"PM2.5 index...tracks airborne fine particles with less than 2.5 microns in diameter." PM2.5 in Beijing-Hebei-Tianjin region stood at 93 micrograms per cubic meter in 2014, state standard is 35 micrograms.
2/2/15, "Nearly all of China's major cities failed to meet air quality standards in 2014," Reuters
 |
| Street statues with PM2.5 masks |
"Nearly 90 percent of China's big cities failed to meet air quality standards in 2014, but that was still an improvement on 2013 as the country's "war on pollution" began to take effect, the environment ministry said on Monday.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection said on its website (www.mep.gov.cn) that only eight of the 74 cities it monitors managed to meet national standards in 2014 on a series of pollution measures such as PM2.5, which is a reading of particles found in the air, carbon monoxide and ozone.
Amid growing public disquiet about smog and other environmental risks, China said last year it would "declare war on pollution" and it has started to eliminate substandard industrial capacity and reduce coal consumption.
In 2013, only three cities — Haikou on the island province of Hainan, the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and the coastal resort city of Zhoushan — met the standards.
They were joined in 2014 by Shenzhen, Huizhou and Zhuhai in southeast Guangdong province, Fuzhou in neighboring Fujian and Kunming in the southwest.
Of the 10 worst-performing cities in 2014, seven were located in the heavy industrial province of Hebei, which surrounds the capital, Beijing, the ministry said. The cities of Baoding, Xingtai, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Handan and Hengshui, all in Hebei, filled the top six places.
The ministry said the average PM2.5 reading in the Beijing-Hebei-Tianjin region stood at 93 micrograms per cubic meter last year. The state standard is 35 micrograms but China does not expect to bring the national average down to that level before 2030.
The government has identified Hebei as a top priority when it comes to cutting smog, and it has set targets to slash coal consumption and close polluting industrial capacity, but the province has struggled to find alternative sources of growth."
Image: "Street statues in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Dec 25 (2013) reflect ongoing public concern with PM2.5 pollution. (Photo: China Daily)"
====================
1/3/2014, "PM2.5 reading sheds light on Beijing’s grim air quality," gbtimes Beijing
"Beijing saw barely any improvement in air quality in 2013, despite pledges in the last year to fight pollution.
The intensity of major air pollutants
in Beijing remained much the same in 2013 as they were in the previous
year, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau revealed on Thursday.
According to the bureau, the capital’s PM2.5 index, which tracks airborne fine particles with less than 2.5 microns in diameter, was 2.5 times the national standard. The PM2.5 reading in 2013 was on average 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter, well above the national standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter.
In particular, PM2.5 was found to be the major pollutant — accounting for 77.8 percent — on most smoggy days.
Zhang Dawei, head of the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center, said that compared with 1998, the intensity of sulfur dioxide declined by 78 percent, nitrogen dioxide by 24 percent and PM10 by 43 percent. But Beijing's goal to reduce PM2.5 concentration to 60 micrograms per cubic meter by the end of 2017 will "remain very challenging" due to the rising number of automobiles and the increasing energy consumption.
Figures from the bureau reveal that automobile emissions account for 22.2 percent of PM2.5 concentration, after pollution from neighboring provinces (24.5 percent), followed by coal consumption (16.7 percent), industrial pollution (16.3 percent) and dust (15.8 percent)."
----------------------------
"NRDC’s team in Beijing has been working with Chinese partners to cap coal consumption by 2020, confirming that China is ready to address its damaging air pollution problems."...
11/12/14, "Historic Announcement Shows US and China Are Serious about Fighting Climate Change," NRDC, Frances Beinecke
According to the bureau, the capital’s PM2.5 index, which tracks airborne fine particles with less than 2.5 microns in diameter, was 2.5 times the national standard. The PM2.5 reading in 2013 was on average 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter, well above the national standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter.
In particular, PM2.5 was found to be the major pollutant — accounting for 77.8 percent — on most smoggy days.
Zhang Dawei, head of the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center, said that compared with 1998, the intensity of sulfur dioxide declined by 78 percent, nitrogen dioxide by 24 percent and PM10 by 43 percent. But Beijing's goal to reduce PM2.5 concentration to 60 micrograms per cubic meter by the end of 2017 will "remain very challenging" due to the rising number of automobiles and the increasing energy consumption.
Figures from the bureau reveal that automobile emissions account for 22.2 percent of PM2.5 concentration, after pollution from neighboring provinces (24.5 percent), followed by coal consumption (16.7 percent), industrial pollution (16.3 percent) and dust (15.8 percent)."
----------------------------
"NRDC’s team in Beijing has been working with Chinese partners to cap coal consumption by 2020, confirming that China is ready to address its damaging air pollution problems."...
11/12/14, "Historic Announcement Shows US and China Are Serious about Fighting Climate Change," NRDC, Frances Beinecke
No comments:
Post a Comment