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While China is somewhat the poster child for modern air pollution, do not overlook that PM2.5 and PM10 exposure is also very bad in many parts of Europe, SE Asi

While China is somewhat the poster child for modern air pollution, do not overlook that PM2.5 and PM10 exposure is also very bad in many parts of Europe, SE Asia, and large American cities. The Netherlands occasionally experiences a haze that is quite visible and smokey-smelling, in fact tomorrow will be one of the worst days of the year for PM exposure in NW Europe: http://www.temis.nl/aqi/aqi_nl.html http://www.temis.nl/aqi/aqi_nl.html

frik 10y ago
Is there a good website that provides such air pollution current & forecasts for Europe or better world wide?
- verroq 10y ago
  https://aqicn.org https://aqicn.org
- hellofunk 10y ago
  In addition to my sibling commenter, there is also: http://www.airqualitynow.eu/ http://www.airqualitynow.eu/ However, city-specific readings are not always reliable, as they are based on a very localized meter in one particular place that can rarely reveal the overall situation for an entire city. I prefer air pollution maps that show the overall state for a big region, like the one I linked to.
anexprogrammer 10y ago
I wonder how much of that stems from the efforts to promote diesels over petrol for CO2 reasons.
- kwhitefoot 10y ago
  CO2? The energy content of the fuel is roughly the same and the are both made of hydrocarbon chains with similar proportions of carbon and hydrogen. The principal difference being that petrol is shorter chains C8.. C11 and diesel is C13..C18. So how does using diesel reduce the emission of CO2? I understand that diesels are generally a little more efficient than petrol engines but that doesn't seem to be enough to claim any serious reduction on CO2 emissions.
  - anexprogrammer 10y ago
    I don't disagree, but there was a Europe wide effort in the late 90s to encourage diesels following Kyoto. The resulting tax changes on both vehicles and fuel led to a huge growth in diesels. They went from a minority 10% of vehicles to over half. Only later did awareness of particulates grow. Some background: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/22/the-rise-diesel-in-europe-impact-on-health-pollution https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/22/the-rise...
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  China isn't a huge consumer of diesel outside of trucks.

frik 10y ago

Is there a good website that provides such air pollution current & forecasts for Europe or better world wide?

verroq 10y ago
https://aqicn.org https://aqicn.org
hellofunk 10y ago
In addition to my sibling commenter, there is also: http://www.airqualitynow.eu/ http://www.airqualitynow.eu/ However, city-specific readings are not always reliable, as they are based on a very localized meter in one particular place that can rarely reveal the overall situation for an entire city. I prefer air pollution maps that show the overall state for a big region, like the one I linked to.

anexprogrammer 10y ago

I wonder how much of that stems from the efforts to promote diesels over petrol for CO2 reasons.

kwhitefoot 10y ago
CO2? The energy content of the fuel is roughly the same and the are both made of hydrocarbon chains with similar proportions of carbon and hydrogen. The principal difference being that petrol is shorter chains C8.. C11 and diesel is C13..C18. So how does using diesel reduce the emission of CO2? I understand that diesels are generally a little more efficient than petrol engines but that doesn't seem to be enough to claim any serious reduction on CO2 emissions.
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  I don't disagree, but there was a Europe wide effort in the late 90s to encourage diesels following Kyoto. The resulting tax changes on both vehicles and fuel led to a huge growth in diesels. They went from a minority 10% of vehicles to over half. Only later did awareness of particulates grow. Some background: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/22/the-rise-diesel-in-europe-impact-on-health-pollution https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/22/the-rise...
seanmcdirmid 10y ago
China isn't a huge consumer of diesel outside of trucks.