Cue 6 Urban Air Quality Flashcards
What are particulates
Tiny pieces of solids and tiny droplets of liquid floating in the air
More particulates in urban areas than rural
Name 4 sources of particulates
1 vehicle exhausts - makes up 80% of fine particlulates in urban areas are from exhausts
2 burning of fuels cigarettes and refuse - forms coarse and fine particulates
3 construction mining and quarrying - produce coarse particulates
4 plants and moulds - generate coarse particulates
What do particulates cause
Health issues
Chaser particulates can be filtered by nose and throat but finer ones can enter lungs cause or make worse conditions like asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer and heart diseasee
Where do pollutants like nitrogen and sulphuric oxides come from
Burning fossil fuels
What happens when pollutants come into contact with sunlight
UV light causes them to break down into harmful chemicals forming photochemical smog
Where is photochemical smog a bigger problem
In cities with hot sunny climates eg Barcelona and LA because there is more sunlight and have temperature invasion - layer of warm air trapped below deser cooler air keeping pollutants at ground level
What conditions are photochemical smog linked to -
Breathing and respiratory problems and headaches
What ways have cities tried to reduce pollution by reducing traffic
1 congestion charge
2 predestination
3 improved public transport
4 other schemes to reduce traffic
5 legislation
6 alternative fuels
What is congestion charge
1 people charged to use their vehicles in certain places at certain times
2 this reduces pollution by reducing traffic- in London the charge reduced traffic and emissions in the congestion zone by about 15% in the 1st year
3 some people avoid it by traveling at the edge of the zone and this increases the traffic in these areas
4 difficult to manage the charge due to the large volumes of traffic
What is predestination
1 vehicles are restricted from entering certain places at certain times
2 London Liverpool Cardif have predestination
3 can lead to shops receiving fewer customers as they can only access by foot
Describe ways public transport can be improved
1 make bus services cheaper faster and more efficient using bus lanes
2 introduce park and ride schemes
3 trams and light railway services don’t get caught in congestion and polute less than buses it also links city and suburbs
4 public transport improvements are expensive Metro link cost £1 billion and can cause other problems eg park and rid shifts traffic to rural areas
Describe other schemes to reduce traffic
1 Mexico drivers are banned from using cars 1 day each week based on the last digit of their number plate - rich house holds get around this by using 2 cars
2 Birmingham Bristol London have council run car sharing schemes to encourage people who make the same journey to share a car- some find this inconvientient or worrying
Describe how legislation tackles urban air pollution on a larger scale
1 the law aims to limit emission and set air quality standards by
1 uk clean air act 1956 and 1968 reduces domestic pollution by introducing smoke control areas where only smokeless fuel can be burned and reduce industrial pollution by using tall chimneys
2 the road vehicle regulations reduce exhaust emissions by ensuring cars pass an emissions test in the MOT
3 in Scotland legislation allows local authorities to do roadside emissions tests where they can fine if a vehicle fails, In UK local authorities can fine people who leave their engine running unnecessarily
Petrol and diesel are replaced with which cleaner fuels
1 bio fuels like bioethanol and biodiesel which are produced from plants - they have lower particulates but growing the crops can reduce biodiversity
2 liquified petroleum gas (LPG_ is gas’s produced from fossil fuels, it has lower emissions than petrol or diesel but cars have to be specially converted and service stations adapted
3 electric vehicles run off batteries so have less emissions - they need recharging points and producing and disposing batteries can effect the environment
