4 ms·

The real answer is to get rid of fossil fuel powered cars - gasoline or diesel.

rob74 7y ago
Replacing them with electric cars will only solve part of the problem - see my second point above. The real answer is probably to reduce usage of cars and encourage walking, cycling and using public transportation...
- mhandley 7y ago
  Last year I bought a particular sensor (I intended it to be a science project for my son): https://nettigo.eu/products/nova-fitnes-sds011-air-quality-sensor https://nettigo.eu/products/nova-fitnes-sds011-air-quality-s... I carried it around with me for a few days in London, commuting in by train from the suburbs. There were two places that had the highest particulate levels. The first was in my kitchen when I was cooking (no comment!), and the second was on the London Underground. Particulates were far higher on the tube than on the street in central London. So high I would have thought it was a serious health risk for tube drivers. Presumably this mostly comes from the steel wheels on steel track. I don't know whether ingesting steel particulates is more or less healthy than other particulates though. Has anyone done any studies into whether tube drivers have higher rates of health problems than overground drivers? Edit: table 1 of this paper confirms that the particulates on the underground are mostly iron: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/769553/COMEAP-2018-04_WORKING_PAPER_6.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
  - galangalalgol 7y ago
    What kind of cooking were you doing? High temp ( near smoke point) with oil is supposed to be very bad for health. Gas ramge?
    - mhandley 7y ago
      Frying food seemed to be particularly bad, even with the extractor running. If it's not too cold, I open the kitchen door now when I'm frying. Burning the toast doesn't help either. And candles resulted in fairly high levels too (my wife is Danish, so candles are a big thing in our house).
  - dunmalg 7y ago
    >Presumably this mostly comes from the steel wheels on steel track Highly unlikely. Steel-on-steel is used because it lasts for YEARS without needing replacing due to wear.
    - neka 7y ago
      Some of it is from that but mostly from the brake pads. You can see it collect on those cylinders between carriages.
  - lolc 7y ago
    If anything I'd suspect friction brakes as the source of the particles.
- PeterBarrett 7y ago
  It's better to solve part of the problem than none of the problem. I don't use a car day to day but it's a requirement for my SO to get to work. Cars will always be a requirement for people so changing to hybrids, PHEV and fully electric is only a good thing for our health and the environment.
  - neka 7y ago
    What's the requirement out of interest?

Replacing them with electric cars will only solve part of the problem - see my second point above. The real answer is probably to reduce usage of cars and encourage walking, cycling and using public transportation...

mhandley 7y ago
Last year I bought a particular sensor (I intended it to be a science project for my son): https://nettigo.eu/products/nova-fitnes-sds011-air-quality-sensor https://nettigo.eu/products/nova-fitnes-sds011-air-quality-s... I carried it around with me for a few days in London, commuting in by train from the suburbs. There were two places that had the highest particulate levels. The first was in my kitchen when I was cooking (no comment!), and the second was on the London Underground. Particulates were far higher on the tube than on the street in central London. So high I would have thought it was a serious health risk for tube drivers. Presumably this mostly comes from the steel wheels on steel track. I don't know whether ingesting steel particulates is more or less healthy than other particulates though. Has anyone done any studies into whether tube drivers have higher rates of health problems than overground drivers? Edit: table 1 of this paper confirms that the particulates on the underground are mostly iron: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/769553/COMEAP-2018-04_WORKING_PAPER_6.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
- galangalalgol 7y ago
  What kind of cooking were you doing? High temp ( near smoke point) with oil is supposed to be very bad for health. Gas ramge?
  - mhandley 7y ago
    Frying food seemed to be particularly bad, even with the extractor running. If it's not too cold, I open the kitchen door now when I'm frying. Burning the toast doesn't help either. And candles resulted in fairly high levels too (my wife is Danish, so candles are a big thing in our house).
- dunmalg 7y ago
  >Presumably this mostly comes from the steel wheels on steel track Highly unlikely. Steel-on-steel is used because it lasts for YEARS without needing replacing due to wear.
  - neka 7y ago
    Some of it is from that but mostly from the brake pads. You can see it collect on those cylinders between carriages.
- lolc 7y ago
  If anything I'd suspect friction brakes as the source of the particles.
PeterBarrett 7y ago
It's better to solve part of the problem than none of the problem. I don't use a car day to day but it's a requirement for my SO to get to work. Cars will always be a requirement for people so changing to hybrids, PHEV and fully electric is only a good thing for our health and the environment.
- neka 7y ago
  What's the requirement out of interest?