Air Pollution in India
Air pollution in India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Traffic congestion on inadequate road infrastructure is a daily reality of India 's urban centers. Slow speeds and idling vehicles produce, per trip, 4 to 8 times more pollutants and consume more carbon footprint fuels, than free flowing traffic. This 2008 image shows traffic congestion in Delhi.
Air pollution in India is a serious issue with the major sources being fuelwood and biomass burning, fuel adulteration, vehicle emission and traffic congestion.[1][2] India has a low per capita emissions of greenhouse gases but the country as a whole is the third largest after China and the United States.[3]
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was passed in 1981 to regulate air pollution and there have been some measurable improvements. However, the 2012 Environmental Performance Index ranked India as having the poorest relative air quality out of 132 countries.[4] Contents * 1 Fuel wood and biomass burning * 2 Emissions standards * 3 Fuel adulteration * 4 Traffic congestion * 5 Greenhouse gas emissions * 6 Recent trends in air quality * 7 Specific issues * 8 References |
Fuel wood and biomass burning
Cooking fuel in rural India is prepared from a wet mix of dried grass, fuelwood pieces, hay, leaves and mostly cow/livestock dung. This mix is patted down into disc-shaped cakes, dried, and then used as fuel in stoves. When it burns, it produces smoke and numerous indoor air pollutants at concentrations 5 times higher than coal.
A rural stove using biomass cakes, fuelwood and trash as cooking fuel. Surveys suggest over 100 million households in India use such stoves (chullahs) every day, 2-3 times a day. Clean burning fuels and electricity are unavailable in rural parts and small towns of India because of poor rural highways and limited energy generation infrastructure.
Fuelwood and biomass burning is the primary reason for near-permanent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Traffic congestion on inadequate road infrastructure is a daily reality of India 's urban centers. Slow speeds and idling vehicles produce, per trip, 4 to 8 times more pollutants and consume more carbon footprint fuels, than free flowing traffic. This 2008 image shows traffic congestion in Delhi.
Air pollution in India is a serious issue with the major sources being fuelwood and biomass burning, fuel adulteration, vehicle emission and traffic congestion.[1][2] India has a low per capita emissions of greenhouse gases but the country as a whole is the third largest after China and the United States.[3]
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was passed in 1981 to regulate air pollution and there have been some measurable improvements. However, the 2012 Environmental Performance Index ranked India as having the poorest relative air quality out of 132 countries.[4] Contents * 1 Fuel wood and biomass burning * 2 Emissions standards * 3 Fuel adulteration * 4 Traffic congestion * 5 Greenhouse gas emissions * 6 Recent trends in air quality * 7 Specific issues * 8 References |
Fuel wood and biomass burning
Cooking fuel in rural India is prepared from a wet mix of dried grass, fuelwood pieces, hay, leaves and mostly cow/livestock dung. This mix is patted down into disc-shaped cakes, dried, and then used as fuel in stoves. When it burns, it produces smoke and numerous indoor air pollutants at concentrations 5 times higher than coal.
A rural stove using biomass cakes, fuelwood and trash as cooking fuel. Surveys suggest over 100 million households in India use such stoves (chullahs) every day, 2-3 times a day. Clean burning fuels and electricity are unavailable in rural parts and small towns of India because of poor rural highways and limited energy generation infrastructure.
Fuelwood and biomass burning is the primary reason for near-permanent
References: 1. ^ a b Atmanand et al. (2009). "Energy and Sustainable Development-An Indian Perspective". World Academy of Science. 2. ^ a b "Urban Air Pollution, Catching gasoline ad diesel adulteration". The World Bank. 2002. 3. ^ a b c d "CO2 EMISSIONS FROM FUEL COMBUSTION HIGHLIGHTS, 2011 Edition". International Energy Agency, France. 2011. 4. ^ "Data Explorer :: Indicator Profiles - Environmental Performance Index". Yale University. 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012. 5. ^ a b Ganguly et al (2001). "INDOOR AIR POLLUTION IN INDIA – A MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN". Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi. 7. ^ "The Asian Brown Cloud: Climate and Other Environmental Impacts". United Nations Environmental Programme. 2002. 8. ^ "Indoor air pollution and household energy". WHO and UNEP. 2011. 9. ^ "Green stoves to replace chullahs". The Times of India. December 3, 2009. 10. ^ Devendra Pandey (2002). Fuelwood Studies in India: Myth and Reality. Center for International Forestry Research. ISBN 979-8764-92-7. 11. ^ Devendra Pandey (2002). Fuelwood Studies in India: Myth and Reality. Center for International Forestry Research. ISBN 979-8764-92-7. 12. ^ Devendra Pandey (2002). Fuelwood Studies in India: Myth and Reality. Center for International Forestry Research. ISBN 979-8764-92-7. 13. ^ "Strategies for Reducing Residential Wood Smoke". EPA, United States. 2009. 14. ^ OlegDzioubinski and Ralph Chipman (1999). "Trends in Consumption and Production: Household Energy Consumption". The United Nations. 15. ^ Reddy and Venkataraman (2002). "Inventory of aerosol and sulphur dioxide emissions from India". Atmospheric Environment 36: 699–712. 16. ^ Matthew Barth and Kanok Boriboonsomsin (November 2009). "Real-World CO2 Impacts of Traffic Congestion". Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2058: 163–171. doi:10.3141/2058-20. 17. ^ "Gridlocked Delhi: six years of career lost in traffic jams". India Today. September 5, 2010. 19. ^ "Country Analysis Brief: India". U.S. Energy Information Administration. 2011. 20. ^ "India: Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007, see page viii-ix". Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. 2010.