An assignment for anyone interested, and anyone who fails to remember history -
Look at the Los Anegles Times, last page of the first section of the paper. Choose 100 days to review covering the period from 1975 through 1985. The months you choose must be spread over an eight month period, vary from year to year. Consider the smog levels, and pay attention to the number of unhealthy days. Consider the number of days where it was advised old people and children remain indoors.
Then consider the following:
Study: Calif dirty air kills more than car crashes
By TRACIE CONE – Nov 13, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Lowering air pollution in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley would save more lives annually than ending all motor vehicle fatalities in the two regions, according to a new study.
The study, which examined the costs of air pollution in two areas with the worst levels in the country, also said meeting federal ozone and fine particulate standards could save $28 billion annually in health care costs, school absences, missed work and lost income potential from premature deaths.
The price tag amounts to $1,600 annually per person in the San Joaquin Valley and $1,250 in the South Coast Air Basin. [I wonder what it cost in 1975-1985. Must have been a lot given how REALLY bad the air was.]
Researchers at California State University-Fullerton sought to assess the potential economic benefits that could be achieved by reducing air pollution to levels within federal standards.
"For decades there has been a tug of war over what to do about air pollution," said Jane Hall, lead author of the study at Cal State Fullerton. "We are paying now for not having done enough."
To illustrate its point, the study noted that the California Highway Patrol recorded 2,521 vehicular deaths in the San Joaquin Valley and South Coast Air Basin in 2006, compared to 3,812 deaths attributed to respiratory illness caused by particulate pollution.
Studies have indicated a relationship between ozone and particulate pollution and asthma and other respiratory problems, including chronic bronchitis. They also have connected particulate pollution with an increase in cardiovascular problems.
Hall and colleague Victor Brajer analyzed ozone and fine particulate concentrations across the two basins in 5-by-5 kilometer grids from 2005 through 2007. The researchers applied those numbers to the health affects they are known to cause, then assigned peer-reviewed economic values to each illness or death that could result.
"It may be tempting to think California can't afford to clean up, but in fact dirty air is like a $28 billion lead balloon on our economy," Hall said.
The findings were released Wednesday as the California Air Resources Board considers controversial new regulations to reduce diesel truck emissions, a move that could cost 170,000 business owners $5.5 billion. According to a board staff report, the savings in health care costs would be $68 billion by 2020 if the regulations were adopted next month.
The Cal State Fullerton study says that particulate pollution levels must fall by 50 percent in both regions for health and economic benefits to occur, something they acknowledged would be "very difficult to achieve."
If pollution levels were to improve to federal standards, the study says residents of the two air basins would suffer 3,860 fewer premature deaths, 3,780 fewer nonfatal heart attacks and would miss 470,000 fewer days of work annually. School children would miss more than 1.2 million fewer days of school, a savings of $112 million in caregiver costs. There also would be more than 2 million fewer cases of upper respiratory problems.
"As a society we make decisions to spend money on things such as railroad crossings or air traffic control — things that improve safety," Brajer said. "There are a lot of ways society spends money to make things safer, and that's what we're trying to get at."
air quality
Showing posts with label pollution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pollution. Show all posts
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
China: Threat to the World - Let me Count the Ways (including pollution)
Once more, the UN shows itself useful.
- Pollution causes glacial melt.
If so - China is the world's largest polluter / bad guy, and should be punished.
Don't see anyone lining up to punish China. Everyone wants to jump on top of the US, and ignore the unparalleled contributions the Chinese have made, and would continue to make, EVEN if Kyoto were passed.
The ONLY thing Kyoto would do is weaken the US, strengthen China, and cause more pollution.
UN: Clouds of pollution threaten glaciers, health
Nov 13, 2008
By TINI TRAN and JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writers
BEIJING (AP) - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the U.N. reported Thursday.
The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds."
When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, they are the newest threat to the global environment, according to a report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Program.
"All of this points to an even greater and urgent need to look at emissions across the planet," said Achim Steiner, head of Kenya-based UNEP, which funded the report with backing from Italy, Sweden and the United States.
Brown clouds are caused by an unhealthy mix of particles, ozone and other chemicals that come from cars, coal-fired power plants, burning fields and wood-burning stoves. First identified by the report's lead researcher in 1990, the clouds were depicted Thursday as being more widespread and causing more environmental damage than previously known.
Perhaps most widely recognized as the haze this past summer over Beijing's Olympics, the clouds have been found to be more than a mile thick around glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountain ranges. They hide the sun and absorb radiation, leading to new worries not only about global climate change but also about extreme weather conditions.
"All these have led to negative effects on water resources and crop yields," the report says.
Health problems associated with particulate pollution, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, are linked to nearly 350,000 premature deaths in China and India every year, said Henning Rohde, a University of Stockholm scientist who worked on the study.
Soot levels in the air were reported to have risen alarmingly in 13 megacities: Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata, Lagos, Mumbai, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tehran.
Brown clouds were also cited as dimming the light by as much as 25 percent in some places including Karachi, New Delhi, Shanghai and Beijing.
The phenomenon complicates the climate change scenario, because the brown clouds also help cool the earth's surface and mask the impact of global warming by an average of 40 percent, according to the report.
Though it has been studied closely in Asia, the latest findings, conducted by an international collaboration of scientists, reveal that the brown cloud phenomenon is not unique to Asia, with pollution hotspots seen in North America, Europe, South Africa and South America.
More specifically, researchers found, brown clouds are forming over eastern China; northeastern Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar; Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam; sub-Saharan Africa southward into Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and the Amazon Basin in South America.
The enormous cloud masses can move across continents within three to four days. Although they also form over the eastern U.S. and Europe, winter snow and rain tend to lessen the impact in those areas.
An international response is needed to deal with "the twin threats of greenhouse gases and brown clouds and the unsustainable development that underpins both," said the lead researcher, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a professor of climate and ocean sciences at the University of California in San Diego.
One of the most serious problems, Ramanathan said, is retreat of the glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush and in Tibet. The glaciers feed most Asian rivers and "have serious implications for the water and food security of Asia," he said.
Monsoon rains over India and southeast Asia decreased between 5 and 7 percent overall since the 1950s, the report says, naming brown clouds and global warming as a possible cause.
Likewise, they may have contributed to the melting of China's glaciers, which have shrunk 5 percent since the 1950s. The volume of China's nearly 47,000 glaciers has fallen by 3,000 square kilometers (1,158.31 square miles) in the past 25 years, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Soot winds up on the surface of the glaciers that feed the Ganges, Indus, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which makes the glaciers absorb more sunlight and melt more quickly and also pollutes the rivers, the researchers say.
But the U.N., which began studying the problem six years ago, still finds "significant uncertainty" in understanding how brown clouds affect conditions regionally, Ramanathan cautioned.
Pollution
- Pollution causes glacial melt.
If so - China is the world's largest polluter / bad guy, and should be punished.
Don't see anyone lining up to punish China. Everyone wants to jump on top of the US, and ignore the unparalleled contributions the Chinese have made, and would continue to make, EVEN if Kyoto were passed.
The ONLY thing Kyoto would do is weaken the US, strengthen China, and cause more pollution.
UN: Clouds of pollution threaten glaciers, health
Nov 13, 2008
By TINI TRAN and JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writers
BEIJING (AP) - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the U.N. reported Thursday.
The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds."
When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, they are the newest threat to the global environment, according to a report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Program.
"All of this points to an even greater and urgent need to look at emissions across the planet," said Achim Steiner, head of Kenya-based UNEP, which funded the report with backing from Italy, Sweden and the United States.
Brown clouds are caused by an unhealthy mix of particles, ozone and other chemicals that come from cars, coal-fired power plants, burning fields and wood-burning stoves. First identified by the report's lead researcher in 1990, the clouds were depicted Thursday as being more widespread and causing more environmental damage than previously known.
Perhaps most widely recognized as the haze this past summer over Beijing's Olympics, the clouds have been found to be more than a mile thick around glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountain ranges. They hide the sun and absorb radiation, leading to new worries not only about global climate change but also about extreme weather conditions.
"All these have led to negative effects on water resources and crop yields," the report says.
Health problems associated with particulate pollution, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, are linked to nearly 350,000 premature deaths in China and India every year, said Henning Rohde, a University of Stockholm scientist who worked on the study.
Soot levels in the air were reported to have risen alarmingly in 13 megacities: Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata, Lagos, Mumbai, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tehran.
Brown clouds were also cited as dimming the light by as much as 25 percent in some places including Karachi, New Delhi, Shanghai and Beijing.
The phenomenon complicates the climate change scenario, because the brown clouds also help cool the earth's surface and mask the impact of global warming by an average of 40 percent, according to the report.
Though it has been studied closely in Asia, the latest findings, conducted by an international collaboration of scientists, reveal that the brown cloud phenomenon is not unique to Asia, with pollution hotspots seen in North America, Europe, South Africa and South America.
More specifically, researchers found, brown clouds are forming over eastern China; northeastern Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar; Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam; sub-Saharan Africa southward into Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and the Amazon Basin in South America.
The enormous cloud masses can move across continents within three to four days. Although they also form over the eastern U.S. and Europe, winter snow and rain tend to lessen the impact in those areas.
An international response is needed to deal with "the twin threats of greenhouse gases and brown clouds and the unsustainable development that underpins both," said the lead researcher, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a professor of climate and ocean sciences at the University of California in San Diego.
One of the most serious problems, Ramanathan said, is retreat of the glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush and in Tibet. The glaciers feed most Asian rivers and "have serious implications for the water and food security of Asia," he said.
Monsoon rains over India and southeast Asia decreased between 5 and 7 percent overall since the 1950s, the report says, naming brown clouds and global warming as a possible cause.
Likewise, they may have contributed to the melting of China's glaciers, which have shrunk 5 percent since the 1950s. The volume of China's nearly 47,000 glaciers has fallen by 3,000 square kilometers (1,158.31 square miles) in the past 25 years, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Soot winds up on the surface of the glaciers that feed the Ganges, Indus, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which makes the glaciers absorb more sunlight and melt more quickly and also pollutes the rivers, the researchers say.
But the U.N., which began studying the problem six years ago, still finds "significant uncertainty" in understanding how brown clouds affect conditions regionally, Ramanathan cautioned.
Pollution
Thursday, August 7, 2008
China - Air Quality
Air target missed
A day before the Games, a BBC reading suggested Beijing's air quality was far below World Health Organization (WHO) standards.
It put levels of particulate matter (PM10) at 191 micrograms per cubic metre. This far exceeds the WHO target of 50 micrograms/cubic metre, and also exceeds the WHO target for developing countries of 150 micrograms/cubic metre.
But Mr Rogge praised the Chinese authorities for having done "everything that is feasible and humanly possible to address this situation".
"What they have done is extraordinary," Mr Rogge told reporters.
He said there was "absolutely no danger" to the health of athletes taking part in events that last less than one hour. But he said if the pollution was bad, events which lasted more than that could be shifted or postponed.
Mr Rogge urged reporters to distinguish between fog and pollution - a point, correspondents say, often made by Chinese authorities.
"The fog, you see, is based on the basis of humidity and heat. It does not mean that this fog is the same as pollution," he said.
[So - fog and pollution is not the same as smog or pollution. Fog is better for you.]
He also said that China's efforts to clean up the air around Beijing would "continue and have a lasting influence on the climate of Beijing".
Separately, Mr Rogge said athletes would be prevented from making any political statement or protest in official venues - in accordance with Rule 51 of the Olympic charter, which forbids athletes from making political, religious, commercial or racial propaganda.
But he said they were free to do this in protest areas provided by Chinese authorities, and that "common sense" would be used to judge violations.
He spoke after more than 40 Olympic athletes signed an open letter to President Hu Jintao urging China to respect freedom of opinion and religion, particularly in Tibet.
The letter urged China "to protect freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion in your country, including Tibet".
[to read the rest of the BBC article, click on the title link]
But it's ok, they are just beginning to industrialize and since everyone else who industrialized made pollution, its ok they do the same because everyone else did!
Yeah.
pollution
A day before the Games, a BBC reading suggested Beijing's air quality was far below World Health Organization (WHO) standards.
It put levels of particulate matter (PM10) at 191 micrograms per cubic metre. This far exceeds the WHO target of 50 micrograms/cubic metre, and also exceeds the WHO target for developing countries of 150 micrograms/cubic metre.
But Mr Rogge praised the Chinese authorities for having done "everything that is feasible and humanly possible to address this situation".
"What they have done is extraordinary," Mr Rogge told reporters.
He said there was "absolutely no danger" to the health of athletes taking part in events that last less than one hour. But he said if the pollution was bad, events which lasted more than that could be shifted or postponed.
Mr Rogge urged reporters to distinguish between fog and pollution - a point, correspondents say, often made by Chinese authorities.
"The fog, you see, is based on the basis of humidity and heat. It does not mean that this fog is the same as pollution," he said.
[So - fog and pollution is not the same as smog or pollution. Fog is better for you.]
He also said that China's efforts to clean up the air around Beijing would "continue and have a lasting influence on the climate of Beijing".
Separately, Mr Rogge said athletes would be prevented from making any political statement or protest in official venues - in accordance with Rule 51 of the Olympic charter, which forbids athletes from making political, religious, commercial or racial propaganda.
But he said they were free to do this in protest areas provided by Chinese authorities, and that "common sense" would be used to judge violations.
He spoke after more than 40 Olympic athletes signed an open letter to President Hu Jintao urging China to respect freedom of opinion and religion, particularly in Tibet.
The letter urged China "to protect freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion in your country, including Tibet".
[to read the rest of the BBC article, click on the title link]
But it's ok, they are just beginning to industrialize and since everyone else who industrialized made pollution, its ok they do the same because everyone else did!
Yeah.
pollution
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Olympics: Pollution over Beijing? Don't worry, it's only mist, say officials
As Beijing's polluted air came close to exceeding levels even the Chinese consider dangerous yesterday, one of the International Olympic Committee's most senior figures dismissed the yellow-grey haze that periodically hangs over the city as mist, and blamed the media for overstating pollution problems.
Air quality in Beijing remains a big cause for concern three days before the start of the games. Members of the US athletics team arrived in the city wearing face masks yesterday and organisers are preparing to postpone or relocate endurance events including the marathon and road cycling if smog levels reach dangerous limits.
[To read the rest of the rubbish click here]
dumb
and
dumber
Air quality in Beijing remains a big cause for concern three days before the start of the games. Members of the US athletics team arrived in the city wearing face masks yesterday and organisers are preparing to postpone or relocate endurance events including the marathon and road cycling if smog levels reach dangerous limits.
[To read the rest of the rubbish click here]
dumb
and
dumber
Saturday, July 5, 2008
China and their deadly pollution - 2 Articles
Not that I am interested in their Olympics, but they will not be appreciative of my postings (and there have been five visits from China - from Hong Kong to Beijing to Ningbo.
China to shut more factories for Olympics: report
Sat Jul 5, 2008 5:08am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - Tianjin, a port city just east of Beijing, has ordered 40 factories to shut for the Olympics, the latest dramatic step taken by China to ensure that pollution does not spoil the Games in August.
The factories, including two cement makers, will be closed from July 25 to September 20, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. It gave no estimate of economic losses from the closures in the city, about 115 km (70 miles) from the capital.
The Tianjin order follows news on Friday that Tangshan, an industrial city about 150 km (90 miles) east of Beijing, will shut nearly 300 factories this month to improve air quality for the Games.
Tianjin, which will host some of the Olympic soccer matches, will also halt construction at 26 building sites near its stadiums.
Beijing, one of the most polluted cities in the world, has spent 140 billion yuan ($20.43 billion) to combat chronic pollution in its preparations for the Olympics, which open on August 8.
But China's capital city was still shrouded in thick smog this week, with buildings just a few hundred feet away barely visible -- the kind of air quality that would embarrass the authorities and potentially disrupt sporting events during the Olympics because of health concerns.
From July 1, vehicles that fail to meet emissions standards have been banned from entering downtown Beijing. And from July 20, Beijing will launch a traffic control system to take half of the city's 3 million cars off the road, using an odd-even license plate system.
The Beijing municipal government issued rules in April ordering industrial firms such as Shougang Group, one of China's major steel producers, to reduce or stop production from July 20.
****************
From The Sunday Times
July 6, 2008
Smog in Beijing five times over safety limit as Olympics nears
Flora Bagenal
Pollution around the Olympic stadium in Beijing could be five times worse than levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.
Chinese officials admit they can no longer guarantee that the air quality will match international standards as pollution tests by The Sunday Times revealed the full extent of the challenge facing British athletes.
With just five weeks to go before the start of the Beijing Games, tests conducted outside the national stadium — known as the Bird’s Nest — and at Tiananmen Square, the starting point of the marathon, showed the air is thick with particulate pollution.
Even the Chinese government’s official air pollution index — which monitors a range of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — is running at double the level recommended by the WHO.
Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau, said: “We made a commitment to ensure air quality for the Olympic Games . . . as for whether we have reached the goal, that will be examined after the event.”
The British team is taking no chances and will train in Macau on the southern coast until the last minute to minimise athletes’ exposure to Beijing’s smog.
Haile Gebrselassie, the world’s leading long-distance runner, who suffers from asthma, has already pulled out of the marathon.
Last week The Sunday Times used an industrial hand-held air monitor to measure the number of particles in the atmosphere, which include car emissions and coal dust from factories. The particles are considered the biggest polluting factor.
The average reading at the stadium was 780,000 particles per litre of air. Even factoring in a 25% margin of error for humidity levels exaggerating the readings, this is more than five times the amount deemed safe by the WHO. The organisation considers 105,000 particles per litre of air a health risk.
Average readings at Tiananmen Square were lower — but still four times worse than the WHO standards when factoring in the humidity.
“Anything over 300,000 would be very worrying if you were using the same equipment in London,” said Professor Frank Kelly, a pollution expert at Kings College London.
Fools
idiots
shirtlifters
China to shut more factories for Olympics: report
Sat Jul 5, 2008 5:08am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - Tianjin, a port city just east of Beijing, has ordered 40 factories to shut for the Olympics, the latest dramatic step taken by China to ensure that pollution does not spoil the Games in August.
The factories, including two cement makers, will be closed from July 25 to September 20, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. It gave no estimate of economic losses from the closures in the city, about 115 km (70 miles) from the capital.
The Tianjin order follows news on Friday that Tangshan, an industrial city about 150 km (90 miles) east of Beijing, will shut nearly 300 factories this month to improve air quality for the Games.
Tianjin, which will host some of the Olympic soccer matches, will also halt construction at 26 building sites near its stadiums.
Beijing, one of the most polluted cities in the world, has spent 140 billion yuan ($20.43 billion) to combat chronic pollution in its preparations for the Olympics, which open on August 8.
But China's capital city was still shrouded in thick smog this week, with buildings just a few hundred feet away barely visible -- the kind of air quality that would embarrass the authorities and potentially disrupt sporting events during the Olympics because of health concerns.
From July 1, vehicles that fail to meet emissions standards have been banned from entering downtown Beijing. And from July 20, Beijing will launch a traffic control system to take half of the city's 3 million cars off the road, using an odd-even license plate system.
The Beijing municipal government issued rules in April ordering industrial firms such as Shougang Group, one of China's major steel producers, to reduce or stop production from July 20.
****************
From The Sunday Times
July 6, 2008
Smog in Beijing five times over safety limit as Olympics nears
Flora Bagenal
Pollution around the Olympic stadium in Beijing could be five times worse than levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.
Chinese officials admit they can no longer guarantee that the air quality will match international standards as pollution tests by The Sunday Times revealed the full extent of the challenge facing British athletes.
With just five weeks to go before the start of the Beijing Games, tests conducted outside the national stadium — known as the Bird’s Nest — and at Tiananmen Square, the starting point of the marathon, showed the air is thick with particulate pollution.
Even the Chinese government’s official air pollution index — which monitors a range of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — is running at double the level recommended by the WHO.
Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau, said: “We made a commitment to ensure air quality for the Olympic Games . . . as for whether we have reached the goal, that will be examined after the event.”
The British team is taking no chances and will train in Macau on the southern coast until the last minute to minimise athletes’ exposure to Beijing’s smog.
Haile Gebrselassie, the world’s leading long-distance runner, who suffers from asthma, has already pulled out of the marathon.
Last week The Sunday Times used an industrial hand-held air monitor to measure the number of particles in the atmosphere, which include car emissions and coal dust from factories. The particles are considered the biggest polluting factor.
The average reading at the stadium was 780,000 particles per litre of air. Even factoring in a 25% margin of error for humidity levels exaggerating the readings, this is more than five times the amount deemed safe by the WHO. The organisation considers 105,000 particles per litre of air a health risk.
Average readings at Tiananmen Square were lower — but still four times worse than the WHO standards when factoring in the humidity.
“Anything over 300,000 would be very worrying if you were using the same equipment in London,” said Professor Frank Kelly, a pollution expert at Kings College London.
Fools
idiots
shirtlifters
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Pollution
A total of 16 out of the top 20 most polluted cities are in China. #1 on the list is Linfen City in Shanxi Province, China. "The whole city smells and is covered in smoke."
Consider the above in light of the following:
HONG KONG
LCQ14: Global warming*********************
Following is a question by the Hon Martin Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (April 9):
Question: Regarding the issue of global warming, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it will consider setting an upper limit on the total emission of carbon dioxide in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) it had, in the past three years, studied the effects of persistent global warming on Hong Kong's environment, energy consumption, disease transmission and medical expenses, etc.; if it has, of the outcome of the study; and
(c) it will take the lead in implementing "carbon offsetting" initiatives in government departments; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) As with other Non-Annex I parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) such as Singapore and South Korea, China (including Hong Kong) is not required to commit to any greenhouse gas (GHG) emission limits under the Kyoto Protocol. Being a service-based economy and a relatively small city, Hong Kong's GHG emissions have been maintained at a comparatively low level. We do not have any energy-intensive industries. Our public mass transport systems are also very efficient and highly utilised. Our principal source of GHG emissions is power generation, which accounts for over 60% of our total GHG emissions. In the circumstances, the power sector is an area which needs to be addressed if we are to further reduce the total GHG emissions in Hong Kong. At present, however, there is no mature and commercially viable technology in the world that could reduce, capture and store GHG discharged from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon emissions from power generation can therefore only be reduced by changing the fuel mix, e.g. substantial reduction in coal burning in favour of natural gas. However, changing the fuel mix for power generation involves important and complicated issues such as energy policy, energy security, stability in power supply and electricity tariff. More in-depth discussions among different sectors in the community are necessary before a decision can be made.
(b) The Government has been very concerned about the impact brought about by global warming on Hong Kong. In March 2008, the Environmental Protection Department engaged a consultant to conduct a study on climate change in Hong Kong. The study is expected to complete in 18 months. It will review and update the inventories of GHG in Hong Kong; project local GHG emissions trends under different scenarios; characterise the impacts of climate change on Hong Kong; and recommend additional policies and measures to reduce GHG emissions and to facilitate adaptation to climate change, including an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of these proposed measures.
(c) "Carbon offsetting" is a new concept involving some highly controversial issues such as the effectiveness, feasibility and scope of the carbon offsetting plans, as well as the effective use of public funds. At present, the Government has no intention to embark on any carbon offsetting programmes. It will however continue to lead by example in reducing emissions of GHG. For example, the Government will conduct carbon audit and implement an emission reduction campaign in the new Central Government Complex at Tamar to reduce the GHG emissions when the new Complex is in operation.
Ends/Wednesday, April 9, 2008Issued at HKT 14:46NNNN
Consider the above in light of the following:
HONG KONG
LCQ14: Global warming*********************
Following is a question by the Hon Martin Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (April 9):
Question: Regarding the issue of global warming, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it will consider setting an upper limit on the total emission of carbon dioxide in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) it had, in the past three years, studied the effects of persistent global warming on Hong Kong's environment, energy consumption, disease transmission and medical expenses, etc.; if it has, of the outcome of the study; and
(c) it will take the lead in implementing "carbon offsetting" initiatives in government departments; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) As with other Non-Annex I parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) such as Singapore and South Korea, China (including Hong Kong) is not required to commit to any greenhouse gas (GHG) emission limits under the Kyoto Protocol. Being a service-based economy and a relatively small city, Hong Kong's GHG emissions have been maintained at a comparatively low level. We do not have any energy-intensive industries. Our public mass transport systems are also very efficient and highly utilised. Our principal source of GHG emissions is power generation, which accounts for over 60% of our total GHG emissions. In the circumstances, the power sector is an area which needs to be addressed if we are to further reduce the total GHG emissions in Hong Kong. At present, however, there is no mature and commercially viable technology in the world that could reduce, capture and store GHG discharged from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon emissions from power generation can therefore only be reduced by changing the fuel mix, e.g. substantial reduction in coal burning in favour of natural gas. However, changing the fuel mix for power generation involves important and complicated issues such as energy policy, energy security, stability in power supply and electricity tariff. More in-depth discussions among different sectors in the community are necessary before a decision can be made.
(b) The Government has been very concerned about the impact brought about by global warming on Hong Kong. In March 2008, the Environmental Protection Department engaged a consultant to conduct a study on climate change in Hong Kong. The study is expected to complete in 18 months. It will review and update the inventories of GHG in Hong Kong; project local GHG emissions trends under different scenarios; characterise the impacts of climate change on Hong Kong; and recommend additional policies and measures to reduce GHG emissions and to facilitate adaptation to climate change, including an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of these proposed measures.
(c) "Carbon offsetting" is a new concept involving some highly controversial issues such as the effectiveness, feasibility and scope of the carbon offsetting plans, as well as the effective use of public funds. At present, the Government has no intention to embark on any carbon offsetting programmes. It will however continue to lead by example in reducing emissions of GHG. For example, the Government will conduct carbon audit and implement an emission reduction campaign in the new Central Government Complex at Tamar to reduce the GHG emissions when the new Complex is in operation.
Ends/Wednesday, April 9, 2008Issued at HKT 14:46NNNN
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