Air quality near busy Australian roads up to 10 times worse than official figures

Air quality on Australia’s roads matters. On any given day (when we’re not in lockdown) people meet, commute, exercise, shop and walk with children near busy streets. But to date, air quality monitoring at roadsides has been inadequate.

I and my colleagues wanted to change that. Using materials purchased from electronics and hardware stores for around A$150, we built our own air quality monitors.

Our newly published research reveals how our devices detected particulate pollution at busy intersections at levels ten times worse than background levels measured at official air monitoring stations. 

Read the story from The Conversation by a Research Fellow from the University of Wollongong, Hugh Forehead -  “Air quality near busy Australian roads up to 10 times worse than official figures.”

Monash air quality station records index almost 20 times above hazardous level

The new year has brought thick smoke haze to Canberra and some of the highest levels of air pollution ever seen in the nation's capital. The air quality in Tuggeranong on Wednesday morning was almost 20 times above hazardous levels. 

The War Memorial barely visible from a thick
smoke haze that has impacted Canberra.

The thick smoke haze descended on Canberra on Tuesday night from fires burning at the South Coast. Authorities said the haze was likely to remain well into Wednesday.

Acting chief health officer Dr Paul Dugdale said all Canberrans were advised to avoid physical activity outside during periods of heavy smoke.

"We are strongly advising people who are sensitive to smoke, especially those with pre-existing heart and lung conditions, to take extra care during these conditions," he said.

Read the story from The Canberra Times by Lucy Bladen - “Monash air quality station records index almost 20 times above hazardous level.”

China Is Doing A Lot Better On Climate Action Than Most People Realize

A friend and on-and-off collaborator on IPOs and technical innovation initiatives just returned from a month in Beijing, where he was applying machine learning against video to speed training in sports. He’s a walker, so he covered up to 20 kilometers a day on the streets of the city. He made two observations that rung true for me, as someone who has been paying attention to China, but from afar.

The first is that the air was clean and the sky was blue. While my friend was there during the cleaner air summer rather than the winter when the air quality is typically at its worst, the improvement in air quality in Chinese cities has been extraordinary over the past decade.

The second was that the streets were incredibly quiet, much quieter than the streets of Vancouver outside the coffee shop we were in as he told me about his trip. It wasn’t that the streets were empty. Quite the opposite. They were packed with cars and people. But virtually all the vehicles were electric. No engine noise. No diesel trucks rumbling past. No motorcycles revving. Just tire noise, which at the lower speeds typical to city streets is very quiet.

Read the story from CleanTechnica by Michael Barnard - “China Is Doing A Lot Better On Climate Action Than Most People Realize."

2018: Deteriorating air quality in NSW

In October 2016 the NSW government published a consultation paper “Clean Air for NSW” and we all went along to a public forum and made submissions about air quality. The stated intention was to develop “actions for government to meet its goal of improving average air quality results across NSW”, however the strategy never eventuated. We are now exactly two years down the track and air quality is worse than ever. The worsening PM 10 is focussed on the coal mining and burning regions of the Hunter and Newcastle, while PM2.5 exceedances affect both the Hunter and Western Sydney.

There are 28 sites with fine particle measurements for 2017 and 2018, and the standard is for the annual average to be less than 8 µg/m³. In 2017 there were 7 sites worse than the standard, and in 2018 there were 14. The average value across the 28 sites increased from 7.51 to 7.98 ug/m³. The worst place in NSW for fine particles was Liverpool at 10.1 µg/m³, while other pollution hot spots include Chullora, 8.6, Parramatta North, 9.2  Prospect, 8.5 and Muswellbrook 9.4.

Fine particles carry the greatest health burden, proven to cause death, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, type two diabetes and low birth weight for babies, and are suspected of causing dementia. Western Sydney already suffers health disadvantage, so the bad air is exacerbating health inequality.

Read the story from Environmental Justice Australia by Dr Ben Ewald - “2018: Deteriorating air quality in NSW.”

Predicted West Gate Tunnel pollution seriously under-estimated, expert warns

Toxic pollution caused by the $5.5 billion West Gate Tunnel will breach Victoria's air quality standards and be emitted at levels that have been seriously under-estimated, a former Environmental Protection Authority principal scientist has warned.

Leading respiratory experts also warn that people living in parts of Melbourne's inner-west who already battle some of Victoria's worst pollution will be exposed to even higher risks of asthma and cardiovascular problems due to projected increases in truck and car traffic.

Read the story from the Melbourne Age - “Predicted West Gate Tunnel pollution seriously under-estimated, expert warns.”

Banning fossil fuelled cars isn't enough; we have to rethink our transportation system

The UK and France have banned the sale of gas and diesel powered cars by 2040, but it is too little, too late.

Last month the French Government announced a ban on Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered cars by 2040. Recently the British government followed suit.

2040 is a long way away, but a UK government spokesperson said “poor air quality is the biggest environmental risk to public health in the UK and this government is determined to take strong action in the shortest time possible.” According to the Guardian, it’s estimated that “outdoor pollution, much of it from vehicles, causes 40,000 deaths a year in the UK.” But that number is disputed, even by organizations such as Greenpeace who note:

…while a car crash can be said to be the exclusive cause of an individual’s death, nobody is dying purely as a result of air pollution. It could well have had a significant impact on somebody who died from heart disease, but it’s likely that other factors, such as diet or exercise, played a part too.

This is an important distinction. These French and British moves are encouraging, as is the wildly enthusiastic reception to the launch of the Tesla Model 3. But does a ban on ICE powered cars really make that much of a difference? Does it go far enough, fast enough? Is the pollution from cars their biggest problem? 

Read Lloyd Alter’s Treehugger story - “Banning fossil fuelled cars isn't enough; we have to rethink our transportation system."

China the largest emitter, but holding steady

China leads the world in many
things, among them it is now
the world's largest
emitter of CO2 emissions.

China accounts for a tenth of all the greenhouse gases and aerosols that have collected in the atmosphere over the industrial era, according to new research.

Boasting one of the world’s largest economies, China has overtaken the EU and the U.S. as the world’s largest emitter, with CO2 emissions from fossil fuels tripling over the past 30 years.

But despite soaring CO2 emissions, China’s relative contribution to climate change has remained steady—around the 10 percent mark—over the whole industrial period, says a study published in Nature.

It’s a pretty complicated picture. But in recent times, this is because cooling from aerosols has been masking part of the warming signal. The upshot of this is that cutting some types of aerosol in a much-needed bid to improve air quality could drive faster warming in the coming decades, say the authors.

Read the EcoWatch story - “China Contributes 10% of Human Influence on Climate Change.”