air pollution from vehicles essay

Essay on Vehicle Pollution Problems And Solution in English (150, 200, 250, 500 Words)

Vehicle pollution poses a significant threat to environmental sustainability and public health. With the increasing number of vehicles worldwide, emissions from combustion engines contribute to air pollution and climate change, necessitating urgent action for mitigation.

Here, we’ve presented essays on “Vehicle Pollution Problems And Solution” in 150, 200, 250 & 500 word samples. All the essays will be helpful for students of all classes i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & class 12.

Table of Contents

Essay on Vehicle Pollution Problems And Solution in 150 Words

Introduction.

Vehicle pollution is a pressing issue worldwide, posing significant threats to both the environment and public health. The combustion of fossil fuels in vehicles releases harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter, contributing to air pollution and climate change. Addressing this problem is crucial to safeguarding the planet and ensuring the well-being of future generations.

Causes of Vehicle Pollution

Combustion of fossil fuels.

The primary cause of vehicle pollution is the combustion of fossil fuels in internal combustion engines. Gasoline and diesel engines emit pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, leading to air quality degradation and adverse health effects.

Solutions to Vehicle Pollution

Adoption of electric vehicles.

Transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs) can significantly reduce vehicle pollution. EVs produce zero tailpipe emissions, mitigating the harmful effects of traditional internal combustion engines. Governments and industries should incentivize the adoption of EVs through subsidies, tax breaks, and infrastructure development to accelerate the transition to cleaner transportation.

In conclusion, vehicle pollution poses a significant threat to the environment and public health, necessitating urgent action. By addressing the root causes of pollution and implementing effective solutions such as transitioning to electric vehicles, we can mitigate the adverse effects of vehicle emissions and create a cleaner, healthier planet for future generations.

Vehicle Pollution Problems And Solution Essay in 200 Words

Vehicle pollution has emerged as a critical environmental issue globally, exerting detrimental effects on both air quality and human health. The combustion of fossil fuels in vehicles releases a plethora of pollutants into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and various respiratory diseases. It is imperative to address this challenge promptly to mitigate its adverse impacts on the planet and human well-being.

Emissions from Internal Combustion Engines

The primary cause of vehicle pollution stems from the emissions produced by internal combustion engines. These engines burn fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel, releasing pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM) into the air. These pollutants not only degrade air quality but also contribute to the greenhouse effect, exacerbating climate change.

Impact on Environment and Health

Air quality degradation.

Vehicle pollution significantly deteriorates air quality, leading to smog formation and the accumulation of harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. Prolonged exposure to these pollutants can cause respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases, and even premature death, posing serious risks to public health.

Promotion of Sustainable Transportation

Encouraging the use of sustainable transportation modes such as public transit, cycling, and walking can help alleviate vehicle pollution. Investing in efficient public transportation systems, constructing bike lanes, and promoting pedestrian-friendly infrastructure can reduce reliance on private vehicles and mitigate pollution levels.

In conclusion, tackling vehicle pollution requires concerted efforts from governments, industries, and individuals. By addressing the root causes of pollution and promoting sustainable transportation alternatives, we can effectively combat vehicle emissions and create a cleaner, healthier environment for current and future generations.

Essay Writing on Vehicle Pollution Problems And Solution in 250 Words

Vehicle pollution stands as a formidable challenge in the modern era, with detrimental implications for environmental sustainability and public health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), outdoor air pollution from vehicles is responsible for over 4.2 million premature deaths annually worldwide. This alarming statistic underscores the urgency of addressing this issue comprehensively to safeguard both human well-being and the planet.

The combustion of fossil fuels, primarily gasoline and diesel, in internal combustion engines constitutes the primary source of vehicle pollution. These engines emit a cocktail of pollutants, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), contributing to the deterioration of air quality and the exacerbation of climate change.

Adverse Health Effects

Exposure to vehicle pollution has severe health consequences, ranging from respiratory ailments to cardiovascular diseases. Studies have linked long-term exposure to air pollutants emitted by vehicles to increased risks of lung cancer, asthma, and stroke. Vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions are particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of vehicle pollution.

Transition to Electric Vehicles

One promising solution to mitigate vehicle pollution is the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). EVs produce zero tailpipe emissions, reducing the release of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere. Initiatives aimed at incentivizing the transition to EVs, such as government subsidies and infrastructure development for charging stations, are essential to accelerate the shift towards cleaner transportation.

In conclusion, addressing vehicle pollution is imperative to safeguard public health and mitigate environmental degradation. By implementing measures to reduce emissions from combustion engines and promoting the adoption of electric vehicles, we can pave the way for a sustainable transportation system that prioritizes both human well-being and environmental conservation.

Writing an Essay on Vehicle Pollution Problems And Solution in 500 Words

Vehicle pollution represents a significant environmental and public health challenge in today’s world. With the increasing number of vehicles on the roads globally, the emissions from these vehicles pose a threat to air quality and contribute to climate change. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the transport sector accounts for nearly one-quarter of global CO2 emissions, with road vehicles being the primary contributors. Addressing vehicle pollution requires comprehensive strategies to mitigate its adverse impacts on both the environment and human health.

The combustion of fossil fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, in internal combustion engines is the leading cause of vehicle pollution. These engines emit a range of pollutants, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM), which have detrimental effects on air quality and human health. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), transportation accounts for over 50% of nitrogen oxides emissions in the United States.

Growth in Vehicle Ownership and Usage

The rapid increase in vehicle ownership and usage, particularly in urban areas, has exacerbated vehicle pollution. As more people rely on cars for transportation, the volume of emissions from vehicles continues to rise. The World Bank reports that the number of cars on the roads worldwide is expected to double by 2040, further intensifying the challenges associated with vehicle pollution.

Vehicle pollution significantly contributes to air quality degradation, leading to the formation of smog and harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. According to the WHO, outdoor air pollution from vehicles is responsible for over 4.2 million premature deaths annually worldwide. High levels of pollutants such as PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) have been linked to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular problems, and even premature death.

Climate Change

In addition to air quality concerns, vehicle pollution also plays a significant role in climate change. The combustion of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate disruption. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that without substantial reductions in CO2 emissions from the transport sector, the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2°C may remain out of reach.

Encouraging the use of sustainable transportation modes, such as public transit, cycling, and walking, is crucial in reducing vehicle pollution. Investments in efficient public transportation systems, infrastructure for cycling and pedestrian pathways, and policies to limit car usage in urban areas can help alleviate the environmental and health impacts of vehicle pollution.

One promising solution to mitigate vehicle pollution is the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). EVs produce zero tailpipe emissions, reducing the release of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that by 2030, EVs could reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector by up to 1.5 gigatons annually, contributing significantly to global efforts to combat climate change.

Regulatory Measures and Emission Standards

Implementing stringent regulatory measures and emission standards for vehicles can also help reduce vehicle pollution. Governments can enforce emissions testing programs, set fuel efficiency standards, and incentivize the production and purchase of low-emission vehicles through tax incentives and subsidies.

In conclusion, addressing vehicle pollution requires a multi-faceted approach that involves regulatory measures, technological advancements, and changes in individual behavior. By promoting sustainable transportation alternatives, transitioning to electric vehicles, and implementing stringent emissions standards, we can mitigate the adverse impacts of vehicle pollution on the environment and public health. Collaboration between governments, industries, and communities is essential to achieve sustainable and cleaner transportation systems for future generations.

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Essay On Vehicle Pollution | Vehicle Pollution Essay for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Essay On Vehicle Pollution:  Vehicle Pollution can be defined as the introduction of harmful materials into the environment by motor vehicles. These materials are known as pollutants, and they have several adverse effects on the ecosystem and human health.

Transportation is a primary source of air pollution in several countries worldwide because of the high number of vehicles available on the roads nowadays. The air pollution due to vehicles in urban areas, especially in big cities, has become a severe problem. In today’s world life without vehicles is unimaginable, and even though vehicle pollution cannot be eliminated, it can still be controlled or reduced to manageable levels.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long And Short Essays On Vehicle Pollution for Students and Kids in English

We provide students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic of vehicle pollution for reference.

Long Essay On Vehicle Pollution 500 Words In English

Long Essay On Vehicle Pollution is helpful to students of classes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

In today’s world, where life without vehicles in unimaginable, vehicle pollution is inevitable, and it is necessary to know about it. Vehicle pollution is the introduction of pollutants into the air by motor vehicles.

An increase in purchasing power implies that more people can now afford a car that is terrible for the environment. Vehicle pollution in India has started growing at an alarming rate due to the growing urbanisation. The pollution caused due to vehicles has begun to showcase through symptoms such as headache, cough, irritation of eyes, nausea, visibility and various bronchial problems.

Over the last few decades, indeed there has been a rapid increase in the number of vehicles being produced. In 2020, the population of vehicles was 1.4 billion. The rapid growth of vehicles implies more fuel is required, resulting in the emission of harmful gases into the environment, causing air pollution.

The primary cause of vehicle pollution is the continually growing number of vehicles. The few other vehicle pollution factors in the urban areas are low fuel quality, 2-stroke engines, inadequate maintenance, old vehicles, congested traffic, old automotive technologies and poor road condition.

Harmful air pollutants are chemical compounds that are emitted from cars trucks, gas pumps and various other related sources. Sulphur dioxide is another major pollutant released into the environment – when the sulphur is present in fuel burns, particularly diesel.

Carbon monoxide is another primary source of vehicle pollution formed due to the combustion of fuels like gasoline. It is both an odourless and colourless gas. If carbon monoxide is inhaled, it will block the transportation of oxygen to the heart, brain, and other body organs.

Particulate matter also possesses a serious threat to human health as it penetrates the human lung, causing severe breathing problems. Soot is a type of particulate matter seen in motor vehicles. Oxides of nitrogen are also a vehicle pollutant that can cause irritation in one’s lungs weakening the body’s immune system against pneumonia.

Vehicle pollution has had several adverse effects on the environment, and one of the significant consequences of it is global warming. Emission of greenhouse gases from vehicles has contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer, thus causing global warming. This results in bad weather conditions which often lead to the loss of life and property.

In several countries, air quality is so low that people wear masks to control the harmful air they inhale. Countries with a higher number of old vehicles usually have this problem. This is why several governments have also put a ban on the importation of vehicles that are older than a particular number of years.

Although vehicle pollution cannot be stopped entirely, every country must take proper steps to control or reduce the pollution to manageable amounts. It is also the responsibility of an individual to carry the appropriate measures so that they can do their part is controlling air pollution.

Short Essay On Vehicle Pollution 150 Words In English

Short Essay On Vehicle Pollution is helpful to students of classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Motor vehicles release harmful pollutants into the environment, causing vehicle pollution, which contributes to air pollution. In order to keep vehicle pollution in check, few measures must be undertaken.

The biggest reason for vehicle pollution is that most people are unaware of what it is and how it harms the environment. Organising civic education by governmental departments and non-government organisations goes a long way in awakening the society about the realities of pollution and why reducing it is extremely necessary.

Governments must make sure that the draft laws will make people do the necessary for bringing down vehicle pollution levels. On a global front, world leaders must come together to agree on standard practices for the elimination and reduction of pollution.

Every person must make sure that their car is going through the proper maintenance and is in good condition. A well-maintained vehicle will not release any harmful substances into the atmosphere.

10 Lines On Vehicle Pollution Essay In English

• Vehicle pollution is not only a national but a global problem.
• Carpooling is a great way to contribute to keeping vehicle pollution in check.
• Old worn-out cars contribute positively to environmental pollution.
• One of the leading effects of vehicle pollution is global warming.
• Vehicle pollution cannot be stopped entirely, but it indeed can be controlled.
• Vehicle pollution is having a harmful impact on human health.
• Pollutants from vehicles can cause lung cancer and infection.
• Proper education about vehicle pollution is necessary to prevent it.
• Maintenance of vehicles should be done, which will help in reducing vehicle pollution.
• Electric cars and bikes are also an alternative for vehicles that run on fuel.

FAQ’s on Vehicle Pollution Essay

Question 1. Name the primary pollutants released by vehicles.

Answer: Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulphur Oxide, particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants.

Question 2. What is the solution to vehicle pollution?

Answer: Fuel technologies and clean vehicles are affordable and available means for reducing transportation-related air pollution.

Question 3. What can an individual do to control vehicle pollution?

Answer: As a responsible individual, it is one’s responsibility to ensure proper maintenance of their vehicle – old motor parts should be changed. Also, old vehicles should not be driven as they contribute positively to environmental pollution.

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How Much Air Pollution Comes From Cars?

Burning gasoline and diesel releases greenhouse gases that can build up in the Earth's atmosphere and lead to climate change.

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• Planet Earth
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• Transportation

When vehicles burn gasoline made from fossil fuels, they release pollutants in the form of nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur oxides, and particulate matter directly into the air. Pollutants caused by these kinds of emissions have been connected with negative impacts on human health—especially when exposed over long periods of time or in high concentrations—as well as climate change and environmental issues.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), motor vehicles produced about 22% of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020, making them the most significant contributor to the country’s emissions. Even worse, GHG emissions in the transportation sector increased more than any other sector between 1990 and 2019.

Car Pollution Facts

• Burning one gallon of gasoline emits 8,887 grams (19.59 lbs) of CO2.
• Burning one gallon of diesel emits 10,180 grams (22.44 lbs) of CO2.
• In 2020, transportation accounted for 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, 57% of which were passenger cars and light-duty trucks (followed by medium and heavy-duty trucks and aircrafts).
• Electric vehicles charged with renewable energy emit 0 pounds of CO2 and NOx.
• A standard compact to midsize car that travels 12,000 miles will emit 11,000 pounds of CO2.

Car Air Pollution

Burning fossil fuels, like gasoline and diesel, release greenhouse gases that build up in the Earth’s atmosphere leading to warming climates and extreme weather events that can displace wildlife populations, destroy habitats, and contribute to rising ocean levels. Air pollution can also negatively influence the soil and water quality in the natural environment.

Apart from what comes out of your car’s tailpipe, the environmental cost of extracting these fossil fuels is also high. Not to mention, vehicle manufacturing from producing materials like plastic, paint, and rubber can contribute to pollution before cars even hit the road. Even gasoline fumes that escape into the air when we pump into our fuel tanks play a part in air pollution.

Likewise, the disposal of old cars (typically compacted into a dump after being stripped for parts) has an impact on the environment since different parts of the car take various times to decompose. Studies have also suggested that asphalt could be a long-lasting source of pollution.

Carbon Dioxide

The EPA says that carbon dioxide emissions (which has been linked to climate change time and time again) in the United States increased by about 3% between 1990 and 2019, corresponding with factors like population growth, economic growth, changing behaviors, new technologies, and increased demand for travel.

As the greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, 6,558 million metric tons of CO2 were emitted in the U.S. in 2019, accounting for 80% of total GHG emissions.

Particulate Matter

Particulate matter, also known as particle pollution or PM, refers to the mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets that are small enough to be inhaled and cause health problems in humans and animals. Most of these particles form in the atmosphere as a result of reactions between chemicals like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted from cars.

Due to their size, particles can travel over long distances by wind before settling on land or water, making bodies of water more acidic, changing nutrient balance in soil, damaging diversity in sensitive ecosystems, and even contributing to acid rain .

Nitrogen Dioxide

Nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, is part of a highly reactive group of gases known as nitrogen oxides (NOx) that primarily reach the air from the burning of fuel. This can contribute to particulate matter and ozone, which are both harmful when inhaled.

Both NO2 and NOx can form acid rain when they interact with water, oxygen, and other chemicals in the atmosphere, but also affect air visibility and contribute to nutrient pollution in coastal water.

The Worst Offenders

Hirun Laowisit / Getty Images

A 2015 study conducted by the University of Toronto measured at least 100,000 vehicles using air monitoring probes on one of Toronto’s busiest roadways. Researchers found that the bottom 25% of the cars were responsible for 90% of the total emissions, specifically, 95% of black carbon (soot), 93% of carbon dioxide, and 76% of VOCs including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes.

Among factors like age and type of car, exhaust pollution also varied depending on acceleration and how the car was maintained. The study presented a method for identifying and targeting the worst vehicle offenders in air pollution, including older cars and cars that hadn’t been adequately cared for.

While greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide from vehicle tailpipes and hydrofluorocarbon from leaking air conditioners have a potential for contributing to climate change, experts agree that carbon dioxide is the worst offender. A typical passenger vehicle emits around 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year depending on the car’s fuel type, fuel economy, and number of miles driven.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, burning a gallon of gasoline produces about 19.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, and in 2019, the total U.S. CO2 emissions from motor vehicles was 1,139 million metric tons (or just under 22% of the total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions).

In contrast, a standard compact to midsize car will emit just 6.5 pounds of NOx and 0.4 pounds of PM over a full 12,000 miles of travel (the average car travels 11,467 miles each year).

Air pollution from fine particulate matter and fossil fuel combustion contributed to 8.7 million premature human deaths in 2018, or about 1 in 5 deaths worldwide. Air quality may worsen as urbanization expands and creates more traffic congestion near homes and workplaces (In 2018, more than half of the global population lived in cities, though that number is expected to rise to two-thirds by 2050).

Climate models have already set the stage for 5 °C of global warming by the end of the century, so environmental ramifications of vehicle-derived air pollution stand to fare equally as poorly should nothing change.

In 2021, the EPA announced plans to overhaul pollution standards for both passenger cars and heavy-duty trucks to secure pollution reductions for vehicles manufactured starting in 2026. The EPA estimates that the proposal, which revised standards set by the previous administration, would result in a 2.2 billion ton reduction of CO2 emissions through 2050—equal to one year’s worth of GHG emissions from all petroleum combustion in the United States and saving American drivers between $120 to $250 billion in fuel costs.

Electric vehicles will be a big part of worldwide efforts to end air pollution from cars. It’s no secret that EVs produce fewer emissions than conventional vehicles, there are even fuel-efficient cars that use less gas to travel the same distance and cleaner fuels out there that can produce fewer emissions when they’re burned. A 2020 study over 59 different regions found that driving an electric car is better for the environment than driving a gasoline-powered car in 95% of the world.

The good news is that we’ve already seen the potential for improvements in air quality and reductions in global carbon dioxide emissions during 2020-2021. While a majority of the world’s population was instructed to stay at home and off the roads, CO2 emissions went down temporarily by as much as 26% in some parts of the globe and 17% overall.

How to Reduce Your Vehicle Air Pollution

• Drive less by riding a bike, walking, carpooling, or using public transportation instead.
• Get your car serviced regularly. 
• Learn to drive more efficiently and avoid speeding, rapid acceleration, and aggressive braking.
• Don’t idle your car.
• Use the U.S. Department of Energy website to check fuel efficiency and estimates on total greenhouse gas emissions depending on car make, model, and year.
• When it's time to get a new vehicle, consider getting an EV.

Correction—August 18, 2022:  A previous version of this article mistakenly equated the emissions from the transportation sector with those from just motor vehicles.

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Voosen, Paul. " New Climate Models Predict a Warming Surge ." Science , 2019., doi:10.1126/science.aax7217

" EPA to Overhaul Pollution Standards for Passenger Vehicles and Heavy-Duty Trucks, Paving Way for Zero-Emission Future ." Environmental Protection Agency , 2021.

Knobloch, Florian, et al. " Net Emission Reductions from Electric Cars and Heat Pumps in 59 World Regions Over Time ." Nature Sustainabilit y, vol. 3, 2020, pp. 437-447., doi:10.1038/s41893-020-0488-7

Le Quere, Corinne, et al. " Temporary Reduction in Daily Global CO2 Emissions During the COVID-19 Forced Confinement ." Nature Climate Change , vol. 10, 2020, pp. 647-653., doi:10.1038/s41558-020-0797-x

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Car Air Pollution Problem Solution Essay

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• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Air pollution occurs when substances known as pollutants are in excess in the environment (What Is Air Pollution? n.d.). These substances are divided into two broad categories namely primary and secondary pollutants. Primary pollutants include carbon IV oxide and sulfur IV oxide that are emitted directly into the air.

On the other hand, secondary pollutants result after primary pollutants have undergone through chemical effects/reactions. An example of secondary pollutants is photochemical smog that results when fossil fuels like gasoline react with oxides of nitrogen gas in the presence of sunlight.

This process produces numerous chemicals, which are hazardous and highly toxic. Automobiles greatly contribute to air pollution, as they release fumes into the atmosphere. They also pollutes environment indirectly through the industries that manufacture their body parts, disposal, and refueling. Moreover, there is pollution that comes during refining and distribution of car fuels.

Automobiles, like cars, produce chemical compounds such as carbon IV oxide, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. On the other front, other components of car air pollution include dirty air, smoke, and smog. They cause difficulties in breathing, watery eyes and upon inhalation increases the risk of lung cancer.

Cars also pollute land; for instance, when their tires wear out, the particles remain in the soil. Further, cars cause water pollution when particles from their tires are washed into streams. At car wash points, the dirt from these vehicles gets into rivers and lakes thus causing pollution (Cars and Air Pollution n.d.).

The effluents are directed into streams of water like rivers, lakes, and oceans and, finally, human beings use them for domestic consumption. From the two broad categories of pollutants, from cars, there are four classifications of the pollutants, which include the following: Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) or hydrocarbons, Carbon II Oxide (CO), Particulate Matter (PM), and Nitrogen Oxides (NO X ).

These chemicals have different lifespan while in the air (Car Pollution Facts n.d). For instance, some hang around for a few hours as others stay in air for thousands of years. The four classes of pollutants results when fuel, air, and spark interact/come together and water is released in the process.

Particulate Matters are particles from soot and metals. They are the reason behind the murky coloration in smog. In car air pollution, automobiles emit sulfur IV oxide, nitrogen oxides, and other hydrocarbons. Later, these pollutants react with other substances in the environment to form secondary pollutants. Hydrocarbons react with nitrogen oxides to form ozone at the ground level. Notably, this reaction occurs in the presence of sunlight.

Ozone causes reduction in capacity of the lungs, choking, and coughing (Car Pollution Facts n.d). Nitrogen oxides always weaken the defenses of the body against respiratory diseases like influenza and pneumonia. Cars and trucks are the major emitters of carbon II oxide from combustion of gasoline. This gas is colourless, odourless, and very poisonous. Further, NO 2 can prevent the flow of oxygen in the blood to other parts of the body like the brain.

Sulfur IV oxide (SO 2 ) are produced when cars burn diesel, which are sulfur containing fuels. SO 2 forms finer particles upon reacting with the environment hence causing great health risk to human population, animals, and plants. Additionally, car air pollution has toxics or hazardous air pollutants. They include benzene, 1, 3-butadiene, and acetaldehyde compounds (Cars, Trucks, & Air Pollution 2008). Again, CO 2 that is emitted by cars causes global climate change.

Historically, car air pollution is a common phenomenon across valleys and cities worldwide. The coming up of large cities and towns led to rise of industries; for instance, the car manufacturing industries. These industries released waste products into the environment.

This trend continued until nature could not cope up with the level of wastes in the atmosphere. These emissions concentrate in regions where they are emitted and can lead to adverse effects to human beings. For example, in December 1952, London experienced a smog event, which created a toxic atmosphere; the occurrence consequently proclaimed about 4000 human lives (Gow & Pidwirny 1996).

Currently, there are so many automobiles under the transport sector. Therefore, they cause air pollution through emissions during operation. In addition, air pollution comes from the manufacturing industries as they continue to supply vehicles in order to meet the increasing market demand, the distribution, and manufacturing of cars’ fuels.

Markedly, the manufacturing companies aim at maximizing profits by increasing their market sales each year. Government agencies have also failed in controlling this trend, as they view it as a source of tax and revenue for their daily operations. However, these funds are again used in controlling environmental degradation; as a result, the whole process has no benefits but limitations. Any effect on the environment affects all humanity irrespective of the actors.

Therefore, stringent measures should be put in place to avert such scenarios from occurring. In China, most of its carbon dioxide emissions come from cars. At present, the cars are cleaner than they were 30 years ago (Car Pollution Facts n.d.). On the other hand, the pollution level is determined by the miles that a car covers in a day, but not the type of cars that one owns. Today there are still more cars that are driven for long distances.

As a result, they burn many gallons of fuel. This situation needs solutions to control. California and China, for example, use over 80 million gallons of gasoline per day. A 600-acre lake of two feet deep can be filled with 400 million gallons of gasoline. Traffic idling also leads to 8 million gallons usage of fuel.

Car air pollution have numerous effects that it posses to the entire environment. The first instance is the effect on the size of babies that mothers in car-polluted areas deliver. After birth, such children experience stunted growth syndrome. The pollutants reduce the sizes of babies in these regions; this leads to health complications and can result to early infant deaths (Car Pollution Facts n.d.).

It also leads to premature births; the situation that makes it difficult for such babies to survive. Therefore, car air pollution does not only affect already born human persons but also affect the unborn/fetus. This observable fact is very serious therefore should be addressed from all perspectives in order to ensure healthy lives for all. The emissions can also cause severe respiratory and neurological infections in human beings.

For example, the small particles from nitrogen oxides can easily penetrate the humans’ respiratory systems into the lungs. These toxic substances settle in the lungs and disrupt the normal flow of air in and out of the lungs. If this situation persists, human beings develop lung cancer.

Car air pollution has toxics or hazardous air pollutants: therefore, breathing polluted air increases the probability of contracting heart diseases, bronchitis, and asthma (King 2011). On the other aspect, CO gas can block the smooth flow of oxygen into the brain; consequently, leading to brain complications. Car air pollution also damages the neurons that are responsible for learning and memorization of ideas.

Noticeably, these effects are perilous. In the US, close to 80 people die per day due car air pollution, while in Europe, over 300 people die due to the same effect. Notably, these infections are due to car air pollution that the human population can control if they collectively decide to act.

Moreover, car air pollution causes global warming. Global warming involves the change in climatic conditions of a given area, that is, abnormal high temperatures during the day and extremely low temperatures during the night, severe droughts, flooding instances and melting of glaciers. These conditions arise when CO 2 and other substances that trap heat are in the atmosphere.

They form a blanket-like structure that traps heat from the ground (King 2011). This continuous process increases the ground temperatures, as heat is unable to get into the outermost part of the atmosphere. This increase in heat waves, acidic oceans, and rising sea levels, clearly shows that global warming can disrupt the food chain.

This effect, then, leads to food insecurity, which is a basic need for all. Although cars can be comfortable and classy, their effects on the environment range wide to causing food insecurity. In addition, cars emit some particles that can get in contact with the ground and changes completely the acidity and alkalinity of the land. The change in pH of the soil makes it impossible for the continuous growth of crops (King 2011).

Evidently, the yield will greatly go down and even results to no yield. Again, agricultural lands will be rendered unproductive since the high acidity kills all the important organisms that support the growth of crops. Gases like sulfur IV oxide and nitrogen oxides cause acidic rain. This type of rain can kill living organisms in vegetations if it falls on their leaves and stem.

When the leaves are not available, plants cannot make their own food through photosynthesis (King 2011). The acidic nature withdraws water from all parts of the plants hence drying up. If this water falls on the skin of a human being, it forms a cold burn or scald due to withdrawal of water from the body.

In line with global warming, cars also emit bromine and chlorine-heavy substances that can deplete the ozone layer. The depletion enables ultraviolet rays to reach the earth surface. Further, there are fluids that cars use and are very toxic to humans for example, air-conditioning refrigerants and gasoline (King 2011). If disposed off wrongly, they get into the air and water systems. Coolants like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have damaging effects on the ozone layer.

From the above discussion on the effects of car air pollution, it is essential to discuss vividly some of the solutions or mitigation measures that humans can adopt in order to avert/reduce these scenarios. Car air pollution ought to be controlled.

The whole world should ensure that their automobiles are electrified. Such vehicles do not release effluents into the atmosphere thereby maintaining the cleanliness of air. The National Aeronautics and Space Exploration (NASA) have tried to move towards this direction by making cars that use natural gas. The idea was initially meant to monitor the propelling of hydrogen in the Space Shuttle.

The automobile industry has borrowed the concept to develop the environmentally friendly cars. Besides, the engineers make the radial tires from larger chain materials thereby increasing their lifespan by over 10,000 miles (Lithium Battery Power Delivers Electric Vehicles to Market 2008). The purification of air and water using various methods helped in making them safe for human consumption. The effect reduced health problems that were posing a significant threat to the humankind, animals, and other properties/materials.

On the other front, using electricity will reduce overdependence on oil and even encourage continuous use of cleaner biofuels. Countries like Brazil and China have started using this technology and are saving billions of dollars that could have been spent at the gas pumps. In further reducing emissions, NASA has also developed vehicles powered by lithium batteries.

The fuel cell systems generate energy through electrochemical reaction. In this case, oxygen and hydrogen rich fuel coalesce to form water. Fuel cell systems provide opportunities that has outstanding benefits, including the non- combustion of fuel. Fuel cells eliminate greenhouse gases over the entire cycle. Hydrogen electrolysis is driven by renewable energy and therefore the degree of safety is highly enhanced.

The electric vehicles do not emit any effluent thus making them safer to the environment compared to other models. In the transportation sector, human beings can practice a culture of riding or walking to work, driving for short distances, or forgoing driving at least once a week. These practices help to reduce the amount of gas that is burnt during movements hence less oil will be used (Lithium Battery Power Delivers Electric Vehicles to Market 2008).

World governments should enact policies that ensure that the vehicle manufacturing industries supply the market with fuel-efficient cars. Such cars will use less gas to cover a given distance thereby improving the quality of air, ensuring public health protection, and reducing global warming emissions (Clean Vehicles 2012). The US federal government enacted a policy in 2002 that guides vehicle-manufacturing companies on the standards of vehicles that should be in the market until 2025.

Moreover, carbon dioxide in the air can be removed from the atmosphere through technological applications. Humankinds need to burn less coal, natural gas, and oil. The recycling of CO 2 from the atmosphere is an idea of geo-engineering. Some of the companies that have ventured in this initiative include Kilimanjaro Energy, Global Thermostat, and Carbon Engineering. The latter industry is in Canada while the first two are in Columbia.

These industries remove CO 2 from the air through chemical procedures (Gunther 2012). These startup companies also intend to find CO 2 markets in the oil industries. Oil industries use liquefied CO 2 to push oil remnants out of the barrel. In addition, these industries plans to build their carbon capture plants at a low cost of operation and construction. This innovative idea is similar to carbon credit, as they all intend to minimize emissions into the atmosphere.

There can be development of alternative sources of energy like wind, geothermal and solar. Along with this, there should be manufacturing of cleaner fuels. For example, using a mixture of gasoline and alcohol from fermented sugarcanes helps to minimize air pollution. This type of fuel, gasohol, is very friendly to the environment.

Apart from using food products, advanced biofuels can be obtained from agricultural wastes, grasses, and garbage. Cellulosic biofuels significantly reduce global warming emissions and provide a great opportunity for saving on oil (Transportation and Air Quality 2013). As the industries move towards producing an environmentally friendly fuel, there should be proper policies on disposal of used cars in order to minimize the cost of protecting the fauna and flora (Thumma 2000).

In addition, to ensure a clean environment, all humans should take the responsibility of monitoring their professional and personal lives. These solutions should start at an individual level for example by recycling wastes, reducing energy consumption, and decreasing CO 2 emissions from cars. This initiative is not only for corporate or government bodies but also for individual persons living in the society.

In conclusion, the adverse effects of car air pollution imply that serious and achievable steps should be taken to eradicate this menace. It requires unraveled commitment from all the sectors, since an act by one person will affect everybody.

For example, while vehicle-manufacturing companies target high profits from their sales, they should understand the ethical implications of protecting the atmosphere. Their actions will definitely increase their cost of protecting the environment. Organizations should carry out mass education among the human population so that the people can own the whole conservation process.

Moreover, a clean environment will support the growth of forests and crops that will support the growing population. Human beings will also experience less health complications that could result from car air pollution like obesity and asthmatic conditions. Therefore, for all to benefit, environmental protection remains an inclusive affair.

Car Pollution Facts., EVsRoll . Web.

Cars and Air Pollution., Environment Protection Authority . Web.

Cars, Trucks, & Air Pollution 2008, UCS: Independent Science, Practical Solutions: Union of Concerned Scientists . Web.

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Gunther, M. 2012, Rethinking Carbon Dioxide: From a Pollutant to an Asset , Yale Environment 360: Opinion, Analysis, Reporting & Debate . Web.

King, J. 2011, How Does Car Pollution Affect the Environment & Ozone Layer, Green Living | National Geographic . Web.

Lithium Battery Power Delivers Electric Vehicles to Market 2008, NASA Spinoff Homepage . Web.

Thumma, W. 2000, What Can You Do to Reduce Pollution and Conserve Energy, Green Living | National Geographic . Web.

Transportation and Air Quality 2013, US Environmental Protection Agency. Web.

What Is Air Pollution? Environment Protection Authority .

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Essay on Vehicle Pollution

Students are often asked to write an essay on Vehicle Pollution in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Vehicle Pollution

Understanding vehicle pollution.

Vehicle pollution refers to the harmful substances released by vehicles that use fossil fuels. These pollutants include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates.

Effects of Vehicle Pollution

Vehicle pollution harms our environment. It contributes to global warming and climate change. It also affects human health, leading to respiratory diseases and other health problems.

Reducing Vehicle Pollution

We can reduce vehicle pollution by using public transportation, cycling, walking, or carpooling. Using electric vehicles or vehicles with higher fuel efficiency can also help.

Vehicle pollution is a serious issue. We must take steps to reduce it for the betterment of our health and environment.

250 Words Essay on Vehicle Pollution

Introduction.

Vehicle pollution, also known as vehicular pollution, is a significant contributor to environmental degradation. It involves the emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere by motor vehicles, causing serious health and environmental implications.

The Nature of Vehicle Pollution

Vehicular pollution is primarily caused by the combustion of fossil fuels like petrol, diesel, and gas in vehicles. This process releases various harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. These pollutants have detrimental effects on both the environment and human health.

Impact on Health and Environment

Vehicle pollution significantly contributes to air pollution, leading to a rise in global temperatures, also known as global warming. It also causes respiratory diseases, cardiovascular issues, and other health problems in humans. Furthermore, it contributes to the deterioration of the ozone layer, leading to harmful ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth.

Addressing Vehicle Pollution

Addressing vehicular pollution requires a multifaceted approach. This includes promoting the use of public transport, encouraging carpooling, and enhancing fuel efficiency. Additionally, the adoption of electric vehicles and hybrid technology can significantly reduce vehicle emissions.

In conclusion, vehicle pollution is a pressing issue that needs immediate attention. By adopting sustainable practices and investing in greener technologies, we can significantly reduce the adverse effects of vehicle pollution. It is a collective responsibility to ensure a healthier and safer environment for future generations.

500 Words Essay on Vehicle Pollution

Causes of vehicle pollution.

The primary cause of vehicle pollution is the burning of fossil fuels like petrol and diesel. The combustion of these fuels results in the emission of harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and hydrocarbons. These substances are harmful to the environment and human health. Additionally, the manufacturing process of vehicles and the disposal of old vehicles also contribute to pollution.

Impacts of Vehicle Pollution

Vehicle pollution has several negative impacts on the environment and human health. It contributes to global warming, acid rain, and deteriorates air quality. The pollutants emitted by vehicles can cause respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases, and even cancer in humans. It also affects the flora and fauna, leading to a loss of biodiversity.

Measures to Control Vehicle Pollution

Role of electric and hybrid vehicles.

Electric and hybrid vehicles can play a significant role in reducing vehicle pollution. These vehicles run on electricity and/or alternate fuels, which produce fewer emissions compared to conventional fuels. Although the production of electric vehicles has its environmental impacts, the overall emission throughout their lifecycle is much lower.

Vehicle pollution is a significant environmental issue that needs immediate attention. While individual efforts like using public transport and opting for cleaner vehicles can make a difference, institutional changes are necessary for a substantial impact. Governments, automotive industries, and environmental organizations must work together to promote sustainable transportation and curb vehicle pollution.

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The Causes and Effects of Air Pollution: A Comprehensive Analysis

Table of contents, causes of air pollution, effects of air pollution, addressing air pollution, 1. industrial emissions, 2. vehicle emissions, 3. deforestation and land use, 1. health impacts, 2. environmental degradation, 3. climate change, 4. economic costs, 1. regulatory measures, 2. transition to clean energy, 3. reforestation and conservation.

• Brauer, M., Freedman, G., & Frostad, J. (2019). Ambient air pollution exposure estimation for the Global Burden of Disease 2013. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(1), 79-88.
• Chen, L., Yang, C., & Huang, C. (2020). Air pollution and stroke: Association and effect modifiers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(6), 1959.
• Khaniabadi, Y. O., Daryanoosh, S. M., Hopke, P. K., Ferrante, M., & De Marco, A. (2017). Exposure to PM10, NO2, and O3 and impacts on human health. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 24(3), 2781-2789.
• Pope III, C. A., & Dockery, D. W. (2006). Health effects of fine particulate air pollution: Lines that connect. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 56(6), 709-742.
• World Health Organization. (2018). Ambient (outdoor) air quality and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ambient-(outdoor)-air-quality-and-health

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Vehicle pollution Essay

An irrelevant element involved in the air which is harmful for environment is called air pollution. In India, its biggest cause is due to vehicle pollution which creates many problems including lack of oxygen in the atmosphere that leads to breathing diseases for all the living beings and the major issue of global warming.

Long and Short Essay on Vehicle pollution in India in English

On this crucial issue of vehicular pollution in India, we are presenting here various types of essays on vehicular pollution under different word limit to help you with the school/college assignments and exams. You can select any Vehicle pollution essay as per your need and interest:

Essay on Air Pollution Caused by Vehicles – Essay 1 (200 words)

A Vehicle has always been the prime necessity for the general public in India either it is scooter, motor cycle or car; it is not the time when having an own transport was treated as status symbol but nowadays it has become the need for everyone either in urban or rural areas to commute from one place to another.

Where some changes proves beneficial to a part of generation on the other side it become a curse for all world. For example invention of petrol or diesel fuelled vehicles. At this current time this world is living under the alarming rate of air pollution and the major cause of this crisis is the pollutants emitted from vehicles.

Air Pollution Caused by Vehicles

India is the country of 125 million people and is the biggest consumer of motor vehicles or automobiles. These vehicles either operated by petrol or diesels, extremely affect the environment and our ecosystem. Generally pollutants emitted from car are one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse emissions in the atmosphere. As we know that the whole world is under the fear of global warming and the biggest cause of it is the increasing level of vehicle pollution which needs a quick attention by all of us.

Automobile impact on environment is about 80 to 90%. According to Environmental Defence Fund (EDF) on-road vehicles cause one-third of the air pollution and all transportation causes 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Essay on Effects of Vehicular Pollution – Essay 2 (300 words)

Introduction

Pollution in big metropolitan cities is increasing day by day and main cause for this is pollution through vehicle apart from industry. As more people are shifting from small cities to big cities, numbers of vehicles are increasing and it deteriorating the air quality badly. Various diseases in big cities are due to the vehicle pollution.

Effects of Vehicle Pollution on the Environment

With the increase in number of vehicles, pollution from these automobiles is increasing drastically. Combustion of fuel in vehicle emits various gases such as Sulphur oxide (SOx), Carbon mono oxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), suspended particulate matter (SPM) etc. These gases are creating immediate and long-term effect on the environment. Immediate effect are on the human for developing health hazard and long effect are harming the environment by creating global warming, acid rain, imbalance in eco system etc.

These gases trapped the heat in the atmosphere and leading to increase in temperature of earth i.e. global warming. This increase in temperature affects ecology such as increase in sea level; destroy of natural landscapes, drought in many part of world, flood, Cyclone etc. These gases are depleting the Ozone layer; due to this Ultraviolet rays are easily reaching in atmosphere which is a source of various skin diseases. SOx and NOx in the atmosphere converts into acid during rain and destroy the crops, forest and other vegetation. CO2 concentration in the air is increasing and reached up to 400ppm at its alarming level.

Diesel vehicles are more prone to generate air pollution and create various diseases such as cough, headache, nausea, asthma and other respiratory problems etc. Earlier, lead was used in fuel to increase the efficiency of burning, however it was discontinued as it was releasing poisonous gases such as lead, benzene in atmosphere which was more harmful if inhale by any person.

Effects of vehicle pollution are increasing day by day with the increasing number of vehicles on the road. Effects of vehicle pollution are badly affecting the living beings on the earth and causing lots of health related problems. Slowly but surely, it may make the earth an unsuitable place for living; so, we must take it serious and run to stop the vehicle pollution by regarding all the possible solutions.

Essay on How to Control Vehicular Pollution – Essay 3 (400 words)

Pollution through vehicle is a big problem in world, especially in metropolitan city. Vehicles are increasing day by day due to urbanization and increase in income of people. Everybody wants to go by own car or other vehicles to avoid the crowd in public transport system.

How to Control Vehicular Pollution

Here are few methods that the government are taking to control the vehicle pollution:

• Promoting of vehicle use with CNG fuel (Compressed Natural Gas) instead of Petrol and Diesel fuel. CNG are called green fuel i.e. pollution from CNG vehicle are very less in comparison to Petrol or Diesel.
• Regularly check up of pollution from vehicle through registered Authority.
• Promotion of Electric operated vehicle to reduce pollution.
• Phasing out of old or high polluted vehicles from the big city.
• Implementation of Euro-VI fuel in all over India progressively i.e. initially it was implemented in Delhi from April, 2018. In other big cities, it will be implementing till Dec, 2018. Euro-VI fuel will reduce the sulphur by 50 to 75 in Diesel engines.
• Government of India are working to introduce LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) as fuel, it will further reduce the pollution from vehicle.
• Government has taken initiative to introduce mass transport system i.e. number of buses increased, Metro in various cities, Infrastructure development, Improvement in Road network.
• Implementation of Automatic tag system in Toll booth so that vehicle can go easily without waiting in queue for toll.
• Creating the bypass across the big cities so that vehicle coming from one end will not need to pass through the city to go to other side. Recently Eastern Peripheral Expressway opened that will bypass the Delhi for trucks or buses, if they are not having any stoppage in Delhi. It will reduce the traffic situation as well as reduce the pollution and save time for the public.
• Delhi Government implemented the odd-even car to run based on their registration number on particular day.

Conclusion:

For the development of any country Urbanization is highly require but unfortunately it has been become possible at the cost of unwanted situation of air pollution all over the place. May be Causes are much enough for this drastic issue but there is always a solution to be execute.

Essay on Vehicle Pollution: Meaning, Causes, Effects and Solution – Essay 4 (500 words)

A major part of polluted air in atmosphere is because of vehicle and other means of transportation via water road or air. Vehicle pollution needs a quick attention to control over it in manner to save people’s health and to avoid global warming. In India some of its metro cities are under so much polluter air that it has become so difficult even to take breath by people over here. Situation is so worst that Bangalore has got the title of ‘asthma capital of India’.

Meaning of Vehicle Pollution

Vehicle pollution is the pollution caused by the types of vehicles running on the road. Vehicles need petrol or diesel as a fuel to get energy to run which emits various types of harmful gases in the environment after combustion. These harmful gases (carbon monoxide, unburned gasoline, lead, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, etc) get spread in the atmosphere and pollute the pure air thus cause air pollution. Air pollution caused by automobiles/cars/vehicles emissions is called as vehicle pollution.

Causes of Vehicle Pollution

It is clearly defines that cause of increased vehicle pollution is the increased population of country and thus rapidly increasing demand of cars, bikes, scooter or other vehicles. Urbanization is also the major cause for vehicle pollution. As people are continuously moving towards the urban cities from rural areas which lead the growing demand of vehicle on road day by day.

Petrol or diesel fuelled passenger vehicles emerges a huge amount of nitrogen oxide, carbon mono oxide, Sulphur oxide (SOx) in the air. Vehicles are responsible for the unwanted elements in atmosphere which directly or indirectly affecting the people and all living being on earth.

Effects of Vehicle Pollution

• Vehicle pollution is affecting our environment in various manners like it is making our atmosphere so harmful that to take breath under metro cities is like just to take slow poison from air.
• Multiple diseases are emerging or we can say growing in urban areas due to vehicle pollution.
• Pollution in air creates major effects on human health including animals and plants also it is badly harming our ecosystem which results in terms of global warming.
• Automobile industry is directly affecting 80 to 90% in atmosphere by emerging greenhouse gases which are a group of compounds that are able to trap heat in the atmosphere, like nitrogen oxide carbon mono oxide, Sulphur oxide (SOx).

Solutions of Vehicle Pollution

Vehicle pollution is a major environmental issue in India which need to be resolve as soon as possible for the sake of our future generation.

• Air Pollution due to vehicle can be control only by getting strict for traffic rules and by enhancing the quality of automobile and manufacturing industries.
• Proper care of tyres and fuel tank of any vehicles helps in less exhaust emission. Car pooling, use of transport buses, improved and proper road management, use of CNG operated vehicles instead of petrol or diesel always helps in reducing air pollution.
• Regular vehicle pollution check up from authorized centres is highly required also its time to remove old vehicles from cities and to introduce electrical operated vehicles in cities for transportation.
• To control over vehicle on road government has tried to do some efforts time to time by introducing some new traffic rules like odd-even policy in Delhi NCR which led to run vehicles based on their registration number on their specified day.

Problems has always its solution only we need is to search and apply the better one. In India the Vehicle pollution is at high risk that needs an attention and support by each and every person individually.

Essay on Pollution Due to Vehicles /Automobiles/Cars – Essay 5 (600 Words)

In this essay we are taking a serious issue of vehicle pollution in India which is require to solve at prime basis. As the number of vehicles increases it lead to increase of harmful emissions which directly affects in air quality. In India this issue has become so huge in some metropolitan cities that oxygen level has been decreasing rapidly in atmosphere.

Vehicles are always counted as responsible for the production of greenhouse gases these are calculated as 70% of CO2, 50% of HC, 30-40% of NOx, 30% of SPM and 10% of SO2 of the overall air pollution over cities.

Causes of Air Pollution Due to Vehicles

Now a day a vehicle has become the need of general public in cities because of the high distance destinations all over and to avoid the over loaded passengers vehicles like autos, buses and local trains. Urbanization is also biggest reason for the increasing air pollution in India.

• A huge amount of air pollution creates because of the petrol fuelled passenger vehicles as it emerges a significant amount of nitrogen oxide carbon mono oxide and others harmful element in air.
• A major part of air pollution about 35% in metro cities of India is because of automobiles, cars or other vehicle. Vehicle pollution causes polluted air in environment and results as a harmful impact on people’s health.
• Engine exhaust (diesel and gas) carries more than 40 dangerous air pollutants. Uncountable numbers of vehicles on road in metro cities of India are inducing a kind of poison in air which results in form of symptoms like cough, headache, nausea and asthma problems.
• Vehicles play an important role in the formation of ground level ozoneand Carbon monoxide (CO). This colourless poisonous gas is formed by the combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline and is emitted primarily from cars and trucks.

Increased Demand of Automobiles in India

According to the data in year 2011, the urban population has increased up to 377million which was only 62 million in the year of 1951. Also adding to this, there were only 18 cities with a population of over 1 million in 1991 which is expended to 46 cities in 2012. This shows the unmanaged unplanned increased population rate and results in form of high demand of transportation and its consumption patterns.

There were about 8.9 million vehicles sold in between year of (2005-06) and it reaches 15 million in 2010-2011. In period of 2016-2017 for the first time in India Passenger vehicle sales crossed the three million mile stone with a growth of 9.23 per cent.

By the end of March 2017 domestic passenger vehicles (PV) sales were at 30, 46,727 units against 27, 89,208.

Domestic car sales during the year grew 3.85 per cent to 21, 02,996 units from 20, 25,097 units.

Motorcycles sales in 2016-17 were at 1, 10, 94,543 units compared with 1, 07, 00, 406 in the previous fiscal, up 3.68 per cent.

Scooter sales in 2016-17 were at 56, 04,601 units in comparison to 50, 31,678 in the previous fiscal, up 11.39 per cent.

Which shows that the number of vehicles sold in India is increasing fast during the past few years. At the end of discussion this all lead to the crucial problem of air pollution in environment due to vehicles, automobile and cars.

Air pollution due to vehicles in India has majorly affected the metro cities. Bangalore has become the asthma capital of the country and in Pune air pollution has become such a serious problem that the respiratory suspended particulate matter in the air is more than the standard national level.

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Air Pollution — Air Pollution: Causes and Effects

Air Pollution: Causes and Effects

• Categories: Air Pollution Environmental Issues Pollution

About this sample

Words: 723 |

Updated: 30 November, 2023

Words: 723 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

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Air Pollution Essay: Hook Examples

• The Silent Killer: Delve into the invisible threat that surrounds us every day, affecting our health, environment, and future generations – air pollution.
• Gasping for Breath: Paint a vivid picture of individuals struggling to breathe in polluted cities, highlighting the urgency of addressing this pressing issue.
• Nature’s S.O.S: Explore how wildlife and ecosystems send distress signals through the impact of air pollution, underscoring the interconnectedness of all living beings.
• The Economic Toll: Uncover the hidden costs of air pollution on healthcare, productivity, and quality of life, revealing the far-reaching consequences of our actions.
• Clean Air, Clear Future: Imagine a world where we embrace cleaner technologies and sustainable practices, offering a vision of hope and change in the fight against air pollution.

Works Cited

• Agarwal, A., & Agarwal, S. (2020). Air Pollution: Sources, Effects, and Control. CRC Press.
• Cohen, A. J., Brauer, M., Burnett, R., Anderson, H. R., Frostad, J., Estep, K., … & Balakrishnan, K. (2017). Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015. The Lancet, 389(10082), 1907-1918.
• Guttikunda, S. K., & Gurjar, B. R. (2012). Role of meteorology in seasonality of air pollution in megacity Delhi, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 184(5), 3199-3211.
• He, G., Ying, Q., Ma, Y., Cheng, L., Wang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2016). Health risks of air pollution in China: a special focus on particulate matter. Environmental Pollution, 211, 17-30.
• Heyder, J., Gebhart, J., Rudolf, G., & Schiller, C. (1986). St deposition in the human respiratory tract as determined by cyclone techniques. Environmental Health Perspectives, 66, 149-159.
• Khan, M. N., Islam, M. M., Siddiqui, M. N., & Islam, M. S. (2019). Sources and Impact of Air Pollution on Human Health. In Sustainable Environment and Transportation (pp. 307-334). Springer.
• Kumar, P., Kumar, A., & Goyal, P. (2020). Air Pollution: Measurement, Modelling and Mitigation. CRC Press.
• Lelieveld, J., Evans, J. S., Fnais, M., Giannadaki, D., & Pozzer, A. (2015). The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale. Nature, 525(7569), 367-371.

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Air pollution and health risks due to vehicle traffic

a Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA

Stuart Batterman

b Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA

Associated Data

Traffic congestion increases vehicle emissions and degrades ambient air quality, and recent studies have shown excess morbidity and mortality for drivers, commuters and individuals living near major roadways. Presently, our understanding of the air pollution impacts from congestion on roads is very limited. This study demonstrates an approach to characterize risks of traffic for on- and near-road populations. Simulation modeling was used to estimate on- and near-road NO 2 concentrations and health risks for freeway and arterial scenarios attributable to traffic for different traffic volumes during rush hour periods. The modeling used emission factors from two different models (Comprehensive Modal Emissions Model and Motor Vehicle Emissions Factor Model version 6.2), an empirical traffic speed–volume relationship, the California Line Source Dispersion Model, an empirical NO 2 –NO x relationship, estimated travel time changes during congestion, and concentration–response relationships from the literature, which give emergency doctor visits, hospital admissions and mortality attributed to NO 2 exposure. An incremental analysis, which expresses the change in health risks for small increases in traffic volume, showed non-linear effects. For a freeway, “U” shaped trends of incremental risks were predicted for on-road populations, and incremental risks are flat at low traffic volumes for near-road populations. For an arterial road, incremental risks increased sharply for both on- and near-road populations as traffic increased. These patterns result from changes in emission factors, the NO 2 –NO x relationship, the travel delay for the on-road population, and the extended duration of rush hour for the near-road population. This study suggests that health risks from congestion are potentially significant, and that additional traffic can significantly increase risks, depending on the type of road and other factors. Further, evaluations of risk associated with congestion must consider travel time, the duration of rush-hour, congestion-specific emission estimates, and uncertainties.

1. Introduction

Traffic on roads has significantly increased in the U.S. and elsewhere over the past 20 years ( Schrank and Lomax, 2007 ). In many areas, vehicle emissions have become the dominant source of air pollutants, including carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or hydrocarbons (HCs), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and particulate matter (PM) ( Transportation Research Board (TRB), 2002 ). The increasing severity and duration of traffic congestion have the potential to greatly increase pollutant emissions and to degrade air quality, particularly near large roadways. These emissions contribute to risks of morbidity and mortality for drivers, commuters and individuals living near roadways, as shown by epidemiological studies, evaluations of proposed vehicle emission standards, and environmental impact assessments for specific road projects ( World Health Organization (WHO), 2005 ; Health Effects Institute (HEI), 2010 ).

It is useful to separate traffic-associated pollutant impacts and risks into two categories. First, “congestion-free” impacts refer to impacts of traffic at volumes below the level that produces significant congestion. In this case, each additional vehicle added to the road does not substantially alter traffic patterns, e.g., the speed and travel time of other vehicles are unaffected, and thus vehicle emission factors do not depend on traffic volume. As a result, the marginal impact of an additional vehicle is equal to the average impact of the vehicle fleet. This is not necessarily true during congestion, the second category considered. While there are many definitions, congestion is often defined as periods when traffic volume exceeds road capacity. (Other definitions use a speed threshold, a percentage of free-flow speed of a roadway, or other indicator.) The present study focuses on what might be called “recurring congestion,” specifically, congestion caused by high traffic volumes during weekday peak “rush hour” periods. However, traffic volume is treated as a continuous variable, and strict definitions of congestion are not needed.

In the present analysis, “congestion-related” impacts incorporate multiple interactions that occur with congestion. First, congestion lowers the average speed, which increases travel time and exposure on a per vehicle basis. This effect can be considerable, e.g., the average annual travel delay for a traveler making rush hour trips in the U.S. was 38 h in 2005, based on 437 urban areas ( Schrank and Lomax, 2007 ). Second, congestion diminishes dispersion of vehicle-related pollutants since vehicle-induced turbulence depends on vehicle speed ( Benson, 1989 ). Thus, lower vehicle speeds can increase pollutant concentrations from roadway sources. Third, congestion can change driving patterns, resulting in an increased number of speedups, slowdowns, stops and starts, which increase emissions compared to “cruise” conditions, especially with high power acceleration. For example, Sjodin et al. (1998) showed up to 4-, 3- and 2-fold increases in CO, HC and NO x emissions, respectively, with congestion (average speed of 13 miles per hour, mph; 1 mph=1.61 km per hour) compared to uncongested conditions (average speed, 38–44 mph). Thus, it is important to separate congestion-free and congestion-related impacts since emissions, impacts and risks can differ greatly, and because such analyses can better inform decisions related to traffic and air quality management, as well as impact and risk assessments.

Few evaluations of congestion-related impacts have been undertaken, and available studies have essentially combined congestion and non-congestion related impacts. Tonne et al. (2008) predicted that the congestion charging zone in London, where drivers must pay fees when their vehicles enter this area, would gain 183 years-of-life per 100,000 population in the congestion charging zone itself and a total of 1,888 years-of-life in the greater London area. Eliasson et al. (2009) estimated that a similar zone in Stockholm would avoid 20–25 deaths annually due to traffic-related air pollution in the inner city, and 25–30 deaths annually in the metropolitan area, which contains 1.4 million inhabitants. Both studies indicate that congestion pricing is beneficial in reducing traffic-related health impacts, but congestion-free and congestion-related impacts were not separated. These European studies focused on congestion charging zones, which are uncommon in the U.S., and the vehicle mix and fleet emission characteristics may differ substantially from those in the U.S. Using a different approach that examined shifts in time activity patterns (TAPs: the amount of time spent at various locations and related activities) due to travel delays along with literature values of exposure concentrations in relevant microenvironments, we estimated that a 30 min day −1 travel delay accounted for 21±12% of the exposure to benzene and 14±8% of PM 2.5 for a typical working adult on weekdays ( Zhang and Batterman, 2009 ). Levy et al. (2010) estimated that the estimated public health cost of mortality attributable to congestion in 83 U.S. cities in 2000 was $31 billion (2007 dollars). This study used a macro-level approach to estimate traffic volume, which was then linked to the Motor Vehicle Emissions Factor Model 6.2 (MOBILE6.2) ( EPA, 2003 ), thus providing a snapshot of congestion. However, congestion is dynamic and varies with time, space, weather and other factors ( Downs, 2004 ). Overall, these studies suggest that congestion represents a substantial share of exposure to drivers and commuters, with potentially significant risks and impacts on health.

This study investigates the magnitude of air pollution impacts and health risks to on- and near-road populations that might occur due to recurring congestion, such as Monday through Friday rush hour traffic. Recurring congestion can result in repeated and chronic exposures, and an increase in long term health risks. “Incident congestion,” such as that caused by an accident or disabled vehicle, is not addressed, although such events may also be important for certain acute health outcomes, e.g., asthma exacerbation. This study utilizes predictive risk assessment techniques, namely, simulation models for traffic, emissions, pollutant dispersion and risk, and an incremental analysis that evaluates congestion-free and congestion-related impacts. After describing the approach, two case studies are used to analyze air pollution impacts and risks. A limited sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine impacts of key parameters on the estimated incremental risk. The merits of the various approaches that might be used to estimate congestion impacts conclude the analysis.

2.1. Approach

Risk assessment methods, depicted in Fig. 1 , are used to estimate health risks due to traffic for two scenarios. In brief, vehicle emissions are used as an input to a dispersion model to estimate concentrations, which are then multiplied by exposure time and a risk factor representing the concentration–response relationship. While some exposure and risk assessments utilize time activity patterns (TAPs) or human activity patterns, for simplicity we consider only exposure durations in traffic micro-environments, which include the delays due to traffic congestion. An incremental analysis is used to estimate the marginal impacts of increases in traffic volume. Such analyses are widely used in economic models to examine effects of small changes of an input on outcomes of interest; they also represent one of the classical “sensitivity analysis” techniques used to identify key variables in modeling systems ( Trueman, 2007 ). One difference here, however, is that a wide range of traffic flows is examined over which relationships are expected to vary considerably.

Diagram for modeling health risks due to traffic and congestion (CALINE4, the California Line Source Dispersion Model version 4 CMEM, the Comprehensive Modal Emissions Model; MOBILE6.2, the Motor Vehicle Emissions Factor Model version 6.2; TAP, time activity pattern).

2.2. Case studies

Two case studies or scenarios were developed to examine associations between traffic volume, exposures and health risks. The first, a freeway scenario, models an 8 km long segment of interstate I-94 in Ann Arbor, MI ( Fig. S1 ), which was selected for a field study in which instantaneous emission rates were modeled. This segment had a permanent traffic recorder (PTR) operated by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). The portion of the segment west of US-23 had two lanes in each direction; the segment to the east had three lanes in each direction. The annual average daily traffic (AADT) volumes for these segments were 78,300 and 91,300 vehicles day −1 in west and east directions, respectively ( MDOT, 2008 ). During the field study described in Zhang et al. (2011) , traffic volumes were 3099 and 4040 vehicles per hour (vph) in morning and afternoon rush hour periods, respectively. The vehicle mix (8% heavy duty trucks and 92% light duty vehicles) during rush hour was based on PTR records from October, 2007 ( Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 2006 ), and was assumed to be constant. The southeast Michigan vehicle age distribution was assumed to represent the fleet. The traffic volume in the incremental analysis was allowed to vary from 1000 to 10,000 vph. Given that design capacity is 2000 vehicles h −1 lane −1 for a freeway ( SEMCOG, 2004 ), the upper volume represents about 120% of road capacity. In addition to the freeway scenario with an incremental analysis, a scenario using observed volumes on I-94 during rush hour was modeled to demonstrate the spatial and temporal patterns of predicted pollutant levels.

An arterial scenario was also modeled. This used a segment along Grand River Boulevard (M-5) in Detroit, which is 8.5 km long and includes two lanes per direction and a central turning lane ( Fig. S2 ). The AADT volumes for the segment west of M-39 and east of M-39 were 23,800 and 19,200 vehicles day −1 , respectively ( MDOT, 2009 ). The regional vehicle mix and age distribution described above were used. Traffic volumes ranged from 1000 to 4000 vph (about 120% of road capacity; design capacity is 825 vehicles h −1 lane −1 for an arterial road; SEMCOG, 2004).

Exposures of drivers and commuters were estimated using several assumptions about their behavior, traffic, and in-vehicle concentrations. A driver or commuter was assumed to travel on the segments under a constant traffic volume in both morning and afternoon rush hours every weekday throughout the year. The in-vehicle concentration was assumed to be equal to predicted on-road concentrations.

Exposures of near-road residents were derived as follows. A uniform population density along both sides of the road was assumed. The (non-commuting) residents were assumed to stay at home, which was assumed to be located 100 m from the road, during rush hour every weekday. Obviously, time activity patterns and actual distances can vary considerably, although an estimated 11% of the US households are located within 100 m of a four lane highway ( Brugge et al., 2007 ). The average concentrations at upwind and downwind receptors (each at 100 m distance) were used, given the assumption of a uniform population density. Since indoor NO 2 concentrations (in homes without indoor sources) are about 50% of outdoor concentrations ( HEI, 2010 ), the indoor exposure concentration was assumed to be half that of predicted outdoor concentrations at the 100 m receptors.

2.3. Emission modeling

Emission factors for a vehicle fleet traveling at different speeds were estimated using the Comprehensive Modal Emissions Model (CMEM) and MOBILE6.2. In this study, emissions were estimated for NO x since traffic is its major source, and both models can predict NO x while adjusting for speed effects. There are other important traffic-related pollutants, e.g., PM 2.5 ; however, CMEM does not estimate PM 2.5 , and MOBILE6.2 does not account for vehicle speed effects on PM 2.5 .

CMEM is a power-demand instantaneous model that can predict fuel consumption and emissions of CO, HC, NO x and CO 2 on a fine time scale, e.g., a second-by-second basis ( Scora and Barth, 2006 ; Zhang and Batterman, 2011 ). CMEM was used only in the freeway scenario because driving patterns were collected at this frequency only for this freeway segment. The CMEM estimates from Zhang and Batterman (2011) , which were based on the east-bound I-94 segment, were assumed to apply to both directions.

MOBILE6.2 is a widely used regulatory emission model ( Pierce et al., 2008 ) that estimates emissions of HC, CO, NO x , PM and air toxics like benzene on the basis of chassis dynamometer measurements and driving cycles designed for four road types: freeway, arterial, ramp and local road ( Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2003 ; Pierce et al., 2008 ). Emission factors in summer and winter were estimated using MOBILE6.2 and the fleet mix, vehicle age distribution, and typical daily temperatures for different vehicle speeds. Annual average emission factors were approximated as the average of summer and winter predictions.

For both emission models, emission factors are a function of fleet speed, and speed is a function of traffic volume. Speeds corresponding to given traffic volumes were derived using the Bureau of Public Road (BPR) formula ( Dowling, 1997 ):

where s=predicted mean speed; s f =free-flow speed; v= volume per hour; c=practical capacity, estimated locally as 2000 vehicles h −1 lane −1 for freeways, and 825 vehicles h −1 lane −1 for urban arterials ( SEMCOG, 2004 ); a=scalar coefficient ranging from 0.05 to 1; and b=power coefficient ranging from 4 to 11. The latter two coefficients were obtained from a Detroit case study, which estimated a=0.1226 for the freeway, a=1.00 for the arterial, and b=4.688 ( Batterman et al., 2010 ). The posted speed limits are 70 and 35 mph for freeway and arterial segments, respectively, in the two case studies.

2.4. Dispersion modeling

Dispersion model predictions of NO x concentrations attributable to traffic emissions were given by the California Line Source Dispersion Model version 4 (CALINE4). This model uses a Gaussian-plume model for a line source of finite length, and a mixing zone to characterize thermal and mechanical turbulence (e.g., vehicle wake effects), which is defined as the region over the roadway (traffic lanes, not shoulders) plus 3 m on each side ( Benson, 1989 ). Both emissions and turbulence in the mixing zone are assumed to be uniformly distributed, while the decay of concentrations at more distant locations follows an empirical Gaussian line source equation ( Benson, 1989 ). Because CALINE4 was not designed to process hourly data for a full year, a simplified modeling approach was used ( Zhang and Batterman, 2010 ). In brief, the annual average concentration at a receptor was estimated as the sum of CALINE predictions for 16 wind sectors (each spanning 22.5°) and 15 wind speed classes (1 m s −1 for each bin, e.g., 0.5 to 1.5, 1.5 to 2.5, …), weighted by the joint probability of each wind sector/wind speed category during morning and afternoon rush hour periods, based on (hourly) meteorology from 2005. Model inputs included emission factors, traffic flows, receptor locations, and surface meteorological data for morning and afternoon rush hours (7–9 am and 4–6 pm) in 2005, measured at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (located 24 and 18 km from the freeway and arterial segments, respectively). Receptors were placed 0, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 150 m from both sides of a transect perpendicular to the center of the studied road segments.

Predicted NO x concentrations were converted into NO 2 levels in order to utilize NO 2 -based concentration–health response relationships. Nitric oxide (NO) emissions, which usually account for 90–95% of NO x emissions in traffic ( WHO, 2005 ), are rapidly converted into NO 2 by reaction with ozone and OH − radicals. Ambient concentrations of NO and NO 2 vary with distance from traffic and other factors, e.g., background ozone and NO 2 concentrations, sunlight and dispersion conditions ( HEI, 2010 ). In this study, NO 2 concentrations were predicted using an empirical model recommended by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2003):

where NO 2(road) =annual mean NO 2 concentration attributable to the road; NO x(road) =annual mean NO x concentration attributable to the road; and NO x(background) =annual mean background NO x concentration. Eq. (2) gives NO 2 :NO x ratios from 0.25 at low NO x levels to 0.12 at high NO x concentrations. Although developed for long-term NO 2 :NO x ratios, Eq. (2) was assumed to hold for short term relationships. The NO x(road) concentration was taken from CALINE4 predictions, and the NO x(background) concentration was set to 28.7 μg m −3 , the 2004 average background level at a Detroit area monitor (East 7 Mile, northeast Detroit) ( Brown et al., 2007 ).

2.5. Exposure assessment

Daily and annual NO 2 exposures of on-road population were calculated as follows

where E d =adjusted daily exposures to NO 2 (μg m −3 day −1 ); E a = adjusted annual exposures to NO 2 (μg m −3 year −1 ); C on–road = predicted on-road concentrations (μg m −3 ); T=travel time (h), calculated by dividing the segment length over vehicle speed; 1/24=daily adjusted coefficient (h −1 day −1 ), a reciprocal of 24 h per day, which distributes in-vehicle exposures during travel over the day in order to be compatible with daily-average-based concentration–response relationships; and 255/365=annual adjusted coefficient given 255=weekdays per year and 365=days per year, thus distributing short-term exposures over a year, again to be comparable with the concentration–response relationships.

Exposures for near-road population were derived similarly to that just described, but with the following changes. In Eqs. (3) and (4) , on-road concentrations were replaced by one half of the near-road concentrations, and travel time was replaced by the rush hour duration, defined in Eq. (5) :

where T rush–hour =actual duration of rush hour; T free–flow =baseline duration of free-flow conditions (0.5 h); 0.5=a scale factor, which is used to account for some of road network dynamics (e.g., vehicles enter and leave a network at anytime during a rush hour); s f =free-flow speed (70 and 35 mph for freeway and arterial road, respectively); s= speed (mph). The rush hour duration is extended due to increased traffic volume. Residents were assumed to be at home during rush hours every weekday.

2.6. Risk characterization

Health risks were calculated by linking estimated exposures to the relevant concentration–response relationships from the literature. These relationships were assumed to hold for traffic-related air pollutants as indicated by NO 2 , and for both congestion and congestion-free conditions, which can be justified if the pollutant mixtures associated with these conditions are similar. Health outcomes of interest and available in the literature include short term morbidity, which represents emergency doctor visits and hospital admissions (EDA), and long term mortality. Both short- and long-term endpoints were selected, based on the strongest concentrations–response relationships in the literature as given by US Environmental Projection Agency (EPA) (2008) . Specifically, risks were estimated using exposures and the concentration–response intervals of 0.5–5.3% and 0–14.8% per 10 μg m −3 NO 2 concentration increase for EDA and all-cause mortality, respectively. These intervals represent the ranges of the mean estimates from different studies, and not statistical confidence intervals from a meta-analysis. EPA (2008) states that confidence intervals cannot be established since the underlying studies used different models, e.g., single and multi-pollutant models, different covariates, different cohorts, some studies only consider one age group, and other differences.

The incremental risks of increases in traffic volume were derived by dividing the differences of the risks corresponding to nearby traffic volumes by the differences of these traffic volumes. They represent the change (e.g., increase) in risk for an individual per each additional vehicle at a specific traffic volume. Thus, the incremental risk is the marginal risk for an individual given changes in traffic volume. The analysis addressed risks for individuals in traffic-related microenvironments, e.g., in vehicles and near major roads. Incremental risks might also change for populations in other environments due to emissions of primary pollutants, e.g., carbon monoxide and NO 2 , as well as the formation of secondary pollutants, e.g., ozone promoted by NO 2 emissions.

2.7. Sensitivity analysis

A limited sensitivity analysis examined impacts of key factors on predicted incremental risk, including speed, emission factors, and the NO 2 /NO x ratio. This analysis predicted incremental mortality risks for the on-road population during the morning rush hour using the freeway scenario under different conditions, speeds of 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 mph with the constant emission factor (2.7 g mi −1 ) and NO 2 /NO x ratio (0.16), emission rates of 1.9, 2.1, 2.3, 2.5 and 2.7 g mi −1 at constant speed (70 mph) and NO 2 /NO x ratio (0.16), and NO 2 /NO x ratios of 0.12, 0.15, 0.18, 0.22 and 0.25 at constant emission factor (2.7 g mi −1 ) and speed (70 mph). Emission estimates were derived from MOBILE6.2.

3.1. Spatial–temporal patterns of predicted NO 2 levels

Fig. S3 shows how quickly predicted NO 2 levels decrease with distance from the highway, consistent with previous studies ( WHO, 2005 ). Although the afternoon rush hour traffic volume was 30% higher than that in the morning, morning and afternoon concentrations were similar, mainly due to poorer dispersion conditions in morning, specifically more frequent occurrences of low speed winds.

3.2. Air pollution impacts

Fig. 2 shows associations between traffic volume, speed and NO x emission factors for the freeway and arterial scenarios. For the freeway, speeds were constant up to volume of approximately 4400 vph, at which point speeds began to decrease. Emission factors from both CMEM and MOBILE6.2 were also constant at low volumes. At high volumes, CMEM’s predictions slightly increased while MOBILE6.2’s slightly decreased. For the arterial case, speed was constant at low traffic volumes, and dropped quickly after around 2000 vph ( Fig. 2A ). Emission factors were nearly constant at low volumes, and increased after 2500 vph when vehicle speeds are low ( Fig. 2B ).

Predicted speed and NO x emission factors versus traffic volumes for the freeway and arterial scenarios (green to red denotes free flow conditions to congestion).

Figs. 3A–B show NO 2 concentrations predicted for various emission estimates, traffic volume and rush hour periods in the freeway scenario. Concentrations based on CMEM estimates were nearly linearly associated with traffic volume ( Figs. 3A–B ); those based on MOBILE6.2 increased exponentially with traffic volume to 7000 vph, and then gradually leveled off ( Fig. 3A–B ). Figs. 3C–D show predicted NO 2 concentrations in the arterial scenario. NO 2 levels increased nearly linearly to about 3000 vph, and then increased sharply. These predictions included emissions from the road segment only, i.e., background levels of NO 2 attributable to other emissions were not included.

Predicted NO 2 concentrations versus traffic volume in the freeway and arterial scenarios (green to red, free flow conditions to congestion).

3.3. Health risks

Predicted short- and long-term health risks for the freeway scenario with traffic volumes from 1000 to 10,000 vph using CMEM and MOBILE6.2 emission estimates are shown in Tables 1 and ​ and2, 2 , respectively. Predicted total health risks increased with increased traffic volume, regardless of health outcome, road type and emission models. At the same traffic volume, traffic during the morning rush hour increased risks by 20 to 40% compared to afternoon rush hour, mainly due to the poorer dispersion conditions mentioned. Differences between results in Tables 1 and ​ and2 2 were mainly determined by the differences from two emission estimates and the empirical NO 2 –NO x relationship.

Predicted short- and long-term health risks for selected receptors in the freeway scenario for different traffic volumes using CMEM emission estimates (EDA, emergency doctor visit or hospital admissions; unit: probability×10 −6 day −1 person −1 for EDA and probability×10 −6 year −1 person −1 for mortality.).

Predicted short- and long-term health risks for selected receptors in the freeway scenario using MOBILE6.2 emission estimates (unit: probability×10 −6 day −1 person −1 for EDA and probability×10 −6 year −1 person −1 for mortality.).

Table 3 shows predicted health risks for the arterial scenario. Like the freeway results, the arterial scenario had higher risks during the morning rush hour.

Predicted short- and long-term health risks for selected receptors in the arterial scenario using MOBILE6.2 emission estimates (unit: probability×10 −6 day −1 person −1 for EDA and probability×10 −6 year −1 person −1 for mortality.).

3.4. Incremental health risk analysis

Fig. 4 shows incremental risks (increased risk for an individual per an additional vehicle) for the upper bound mortality outcomes in the freeway scenario. ( Figs. S4–S5 show incremental risks for EDA using CMEM and MOBILE6.2 emission estimates, which are proportional to the mortality risk.) The incremental risks for the on-road population in the morning rush hour period were 20 to 45% higher than those in the afternoon rush hour.

Predicted incremental risks per vehicle versus traffic volume for upper bound mortality in the freeway scenario (CMEM, estimated based on CMEM estimates; MOBILE6.2, estimated based on MOBILE6.2 estimates; near-road representing individuals living at 100 m to a highway; green to red, free flow conditions to congestion).

For the arterial scenario, incremental risks greatly increased at high traffic volumes ( Fig. 5 ). ( Fig. S6 shows incremental risks for EDA using MOBILE6.2 emission estimates, and again, incremental risks for EDA and mortality are proportional.) In the arterial scenario, speeds decreased substantially (from 35 to 10 mph) and emission factors increased markedly (from 1.7 to 2.3 g mi −1 ).

Predicted incremental risks per vehicle versus traffic volume for upper bound mortality in the arterial scenario.

3.5. Sensitivity analysis

Fig. S7 shows effects of speed, emission factors and the NO 2 /NO x ratio on incremental mortality risks. Generally, incremental risks decreased as speed increased (or traffic volume decreased), and risks increased with higher emission factors and higher NO 2 /NO x ratios. The NO 2 /NO x ratio had the largest impact on incremental risks; its relative sensitivity was an order of magnitude higher than that for emission factors, and two orders higher than speed’s.

4. Discussion

This study demonstrates a methodology for analyzing the health risks attributable to traffic, specifically using a marginal analysis that shows the effect of incremental increases in traffic volume. To our knowledge, this appears to be the first study examining health risks attributable to congestion-related air pollution using this approach. Although the methodology employs several models that incorporate simplifying assumptions, the incremental analysis shows the effect of each additional vehicle. It highlights the key factors affecting risks due to congestion, which include traffic volume, speed, road type, emission factor and meteorology.

The key factors determining NO 2 concentration predictions include the emission model (MOBILE6.2 vs. CMEM), receptor location (on-road vs. near road), and road type (freeway vs. arterial road). In the freeway scenario, NO 2 concentration trends were determined by mainly traffic volume, emission factors and the empirical NO 2 –NO x relationship. MOBILE6.2 has slightly lower emission factors at lower speeds (high traffic volumes), thus NO 2 concentrations increase slowly at high volumes compared to a sharp increase at low volumes. Additionally, with the same traffic volume, concentrations predicted for the morning rush hour are 30 to 50% higher than those in afternoon rush hour period, which is mainly attributable to meteorological factors (more frequent lower winds and poor dispersion conditions). In the arterial road scenario, the predicted NO 2 trends can be explained by emission factors that are approximately constant at low volumes and thus traffics volume dominates the trend, while at high volumes, increasing emission factors make NO 2 levels rise more sharply ( Fig. 2 ).

The predicted incremental risk per vehicle in the freeway scenario suggests a U-shape pattern for the on-road population, and constant incremental risks at low traffic volume for near-road populations. This indicates that incremental risks may be variable, dependent on driving patterns and parameters that pertain to that specific road segment and population. These patterns can be explained by travel time (for the on-road population), emission estimates, and the empirical NO 2 –NO x relationship. The incremental risks derived using CMEM are used to explain the interactions of these factors. The on-road risks show U-shaped curves with traffic volume, as depicted in Fig. 4A and B : from 1000 to 4000 vph, trends are determined by the NO 2 /NO x empirical relationship because speed and emission factors are constant, while the proportion of NO 2 to NO x slightly decreases from 0.3 to 0.22 with higher volumes; from 5000 to 7000 vph, emission factors remain constant but speed decreases, resulting in longer travel times, and the NO 2 to NO x ratio slightly decreases (from 0.21 to 0.19), which together slightly increase incremental risks; and lastly, for volumes exceeding 8000 vph, incremental risks increase due to longer travel delays, higher emission factors, and slightly decreased NO 2 /NO x ratio. The near-road risks show smaller changes, but the pattern is similar. The variation in results around 7000 to 10,000 vph, a result of step changes in the underlying models, might be addressed by smoothing.

The dramatic changes in incremental risks in the arterial scenario suggest that congestion could pose risks to commuters on and residents near arterial roads that are greater than congestion risks associated with freeways, possibly because lower speeds might be associated with more acceleration/deceleration events than higher speeds and, to a lesser degree, because low speeds reduce vehicle-induced dispersion ( Benson, 1989 ).

In summary, the case studies indicated that incremental risks depend primarily on emission rates, empirical NO 2 –NO x relationships, and travel delay (for the on-road population). At the high traffic volumes often associated with congestion, emission rates dominate the factors affecting risk trends. The divergence between the two emission models further suggests the importance of the emission estimates, especially for congested conditions. Many other factors can influence risk results, as described below.

4.1. Relevance of the case studies

The case studies used two simplified and somewhat hypothetical scenarios. The volumes assumed for the study segments may be unrealistic, e.g., the observed freeway traffic volume was only 4040 vph in the afternoon rush hour, less than half of the highest volume (10,000 vph) simulated. The results of incremental risks are expected to vary with roads with different orientations, topography, meteorology, and population density. Further, only NO 2 was considered. It would be helpful to examine other traffic-related pollutants, such as diesel exhaust and PM 2.5 , given its health significance and differences in emission trends from NO x .

4.2. Emission uncertainties

The MOBILE6.2 and CMEM models yield different trends of emission factors against traffic volume, and the former model’s predictions are systematically higher. These models have many differences. CMEM simulates segment-specific driving behaviors using segment-specific second-by-second speed/acceleration profiles, while MOBILE6.2 assumes a generic driving pattern. Differences and uncertainties also occur due to the different approaches used to represent driving patterns, smoothing of speed and acceleration data used by CMEM, vehicle fleet assumptions, and difference in driving cycles and calibration database, among other reasons ( Zhang and Batterman, 2011 ). Smit (2006 , 2008) suggests that emission models based on average speeds, such as MOBILE6.2, do not explicitly account for congestion since input parameters representing congestion levels are not incorporated. MOBILE6.2 implicitly accounts for congestion because some urban driving patterns used in the model are associated with congestion. In contrast, driving pattern-based emission models, such as CMEM, predict emissions in congestion using instantaneous speed and acceleration/deceleration profiles as model inputs. However, predictions for congestion periods have not been fully validated ( Smit, 2006 ). Therefore, our scenarios used the default congestion levels in MOBILE6.2’s development and calibration.

There are many other sources of uncertainty in the emission models. For CMEM, key uncertainties result from the speed-profile smoothing and the car-floating technique used to develop these profiles. This approach likely reduced differences between congestion and free-flow predictions since actual acceleration/deceleration is underestimated. Additional uncertainties result from mapping CMEM to vehicle categories, and assuming that CMEM predictions applied to both road directions. For MOBILE6.2, a key uncertainty is whether the embedded driving cycles and speed adjustments reflect the actual driving patterns. As discussed, MOBILE6.2’s ability to predict congestion-related emissions for a specific road is limited. Other uncertainties include the lack of segment-specific vehicle mix and age distributions, and the performance of the BPR model that relates traffic flow and speed. Finally, both CMEM and MOBILE6.2 are deterministic models that do not represent uncertainties in both the structures and parameters of the models.

Roadway emissions can be estimated in other ways. The new EPA Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES; EPA, 2009 ) has been calibrated using a larger database than CMEM, can consider user-specified driving patterns ( EPA, 2009 ), and provides (varying) PM 2.5 estimates. Emissions might also be determined using on-board monitoring or near-road emission/concentration measurements. While expensive, onboard monitoring links transient emissions to transient speed, acceleration and deceleration parameters, and thus can capture emissions that typify stop-and-go congestion. Because such relationships can vary dramatically among vehicles, generalizations to the whole fleet may be problematic. Near-road monitoring can be difficult to couple to transient driving parameter given instrumental limitations and changes in meteorological conditions and dispersion, among other reasons, although such measurements might provide the best estimate of congestion’s contribution to pollutant levels.

4.3. Dispersion modeling

The concentration predictions involved several uncertainties and limitations, the largest of which might arise from the use of the empirical NO 2 –NO x relationship. This relationship was derived from a UK study, whereas the case studies used US-based traffic compositions, vehicle technologies, and emission models. Actual NO 2 –NO x relationships depend on many factors, e.g., background levels of NO, NO 2 and O 3 , and meteorology ( Stedman et al., 2001 ). The empirical relationship was derived for long-term relationships. Here it was used for short-term concentrations. The background NO x level used might not reflect levels around the studied roads. Meteorological information driving the dispersion model was obtained at an open (unsheltered) (airport) site, while conditions near roads might be affected by buildings, trees and other factors ( Greco et al., 2007 ) that can reduce wind speed and increase turbulence. Because concentrations rapidly decrease at distances exceeding 150 m from the road, only near-road receptors were considered. This does not account for background concentrations that can be attributed to traffic. The dispersion model predictions are deterministic, and do not consider model uncertainty. Other limitations of CALINE4, e.g., its poor performance at low wind speeds, have been discussed elsewhere ( Zhang and Batterman, 2010 ).

4.4. Exposure assessment limitations

The scenarios demonstrate key factors affecting risk trends, which do not necessarily apply to actual commuting populations. For example, commuters usually travel for longer trips than the studied segments: US commuters spent an average of 81 min day −1 in vehicles in 2001 ( HEI, 2010 ). Such trips might include both congestion-free and congestion periods, and both freeway and arterial roads. Exposures for only two populations were examined (in-vehicle cabins for the on-road population, and in-homes for the near-road population). Dynamic adjustments to time activity patterns associated with travel delay were not considered ( Zhang and Batterman, 2009 ). Concentrations in vehicle cabins, which can be affected by opening car windows, the air intake location, air conditioning system operation, and other factors, may differ from on-road concentrations. Similar considerations apply to indoor concentrations for near-road residents.

4.5. Risk characterization

This study provides an analysis of the incremental risks of traffic-related air pollutants in on-road and near-road environments, e.g., in vehicle cabins and locations near roads. There are several related risks or risk trade-offs that fall beyond the scope of our analysis. For example, additional time in traffic will decrease the time spent in other microenvironments, most notably at home, which can represent a risk trade-off as analyzed previously by Zhang and Batterman (2009) . Second, changes in the emissions of traffic related air pollutants can promote the formation of secondary air pollutants, e.g., ozone and organic aerosols, that potentially affect a broader population, not just the near-road population. Finally, we did not evaluate risks related to “upstream” or process emissions (e.g., refining), climate change pollutants (e.g., associated with CO 2 emissions), or accidents.

Several issues in the risk characterization are worth pointing out. First, congestion-specific concentration–response relationships are unavailable. The literature data may inadequately represent risks related to congestion, which typically involve shorter exposure periods (typically less than several hours) than the daily or annual periods used in most studies. It is unclear how averaging to the annual level in the present study affects true risks. Still, the NO 2 concentration–response relationship used can be supported since congestion does not generate new pollutants, but simply changes concentrations of traffic-related pollutants. Also, NO 2 was used as a surrogate for congestion impacts, thus representing effects of NO 2 as well as other traffic-related pollutants, such as PM 2.5 . This might be justified given the high correlation between NO 2 and several co-pollutants ( EPA, 2008 ; Tonne et al., 2008 ).

Risks were calculated for individuals that were on-road and at a distance of 100 m, which incompletely accounts for the diversity of population exposures. An improved spatial analysis of traffic-related air pollutants is possible using actual population densities. Other potentially affected persons would include indoor and outdoor workers near roads.

4.6. Other approaches for estimating congestion-related health risks

Health risks from congestion might be estimated using epidemio-logical studies that include indicators for congestion. Such studies might provide tailored dose–response relationships that could be used in risk assessments. For example, congestion indicators such as time spent in congestion might be linked to health outcomes directly. This could help avoid the use of complicated and uncertain models.

4.7. Recommendations

Further research is needed to characterize exposures and risks attributable to traffic congestion. Concentration–response relationships using direct indicators of congestion are needed since previous epidemiological studies used only aggregate (and not congestion) indicators, e.g., daily traffic volume or traffic density within a buffer. Second, there is a need for emission models that directly account for congestion. The application of the new MOVES model would be useful in this context; this also requires the development of representative driving patterns portraying congestion. Third, populations living and working near roads must be known at finer resolution given that pollutant concentrations associated with traffic rapidly decrease with distance.

5. Conclusions

This study used an incremental analysis to estimate pollution impacts and characterize health risks caused by congestion, which appears to be the first of its type in the literature. Congestion can increase risks for individuals driving on freeways and arterial roads, and for individuals living or working near roads. The modeling analysis suggests that incremental risks have a “U” shaped pattern with increased traffic volume for on-road populations in the freeway case study, and a different pattern, dramatic increases at high traffic volumes, for the arterial road. Risk levels depend on many factors, including traffic volume, vehicle mix, road type and meteorology. While risks from congestion can be predicted and are potentially significant, uncertainties are also high, and thus additional information is required to confirm predictions. This study suggests that the marginal risks of additional vehicles vary, and that key risk determinants include emission factors in congestion, the NO 2 –NO x relationship, travel time changes, road type, and exposure location. Overall, the findings that marginal risks are not constant should be used to inform policy making related to traffic and air quality management.

• Congestion and additional traffic can significantly increase exposures and risks.
• Risks and exposures are not proportional to traffic volumes.
• Incremental risks depend on site-specific factors including road type.

Supplementary Material

Figures 1 - 7, acknowledgments.

Portions of this research were funded through the support of the National Science Foundation’s Materials Use: Science, Engineering, and Society Biocomplexity Program Grant (CMS-0329416) and the University of Michigan Risk Science Center through the support of a fellowship.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.01.074 .

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Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know

How smog, soot, greenhouse gases, and other top air pollutants are affecting the planet—and your health.

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What is air pollution?

What causes air pollution, effects of air pollution, air pollution in the united states, air pollution and environmental justice, controlling air pollution, how to help reduce air pollution, how to protect your health.

Air pollution  refers to the release of pollutants into the air—pollutants that are detrimental to human health and the planet as a whole. According to the  World Health Organization (WHO) , each year, indoor and outdoor air pollution is responsible for nearly seven million deaths around the globe. Ninety-nine percent of human beings currently breathe air that exceeds the WHO’s guideline limits for pollutants, with those living in low- and middle-income countries suffering the most. In the United States, the  Clean Air Act , established in 1970, authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to safeguard public health by regulating the emissions of these harmful air pollutants.

“Most air pollution comes from energy use and production,” says  John Walke , director of the Clean Air team at NRDC. Driving a car on gasoline, heating a home with oil, running a power plant on  fracked gas : In each case, a fossil fuel is burned and harmful chemicals and gases are released into the air.

“We’ve made progress over the last 50 years in improving air quality in the United States, thanks to the Clean Air Act. But climate change will make it harder in the future to meet pollution standards, which are designed to  protect health ,” says Walke.

Air pollution is now the world’s fourth-largest risk factor for early death. According to the 2020  State of Global Air  report —which summarizes the latest scientific understanding of air pollution around the world—4.5 million deaths were linked to outdoor air pollution exposures in 2019, and another 2.2 million deaths were caused by indoor air pollution. The world’s most populous countries, China and India, continue to bear the highest burdens of disease.

“Despite improvements in reducing global average mortality rates from air pollution, this report also serves as a sobering reminder that the climate crisis threatens to worsen air pollution problems significantly,” explains  Vijay Limaye , senior scientist in NRDC’s Science Office. Smog, for instance, is intensified by increased heat, forming when the weather is warmer and there’s more ultraviolet radiation. In addition, climate change increases the production of allergenic air pollutants, including mold (thanks to damp conditions caused by extreme weather and increased flooding) and pollen (due to a longer pollen season). “Climate change–fueled droughts and dry conditions are also setting the stage for dangerous wildfires,” adds Limaye. “ Wildfire smoke can linger for days and pollute the air with particulate matter hundreds of miles downwind.”

The effects of air pollution on the human body vary, depending on the type of pollutant, the length and level of exposure, and other factors, including a person’s individual health risks and the cumulative impacts of multiple pollutants or stressors.

Smog and soot

These are the two most prevalent types of air pollution. Smog (sometimes referred to as ground-level ozone) occurs when emissions from combusting fossil fuels react with sunlight. Soot—a type of  particulate matter —is made up of tiny particles of chemicals, soil, smoke, dust, or allergens that are carried in the air. The sources of smog and soot are similar. “Both come from cars and trucks, factories, power plants, incinerators, engines, generally anything that combusts fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, or natural gas,” Walke says.

Smog can irritate the eyes and throat and also damage the lungs, especially those of children, senior citizens, and people who work or exercise outdoors. It’s even worse for people who have asthma or allergies; these extra pollutants can intensify their symptoms and trigger asthma attacks. The tiniest airborne particles in soot are especially dangerous because they can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream and worsen bronchitis, lead to heart attacks, and even hasten death. In  2020, a report from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health showed that COVID-19 mortality rates were higher in areas with more particulate matter pollution than in areas with even slightly less, showing a correlation between the virus’s deadliness and long-term exposure to air pollution. 

These findings also illuminate an important  environmental justice issue . Because highways and polluting facilities have historically been sited in or next to low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, the negative effects of this pollution have been  disproportionately experienced by the people who live in these communities.

Hazardous air pollutants

A number of air pollutants pose severe health risks and can sometimes be fatal, even in small amounts. Almost 200 of them are regulated by law; some of the most common are mercury,  lead , dioxins, and benzene. “These are also most often emitted during gas or coal combustion, incineration, or—in the case of benzene—found in gasoline,” Walke says. Benzene, classified as a carcinogen by the EPA, can cause eye, skin, and lung irritation in the short term and blood disorders in the long term. Dioxins, more typically found in food but also present in small amounts in the air, is another carcinogen that can affect the liver in the short term and harm the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems, as well as reproductive functions.  Mercury  attacks the central nervous system. In large amounts, lead can damage children’s brains and kidneys, and even minimal exposure can affect children’s IQ and ability to learn.

Another category of toxic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are by-products of traffic exhaust and wildfire smoke. In large amounts, they have been linked to eye and lung irritation, blood and liver issues, and even cancer.  In one study , the children of mothers exposed to PAHs during pregnancy showed slower brain-processing speeds and more pronounced symptoms of ADHD.

Greenhouse gases

While these climate pollutants don’t have the direct or immediate impacts on the human body associated with other air pollutants, like smog or hazardous chemicals, they are still harmful to our health. By trapping the earth’s heat in the atmosphere, greenhouse gases lead to warmer temperatures, which in turn lead to the hallmarks of climate change: rising sea levels, more extreme weather, heat-related deaths, and the increased transmission of infectious diseases. In 2021, carbon dioxide accounted for roughly 79 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and methane made up more than 11 percent. “Carbon dioxide comes from combusting fossil fuels, and methane comes from natural and industrial sources, including large amounts that are released during oil and gas drilling,” Walke says. “We emit far larger amounts of carbon dioxide, but methane is significantly more potent, so it’s also very destructive.” 

Another class of greenhouse gases,  hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) , are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide in their ability to trap heat. In October 2016, more than 140 countries signed the Kigali Agreement to reduce the use of these chemicals—which are found in air conditioners and refrigerators—and develop greener alternatives over time. (The United States officially signed onto the  Kigali Agreement in 2022.)

Pollen and mold

Mold and allergens from trees, weeds, and grass are also carried in the air, are exacerbated by climate change, and can be hazardous to health. Though they aren’t regulated, they can be considered a form of air pollution. “When homes, schools, or businesses get water damage, mold can grow and produce allergenic airborne pollutants,” says Kim Knowlton, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University and a former NRDC scientist. “ Mold exposure can precipitate asthma attacks  or an allergic response, and some molds can even produce toxins that would be dangerous for anyone to inhale.”

Pollen allergies are worsening  because of climate change . “Lab and field studies are showing that pollen-producing plants—especially ragweed—grow larger and produce more pollen when you increase the amount of carbon dioxide that they grow in,” Knowlton says. “Climate change also extends the pollen production season, and some studies are beginning to suggest that ragweed pollen itself might be becoming a more potent allergen.” If so, more people will suffer runny noses, fevers, itchy eyes, and other symptoms. “And for people with allergies and asthma, pollen peaks can precipitate asthma attacks, which are far more serious and can be life-threatening.”

More than one in three U.S. residents—120 million people—live in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the  2023  State of the Air  report by the American Lung Association (ALA). Since the annual report was first published, in 2000, its findings have shown how the Clean Air Act has been able to reduce harmful emissions from transportation, power plants, and manufacturing.

Recent findings, however, reflect how climate change–fueled wildfires and extreme heat are adding to the challenges of protecting public health. The latest report—which focuses on ozone, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution—also finds that people of color are 61 percent more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade in at least one of those categories, and three times more likely to live in a county that fails in all three.

In rankings for each of the three pollution categories covered by the ALA report, California cities occupy the top three slots (i.e., were highest in pollution), despite progress that the Golden State has made in reducing air pollution emissions in the past half century. At the other end of the spectrum, these cities consistently rank among the country’s best for air quality: Burlington, Vermont; Honolulu; and Wilmington, North Carolina. 

No one wants to live next door to an incinerator, oil refinery, port, toxic waste dump, or other polluting site. Yet millions of people around the world do, and this puts them at a much higher risk for respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, cancer, and death. In the United States, people of color are 1.5 times more likely than whites to live in areas with poor air quality, according to the ALA.

Historically, racist zoning policies and discriminatory lending practices known as  redlining  have combined to keep polluting industries and car-choked highways away from white neighborhoods and have turned communities of color—especially low-income and working-class communities of color—into sacrifice zones, where residents are forced to breathe dirty air and suffer the many health problems associated with it. In addition to the increased health risks that come from living in such places, the polluted air can economically harm residents in the form of missed workdays and higher medical costs.

Environmental racism isn't limited to cities and industrial areas. Outdoor laborers, including the estimated three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States, are among the most vulnerable to air pollution—and they’re also among the least equipped, politically, to pressure employers and lawmakers to affirm their right to breathe clean air.

Recently,  cumulative impact mapping , which uses data on environmental conditions and demographics, has been able to show how some communities are overburdened with layers of issues, like high levels of poverty, unemployment, and pollution. Tools like the  Environmental Justice Screening Method  and the EPA’s  EJScreen  provide evidence of what many environmental justice communities have been explaining for decades: that we need land use and public health reforms to ensure that vulnerable areas are not overburdened and that the people who need resources the most are receiving them.

In the United States, the  Clean Air Act  has been a crucial tool for reducing air pollution since its passage in 1970, although fossil fuel interests aided by industry-friendly lawmakers have frequently attempted to  weaken its many protections. Ensuring that this bedrock environmental law remains intact and properly enforced will always be key to maintaining and improving our air quality.

But the best, most effective way to control air pollution is to speed up our transition to cleaner fuels and industrial processes. By switching over to renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar power), maximizing fuel efficiency in our vehicles, and replacing more and more of our gasoline-powered cars and trucks with electric versions, we'll be limiting air pollution at its source while also curbing the global warming that heightens so many of its worst health impacts.

And what about the economic costs of controlling air pollution? According to a report on the Clean Air Act commissioned by NRDC, the annual  benefits of cleaner air  are up to 32 times greater than the cost of clean air regulations. Those benefits include up to 370,000 avoided premature deaths, 189,000 fewer hospital admissions for cardiac and respiratory illnesses, and net economic benefits of up to $3.8 trillion for the U.S. economy every year.

“The less gasoline we burn, the better we’re doing to reduce air pollution and the harmful effects of climate change,” Walke explains. “Make good choices about transportation. When you can, ride a bike, walk, or take public transportation. For driving, choose a car that gets better miles per gallon of gas or  buy an electric car .” You can also investigate your power provider options—you may be able to request that your electricity be supplied by wind or solar. Buying your food locally cuts down on the fossil fuels burned in trucking or flying food in from across the world. And most important: “Support leaders who push for clean air and water and responsible steps on climate change,” Walke says.

• “When you see in the news or hear on the weather report that pollution levels are high, it may be useful to limit the time when children go outside or you go for a jog,” Walke says. Generally, ozone levels tend to be lower in the morning.
• If you exercise outside, stay as far as you can from heavily trafficked roads. Then shower and wash your clothes to remove fine particles.
• The air may look clear, but that doesn’t mean it’s pollution free. Utilize tools like the EPA’s air pollution monitor,  AirNow , to get the latest conditions. If the air quality is bad, stay inside with the windows closed.
• If you live or work in an area that’s prone to wildfires,  stay away from the harmful smoke  as much as you’re able. Consider keeping a small stock of masks to wear when conditions are poor. The most ideal masks for smoke particles will be labelled “NIOSH” (which stands for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and have either “N95” or “P100” printed on it.
• If you’re using an air conditioner while outdoor pollution conditions are bad, use the recirculating setting to limit the amount of polluted air that gets inside. 

This story was originally published on November 1, 2016, and has been updated with new information and links.

This NRDC.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can’t resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can’t republish our material wholesale or automatically—you need to select stories individually; you can’t republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us know when you’ve used one of our stories.

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Essay on Air Pollution for Students and Children

500+ words essay on air pollution.

Essay on Air Pollution – Earlier the air we breathe in use to be pure and fresh. But, due to increasing industrialization and concentration of poisonous gases in the environment the air is getting more and more toxic day by day. Also, these gases are the cause of many respiratory and other diseases . Moreover, the rapidly increasing human activities like the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation is the major cause of air pollution.

How Air Gets Polluted?

The fossil fuel , firewood, and other things that we burn produce oxides of carbons which got released into the atmosphere. Earlier there happens to be a large number of trees which can easily filter the air we breathe in. But with the increase in demand for land, the people started cutting down of trees which caused deforestation. That ultimately reduced the filtering capacity of the tree.

Moreover, during the last few decades, the numbers of fossil fuel burning vehicle increased rapidly which increased the number of pollutants in the air .

Causes Of Air Pollution

Its causes include burning of fossil fuel and firewood, smoke released from factories , volcanic eruptions, forest fires, bombardment, asteroids, CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons), carbon oxides and many more.

Besides, there are some other air pollutants like industrial waste, agricultural waste, power plants, thermal nuclear plants, etc.

Greenhouse Effect

The greenhouse effect is also the cause of air pollution because air pollution produces the gases that greenhouse involves. Besides, it increases the temperature of earth surface so much that the polar caps are melting and most of the UV rays are easily penetrating the surface of the earth.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Effects Of Air Pollution On Health

Moreover, it increases the rate of aging of lungs, decreases lungs function, damage cells in the respiratory system.

Ways To Reduce Air Pollution

Although the level of air pollution has reached a critical point. But, there are still ways by which we can reduce the number of air pollutants from the air.

Reforestation- The quality of air can be improved by planting more and more trees as they clean and filter the air.

Policy for industries- Strict policy for industries related to the filter of gases should be introduced in the countries. So, we can minimize the toxins released from factories.

Use of eco-friendly fuel-  We have to adopt the usage of Eco-friendly fuels such as LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), bio-gas, and other eco-friendly fuels. So, we can reduce the amount of harmful toxic gases.

To sum it up, we can say that the air we breathe is getting more and more polluted day by day. The biggest contribution to the increase in air pollution is of fossil fuels which produce nitric and sulphuric oxides. But, humans have taken this problem seriously and are devotedly working to eradicate the problem that they have created.

Above all, many initiatives like plant trees, use of eco-friendly fuel are promoted worldwide.

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Essay on Vehicle Pollution for Children and Students in English

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Essay on Vehicle Pollution: An irrelevant element involved in the air which is harmful to the environment is called air pollution . In India, its biggest cause is vehicle pollution which creates many problems, including a lack of oxygen in the atmosphere that leads to breathing diseases for all the living beings and the major issue of global warming.

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Long and Short Essay on Vehicle pollution in India in English

On this crucial issue of vehicular pollution in India, we are presenting here various types of essays on vehicular pollution under different word limit to help you with the school/college assignments and exams. You can select any Vehicle pollution essay as per your need and interest:

Essay on Vehicle Pollution: Air Pollution Caused by Vehicles – Essay 1 (200 words)

A Vehicle has always been the prime necessity for the general public in India either it is scooter, motor cycle or car; it is not the time when having an own transport was treated as status symbol but nowadays it has become the need for everyone either in urban or rural areas to commute from one place to another.

Where some changes proves beneficial to a part of generation on the other side it become a curse for all world. For example invention of petrol or diesel fuelled vehicles. At this current time this world is living under the alarming rate of air pollution and the major cause of this crisis is the pollutants emitted from vehicles.

Air Pollution Caused by Vehicles

India is the country of 125 million people and is the biggest consumer of motor vehicles or automobiles. These vehicles either operated by petrol or diesels, extremely affect the environment and our ecosystem. Generally pollutants emitted from car are one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse emissions in the atmosphere. As we know that the whole world is under the fear of global warming and the biggest cause of it is the increasing level of vehicle pollution which needs a quick attention by all of us.

Automobile impact on environment is about 80 to 90%. According to Environmental Defence Fund (EDF) on-road vehicles cause one-third of the air pollution and all transportation causes 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Essay on Vehicle Pollution: Effects of Vehicular Pollution – Essay 2 (300 words)

Introduction

Pollution in big metropolitan cities is increasing day by day and main cause for this is pollution through vehicle apart from industry. As more people are shifting from small cities to big cities, numbers of vehicles are increasing and it deteriorating the air quality badly. Various diseases in big cities are due to the vehicle pollution.

Effects of Vehicle Pollution on the Environment

With the increase in number of vehicles, pollution from these automobiles is increasing drastically. Combustion of fuel in vehicle emits various gases such as Sulphur oxide (SOx), Carbon mono oxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), suspended particulate matter (SPM) etc. These gases are creating immediate and long-term effect on the environment. Immediate effect are on the human for developing health hazard and long effect are harming the environment by creating global warming, acid rain, imbalance in eco system etc.

These gases trapped the heat in the atmosphere and leading to increase in temperature of earth i.e. global warming. This increase in temperature affects ecology such as increase in sea level; destroy of natural landscapes, drought in many part of world, flood, Cyclone etc. These gases are depleting the Ozone layer; due to this Ultraviolet rays are easily reaching in atmosphere which is a source of various skin diseases. SOx and NOx in the atmosphere converts into acid during rain and destroy the crops, forest and other vegetation. CO2 concentration in the air is increasing and reached up to 400ppm at its alarming level.

Diesel vehicles are more prone to generate air pollution and create various diseases such as cough, headache, nausea, asthma and other respiratory problems etc. Earlier, lead was used in fuel to increase the efficiency of burning, however it was discontinued as it was releasing poisonous gases such as lead, benzene in atmosphere which was more harmful if inhale by any person.

Effects of vehicle pollution are increasing day by day with the increasing number of vehicles on the road. Effects of vehicle pollution are badly affecting the living beings on the earth and causing lots of health related problems. Slowly but surely, it may make the earth an unsuitable place for living; so, we must take it serious and run to stop the vehicle pollution by regarding all the possible solutions.

Essay on Vehicle Pollution: How to Control Vehicular Pollution – Essay 3 (400 words)

Pollution through vehicle is a big problem in world, especially in metropolitan city. Vehicles are increasing day by day due to urbanization and increase in income of people. Everybody wants to go by own car or other vehicles to avoid the crowd in public transport system.

How to Control Vehicular Pollution?

Here are few methods that the government are taking to control the vehicle pollution:

• Promoting of vehicle use with CNG fuel (Compressed Natural Gas) instead of Petrol and Diesel fuel. CNG are called green fuel i.e. pollution from CNG vehicle are very less in comparison to Petrol or Diesel.
• Regularly check up of pollution from vehicle through registered Authority.
• Promotion of Electric operated vehicle to reduce pollution.
• Phasing out of old or high polluted vehicles from the big city.
• Implementation of Euro-VI fuel in all over India progressively i.e. initially it was implemented in Delhi from April, 2018. In other big cities, it will be implementing till Dec, 2018. Euro-VI fuel will reduce the sulphur by 50 to 75 in Diesel engines.
• Government of India are working to introduce LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) as fuel, it will further reduce the pollution from vehicle.
• Government has taken initiative to introduce mass transport system i.e. number of buses increased, Metro in various cities, Infrastructure development, Improvement in Road network.
• Implementation of Automatic tag system in Toll booth so that vehicle can go easily without waiting in queue for toll.
• Creating the bypass across the big cities so that vehicle coming from one end will not need to pass through the city to go to other side. Recently Eastern Peripheral Expressway opened that will bypass the Delhi for trucks or buses, if they are not having any stoppage in Delhi. It will reduce the traffic situation as well as reduce the pollution and save time for the public.
• Delhi Government implemented the odd-even car to run based on their registration number on particular day.

Conclusion:

For the development of any country Urbanization is highly require but unfortunately it has been become possible at the cost of unwanted situation of air pollution all over the place. May be Causes are much enough for this drastic issue but there is always a solution to be execute.

Essay on Vehicle Pollution: Meaning, Causes, Effects and Solution – Essay 4 (500 words)

A major part of polluted air in atmosphere is because of vehicle and other means of transportation via water road or air. Vehicle pollution needs a quick attention to control over it in manner to save people’s health and to avoid global warming. In India some of its metro cities are under so much polluter air that it has become so difficult even to take breath by people over here. Situation is so worst that Bangalore has got the title of ‘asthma capital of India’.

Meaning of Vehicle Pollution

Vehicle pollution is the pollution caused by the types of vehicles running on the road. Vehicles need petrol or diesel as a fuel to get energy to run which emits various types of harmful gases in the environment after combustion. These harmful gases (carbon monoxide, unburned gasoline, lead, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, etc) get spread in the atmosphere and pollute the pure air thus cause air pollution. Air pollution caused by automobiles/cars/vehicles emissions is called as vehicle pollution.

Causes of Vehicle Pollution

It is clearly defines that cause of increased vehicle pollution is the increased population of country and thus rapidly increasing demand of cars, bikes, scooter or other vehicles. Urbanization is also the major cause for vehicle pollution. As people are continuously moving towards the urban cities from rural areas which lead the growing demand of vehicle on road day by day.

Petrol or diesel fuelled passenger vehicles emerges a huge amount of nitrogen oxide, carbon mono oxide, Sulphur oxide (SOx) in the air. Vehicles are responsible for the unwanted elements in atmosphere which directly or indirectly affecting the people and all living being on earth.

Effects of Vehicle Pollution

• Vehicle pollution is affecting our environment in various manners like it is making our atmosphere so harmful that to take breath under metro cities is like just to take slow poison from air.
• Multiple diseases are emerging or we can say growing in urban areas due to vehicle pollution.
• Pollution in air creates major effects on human health including animals and plants also it is badly harming our ecosystem which results in terms of global warming.
• Automobile industry is directly affecting 80 to 90% in atmosphere by emerging greenhouse gases which are a group of compounds that are able to trap heat in the atmosphere, like nitrogen oxide carbon mono oxide, Sulphur oxide (SOx).

Solutions of Vehicle Pollution

Vehicle pollution is a major environmental issue in India which need to be resolve as soon as possible for the sake of our future generation.

• Air Pollution due to vehicle can be control only by getting strict for traffic rules and by enhancing the quality of automobile and manufacturing industries.
• Proper care of tyres and fuel tank of any vehicles helps in less exhaust emission. Car pooling, use of transport buses, improved and proper road management, use of CNG operated vehicles instead of petrol or diesel always helps in reducing air pollution.
• Regular vehicle pollution check up from authorized centres is highly required also its time to remove old vehicles from cities and to introduce electrical operated vehicles in cities for transportation.
• To control over vehicle on road government has tried to do some efforts time to time by introducing some new traffic rules like odd-even policy in Delhi NCR which led to run vehicles based on their registration number on their specified day.

Problems has always its solution only we need is to search and apply the better one. In India the Vehicle pollution is at high risk that needs an attention and support by each and every person individually.

Essay on Pollution Due to Vehicles /Automobiles/Cars – Essay 5 (600 Words)

In this essay we are taking a serious issue of vehicle pollution in India which is require to solve at prime basis. As the number of vehicles increases it lead to increase of harmful emissions which directly affects in air quality. In India this issue has become so huge in some metropolitan cities that oxygen level has been decreasing rapidly in atmosphere.

Vehicles are always counted as responsible for the production of greenhouse gases these are calculated as 70% of CO2, 50% of HC, 30-40% of NOx, 30% of SPM and 10% of SO2 of the overall air pollution over cities.

Causes of Air Pollution Due to Vehicles

Now a day a vehicle has become the need of general public in cities because of the high distance destinations all over and to avoid the over loaded passengers vehicles like autos, buses and local trains. Urbanization is also biggest reason for the increasing air pollution in India.

• A huge amount of air pollution creates because of the petrol fuelled passenger vehicles as it emerges a significant amount of nitrogen oxide carbon mono oxide and others harmful element in air.
• A major part of air pollution about 35% in metro cities of India is because of automobiles, cars or other vehicle. Vehicle pollution causes polluted air in environment and results as a harmful impact on people’s health.
• Engine exhaust (diesel and gas) carries more than 40 dangerous air pollutants. Uncountable numbers of vehicles on road in metro cities of India are inducing a kind of poison in air which results in form of symptoms like cough, headache, nausea and asthma problems.
• Vehicles play an important role in the formation of ground level ozoneand Carbon monoxide (CO). This colourless poisonous gas is formed by the combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline and is emitted primarily from cars and trucks.

Increased Demand of Automobiles in India

According to the data in year 2011, the urban population has increased up to 377million which was only 62 million in the year of 1951. Also adding to this, there were only 18 cities with a population of over 1 million in 1991 which is expended to 46 cities in 2012. This shows the unmanaged unplanned increased population rate and results in form of high demand of transportation and its consumption patterns.

There were about 8.9 million vehicles sold in between year of (2005-06) and it reaches 15 million in 2010-2011. In period of 2016-2017 for the first time in India Passenger vehicle sales crossed the three million mile stone with a growth of 9.23 per cent.

By the end of March 2017 domestic passenger vehicles (PV) sales were at 30, 46,727 units against 27, 89,208.

Domestic car sales during the year grew 3.85 per cent to 21, 02,996 units from 20, 25,097 units.

Motorcycles sales in 2016-17 were at 1, 10, 94,543 units compared with 1, 07, 00, 406 in the previous fiscal, up 3.68 per cent.

Scooter sales in 2016-17 were at 56, 04,601 units in comparison to 50, 31,678 in the previous fiscal, up 11.39 per cent.

Which shows that the number of vehicles sold in India is increasing fast during the past few years. At the end of discussion this all lead to the crucial problem of air pollution in environment due to vehicles, automobile and cars.

Air pollution due to vehicles in India has majorly affected the metro cities. Bangalore has become the asthma capital of the country and in Pune air pollution has become such a serious problem that the respiratory suspended particulate matter in the air is more than the standard national level.

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• Air Pollution Essay

Essay on Air Pollution

Environmental changes are caused by the natural or artificial content of harmful pollutants and can cause instability, disturbance, or adverse effects on the ecosystem. Earth and its environment pose a more serious threat due to the increasing pollution of air, water, and soil. Environmental damage is caused by improper resource management or careless human activities. Therefore, any activity that violates the original nature of the environment and leads to degradation is called pollution. We need to understand the origin of these pollutants and find ways to control pollution. This can also be done by raising awareness of the effects of pollutants.

Air pollution is any physical, chemical, or biological change in the air. A certain percentage of the gas is present in the atmosphere. Increasing or decreasing the composition of these gasses is detrimental to survival. This imbalance in gas composition causes an increase in global temperature which is called global warming.

Introduction to air pollution 

The Earth and its environment are facing a serious threat by the increasing pollution of the air, water, and soil—the vital life support systems of the Earth. The damage to the environment is caused by improper management of resources or by careless human activity. Hence any activity that violates the original character of nature and leads to its degradation is called pollution. We need to understand the sources of these pollutants and find ways to control pollution. This can be also done by making people aware of the effects of pollutants. 

Air with 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, and 1% of all other gasses support life on Earth. Various processes take place to sustain the regular percentage of gasses and their composition in general. 

Atmospheric pollution can have natural sources, for example, volcanic eruptions. The gaseous by-products of man-made processes such as energy production, waste incineration, transport, deforestation and agriculture, are the major air pollutants.

Although air is made up of mostly Oxygen and Nitrogen, mankind, through pollution, has increased the levels of many trace gasses, and in some cases, released completely new gasses to the atmosphere. 

Air pollution can result in poor air quality, both in cities and in the countryside. Some air pollutants make people sick, causing breathing problems and increasing the likelihood of cancer. 

Some air pollutants are harmful to plants, animals, and the ecosystems in which they live. Statues, monuments, and buildings are being corroded by the air pollutants in the form of acid rain. It also damages crops and forests, and makes lakes and streams unsuitable for fish and other plant and animal life. 

Air pollution created by man-made resources is also changing the Earth’s atmosphere. It is causing the depletion of the ozone layer and letting in more harmful radiation from the Sun. The greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere prevents heat from escaping back into space and leads to a rise in global average temperatures. Global warming affects the average sea-level and increases the spread of tropical diseases.

Air pollution occurs when large amounts of gas and tiny particles are released into the air and the ecological balance is disturbed. Each year millions of tons of gasses and particulate matter are emitted into the air. 

Primary air pollutants are pollutants, which are directly released into the air. They are called SPM, i.e., Suspended Particulate Matter. For example, smoke, dust, ash, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, and radioactive compounds, etc.

Secondary Pollutants are pollutants, which are formed due to chemical interactions between the atmospheric components and primary pollutants. For example, Smog (i.e. Smoke and fog), ozone, etc.

Major gaseous air pollutants include Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide, etc.

Natural sources are volcanic eruptions, forest fires, dust storms, etc. 

Man-made sources include gasses released from the automobiles, industries, burning of garbage and bricks kilns, etc.

Effects of Air Pollution on Human Health

Air pollution has adverse effects on human health. 

Breathing polluted air puts you at higher risk of asthma.

When exposed to ground ozone for 6 to 7 hours, people suffer from respiratory inflammation.

Damages the immune system, endocrine, and reproductive systems.

A high level of air pollution has been associated with higher incidents of heart problems.

The toxic chemicals released into the air are affecting the flora and fauna immensely.

Preventive Measures to Reduce Air Pollution

We can prevent pollution by utilizing raw materials, water energy, and other resources more efficiently. When less harmful substances are substituted for hazardous ones, and when toxic substances are eliminated from the production process, human health can be protected and economic wellbeing can be strengthened. 

There are several measures that can be adopted by people to reduce pollution and to save the environment.

Carpooling.

Promotion of public transport.

No smoking zone.

Restricted use of fossil fuels.

Saving energy.

Encouraging organic farming.

The government has put restrictions on the amount of fossil fuels that can be used as well as restrictions on how much carbon dioxide and other pollutants can be emitted. Although the government is attempting to save our environment from these harmful gasses, it is not sufficient. We as a society need to keep the environment clean by controlling the pollution of air.

FAQs on Air Pollution Essay

1. State the Causes of Air Pollution ?

The following are the causes of air pollution.

Vehicular pollution consisting of Carbon Monoxide causes pollution.

Emission of Nitrogen oxide by a large number of supersonic transport airplanes causes deterioration of the Ozone layer and also causes serious damage to the flora and fauna.

The release of Chlorofluorocarbons into the Stratosphere causes depletion of Ozone, which is a serious concern to animals, microscopic, and aquatic organisms.

Burning garbage causes smoke, which pollutes the atmosphere. This smoke contains harmful gases such as Carbon dioxide and Nitrogen oxides.

In India, brick kilns are used for many purposes and coal is used to burn the bricks. They give out huge quantities of Carbon dioxide and particulate matter such as smoke, dust that are very harmful to people working there and the areas surrounding it. 

Many cleansing agents release poisonous gases such as Ammonia and Chlorine into the atmosphere. 

Radioactive elements emit harmful rays into the air.

Decomposed animals and plants emit Methane and Ammonia gas into the air.

2. What Does Global Warming Mean?

Global warming is the gradual rising average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere due to the concentration of methane in certain toxic gasses such as carbon dioxide. This has a major impact on the world climate. The world is warming. The land and the sea are now warmer than they were at the beginning and temperatures are still rising. This rise in temperature is, in short, global warming. This temperature rise is man-made. The burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere which capture solar heat and raise surface and air temperatures.

3. Name the Alternative Modes of Transport. In What Way Does it Help to Reduce Air Pollution?

Public transport could be an alternative mode of transport. Public transport like trains, buses and trams, can relieve traffic congestion and reduce air pollution from road transport. The use of public transport must be encouraged in order to develop a sustainable transport policy.

4. Mention other means of transportation! How can I help reduce air pollution?

Public transportation can be another mode of transportation. Public transport such as trains, buses and trams can reduce traffic congestion and reduce air pollution from road transport. The use of public transport and to develop sustainable transport policies should be encouraged. While one passenger vehicle has the convenience factor, other modes of transportation reduce travel costs, spend less time, reduce stress, improve health, and reduce energy consumption and parking. Other trips for work include walking/cycling, public transport, hybrid travel and transport.

5. What are the effects of pollution?

Excessive air pollution can increase the risk of heart attack, wheezing, coughing and difficulty breathing, as well as irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. Air pollution can also cause heart problems, asthma, and other lung problems. Due to the emission of greenhouse gases, the composition of the air in the air is disturbed. This causes an increase in global temperature. The damaging ozone layer due to air pollution does not prevent harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun, which cause skin and eye problems in individuals. Air pollution has caused a number of respiratory and heart diseases among people. The incidence of lung cancer has increased in recent decades. Children living in contaminated areas are more likely to develop pneumonia and asthma. Many people die every year due to the direct or indirect effects of air pollution. When burning fossil fuels, harmful gases such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are released into the air. Water droplets combine with these pollutants and become acidic and fall as acid rain, which harms human, animal and plant life.

6. What is the solution to air pollution?

Production of renewable fuels and clean energy. The basic solution to air pollution is to get away from fossil fuels and replace them with other energies such as solar, wind and geothermal. The government limits the amount of fossil fuel that can be used and how much carbon dioxide and other pollutants it can emit. While the government is trying to save our environment from this harmful gas, it is not enough. We as a society need to keep the environment clean by controlling air pollution. To more in detail about air pollution and its causes. To learn more about air pollution and its impact on the environment, visit the Vedantu website.

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Air pollution.

Air pollution consists of chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants. It also damages buildings.

Biology, Ecology, Earth Science, Geography

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Air pollution consists of chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants. It also damages buildings. Pollutants in the air take many forms. They can be gases , solid particles, or liquid droplets. Sources of Air Pollution Pollution enters the Earth's atmosphere in many different ways. Most air pollution is created by people, taking the form of emissions from factories, cars, planes, or aerosol cans . Second-hand cigarette smoke is also considered air pollution. These man-made sources of pollution are called anthropogenic sources . Some types of air pollution, such as smoke from wildfires or ash from volcanoes , occur naturally. These are called natural sources . Air pollution is most common in large cities where emissions from many different sources are concentrated . Sometimes, mountains or tall buildings prevent air pollution from spreading out. This air pollution often appears as a cloud making the air murky. It is called smog . The word "smog" comes from combining the words "smoke" and " fog ." Large cities in poor and developing nations tend to have more air pollution than cities in developed nations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , some of the worlds most polluted cities are Karachi, Pakistan; New Delhi, India; Beijing, China; Lima, Peru; and Cairo, Egypt. However, many developed nations also have air pollution problems. Los Angeles, California, is nicknamed Smog City. Indoor Air Pollution Air pollution is usually thought of as smoke from large factories or exhaust from vehicles. But there are many types of indoor air pollution as well. Heating a house by burning substances such as kerosene , wood, and coal can contaminate the air inside the house. Ash and smoke make breathing difficult, and they can stick to walls, food, and clothing. Naturally-occurring radon gas, a cancer -causing material, can also build up in homes. Radon is released through the surface of the Earth. Inexpensive systems installed by professionals can reduce radon levels. Some construction materials, including insulation , are also dangerous to people's health. In addition, ventilation , or air movement, in homes and rooms can lead to the spread of toxic mold . A single colony of mold may exist in a damp, cool place in a house, such as between walls. The mold's spores enter the air and spread throughout the house. People can become sick from breathing in the spores. Effects On Humans People experience a wide range of health effects from being exposed to air pollution. Effects can be broken down into short-term effects and long-term effects . Short-term effects, which are temporary , include illnesses such as pneumonia or bronchitis . They also include discomfort such as irritation to the nose, throat, eyes, or skin. Air pollution can also cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea . Bad smells made by factories, garbage , or sewer systems are considered air pollution, too. These odors are less serious but still unpleasant . Long-term effects of air pollution can last for years or for an entire lifetime. They can even lead to a person's death. Long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease , lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema . Air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people's nerves , brain, kidneys , liver , and other organs. Some scientists suspect air pollutants cause birth defects . Nearly 2.5 million people die worldwide each year from the effects of outdoor or indoor air pollution. People react differently to different types of air pollution. Young children and older adults, whose immune systems tend to be weaker, are often more sensitive to pollution. Conditions such as asthma , heart disease, and lung disease can be made worse by exposure to air pollution. The length of exposure and amount and type of pollutants are also factors. Effects On The Environment Like people, animals, and plants, entire ecosystems can suffer effects from air pollution. Haze , like smog, is a visible type of air pollution that obscures shapes and colors. Hazy air pollution can even muffle sounds. Air pollution particles eventually fall back to Earth. Air pollution can directly contaminate the surface of bodies of water and soil . This can kill crops or reduce their yield . It can kill young trees and other plants. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide particles in the air, can create acid rain when they mix with water and oxygen in the atmosphere. These air pollutants come mostly from coal-fired power plants and motor vehicles . When acid rain falls to Earth, it damages plants by changing soil composition ; degrades water quality in rivers, lakes and streams; damages crops; and can cause buildings and monuments to decay . Like humans, animals can suffer health effects from exposure to air pollution. Birth defects, diseases, and lower reproductive rates have all been attributed to air pollution. Global Warming Global warming is an environmental phenomenon caused by natural and anthropogenic air pollution. It refers to rising air and ocean temperatures around the world. This temperature rise is at least partially caused by an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases trap heat energy in the Earths atmosphere. (Usually, more of Earths heat escapes into space.) Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that has had the biggest effect on global warming. Carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels (coal, gasoline , and natural gas ). Humans have come to rely on fossil fuels to power cars and planes, heat homes, and run factories. Doing these things pollutes the air with carbon dioxide. Other greenhouse gases emitted by natural and artificial sources also include methane , nitrous oxide , and fluorinated gases. Methane is a major emission from coal plants and agricultural processes. Nitrous oxide is a common emission from industrial factories, agriculture, and the burning of fossil fuels in cars. Fluorinated gases, such as hydrofluorocarbons , are emitted by industry. Fluorinated gases are often used instead of gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs have been outlawed in many places because they deplete the ozone layer . Worldwide, many countries have taken steps to reduce or limit greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. The Kyoto Protocol , first adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, is an agreement between 183 countries that they will work to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The United States has not signed that treaty . Regulation In addition to the international Kyoto Protocol, most developed nations have adopted laws to regulate emissions and reduce air pollution. In the United States, debate is under way about a system called cap and trade to limit emissions. This system would cap, or place a limit, on the amount of pollution a company is allowed. Companies that exceeded their cap would have to pay. Companies that polluted less than their cap could trade or sell their remaining pollution allowance to other companies. Cap and trade would essentially pay companies to limit pollution. In 2006 the World Health Organization issued new Air Quality Guidelines. The WHOs guidelines are tougher than most individual countries existing guidelines. The WHO guidelines aim to reduce air pollution-related deaths by 15 percent a year. Reduction Anybody can take steps to reduce air pollution. Millions of people every day make simple changes in their lives to do this. Taking public transportation instead of driving a car, or riding a bike instead of traveling in carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles are a couple of ways to reduce air pollution. Avoiding aerosol cans, recycling yard trimmings instead of burning them, and not smoking cigarettes are others.

Downwinders The United States conducted tests of nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site in southern Nevada in the 1950s. These tests sent invisible radioactive particles into the atmosphere. These air pollution particles traveled with wind currents, eventually falling to Earth, sometimes hundreds of miles away in states including Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and Washington. These areas were considered to be "downwind" from the Nevada Test Site. Decades later, people living in those downwind areascalled "downwinders"began developing cancer at above-normal rates. In 1990, the U.S. government passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. This law entitles some downwinders to payments of $50,000.

Greenhouse Gases There are five major greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.

• water vapor
• carbon dioxide
• nitrous oxide

London Smog What has come to be known as the London Smog of 1952, or the Great Smog of 1952, was a four-day incident that sickened 100,000 people and caused as many as 12,000 deaths. Very cold weather in December 1952 led residents of London, England, to burn more coal to keep warm. Smoke and other pollutants became trapped by a thick fog that settled over the city. The polluted fog became so thick that people could only see a few meters in front of them.

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• United States Environment Protection Agency - Air Pollution: Current and Future Challenges
• Natural Resources Defense Council - Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Air Pollution
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Air pollution: Impact and prevention
• Frontiers - Air pollution and rhinitis
• Environmental Pollution Centers - What is Air Pollution?
• air pollution - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
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air pollution , release into the atmosphere of various gases , finely divided solids, or finely dispersed liquid aerosols at rates that exceed the natural capacity of the environment to dissipate and dilute or absorb them. These substances may reach concentrations in the air that cause undesirable health, economic, or aesthetic effects.

Major air pollutants

Criteria pollutants.

Clean, dry air consists primarily of nitrogen and oxygen —78 percent and 21 percent respectively, by volume. The remaining 1 percent is a mixture of other gases, mostly argon (0.9 percent), along with trace (very small) amounts of carbon dioxide , methane , hydrogen , helium , and more. Water vapour is also a normal, though quite variable, component of the atmosphere, normally ranging from 0.01 to 4 percent by volume; under very humid conditions the moisture content of air may be as high as 5 percent.

There are six major air pollutants that have been designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “criteria” pollutants — criteria meaning that the concentrations of these pollutants in the atmosphere are useful as indicators of overall air quality. The sources, acceptable concentrations, and effects of the criteria pollutants are summarized in the table.

The gaseous criteria air pollutants of primary concern in urban settings include sulfur dioxide , nitrogen dioxide , and carbon monoxide ; these are emitted directly into the air from fossil fuels such as fuel oil , gasoline , and natural gas that are burned in power plants, automobiles, and other combustion sources. Ozone (a key component of smog ) is also a gaseous pollutant; it forms in the atmosphere via complex chemical reactions occurring between nitrogen dioxide and various volatile organic compounds (e.g., gasoline vapours).

Airborne suspensions of extremely small solid or liquid particles called “particulates” (e.g., soot, dust, smokes, fumes, mists), especially those less than 10 micrometres (μm; millionths of a metre) in size, are significant air pollutants because of their very harmful effects on human health. They are emitted by various industrial processes, coal- or oil-burning power plants, residential heating systems, and automobiles. Lead fumes (airborne particulates less than 0.5 μm in size) are particularly toxic and are an important pollutant of many diesel fuels .

Except for lead, criteria pollutants are emitted in industrialized countries at very high rates, typically measured in millions of tons per year. All except ozone are discharged directly into the atmosphere from a wide variety of sources. They are regulated primarily by establishing ambient air quality standards, which are maximum acceptable concentrations of each criteria pollutant in the atmosphere, regardless of its origin. The six criteria pollutants are described in turn below.

Air pollution, explained

Pollutants in the air aren't always visible and come from many different sources.

Despite decades of progress, the air quality in the United States has started to decline over the past few years, according to data provided in summer 2019 by the Environmental Protection Agency . The agency recorded 15 percent more days with unhealthy air in the country in 2018 and 2017 compared to the average from 2013 to 2016.

The reasons for the recent decline in air quality remain unclear, says the agency, but may be related to high numbers of wildfires , a warming climate, and increasing human consumption patterns driven by population growth and a strong economy. The long-term outlook also remains unclear, even as politicians debate air pollution standards.

What is air pollution?

Air pollution is a mix of particles and gases that can reach harmful concentrations both outside and indoors. Its effects can range from higher disease risks to rising temperatures. Soot, smoke, mold, pollen, methane, and carbon dioxide are a just few examples of common pollutants.

In the U.S., one measure of outdoor air pollution is the Air Quality Index, or AQI which rates air conditions across the country based on concentrations of five major pollutants: ground-level ozone, particle pollution (or particulate matter), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Some of those also contribute to indoor air pollution , along with radon, cigarette smoke, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, asbestos, and other substances.

A global health hazard

Poor air quality kills people. Worldwide, bad outdoor air caused an estimated 4.2 million premature deaths in 2016 , about 90 percent of them in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. Indoor smoke is an ongoing health threat to the 3 billion people who cook and heat their homes by burning biomass, kerosene, and coal. Air pollution has been linked to higher rates of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and respiratory diseases such as asthma. In   the U.S. nearly 134 million people—over 40 percent of the population—are at risk of disease and premature death because of air pollution, according to American Lung Association estimates .

While those effects emerge from long-term exposure, air pollution can also cause short-term problems such as sneezing and coughing, eye irritation, headaches, and dizziness. Particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers (classified as PM 10 and the even smaller PM 2.5 ) pose higher health risks because they can be breathed deeply into the lungs and may cross into the bloodstream.

Air pollutants cause less-direct health effects when they contribute to climate change . Heat waves, extreme weather, food supply disruptions, and other effects related to increased greenhouse gases can have negative impacts on human health. The U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment released in 2018 noted, for example, that a changing climate "could expose more people in North America to ticks that carry Lyme disease and mosquitoes that transmit viruses such as West Nile, chikungunya, dengue, and Zika."

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Environmental impacts.

Though many living things emit carbon dioxide when they breathe, the gas is widely considered to be a pollutant when associated with cars, planes, power plants, and other human activities that involve the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. That's because carbon dioxide is the most common of the greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change. Humans have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past 150 years to raise its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years .

Other greenhouse gases include methane —which comes from such sources as landfills, the natural gas industry, and gas emitted by livestock —and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were used in refrigerants and aerosol propellants until they were banned in the late 1980s because of their deteriorating effect on Earth's ozone layer.

Another pollutant associated with climate change is sulfur dioxide, a component of smog. Sulfur dioxide and closely related chemicals are known primarily as a cause of acid rain . But they also reflect light when released in the atmosphere, which keeps sunlight out and creates a cooling effect. Volcanic eruptions can spew massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, sometimes causing cooling that lasts for years. In fact, volcanoes used to be the main source of atmospheric sulfur dioxide; today, people are.

Airborne particles, depending on their chemical makeup, can also have direct effects separate from climate change. They can change or deplete nutrients in soil and waterways, harm forests and crops, and damage cultural icons such as monuments and statues.

What can be done?

Countries around the world are tackling various forms of air pollution. China, for example, is making strides in cleaning up smog-choked skies from years of rapid industrial expansion, partly by closing or canceling coal-fired power plants. In the U.S., California has been a leader in setting emissions standards aimed at improving air quality, especially in places like famously hazy Los Angeles. And a variety of efforts aim to bring cleaner cooking options to places where hazardous cookstoves are prevalent.

In any home, people can safeguard against indoor air pollution by increasing ventilation, testing for radon gas, using air purifiers, running kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans, and avoiding smoking. When working on home projects, look for paint and other products low in volatile organic compounds: organizations such as Green Seal , UL (GREENGUARD) , and the U.S. Green Building Council can help.

To curb global warming, a variety of measures need to be taken , such as adding more renewable energy and replacing gasoline-fueled cars with zero-emissions vehicles such as electric ones. On a larger scale, governments at all levels are making commitments to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Paris Agreement , ratified on November 4, 2016, is one effort to combat climate change on a global scale. And the Kigali Amendment seeks to further the progress made by the Montreal Protocol , banning heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in addition to CFCs.

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Climate Action

Let’s not go backwards on clean air.

• Let’s Not Go Backwards…

September 16, 2024

The 55th anniversary of Earth Day is seven months away on April 22, 2025, so it seems like a good moment to examine one of the key laws that was extensively strengthened after that first Earth Day, which inspired a staggering 20 million American citizens to march back in 1970. It was an event that brought real change to environmentalism in the United States: in the form of the Clean Air Act.

If you traveled back to the 1950s and ’60s, one thing that might strike you immediately is how the air often had a distinct, lingering smell. Unregulated pollution from cars and major industry resulted in terrible air quality all over the United States. Thick yellow smog blacked out the skies in major metropolitan areas such as New York, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. Some cities exceeded 1,000 micrograms of pollutive particles per cubic meter, which translates to an estimated inhalation of 2 cigarettes per hour of exposure. In New York alone, a week-long smog pushed the death rate up by 24 daily mortalities .  The serious respiratory cases and hundreds of premature deaths that followed these “killer smog” events were traced to tailpipe emissions, burning coal, and factory pollution as the primary culprits.

The Clean Air Act (CAA), which was originally enacted in the United States in 1963, was designed to address these serious health concerns and received significant amendments in 1970, 1977 and 1990 that boosted the enforcement powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the government agency created by then President Nixon, as a direct result of the very first Earth Day. The Agency was tasked with environmental protection, research and regulatory execution, and constructed stringent standards on pollutants. It was the beginning of the modern day environmental movement and Earth Day was at the heart of it.

Between 1970 and 2023 in the US, the United States saw massive growth on every level:  the gross domestic product increased 321 percent, vehicle miles driven increased 194 percent, energy consumption increased 42 percent, and the U.S. population exploded by 63 percent. However, during this same time period, the Clean Air Act produced a 73% decrease in the combined emissions of the six common pollutants : carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particle pollution, and ozone. 

It is easy to take these dramatic results for granted over time, and the Act has lost some of its initial impact, becoming a point of contention and debate in Congress. Here’s what happened and why.

The Logic of Lawmakers 

The legislative branch is the lawmaking body of  the United States and consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.. It was designed to represent and respond to the evolving needs of the American people. The Clean Air Act is a key example of Congressional power, with elected politicians designing  environmental law to protect the nation. 

Its core aims were to set national air quality standards. However, many of the initial programs were failures, as Congressional leaders grappled with respecting state sovereignty while favoring state-based implementation plans and lacking key federal enforcement tactics. 

For example, in the Clean Air Act of 1963, states were required to utilize air quality regions, which were areas with designated restrictions, plans, and performance reviews based on air pollution. Seven years later, no state had a comprehensive plan and less than three dozen air quality regions out of a potential hundred were created. 

The amendments to the CAA made in 1970, 1977, and 1990 sought to address the shortcomings of the original Clean Air Act by incorporating updated knowledge, stricter standards, and new deadlines for controlling hazardous pollutants. Issues like acid rain and smog transcended party lines, garnering bipartisan support from both Republicans and Democrats.

The primary amendments in 1970, which required a 90% reduction in automotive emission by 1975 , were established under President Richard Nixon, a prominent Republican president, and a Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress. 

Later in 1990, President H.W. Bush made the Clean Air Act stricter, granting the EPA greater authority. Elevated penalties such as sanctions, misdemeanors and felonies were added for those who knowingly delay or fail to comply with federal air quality standards. The new amendments even allowed for awards to people who supply information on entities committing violations up to $10,000 . 

But, that was then and this is now. 

The Age of Unreason

Fast forward to 2024 and policymakers are more divided than ever on environmental regulation policies. Most recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new proposed rule under the Clean Air Act that aimed to tighten air quality standards on fine particulate matter , which are tiny chemical micro-pollutants that are emitted from construction sites, fires, automobiles and industries.  

The proposal was met with firm opposition from 32 Republican Senators, highlighted by a letter addressed to the EPA Administrator from Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. Referencing the stringent standards this new rule sets, GOP politicians were  concerned that increasing soot standards would increase compliance costs, block U.S. economic development, and push American manufacturing companies abroad. According to the letter, a study from the National Association of Manufacturers claims this new standard could cost 850,000 jobs and $160 billion . 

But, do environmental regulations actually reduce productivity in the economy?

A review from the Chicago Journal answers this question. By analyzing data from various studies, the journal confirms that by diverting resources away from production and shifting that investment towards environmental infrastructure, companies will see effects on their total factor productivity (TFP), which accounts for trade, employment, and capital costs. For example, the review found that in its primary amendments, the Clean Air Act of 1970 caused a 4.8% decline in TPF for polluting plants. But, the effects only lasted for the first year. 

This study, among several others, suggests that negative regulatory effects on productivity are centered around a small subsection of industries with high pollution and energy-intensive practices, such as plastic or petroleum sectors, and are in effect for only a short time.

In another example, a study found that in a particular period of heightened environmental regulation from 1979 to 1992, Los Angeles, California, actually experienced an increase in productivity in comparison to other U.S. petroleum refineries. Ambient air quality improved significantly and employment rates increased, with 11,770 jobs gained and only 3,570 lost in a ten year period. 

In practice, there is growing evidence that increasing green investment carries a net-positive effect for public health and environmental preservation, and contrary to counter claims does not show a significant negative effect on economic development. The pollution industry responds to regulatory policies , but with years of no new major environmental legislation and opposing views on environmental investment, it seems EPA regulations are the way to go to get rid of dirty technology and focus on future clean development. 

In the long term it would be nice to think that we might be able to return to a period of positive discourse, where political leaders come together to find common ground.

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is also cleared for use. Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with  EARTHDAY.ORG  are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at  [email protected]  or  [email protected] .

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Rowan Curry

Related stories, our power, our planet: earth day’s 2025 theme decoded, 5 reasons electric vehicles are making a difference, schools feeling the heat and facing consequences of climate change.

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Californians Are Breathing Far Less Vehicle Pollution, but Disparities Are Widening

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Californians are breathing nearly two-thirds less pollution from vehicles than they were in the year 2000, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances — a tremendous decline showcasing that state policies focused on reducing vehicle emissions are working.

However, the research also shows disparities are widening between the communities most exposed to harmful pollutants and those most protected from them, a concerning gap policymakers and regulators must still address.

Across the state, Californians are breathing in an average of 65% less fine particulate matter from vehicles, according to the research, which looked at data from the years 2000 to 2019. Also called PM2.5, this pollution consists of tiny particles that are small enough to enter the bloodstream and lead to premature death .

Hispanic and Black Californians are the two demographic groups most exposed to PM2.5 from vehicles, largely because they are more likely to live closer to highways and major roads, often due to historic practices like redlining .

While the study found these two groups have seen the most significant drops in overall exposure to the pollutants, that is due to the fact that they started in worse-off positions than other groups. The research shows that the gap between Hispanic and Black Californians and their white counterparts is widening.

Between 2000 and 2019, the relative gap in vehicle-related PM2.5 exposure between Hispanic and white Californians grew from 30% to 35%, with Hispanic residents being the group most exposed and white residents the least. Both groups experienced significant overall declines in exposure to pollution.

“If you reduce vehicle emissions across the board for everybody everywhere, everybody benefits,” said Josh Apte, associate professor of environmental engineering and environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley and one of the study’s authors. That’s how the U.S. and California have improved air quality for the past 50-60 years, he said.

“But if there are groups that are disparately exposed when everybody benefits, that disparity never goes away. So targeting emissions reductions in those places that tend to be overburdened is the name of the game to solve the problem,” Apte said.

The California Air Resources Board has, more recently, woven such policies into its core mission — targeting cleaning up drayage trucks , which move freight in and out of ports, and programs that help lower-income Californians trade in highly polluting vehicles for electric ones.

“Some of the policies that the Air Resources Board is pursuing now are very well placed to close those gaps in disparity,” Apte said.

Recently adopted CARB regulations , like those intended to reduce emissions from large truck fleets, will significantly benefit communities that live close to ports, rail yards and industrial warehouses, said Joshua Cunningham, who leads regulatory programs for light-duty vehicles at CARB and was not involved in the study.

Two state laws, passed in 2012 and 2017 , have also prioritized targeting benefits to communities geographically exposed to unequal amounts of pollution. The first invests proceeds from California’s cap-and-trade emissions credits program in disadvantaged communities that face environmental, socioeconomic and public health challenges. The other created the Community Air Protection Program to prioritize highly polluted communities for air pollution monitoring and emissions reductions.

Libby Koolik, lead study author and a Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley in the environmental engineering program, was surprised by the role that passenger vehicles play in contributing to major pollution in downtown communities, as a lot of attention is normally on large, polluting vehicles like big rigs.

“The takeaway from that is not that heavy-duty vehicles aren’t important, but really that both of these fleets need to be targeted,” Koolik said.

“And that, one step further, it’s important that we look at each community and figure out what their individual composition of fleet mixtures is so we can find the interventions that work best for that community.”

Emissions from other sectors in California, like refineries, are known to unequally burden communities of color and communities already exposed to high pollution from vehicles. This study did not include those sources of pollution.

The study was co-authored by researchers at UC Berkeley, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the University of Washington.

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Justice & Health

California slashed harmful vehicle emissions, but people of color and overburdened communities continue to breathe the worst air, new research shows a nearly threefold reduction in exposure to particulate pollution, but californians living in overburdened communities remain disproportionately exposed..

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Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollutants, Known as PM2.5, Have Led to Disproportionately High Deaths Among Black Americans

In Louisiana, Environmental Justice Advocates Ponder Next Steps After a Federal Judge Effectively Bars EPA Civil Rights Probes

 ‘A Dream Deferred:’ 30 Years of U.S. Environmental Justice in Port Arthur, Texas

California has long had more cars on the road than any other state. As its population exploded in the first half of the 20th century, so did the number of drivers, particularly in Los Angeles. By the 1940s, exhaust from millions of cars, fumes from power plants and a booming oil industry shrouded the famously sunny city in a noxious brown haze that left Angelenos wearing gas masks on days they couldn’t see more than three blocks.

A chemist identified automobile exhaust as the major source of the smog that regularly darkened city skies, laying the groundwork for California to pass the nation’s first tailpipe emissions standards in 1966. 

The state has continued to implement the most aggressive air pollution policies in the country. But even as they cut exposure to one of the deadliest components in vehicle exhaust by nearly three-fold statewide over two decades, exposure disparities persisted or increased for people of color and residents of overburdened communities, a new study reports.

California environmental and climate policy has long focused on reducing air pollution for everybody because that clearly has big health benefits, said Joshua Apte, an air quality engineering expert at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances . Apte and his colleagues wanted to know if state policies designed to address climate change and improve public health in California also reduced air pollution exposure disparities. 

Explore the latest news about what’s at stake for the climate during this election season.

The team focused on pollution from vehicles, the largest source of greenhouse gases in California and the primary source of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which kills an average of 5,400 residents a year, according to the California Air Resources Board, or CARB. Vehicles release PM2.5 directly from tailpipes and indirectly when byproducts of gasoline combustion form particles through chemical reactions in the atmosphere.

To track the disparate exposures to PM2.5 across a state with nearly 36 million registered vehicles, Apte forged a unique partnership with two agencies under California’s Environmental Protection Agency, CARB and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, or OEHHA. CARB provided estimates of mobile emissions by year and vehicle type from 2000 to 2019 at a fine geographic scale. Three scientists from OEHHA, which funded the work, collaborated on the study design and data analysis.

The team used CARB models to track both direct particle emissions and the gases that form atmospheric particle pollution. To understand how cars, light trucks and heavy-duty vehicles contribute to PM2.5 exposures across the landscape, they created a user-friendly tool called ECHO-AIR.

California’s aggressive policies to control vehicle emissions reaped across-the-board benefits, the team found, reducing PM2.5 emissions by 65 percent. Groups that have historically lived near the worst PM2.5 pollution saw the biggest declines in absolute terms, Apte said. But as exposures continued to drop for white residents, disparities in exposure rates held steady or increased for Hispanic, Black and Asian Californians and for residents of “overburdened communities,” where people are disproportionately affected by hazardous pollutants.

The 65 percent decrease from the transportation sector is a “big public health win,” said Alvaro Alvarado, chief of OEHHA’s Community and Environmental Epidemiology Research Branch and a study coauthor. “But the challenge remains that the most polluted are still the most polluted.”

A Silent Killer

Exposure to PM2.5 increases the risk of heart attacks, asthma and other respiratory problems and mounting evidence shows that even short-term exposure can kill. Health experts call air pollution a silent killer because particles like PM2.5 are invisible to the naked eye. Recent research found that Black Americans accounted for the highest proportion of deaths from exposure to PM2.5, due to multiple factors that make them more susceptible, including poverty and lack of access to healthcare.

Vehicle emissions tend to be disproportionately concentrated in overburdened communities, and communities that are predominantly Black, Hispanic and Asian, Apte said. These groups are more likely to live near major roads and traffic arteries around the state, sandwiched between freeways in cities like Oakland and Los Angeles or next to long-haul trucking routes that serve agriculture and the oil industry in the Central Valley.

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“This new research project is an important contribution to understanding the disparate and disproportionate impacts that low-income people, people of color, disadvantaged communities or environmental justice communities are confronting in their everyday lives,” said Michael Méndez, an expert on environmental justice and policy at UC Irvine who was not involved in the study.

Although California has consistently been a global leader in air quality and climate policy, many of those policies are geographically neutral, said Méndez, author of “Climate Change from the Streets.” What’s needed, he said, “is a more contextual understanding of the historical impacts that those particular pollutants and the sources of that pollution have had on local communities.”

A history of discriminatory policies often pushed people of color into marginal living conditions. The federal interstate highway system bulldozed homes and buildings in Black and Brown neighborhoods through the ’60s and ’70s while racially discriminatory housing and lending policies confined many to communities hemmed in by polluting freeways and industries.

CARB spokesperson Amy MacPherson said the new study highlights the need for approaches that focus on communities most impacted by exposure to air pollution. It’s a challenge the state is already addressing with equity-driven solutions that focus on these communities, she said, pointing to the A.B. 617 Community Air Protection Program.

The A.B. 617 program started just two years before the end of the study, which found that exposure disparities for the nearly 3 million people living in these overburdened communities were more than three times as large as those endured by Hispanics, the most exposed racial-ethnic group. Communities designated as “disadvantaged,” based on multiple environmental, socioeconomic and public health indicators, fared even worse.

Marginalized communities disproportionately host other sources of PM2.5, including power plants, chemical manufacturers and refineries, said Rachel Morello-Frosch, an environmental health expert at UC Berkeley who collaborates with Apte but did not contribute to the study. “Those kinds of stationary sources also emit PM2.5 and in California tend to be disproportionately located in communities of color and poor communities.”

These communities typically experience multiple stressors that compound environmental harms, including higher rates of poverty, food insecurity and less of the green space that reduces pollution burdens, Morello-Frosch said. “Such neighborhood and place-based factors create stressors that can enhance their vulnerability to the adverse outcomes associated with PM2.5,” she said.

The new study can help policymakers find ways to improve people’s health by showing which vehicles are causing the highest pollution burdens in which places, Morello-Frosch said. One way to address persistent disparities would be to reroute truck traffic or accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles in the most polluted communities.

For Méndez, the study underscores the need to address systemic inequalities that have left communities of color overburdened with environmental pollution for decades. Regulators need to identify specific pollution hotspots where they can increase enforcement and target more resources to mitigate some of these impacts, he said.

California is moving toward a zero-emissions future that will help reduce disparities in air pollution exposure, said CARB’s MacPherson. She pointed to incentives to make carbon-free vehicles more accessible to low-income communities and to help residents replace polluting vehicles with zero-emission models.

“When it comes to exposure and especially disparity, place matters,” Apte said. His team’s ECHO-AIR tool should allow community members to simulate how different emissions policy scenarios might play out in their neighborhoods. He hopes the tool gets into “as many hands as possible” to help drive emissions reductions in the places that need it most. 

Ultimately, Apte said, environmental policy in California and across the country must target persistent exposure disparities to ensure that everyone benefits from clean air. 

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Liza Gross is a reporter for Inside Climate News based in Northern California. She is the author of The Science Writers’ Investigative Reporting Handbook and a contributor to The Science Writers’ Handbook, both funded by National Association of Science Writers’ Peggy Girshman Idea Grants. She has long covered science, conservation, agriculture, public and environmental health and justice with a focus on the misuse of science for private gain. Prior to joining ICN, she worked as a part-time magazine editor for the open-access journal PLOS Biology, a reporter for the Food & Environment Reporting Network and produced freelance stories for numerous national outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Discover and Mother Jones. Her work has won awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Society of Professional Journalists NorCal and Association of Food Journalists.

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Urban Air Pollution Mitigation Via Cmaq Simulation: Voc Dynamics and Source Attribution

31 Pages Posted: 11 Sep 2024

Shaoxing University

Shunan Fang

Guangfa xie.

Zhejiang Shuren University

Xinxin Feng

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as industrial emissions and vehicle exhaust play a crucial role in the formation of ozone (O₃) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Analyzing the sources of VOCs and accurately predicting the benefits of air pollution reduction are essential for effective urban air pollution control. In this study, a VOCs online monitoring system (GS-MS/FID) was employed to capture VOCs data in the Shaoxing Pao Jiang Industrial Zone during the high O₃ season (June to August), with a particular focus on source analysis using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was then utilized to simulate emission reductions and assess the effects and feasibility of various emission reduction scenarios. Results indicated that alkanes constituted the largest proportion (55.8%) of VOCs. The daily concentration of VOCs exhibited a bimodal distribution, peaking at 8:00 and 21:00, with the lowest values at 15:00. The contributions of four emission sources—solvent use, vehicle emissions, photochemical generation/biomass combustion, and industrial emissions—to the secondary formation of pollutants were identified. CMAQ model predictions revealed that for O₃ emission reduction, industrial emission control was most effective, followed by motor vehicle exhaust control, and then photochemical generation control. Given the geographical location and industrial structure similarities within the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, this study provides a scientific basis and reference for air pollution control in similar industrial areas in China's Yangtze River Delta.

Keywords: O3, Volatile organic compounds, VOCs online monitoring system, Source analysis, CMAQ

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Shaoxing University ( email )

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Real estate partner, andhra pradesh university launches air pollution monitoring device to check local air quality.

Curated By : News Desk

Last Updated: September 16, 2024, 18:23 IST

Hyderabad, India

The entire facility is on a van that allows it to move from one place to another.

While the devices that are widely used are often fixed in one place, this facility can travel to different parts of the city.

Air pollution has become a common issue in almost all states of India. Several cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are experiencing several harsh impacts of pollution. Understanding the severity of air pollution is very important and to address the issue, the Pollution control boards of numerous areas have installed special devices to record and display the data collected from the areas. These devices are often installed in one fixed place providing data in just one place. Some students and researchers from Visakhapatnam have designed a special device to monitor air pollution levels named ‘Mobile Air Pollution Monitoring Facility.’

Visakhapatnam is significantly affected by Air pollution due to high port activity. Areas like Bheemunipatnam, Parawada, Gajuwaka, Pedagantyada, One Town, Scindia, Kurmannapalem, Gangavaram Port and Visakhapatnam Port experience high levels of air pollution. The general public remains unaware of the exact levels of air pollution in the areas.

To address these issues, the Department of Meteorology and Oceanography of the Andhra Pradesh University has built the Mobile Air Pollution Monitoring Facility. While the devices widely used are often fixed, this facility can travel to different parts of the city. It allows the citizens to stay informed about the air quality in their respective areas. It can also collect data from various parts of the city to help in the research and studies of the students.

The entire facility is built on a van that allows it to move from one place to another. The facilities usually fixed in one place can provide wrong readings but this facility records the data of every specific location. It was built as a part of the research work by the researchers and students of the Andhra Pradesh University. A research scholar named Anasa Rao of the Department of Meteorology and Oceanography mentioned that a company-sponsored the whole expenditure of the project. He also mentioned this vehicle would greatly benefit the public.

• Andhra Pradesh

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Some neighbors of st. paul foundry still in the dark about pollution concerns despite drawn-out legal battle.

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A row of homes sit directly across the street from Northern Iron, a century-old metal foundry on St. Paul’s East Side. Many of the driveways are covered in chalk and toys. A new air monitor atop the foundry is visible from the street, as are blue tarps Northern Iron wrapped around their stacks after the state ordered the facility to reduce pollution. 

Chanelle Harrington, 23, moved into a home on Wells Street in May, unaware of pollution concerns that led to an ongoing legal battle between the foundry and state. Harrington has a 6-month-old daughter, and said she’s concerned after recently learning about the situation from reporters. She’s renting while she completes a training program, but doesn’t plan to renew her lease. 

“I’m glad I’m only going to be here for a year,” Harrington said. 

The foundry and state regulators continued their court battle Monday over accusations of excessive pollution, appearing before a judge to provide updates in the case. 

Attorneys for Northern Iron told Ramsey County District Court Judge Leonardo Castro Monday that to meet a court-imposed deadline, it installed four regulatory-grade monitors to detect smoot pollution known as particulate matter. The company also said it submitted a new permit application to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). 

Assistant Attorney General Ryan Petty, representing the MPCA, said Northern Iron submitted its latest application Monday, three days after Castro’s September 13 deadline. The agency has not had a chance to review the application, he said. 

Northern Iron argued that it submitted the application on September 10, but that the MPCA declared the document incomplete, and asked for additional information. The MPCA maintains that Northern Iron is still out of compliance with state and national air quality standards for particulate matter pollution, Petty said. 

Monday’s hearing was a brief compliance check to ensure that rulings Castro issued in the case this summer are being followed, and is the latest in several hearings in a case that could last another year. The state and company agreed on a schedule this month for producing evidence in the case, and appear to be digging in for a potential 2025 trial. 

The MPCA ordered Northern Iron in April to reduce its operations after new pollution estimates showed the facility was likely drastically exceeding federal and state air quality standards by emitting high levels of particulate matter and lead. The company was required to patch up leaky air vents and to reduce the amount of metal melted at the facility by roughly 15 tons each day. Northern Iron, which paid a $41,500 fine to settle with the MPCA in 2023, challenged the case in court. 

Judge Castro issued a July order that largely allowed the company to resume normal operations, but stipulated that it must install monitoring equipment and new pollution control machinery. He also ruled that the foundry would need to submit a new air pollution permit application to the MPCA.  

Northern Iron is working to install two new pieces of pollution control equipment, known as baghouses, by the court imposed November 16 deadline, said Jennifer Coates, an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney that is representing the foundry. 

‘Nice to not have around’ 

As the legal battle between the state and company drags on, many residents living near the foundry told Sahan Journal they haven’t been informed about the issue. Those who were aware expressed concern. 

Dan Gilbert has rented a home a block north of the foundry since 2021. He likes sleeping with the windows open, but said emissions from Northern Iron that often smell like burning plastic change those plans frequently. 

He knew there was a foundry when he moved in, but grew concerned this year when he learned about the pollution concerns and legal fight with the state. He wants the facility to either move or control its emissions better, and has only noticed a slight improvement since the state cracked down in the spring. 

“It would be kind of nice to not have it around,” Gilbert said. 

Silvia Hernandez has called the East Side home for more than 20 years, and has lived a block from Northern Iron for a decade. She and her mother prepared a traditional central Mexican mole in her yard on Friday. Her biggest issue with the facility is noise, Hernandez, 56, said in Spanish. She hasn’t heard anything from the state about pollution concerns. 

“I haven’t received anything,” Hernandez said. 

A Karen family a block from the foundry had not heard anything about the violations, either, according to the home’s residents. 

The Payne Phalen Community Council sent out letters on April 8 to try to notify neighbors of the issues at Northern Iron, which prompted the MPCA to send a similar letter on April 18. The MPCA letter included information in Spanish, Somali, Hmong and Karen. The MPCA also held a large community meeting and informational session about Northern Iron in May.  

Delays continue 

Northern Iron’s attorneys at various court proceedings have explained a series of delays for installing new pollution control and monitoring equipment. The company installed four new regulatory grade particulate matter monitors on the foundry just before the September 13 deadline, but is still waiting for three of the machines to be calibrated so it can begin collecting data, Coates said Monday. 

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Northern iron neighbors push back after judge rejects pollution limits at st. paul foundry, judge orders northern iron to install new air monitors in ongoing court fight, st. paul foundry fined for air permit violations.

The company is also waiting on Xcel Energy to energize a lot on the north side of the facility, next to the row of homes on Wells Street, so it can install the monitors in their final locations. That might not happen until October, Coates said. The monitors are currently on the roof because the company doesn’t want to run the monitors on generators that would create noise pollution for neighbors, she said. 

“I believe Northern Iron is in compliance with the court’s order and moving toward an amended permit,” Coates said. 

The MPCA wants to see updated forms on emissions estimates, known as modeling, before it will consider the application complete, Petty said.  Melissa Lorentz, an environmental lawyer who lives near the foundry, said Northern Iron’s preference for monitoring instead of relying on modeling emissions estimates is dragging out the process. 

“Northern Iron is the party that is delaying the proceedings,” she said. 

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 7. 

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Andrew hazzard.

Andrew Hazzard is a reporter with Sahan Journal who focuses on climate change and environmental justice issues. After starting his career in daily newspapers in Mississippi and North Dakota, Andrew returned... More by Andrew Hazzard