4 ms·

They should ban diesel cars and cabs first and restrict trucks off the roads during rush hours. I can barely breathe when I cycle in Central London.

by aries1980 10y ago

blibble 10y ago
the diesel car ban is slowly approaching http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/17/drivers-older-diesel-cars-charged-extra-10-enter-london/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/17/drivers-older-die...
azernik 10y ago
The particulate pollution that makes city air unhealthy is a totally different issue from carbon pollution and climate change.
- Tharkun 10y ago
  Not really. Car exhaust contributes to both. Reducing car exhaust will reduce particulate pollution and CO2.
  - gsnedders 10y ago
    Depends on how you solve it: if you solve it by replacing all diesel engines with petrol ones, you're reducing particulate pollution but increasing CO2 emissions.
- DamonHD 10y ago
  Burning less, eg in engines and heating stoves, would very much help both.
  - gonzo41 10y ago
    Those are things that should happen anyway. But no joke the world is not in a good place with how things are presently regarding climate change. Two parts of carbon pollution are difficult. 1. It's a diffuse source pollution problem. You can look a coal fire plant, and yes these are great contributers but so are cows and just general agriculture. Emissions come from everywhere! 2. dealing with gaseous carbon pollution is also tricky because its up high and CO2 is reasonably stable. If we are going to try and filter air from the atmosphere we are probably going to have to either look at biological sequestration solutions ie. algae etc or energy expensive options to break down the carbon. And conservation of mass being what it is we are going to end up with a lot of waste to store. And that article talks about 8 million pounds....oh well.
zigzigzag 10y ago
London's transport system is at capacity, not just roads but rail and air transport are all operating at 100% and can barely grow. So restricting transport further is politically difficult, for example, it is typically hard to actually get a seat on commuter trains due to overcrowding and my experience is that people frequently turn up to work late or miss trains because there is physically no space left on the transport system to get them to work. Given that, putting even more load on public transport by restricting vehicle traffic would be politically very difficult. Crossrail will help relieve the pressure along its route (10% capacity bump on rail!) but given the growth in the cities population and the possibility that the population figures are wrong anyway (the UK has not done a census for a long time), planners are anticipating that nearly all the added capacity will be used within just a few years. Hence them starting to plan Crossrail 2 before Crossrail 1 is actually finished.

They should ban diesel cars and cabs first and restrict trucks off the roads during rush hours. I can barely breathe when I cycle in Central London.

blibble 10y ago

the diesel car ban is slowly approaching http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/17/drivers-older-diesel-cars-charged-extra-10-enter-london/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/17/drivers-older-die...

azernik 10y ago

The particulate pollution that makes city air unhealthy is a totally different issue from carbon pollution and climate change.

Tharkun 10y ago
Not really. Car exhaust contributes to both. Reducing car exhaust will reduce particulate pollution and CO2.
- gsnedders 10y ago
  Depends on how you solve it: if you solve it by replacing all diesel engines with petrol ones, you're reducing particulate pollution but increasing CO2 emissions.
DamonHD 10y ago
Burning less, eg in engines and heating stoves, would very much help both.
- gonzo41 10y ago
  Those are things that should happen anyway. But no joke the world is not in a good place with how things are presently regarding climate change. Two parts of carbon pollution are difficult. 1. It's a diffuse source pollution problem. You can look a coal fire plant, and yes these are great contributers but so are cows and just general agriculture. Emissions come from everywhere! 2. dealing with gaseous carbon pollution is also tricky because its up high and CO2 is reasonably stable. If we are going to try and filter air from the atmosphere we are probably going to have to either look at biological sequestration solutions ie. algae etc or energy expensive options to break down the carbon. And conservation of mass being what it is we are going to end up with a lot of waste to store. And that article talks about 8 million pounds....oh well.

zigzigzag 10y ago

London's transport system is at capacity, not just roads but rail and air transport are all operating at 100% and can barely grow. So restricting transport further is politically difficult, for example, it is typically hard to actually get a seat on commuter trains due to overcrowding and my experience is that people frequently turn up to work late or miss trains because there is physically no space left on the transport system to get them to work. Given that, putting even more load on public transport by restricting vehicle traffic would be politically very difficult. Crossrail will help relieve the pressure along its route (10% capacity bump on rail!) but given the growth in the cities population and the possibility that the population figures are wrong anyway (the UK has not done a census for a long time), planners are anticipating that nearly all the added capacity will be used within just a few years. Hence them starting to plan Crossrail 2 before Crossrail 1 is actually finished.