[Stoves] Air pollution in cities

Tue Nov 21 07:22:00 CST 2017

Dear Nikhil

I used to live in Ibadan, Nigeria. During the Harmattan the air turns into a permanent (so it seems) copy of a Delhi photo. It is perfectly natural and perfectly dreadful.

"On its passage over the Sahara, it picks up fine dust and sand particles (between 0.5 and 10 microns).‎"

"In some countries in West Africa, the heavy amount of dust in the air can severely limit visibility and block the sun for several days,[8]<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmattan#cite_note-8> comparable to a heavy fog<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog>.‎"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmattan

Yup. Sounds right. Now, is the burning of agricultural wastes natural too? Is everything people do unnatural? Cooking too?

Regards
Crispin

‎
Crispin:

Clean air is not a luxury<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.livemint.com%2FTechnology%2FUrRkv3afeGi3Xt5hXKTFGK%2FClean-air-is-not-a-luxury.html&data=02%7C01%7Ccrispinpigott%40outlook.com%7C06c1bc30d31c4473098d08d530c362b1%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636468538083757936&sdata=qE85ZwyzrXoQsJFJoX4OIIVgMqZE8b8Wv6MV6uY5RnM%3D&reserved=0> Vishal Mathur Mint 14 November 2017.

I don't know what death chamber like conditions are. But no single technology is an answer to air pollution which varies by season, day, time of day, location, mobility.

There are proper methods for air quality monitoring and air modeling, then a cost and schedule program has to be generated for each location. Some fuel or activity bans may work, and episodic situations like Delhi recently require emergency response measures. Just look up EPA color codes and local government responsibilities.

A 40-year program. Little to do with ISO Tier 4 PM2.5 ERT.

You ought to be in Delhi in a sand storm period to appreciate that the picture in Anil's essay conveys the right image. Leave aside toxicity arguments for WHO.

Nikhil

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nikhil Desai
(US +1) 202 568 5831
Skype: nikhildesai888

On Mon, Nov 20, 2017 at 10:11 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at outlook.com<mailto:crispinpigott at outlook.com>> wrote:
Dear Anil

I think this is a bit over the top:

“This did not allow the smog and dust to disperse into higher atmosphere, thereby creating death chamber like conditions on the ground.”

It is common hear claims that breathing air in such-and-such a place is “like smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day”. I provided here at least one calculation of what people are exposed to in a city.

First, PM is not equally toxic. The agricultural residue burning makes really ‘bad smoke’ stinging the eyes at 400 µg/m3. Coal smoke and vehicle smoke has nothing like the same effect, with the proviso that coal smoke varies a lot depending on what the source device is. Having experienced 3000 µg/m3 I can report that stubble burning is way worse than coal smoke.

Second, just because someone places a number on paper does not make people sick. People who have ‘pre-existing conditions’ are at risk from all sorts of things. One of my childhood neighbours, an adult woman, was allergic to house dust and lived in a hermetically sealed home – but smoked! There is no pleasing some people…

So…the photo in the article is taken over a long distance and zoomed, so you are looking ‘through’ perhaps a km or more of air. The BBC frequently shows pictures in Beijing taken in the same way – showing morning mist as ‘pollution’ when there really isn’t much to show.  How bad is Delhi air compared with living in an apartment in which one person smokes? Do the math. There is no city air as bad as sharing a flat with a smoker.

The smouldering garbage and wet leaves story is typical of real pollution in cities. Absolutely awful with a huge emission rate per kg. The inversion in Delhi is a good example of what happens in Ulaanbaatar in winter – daily. Sometimes there is no wind, like last winter. Living in the city was like smoking ¼ of a cigarette per day in terms of exposure. I am not recommending it, but it is completely untrue that it is like ‘smoking 2 packs a day’.

What rubbish.

Anil, what is the right balance to portray between factual alarm and alarming facts?

Thanks
Crispin

My blog which appeared as front page news in Huffington Post.

http://m.huffingtonpost.in/dr-anil-k-rajvanshi/there-are-various-ways-devised-in-india-itself-to-reduce-pollution-from-stubble-burning_a_23281512/?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fm.huffingtonpost.in%2Fdr-anil-k-rajvanshi%2Fthere-are-various-ways-devised-in-india-itself-to-reduce-pollution-from-stubble-burning_a_23281512%2F%3Futm_hp_ref%3Din-homepage&data=02%7C01%7Ccrispinpigott%40outlook.com%7C48d1d810b735421177c808d52ffc58c3%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636467683224884788&sdata=zmIWiqX3Z47qDluqiBnaEc9haY7z50uaiyodY1KLu4M%3D&reserved=0>

Cheers.

Anil Rajvanshi

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