Air pollution endangers lives of 6 in 10 Americans

February 2012

Sixty per cent of Americans – 186.1 million people – live in areas where air pollution endangers lives, according to the 10th State of the Air report by the American Lung Association. Air pollution aggravates asthma and is a direct cause of heart attacks, which makes people living with lung and heart disease especially vulnerable. Some of the biggest sources of air pollution – dirty power plants, dirty diesel engines and ocean-going vessels – also accelerate global warming, the Lung Association concludes.

Information: www.stateoftheair.org
 

Reduced pollution from petrol stations

New legislation will require service stations in the EU to be equipped with petrol vapour recovery, resulting in improved protection of the environment and public health.

EU states postpone air quality compliance

Nineteen member states have so far notified the Commission that they will need time extensions to comply with EU air quality standards.

Top of the dirty thirty list

Having spewn out 31 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2008, the Polish Belchatow plant is listed as EU’s most polluting power station in terms of its greenhouse gas emissions. The German Niederaussem power plant was the second dirtiest and emitted nearly 25 million tonnes.

A push for cleaner industry

The new Industrial Emissions directive received its first reading in the European Parliament in March, and the Council position is expected at the end of June.

Transport emissions still on the increase

Greenhouse gas emissions from the European transport sector rose 26 per cent between 1990 and 2006, while all other sectors show a declining trend.

Particles cost billions

Health damage in Sweden from fine particle pollution costs SEK 26 billion (€ 2.4 billion) every year, according to a recent study prepared for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Small but dangerous - new facts on particles

Fine particles cause 546,000 premature deaths each year in Europe, of which 39,000 are due to emissions from international shipping.

Worse than worst case...

Carbon dioxide emissions from fossilfuel burning and industrial processes is accelerating not only in industrialized countires, but at a global scale. The emissions growth rate has been over 3 per cent for the present decade, compared to 1.1 per cent during the 1990s.

Greenhouse gas emissions from rich countries still increasing

Almost half of the signatory states to the Kyoto protocol have reached their emission targets. Still overall grenhouse gas emissions is increasing. The USA alone was responsible for over two thirds of the increase in 2007.

Shipping would profit by cutting CO2 emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions from the global shipping industry could be cut by at least one fifth without any cost or even at a profit.

Environmental ship index underway

On request from several leading ports in northwestern Europe, including Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremen and Hamburg, the Dutch research institute CE Delft has developed an environmental ship index to be implemented voluntarily from 2010 to promote greener shipping.

Ships pollute half as much as world’s cars

Since most shipping traffic takes place close to the coastline, ship emissions are a significant health concern.

The double benefits of climate policy

Action to cut greenhouse gas emissions could save millions of lives because of the cleaner air that would result.

Cleaner ship fuels to save American lives

The United States and Canada want ships to burn cleaner fuel when approaching the continent to reduce smog-related deaths.

Editorial: Europe needs Emission Control Areas

Over the last twenty years, fuel and emission standards for land-based transport have been dramatically strengthened over most of the world. But international shipping has for a long time resisted similar legislation, both as regards emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.

Recent publications

Environmental effects of the proposal for the directive on industrial emissions (IED)

A push for cleaner industrial production

Off track – Inflated claims of the car industry

Air pollution dependency on climate variability and source region

20 years with monitoring effects of long-range transboundary air pollution on surface waters in Europe and North America
 

Swedish air quality not improving

Air quality in Sweden has indeed improved in the past 20–30 years, but lately there has been no improvement and there are no indications that it will improve further in the next few years ..

Speed limits can reduce air pollution

Levels of air pollution can be significantly reduced in urban areas by introducing traffic speed limits, according to a new study. Air quality was studied along a section of the Amsterdam ring road ..

New tool to evaluate local air quality

A new computer-based tool has been developed in Sweden to help local authorities evaluate air pollution at street level. It allows the results to be compared easily ..

Court overturns US air quality standards

A federal appeals court has ruled that Bush-era clean air standards for fine particles (PM2.5) were insufficient, sending them back to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be rewritten ..

Air pollution endangers lives of 6 in 10 Americans

Sixty per cent of Americans – 186.1 million people – live in areas where air pollution endangers lives, according to the 10th State of the Air report by the American Lung Association ..

The biggest global health threat of the 21st century

A major report on managing the health effects of climate change, launched jointly by The Lancet and University College London (UCL), says that climate change is the biggest global health ..

EU energy and climate package adopted

On 6 April the Council of the European Union formally adopted the six legislative texts that make up the energy and climate package that was tentatively agreed between the Council ..

Ship pollution costs billions

Air pollutant emissions from ships operating in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are responsible for health damage in Europe valued at 182 billion Danish kronor (DKK) (24 billion Euro) per year ..

Obama sets limits on car CO2 emissions

A compromise to set new US-wide fuel consumption standards for new cars and trucks in return for California backing off its push for more stringent rules on automakers ..

California adopts lowcarbon fuel standard

On 23 April the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a regulation that will implement a new and unique lowcarbon fuel standard ..

Fuel-efficient cars lead to lower oil prices

Fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles will lead to a lower global oil price according to a study by Enerdata energy consulting, commissioned by environmental group ..