Energy Futures and Urban Air Pollution Challenges for China and the United States (2008) / Chapter Skim
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3 Air Pollution: Sources, Impacts, and Effects
3 Air Pollution: Sources, Impacts, and Effects
Pages 61-112
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From page 61... ...
Although rare, episodes such as those in Donora dramatized the acute health effects of air pollutants. Following the passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments that required the setting of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
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From page 62... ...
These toxic air pollutants (or hazardous air pollutants, as they are called in the Clean Air Act) include benzene and other aromatic compounds from motor vehicles, fuels, and other combustion sources, and mercury from solid waste and coal combustion.
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From page 63... ...
. China is not the only country with varying classes of air quality standards, and WHO recently adopted interim targets to accompany its own guidelines, in order to facilitate implementation in more polluted areas (WHO, 2006)
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From page 64... ...
In 2005, the EPA adopted the Clean Air Interstate Rule, requiring an additional 70 percent reduction in SO2 emissions and a 60 percent reduction in NOx emissions from large stationary sources by 2015. EPA estimates the cost of these controls will be about $3 billion per year in 2015, while the annual benefits that year will be about $90 billion (EPA, 2005)
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From page 65... ...
. An important change in focus for fine particles (PM2.5)
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From page 66... ...
Although EPA does make estimates in the relevant criteria documents, it appears that there are relatively few deaths or serious illnesses arising from exposure to these other pollutants at the levels currently present in the United States. The last assessment of the effects of hazardous air pollutants was performed based on emissions and concentration estimates for 1999.
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From page 67... ...
EPA's national air toxics assessment estimates that in most of the country, people have a lifetime cancer risk from breathing air toxics between 1 and 25 in one million (SCAQMD, 2000)
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From page 68... ...
the United States, control technology has been required to significantly reduce mercury emissions from medical waste incinerators and from municipal solid waste combustors, and control requirements have recently been adopted for coalfired power plants. Environmental Effects The welfare effects of greatest interest include visibility degradation, impacts on crop production and ecosystem health, and materials damage.
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From page 69... ...
. Visibility is most affected by airborne particulate matter, particularly PM with particle diameters between 0.1 and 1.0 µm.
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From page 70... ...
Heavy reliance on coal in power production and a rapidly growing car fleet, usually in combination with outdated technologies and poor maintenance, have led to concentrations of air pollutants far exceeding the limits of both national air quality standards and the air quality guidelines recommended by the WHO (2006)
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From page 71... ...
0.03) for PM10 and SO2, respectively, whereas the coefficients for hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases are 0.12 percent (S.E.
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From page 72... ...
Interagency Monitoring to Protect Visual Environment (IMPROVE) study to calculate the contribution of organic matter and sulfate in PM2.5 to the light extinction in the Pearl River Delta region, China.
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From page 73... ...
(1996) estimated the economic loss due to acid rain damages to crops and materials in the Xiamen area to be about $6 million, which equals about 1 percent of the GDP for the area.
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From page 74... ...
Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, emission controls on industrial and vehicular sources of air pollution have resulted in dramatic improvements in some facets of air quality. For example, in the 1960s, most industrialized urban areas in the eastern United States exceeded air quality standards for ambient concentrations of sulfur dioxide.
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From page 75... ...
Oxides of nitrogen arise from combustion sources including mobile and stationary sources. Although reductions of NOx have resulted in meeting the NAAQS, further emission reductions have been mandated to reduce ozone and particulate matter concentrations.
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76 ENERGY FUTURES AND URBAN AIR POLLUTION FIGURE 3-3 NOx emissions by source, 1983-2002.
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From page 77... ...
Emissions trends for PM10 are shown in Figure 3-5. The trends data reflect emissions from fuel combustion, transportation, and industrial production, but do not include emissions of PM10 from "fugitive" sources, including windblown dust and agricultural activities.
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From page 78... ...
Lead (Pb) The final criteria pollutant for which there are direct emissions into the atmosphere is lead in total suspended particles.
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From page 79... ...
The Clean Air Mercury Rule adopted in 2005 would limit emissions from this sector to 38 short tons in 2010 and to 15 short tons in 2018. More rapid reductions may be achieved in response to state-level regulations.
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From page 80... ...
air toxics, which usually are found in smaller concen trations, but are carcinogens, causing cancers and other adverse human health effects at very low levels. The major gaseous and particulate pollutants to which motor vehicles contribute include carbon monoxide (CO)
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As discussed below, during 1994-2005, emissions of major air pollutants in China increased year after year. Among them, the emission of air pollutants from industrial sources had a dramatic increase.
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From page 82... ...
Shandong province emitted the largest amount of SO2 from industrial sources, approximately 8.2 percent of China's total industrial SO 2 emissions. This is a result of energy-intensive heavy industrial activity, but also of high-sulfur content in the local coal (SSB, 2006)
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From page 83... ...
In general, mobile sources are currently contributing 45-60 percent of NOx emissions, 40-90 percent of VOC emissions, and about 80-90 percent of CO emissions in typical Chinese cities (Wang et al., 2005)
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From page 84... ...
1800 1600 1400 10,000 Tons 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Year Total soot Industrial soot Domestic soot Industrial dust FIGURE 3-10 Trends of emission amounts of soot and industrial dust in China, 1997‑2005.
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From page 85... ...
They estimate that mercury emissions from anthropogenic sources in China totaled about 700 tons in 2003, up from about 550 tons in 1995. The major sources of anthropogenic mercury emissions were non-ferrous metal smelting and coal combustion, with the latter contributing about 260 tons in 2003, mainly from the industrial and power sectors.
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From page 86... ...
In the United States, improved catalytic converter technology coupled with improved fuel quality has led to a steady decline in ambient concentrations as shown in Figure 3-12. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
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From page 87... ...
PM10 As discussed previously, airborne particulate matter is characterized as PM 10 and PM2.5. PM10 concentrations have declined in the United States since a standard was imposed for this size class in 1987, as shown in Figure 3-15.
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From page 88... ...
100 80 60 40 20 0 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 FIGURE 3-15 PM10 concentrations, 1990-2005, based on seasonally weighted annual average. National trend based on 435 sites.
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From page 89... ...
National trend based on 658 sites.
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From page 90... ...
National trend based on 16 sites.
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From page 91... ...
Until the early 1990s, much of the focus in ozone control was on the reduction of VOC concentrations. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments required areas in moderate to severe non-attainment of the ozone standard to make additional measurement of the VOC precursors, as part of the Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Program Stations network.
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From page 92... ...
92 ENERGY FUTURES AND URBAN AIR POLLUTION FIGURE 3-20 Trend in 8-hour O3 levels, 1983-2002, averaged across EPA regions, based on annual fourth maximum 8-hour average.
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From page 93... ...
China has high levels of SO2 and TSP due in large part to coal use. Meanwhile, the number of motor vehicles has increased substantially since the mid1980s, primarily in urban areas and in city clusters, leading to increased emissions of NOx, VOCs, and particulates, and causing higher levels of ozone in the summer in urban areas -- and much higher levels of inhalable particulates (PM10 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 Percent 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Meeting Class I & Class II CNAAQS Failing to meet Class III CNAAQS FIGURE 3-22 The percentage of 360 cities achieving different levels of air quality standards from 1999-2005.
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From page 94... ...
CO Carbon monoxide was observed in high concentration in China's large cities. Recently, strict emission standards and improved catalytic converter technology have led to a steady decline in ambient concentrations as shown in Figure 3-23.
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From page 95... ...
Furthermore, these cities have focused on other criteria pollutants which exceed the Grade II standard and have paid much less attention to NOx emissions reduction strategies. Recent satellite observations have also provided a new insight into China's air pollution.
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From page 96... ...
Since 2000, high concentrations of PM10 have been the most frequent cause of Class II violations in China. In Beijing, the annual average level of PM 10 fluctuated around 160 µg/m3 from 2000 to 2004 (Beijing EPB, 2006)
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From page 97... ...
. 3-26 FIGURE 3-27 Average annual urban TSP concentration in China from 1990-2002.
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From page 98... ...
In China, much work has been done to characterize ambient concentration, chemical composition, size distribution, optical properties, s easonal variation, horizontal and vertical profiles, transport, and source-receptor relationships. Ambient air quality measurements of PM2.5 have been made in megacities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, and at the regional scale, for example, in the Pearl River Delta region and theYangtze River Delta region.
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From page 99... ...
The 2008 Olympic Games site is about 4 km north of ZGC. The yellow line indicates the 1-hour average O3 concentration at grade II, according to the national ambient air quality standards of China (2000 amendment to GB3095-1996)
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From page 100... ...
To effectively and efficiently meet this objective, a quantitative understanding of source impacts at receptor locations is required. This information then guides policy makers at various levels within government in developing the most efficient and cost-effective approaches for attaining the health- and welfare-based air quality standards.
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From page 101... ...
. Source-oriented models also effectively link source and receptor for secondary PM air pollutants (e.g., sulfate, nitrate, SOA)
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From page 102... ...
Receptor methods primarily describe the current situation, since they are observationally based, and therefore, are not used in predicting changes in PM concentrations due to changes in emissions. While receptor models can separate primary from secondary components, they are used most effectively to link primary species observed at a receptor to source types or categories (source apportionment)
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From page 103... ...
(2005) used the STEM-2K1 atmospheric chemistry and transport model with MM5 meteorological fields, anthropogenic emissions estimates from Streets et al.
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From page 104... ...
. At the same time, source apportionment studies have been extended to specific pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
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From page 105... ...
In Hong Kong, a developed city without extensive construction activity or coal utilization, receptor model results suggest that secondary aerosol and motor vehicle exhaust are relatively important sources of PM10 as well as of PM2.5. While receptor models are useful for estimating source contributions when accurate emissions inventories are not available, better information is needed to support their use.
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From page 106... ...
2005. Influence of regional pollution outflow on the concentrations of fine particulate matter and visibility in the coastal area of southern China.
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From page 107... ...
2006b. Regulatory Impact Analysis Of EPA's Final Revisions to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particle Pollution (Particulate Matter)
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From page 108... ...
2003. Source apportionment of Phoenix PM2.5 aerosol with the unmix receptor model.
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From page 109... ...
EPA supersites program-related emissions-based particulate matter modeling: Applications and advances. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association. Accepted for publication.
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From page 110... ...
2006. Intake fractions of industrial air pollutants in China: Estimation and application.
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From page 111... ...
2006. Source apportionment of TSP in ambient air in Shuozhou center urban.
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