London air pollution 'worst in Europe'

[wjfox]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...llution-europe


London air pollution 'worst in Europe'

UK faces court cases and unlimited fines after dangerous levels of minute particles breach EU levels

• Comment: London, the dirty man of Europe
• Dave Hill: Where's Boris Johnson's air pollution study?

John Vidal, Environment editor
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 June 2010 15.26 BST





The City of London has been found to be one of the most polluted places in Europe after monitoring equipment recorded dangerous levels of minute particles for the 36th time this year. Under EU rules, Britain is allowed no more than 35 "bad air" days in the whole year, and now faces court cases and unlimited fines by Europe.

The breaching of the EU levels after just six months will embarrass the government, which was sent a final warning only three weeks ago from the European commission to improve air quality. Many other places in central London are close to the limit and can be expected to break the law within weeks.

The government has applied to Europe for a time extension until 2011 to comply with daily particulate pollution from traffic, but is not certain to be granted it because it has been flouting EU air quality laws since 2005 and is perceived by the environment commissioner Janez Potočnik to have done little to address the problem.

"Air pollution is bad for our health. It reduces human life expectancy by more than eight months on average and by more than two years in the most polluted cities and regions," he said.

The London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said: "This latest breach is yet another wake-up call for the mayor of London and the government. Research has shown that airborne pollution in London could be responsible for up to thousands of premature deaths a year: this is an invisible public health emergency."

Poor air quality is now considered one of the biggest public health issues now facing the UK. A recent report by the House of Commons environmental audit committee included evidence that air pollution could be contributing to 50,000 deaths in the UK a year. A study (pdf) commissioned by Boris Johnson, mayor of London, calculated that more than 4,300 deaths are caused by poor air quality in the city every year, costing around £2bn a year.

Simon Birkett, founder of the Campaign for Clean Air in London, said: "With the first of many London sites breaching the legal limit before the end of June, it is blindingly obvious now why the European commission sent the UK a second and final written warning for breaching these same legal standards, every year since 2005 in London, less than a month ago".

Jenny Bates, London campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "Boris Johnson must abandon plans that will make the situation worse, such as scrapping the western extension to the congestion charge, pursuing more river crossings for vehicles and supporting a 50% increase in flights from City airport. This means taking strong action himself, rather than relying on uncommitted government measures to do the job."

A spokesperson for Johnson said: "This is one of several central London locations which will receive a targeted package of measures to tackle pollution, for example applying dust suppressants to road surfaces and deploying the cleanest buses into these areas. Other initiatives include proposed age limits for taxis, converting the bus fleet to hybrid and investing record levels into cycling.

"We are also proposing to include the dirtiest lorries and vans in the London low emission zone by early January 2012. The new bus for London will be 40% less polluting than traditional diesel and we are spending millions to support the mainstream use of zero-polluting electric vehicles."

A Defra spokesman said: "The mayor and London boroughs are responsible for local air quality in London. The mayor has published a draft air quality strategy which includes specific measures to reduce PM10 and NO2 pollution.

"We are confident that PM10 limits will be met in London by the 2011 deadline and the government has submitted evidence to the European commission to demonstrate this."

[desertpunk]

Home of BP

[ChrisZwolle]

Excluding dirty vans and lorries from central London is pure symbol politics that has 0.00001% effect on the metropolitan PM10 emissions. It's easy to score though, the one thing politicians are actually good at.

They have a similar scheme in many German cities, where old diesel vehicles and very old petrol cars are excluded from city centers. German ADAC states the effect is marginal to zero on air quality.

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

Excluding dirty vans and lorries from central London is pure symbol politics that has 0.00001% effect on the metropolitan PM10 emissions. It's easy to score though, the one thing politicians are actually good at.

They have a similar scheme in many German cities, where old diesel vehicles and very old petrol cars are excluded from city centers. German ADAC states the effect is marginal to zero on air quality.

In the US we have leaders that propose converting all diesel burning commercial vehicles and buses to CNG to get off of oil and to clean the air a bit more, but the Obama Administration won't even countenance this. They took a lot of money from Big Coal in 2008 and have shown no interest in nat gas as a fuel alternative despite the fact that we are sitting on 100+ years worth of supply. So the major gas companies are selling it abroad. maybe Britain could make the switch and use our gas to do it.

[Chicagoago]

So what makes up most of that pollution? I know a lot of people talk about dirty cars/buses, but then you hear how they aren't the main culprits.

[isaidso]

I would have thought the worst pollution would exist in some heavily industrialized region like the Midlands, Ruhr, etc.

[Matthew Lowry]

I hopes the air pollution clear ups before the 2012 Olympics Games.

[register37]

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

Excluding dirty vans and lorries from central London is pure symbol politics that has 0.00001% effect on the metropolitan PM10 emissions. It's easy to score though, the one thing politicians are actually good at.

They have a similar scheme in many German cities, where old diesel vehicles and very old petrol cars are excluded from city centers. German ADAC states the effect is marginal to zero on air quality.

So what causes the pollution in London, Chris, and how do we solve it?

[Justme]

Hmmm, one of the largest cities in Europe has one of the highest levels of pollution.

I'm looking for connections here... still looking... hmmm... there must be a connection somewhere...

[siamu maharaj]

Originally Posted by Justme

Hmmm, one of the largest cities in Europe has one of the highest levels of pollution.

I'm looking for connections here... still looking... hmmm... there must be a connection somewhere...

Yeah, the metro population is like 12 million or something. Only Paris comes close. No other metro area in Europe is even half of that (correct me if I'm wrong).

[Anderson Geimz]

Originally Posted by siamu maharaj

Yeah, the metro population is like 12 million or something. Only Paris comes close. No other metro area in Europe is even half of that (correct me if I'm wrong).

You are wrong.

There are 4 other metro areas in Europe that top 12 million (you figure out which ones) and another 3 at least that top 6 million.
Plus 12 million for London is quite on the low side. I'd say more like 14 million as a MSA equivalent and 18 million as a CSA equivalent.

[pesto]

I always think of London, Paris, Moscow, Istanbul as the giants. Do you have some sort of Ruhr complex of cities in mind as well or has someone grown a lot?

You can also look at most of Benelux as one metro as well (at least the Dutch speaking parts).

My guess is that all of these are in the "less good" category of air quality (except for Benelux, which seems to have "natural air cleaners" blowing off the ocean.

[poshbakerloo]

Originally Posted by Justme

Hmmm, one of the largest cities in Europe has one of the highest levels of pollution.

I'm looking for connections here... still looking... hmmm... there must be a connection somewhere...

I agree.

[Get Smart]

it is true that diesels engines from cars, lorries and busses are causes of pollution, but so are human activity such as kebab shops, people burning stuff, sunday BBQ, coal burning power stations. i am not surprised at this report as i see this problem everyday, and i blame diesels for the biggest eye and nose sores. all the busses should be powered by gas or hydrogen fuel which are much cleaner, and this stupid taxatation that makes diesel cars cheaper to operate should be abolished. also how come there are diesel engine trains in Kings cross and paddington, those station stink of burnt diesel all the time and i get headache, always carry paracetamol when i am there. all the trains should be electric by now. yes we are the China of europe as far as pollution is concerned. shame

[REAPER666 94]

Ive never felt air pollution is a problem when i visit.

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by REAPER666 94

Ive never felt air pollution is a problem when i visit.

It's not... You need sustained high pressure to get noticeable bad air quality in London, and generally we get an Atlantic low blowing over the UK every week or so.

Note the measurements giving rise to the article were from 'The City', the central square mile upon which all roads converge and where no-one lives. I believe they set up a monitor next to Upper Thames Street, a very busy road traversing The City and one of very few dual carriageways in 'The City'.

I'm certain that if you averaged out readings across the urban area, London would be no different to any other large European city.

[Eddard Stark]

Milan MA is 7,5 million

And I always thought we were the most polluted city in europe (among the largest) for the lack of wind basically all the time and the fact that the entire north italy is the most polluted area of Europe (we are a sort of stagnating basin circled with mountains)

[poshbakerloo]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

stupid taxatation that makes diesel cars cheaper to operate should be abolished. also how come there are diesel engine trains in Kings cross and paddington, those station stink of burnt diesel all the time and i get headache, always carry paracetamol when i am there. all the trains should be electric by now.

I think you just hate Diesel...

Paddington never 'stinks' of diesel and I've used that station several times...

[joshsam]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I would have thought the worst pollution would exist in some heavily industrialized region like the Midlands, Ruhr, etc.

True, I live in Belgium wich is next to the Ruhr area and is also heavy industrialized. When the wind blows in the wrong direction(from the east) you can see it when you stand on a higher point and look towards the horizon. A brown haze... But most of the times we have winds from the west