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What exactly did they do to clean up the air in London? I mean, just pass regulations that factories have to be further from the city, or what?
by javert 11y ago
What exactly did they do to clean up the air in London? I mean, just pass regulations that factories have to be further from the city, or what?
- DanBC 11y agoThey passed a variety of clean air acts to prevent burning coal within certain boundaries and raise chimney heights. http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/londons-historic-pea-soupers http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/londons-historic-pea-soupers http://www.air-quality.org.uk/03.php http://www.air-quality.org.uk/03.php There are still problems with NO2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32512152 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32512152
- InclinedPlane 11y agoSimilar things to what was done in America. Lots of regulations. The "Great Smog" of 1952, which resulted in several thousand deaths in a matter of days, spurred action, resulting in the Clean Air Act of 1956 and other legislation. It banned many of the more polluting activities which had been common at the time, use of low grade coal and wood in home heating, use of unfiltered diesel engines on transportation in the city, use of coal in power stations near to the city. Factories and power plants were also moved farther away from the city. Here's an interesting little writeup that has some really fascinating graphs on London pollution: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~dib2/atmos/urban.html http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~dib2/atmos/urban.html
- pjc50 11y agoAmong other things, a switch to gas-fired central heating (with the discovery of gas in the North Sea) and a mandate to use "smokeless fuel" in the remaining hearths. Smokeless fuel is a sort of briquette made of ground and reconstituted coal that's had most of the sulphuric impurities washed and cooked out of it, along with a blend of other things like sawdust and molasses.