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Coincidence and nice weather?
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Monday, 07 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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Anyone who stayed in Beijing last week could enjoy a great weather, sun, blue sky, ... Today, the sky is grey again. Many people ask me: it is so coincidental, is it natural or are there some manipulations by the government?
Actually, it is not so coincidental. When we think about it, it is even quite logical:
- the sky is grey because of the smog, coming directly from the pollution,
- the main origin of the pollution is human activity, including industries, construction, cars...
- when most of the people are on holiday, like last week, human activity is drastically reduced, the pollution is much lower and no smog hides the blue sky.
This morning, activity started again and the smog is also back to work...
However, the Weather Control Bureau still uses its tools to clear the sky when need be. For example, the rain on April 30th, the night just before May 1st military parade, seems quite suspicious.
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Tuesday, 01 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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Yesterday, I said that electric bicycle is one of the best option in town, a main drawback being the generation of the power!
And then I found that one:
Great, isn't it? I would love to ride one like this! And you?
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What is the best transportation mean to go around in town?
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Monday, 30 April 2007,
Written by Julien
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In cities, most of the time we spend outside buildings is during transportation, from home to work, from work to home, from home to the gym, from home to bars, etc. And the place where the exposure to outdoor pollution is the highest is ..... (surprise) .... outside buildings!
So, if we can reduce our exposure during transportation, we could easily reduce the impact of outdoor pollution on our health.
For me, the main factors to determine the best transportation mean are:
- time of transportation (the shorter the better)
- exposure (the less pollutants the better)
- effort (less efforts=less air used and no deep breathing)
- pollution generated by the transportation mean
Base on this, the best transportation means are electric bicycle and normal bicycle ridden slowly.
- Electric bicycle: that's the best, you are quick, without efforts, quite high compared to the traffic and you don't generate pollution on site. It is not perfect though, as coal is burnt to produce power and the recycling of the battery is a complex issue.
- Bicycle: quite good, because you are not stuck in traffic jams, are higher than the traffic and do not generate pollution. But efforts are not so good for your lungs, so I recommend to ride slowly (did you ever wonder why Chinese people are so slow on bikes?).
- Bus: advisable for long distances, it is OK with modern low emissions buses, especially if they can use dedicated lanes. On the contrary, you generate pollution but still stay longer in a polluted environment.
- Cars: that's the worst, all the air you breath comes directly from the exhaust pipes of the other cars (did you realized that air intake is just at the level of the exhaust pipes?). Traffic jams are frequents and you spend a lot of time stopped, breathing and generating pollution.
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Other country, same problems...
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Wednesday, 04 April 2007,
Written by Julien
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The Guardian (UK based newspaper) had an alarming article yesterday: "Urban air pollution more dangerous than Chernobyl".
The reason behind such a statement: every year, urban air pollution is responsible for 24,000 premature deaths in Britain! It means that roughly 4% of all the death during a year are quickened by the urban pollution.
I will investigate how is air pollution in UK, to find comparisons with the situation in China. As a reference, 4% of China yearly death would mean around 350,000 people!
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Tuesday, 03 April 2007,
Written by Julien
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Air is not always synonymous of pollution and health problems! Today Beijing air is crystal clear! So let your computer take a rest and go out walking, cycling or climbing! You can also open your windows to renew the air inside your home!
I am not sure of all the factors for such a nice sky, but I am sure that the shutdown of central heating systems recently has a positive impact!
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Energy Efficiency Buildings China Forum
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Friday, 30 March 2007,
Written by Julien
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The last two days, I have been taking part to the Energy Efficiency Buildings China Forum, organized by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). WBCSD gathers many worldwide companies that care about environment. The aim of this forum was to define how to promote energy efficiency in Chinese constructions.
The main things I learned are:
- The spread of Energy Efficiency Buildings is still a far target in China, as neither project developers nor public care about energy.
- Energy Efficiency Buildings are just a part of the problem. The first step should be energy efficient city planning, that would reduce the need for transportation, and thus the amount of cars, roads, buses...
- There is a massive need for people awareness.
I also heard some interesting figures:
- for 1 ton of cement, 800kg of CO2 are generated
- for 1 ton of steel, 2 tons of CO2 are generated
- 80% of the energy consumed over the life of the building comes from the using period (the remaining 20% come from the construction and demolition phases),
- traditional Chinese buildings are much more energy efficient than newly built buildings (!) (it is mainly because lifestyle and heating/AC systems are different)
You are caring about pollution? Then help promoting energy sobriety, and do not forget to walk your talk!
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Particles and indexes comparison...
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Thursday, 29 March 2007,
Written by Julien
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The pollution comparator sometimes shows that "Good" air in Beijing is considered as "Very bad" by Paris criteria. It can be quite puzzling, and it is important to understand why. I'll try to explain this complex issue clearly, answering simple questions. Tell me if you want more details.
1/ What is the main pollutant that explains the differences? Particles.
2/ Is it possible to compare directly particles concentration in Paris and Beijing? Yes, mostly comparable.
3/ Does different values of particles concentration have different impact on health? Yes.
Particles concentrations are directly comparable, and so is the impact on health. Chinese authorities and Paris authorities might have different views of what is acceptable for the population. What Paris considers as very bad, Beijing considers it as good!
Click on [more] for details...
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Read more...
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Energy savings and coal...
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Tuesday, 27 March 2007,
Written by Julien
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Electricity is so easy that we tend to forget that it has to be produced, and we usually do not know what is needed for switching on the lights.
If you consider that:
- more than 70% of the electricity produced in China comes from coal,
- the average consumption of coal is around 350-400g per kWh,
you arrive at the conclusion that for each kWh used, we need roughly 260g of coal.
So if we convert power consumption in coal, we have:
- forget to switch off a 100W light (100Wx10h): 1kWh=260g of coal
- watching a DVD on your LCD TV set (250Wx2h): 0,5kWh=130g of coal
- having your TV on standby (10Wx24h): 0,24kWh= 60g of coal
- the battery of my laptop contains 56Wh, so 15g of coal
By the way, if you use a low energy bulb (20W is equivalent to a 100W bulb), you would need 5 times less coal. So during 10 hours, you would only consume 52g of coal! Do you still prefer usual bulbs?
 * the above figures are rough estimates, it is not accurate but the order of magnitude is correct.
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Monday, 26 March 2007,
Written by Julien
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You might wonder how is this blog run!
To answer your questions, I add an About section on the right side. You will learn more about the author and his sources.
By the way, I invite you to have a look on the valuable site of the Canadian Lung Association: English - French.
As usual, please feel free to give your comments!
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Friday, 23 March 2007,
Written by Julien
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Spring is coming, and with the spring come the winter babies, future mothers see their bellies getting rounder and anyone can see excitement on fathers' faces. I was chatting with one of those future fathers recently and I realized that most people do not know anything about indoor air pollution.
So let's start from basics and play the Spot the difference game! What are the differences between indoor and outdoor?
- you spend 80% of your time indoor, and a merely 20% outdoor
- there is not much air renewal
- your brand new furnitures contains a lot of formaldehyde
- your child is playing with the dog
- air is quite still inside, so the dust tends to stay on the ground
- there is no car in your living room, so no direct exhaust of pollutants
Do you see any other differences? Please give me your suggestions...
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