Hi Blog Topic of Our Times "Air pollution And Climate"

Hi Combat  Air pollution  And Climate Change Simultaneously

Current economic growth will intensify air quality problems in Asia unless current pollution control laws are significantly upgraded:

1. Population growth and  development will further boost the level of economic activities in Asia:

In asia, population growth combined with the envisaged increase in economic wealth will multiply current levels of energy use, traffic, industrial production and agricultural output in the coming decades. for instance, the Indian government foresees total energy consumption to increase by a factor of 4.5 between 2005 and 2030.

2. Current air pollution control strategies will not be sufficient to balance out the negative effects:

unless current emission control laws are tightened, this economic growth will lead to substantially higher emissions of harmful air pollutants. Increased coal consumption would multiply current emissions of sulfur dioxide in India by a factor of 5 by 2030. depending on the effectiveness of the implementation of current emission control regulations for vehicles, emissions of nitrogen oxides would grow by a factor of2.5 to 3 by 2030. and greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase by a factor of 4 by 2030. 

3. Deteriorating air quality will cause serious impacts on human health and vegetation, including economically important crops:

This growth in emissions will deteriorate asian air quality further, and cause serious impacts on human health and vegetation. the gaIns model estimates that outdoor exposure to fine particulate matter will, by 2030, shorten statistical life expectancy in India by 57 (29-80) months, compared to 17 (8-23) months in 2005. higher ground-level ozone means crop losses of wheat, corn and rice will triple or more by 2030. In essence, GAINS is a scenario-generating device that helps users to understand the impacts of future actions – or inaction – and to design strategies to achieve long-term environmental goals at the lowest possible cost.The GAINS model analyses the multiple sources and multiple effects of five air pollutants and six greenhouse gases to identify their most cost-effective control. 

4. Advanced emission control technologies are available to maintain acceptable levels of air quality despite the pressure from growing economic activities.

There are two broad methods to cut air pollution; either reducing the levels of activities that emit the pollutants; or not changing production and consumption levels but controlling the waste they

produce. the latter method is known as end-of-pipe emission control technology and by fully applying existing technical measures asia can avoid serious deteriorations in air quality. however, such an undifferentiated across-the board approach would impose significant burdens on the economy.

5. A cost-effective strategy can reduce costs for air pollution control by up to 80% compared to conventional approaches:


an optimized emission control strategy, which selectively allocates specific reduction measures across economic sectors, pollutants and regions, could achieve equal air quality improvements at only 20% of the costs of a conventional across-the-board approach. the gaIns optimization tool allows a systematic search for those measures that ensure total emission control costs are minimized. for asia, an integral element of such an air pollution control strategy will be measures to eliminate indoor pollution from the

combustion of solid fuels.

6. Enhancing air quality in Asia improves the environment, human health, and agricultural productivity:


The gaIns model allows policymakers in china and India to analyse and design their own air pollution control strategy. the benefits of such a strategy are illustrated in the following example. air pollution lowers statistical life expectancy in china, these health impacts could be reduced by 43% by 2030 by using available technology to improve ambient air quality. this can be achieved at an additional expense of 0.63% of gdp with a conventional across-the-board approach to reducing air pollutants or at only an additional cost of 0.13% of gdp using the targeted approach of gaIns. The investment will also reduce crop losses by around 50% and have far ranging positive impacts on the environment.

Well-designed air pollution control strategies can also reduce emissions of greenhouse gases:

1. Measures exist that simultaneously reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases:

In many cases emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases are emitted from the same sources. thus, controls directed at air pollutants frequently affect greenhouse gas emissions, and vice versa. the gaIns model provides an integrated perspective that can maximize synergies between air pollution 

control and greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. 

2. Strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can dramatically lower air pollution control costs:

for achieving given targets on ambient air quality, the cost of air pollution controls can be further reduced by adopting certain low carbon strategies. gaIns demonstrates that the additional controls of climate-friendly measures, e.g., energy efficiency improvements, co-generation of heat and power, fuel substitution, integrated coal gasification combined cycle (Igcc) plants, etc., are more than compensated for by savings in air pollution control equipment.

3. A smart mix of measures to simultaneously cut air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions will help combat climate change and air pollution more cheaply than tackling either issue separately.

GaIns demonstrates that low carbon strategies result in lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter at no additional costs. for china, India, and europe, gaIns estimates that each percent of co2 reduction will typically reduce health impacts from fine particulate (pm) air pollution by 1%. this is important information for judging the net benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation 

strategies. gaIns also shows by selecting a smart mix of measures to simultaneously cut air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, china can almost halve air pollution control costs as well as lower 

greenhouse gas emissions by 9 %.

A scientific tool to combat air pollution and climate change simultaneously