Air Pollution Facts: Current Stats from the News

1. Iowa’s Clear the Air (a coalition of organizations fighting global warming) reports the following Iowa state statistics according to data collected by consultants for the EPA:
- 323 annual deaths attributed to fine particle pollution from power plants
- 40,988 lost work days
- 333 hospitalzations
- 7,322 asthma attacks

2. The Senate has recently passed a bill that will require car owners to buy:
- 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022

But Nobel Prize recipient, Paul Crutzen, warns that intensive cultivation of biofuels could actually increase the greenhouse effect up to 70% MORE than burning fossil fuels. According to Crutzen, a byproduct of fertilizer used in growing biofuels is nitrous oxide. This greenhouse gas has almost 300 times the heat-trapping properties of CO2 (one of the most common greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels).

3. Levels of ozone and particulate matter in Europe have not improved since 1997, despite significant reductions in pollutants from emissions.

4. Global energy demands will rise by 50% by the year 2030, from 85 millions barrels of oil a day to 116 million barrels a day, according to the International Energy Agency. Almost half of the increase in demand will be attributed to China and India.

5. Sea level is projected to rise 1 to 3 feet within the next 100 years due to global warming and climate change.

6. To date, the US Congress has not passed a single bill to cap and reduce global warming pollution in the United State’s.

7. In California alone, 28,000 tons of particulate matter are emitted annually from diesel-fueled vehicles and engines. This includes 1 million+ on- and off-road vehicles, 16,000 stationary engines, and approximately 50,000 portable engines.

8. Due to smog and particulate matter, India is now receiving less sunlight than it did 20 years ago.

9. Air pollution is costing China 3.8 percent of its gross domestic product, with particulate matter becoming a major health threat.

10. China’s combined health and non-health cost of outdoor air pollution and water pollution is about 100 billion U.S. dollars annually according to the World Bank.

Find out:

How to cut emissions of particulate matter from diesel on- and off-road vehicles, as well as stationary engines by using diesel particulate filters from CleanAIR Systems.