annual Report Conferences and Symposia Editorials, S. J. Mainwaring Editorial, W. Strauss Letters to the Editor NSW Pollution Control News New Product Information PIECE Report on the International Clean Air Conference, Dusseldorf, W. Strauss SI and the Air Pollution Engineer Should the Polluter Pay Al l , W. Strauss

AUTHORS INDEX

50 50

50, 73 70

1 69, 74 25, 70

50 85 58

63, 88 69

22, 47, 1,

19 22

24

FEATURES Book Reviews Branch News, NSW

20. 48, 63, 87 25, 50

Alste, J. Auliciems, A. Bagg, J. Barber, D. D. Brook, R. R. Cleary, G. Cock, W. H. Dick, I. Dixit, S. C. N. Flood, B. W. Grant, B. R. Kil l ip, J. H. Legge, J. W. Loeffler, F. Lowe, D. C. Mainwaring, S. J.

Muir, A. J. Ostergaard, K. Parbery, D. G. Rand, M. J. Ripperton, L. A. Shapiro, M. A. Stern, A. C. Strauss, W. 19, 24, Sullivan, K. M. Sutherland, K. N. Waldie, R. D. White, J.

1, 20, 25,

20, 48, 50, 33,

53,

48, 63,

63, 83,

53 2

63 48 63 26 20

2 53

5 20 63 20 75 12 59 70 16 30 44 63 79 63 51 87 86 37 71 63

A8 Clean Air / February, 1975

TINY TEC Gas, Smoke and Vapour Detector

Tiny Tec Sensor

Green Indicator

Lamp

Red Indicator

Lamp

Sensitivity Control

The Tiny Tec sensor is smaller than a thimble, yet it is capable of

detecting the smallest trace of gas, smoke, petrol fumes and all

petroleum based vapours, town gas, natural gas, calor gas, cigar­

ette smoke and hydrocarbons.

This tiny sensor has been built into a robust and highly efficient

switching unit by Marine Electronics/Electronic Applications Ltd.,

U.K., to provide a simple method of incorporating a reliable and

effective means of protection against explosion and fire, in homes,

factories, boats, caravans and all places where a risk of explosion,

fire, or gas leak exists.

The unit is designed as a complete sensor from which a built-in

set of change-over contacts will operate remote safety devices. It is

fitted with a sensitivity control, which may be external as shown in

the photograph or internally mounted so as to be tamper-

proof once set. The unit has two indicator lamps, one green, to

indicate an active state, one red to indicate an alarm condition.

SELBYS SCIENTIFIC LTD. Melbourne 544 4844

Sydney 888 7155

Brisbane 71 1566

Perth 21 9431

Adelaide 51 4651

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BIRRUS SUCTION SYSTEMS

Birrus 100 H. P. suction plant on trial at Southern Portland Cement Ltd., for unloading rail trucks of cement. Result was 66 ton/hour .

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* Pick up of spillages of dust and lumpy material.

* Conveying dusty, hot or high cost materials without spillage or air contamination.

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* Unloading railcars, ships or road trucks (especially the final 10% in a ship's hold).

* Recovery of valuable materials.

We design, manufacture and install systems for pneumatic conveying and vacuum cleaning. We have equipment available for hire f rom 2 H . P . , 3 H. P. and 10 H. P. portable units to 20 , 2 5 , 50 and 100 H. P. systems with separate hopper/filters, pipework and hoses, and skid mounted suction units.

BIRRUS ENGINEERING COMPANY Telephone: Mel. 544-9022.

Clean Air / February, 1975 Cover iii

Cover iv Clean Air / February, 1975