Member states of Europe have been jump starting car sales by providing subsidies for the purchase of new fuel efficient cars, replacing older cars.
Of course, in Europe, fuel costs are higher than the US and Europe has also started carbon taxes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/business/global/01refunds.html
This idea has also been proposed in the US and Congress is working on the [...]
Filed under: Air, Climate Change, Europe, United States | Tagged: clunkers | Leave a Comment »
Orplana, the sugar cane producers association in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state signed an agreement with the state’s environmental secretariat to speed up mechanized harvesting of sugar cane in an attempt to reduce air pollution for the burning associated with manual harvesting. Orplana represents over 12,000 sugar cane producers. In this state, 45 percent of cane [...]
Filed under: Air, Climate Change, South America | Tagged: air emissions, Brazil, burning, sugar cane | Leave a Comment »
The oil sands in northern Alberta, Canada, provide a rich source of crude oil. The oil lies close to the surface and can be extracted by surface mining or in situ extraction. This provides a huge source of the United States’ oil, plus being a huge Canadian industry. But it is not without controversy. Critics [...]
Filed under: Air, Canada, Carbon emissions | Tagged: Alberta, Canada, oil sands | Leave a Comment »
Europe had had a cap and trade system for four years. The economic downturn has made the carbon credits less valuable, which might be fulfilling the law of unintended consequences which we so often see in environmental law (a law meant to accomplish a “good thing” ends up having another side effect that is contrary). [...]
Filed under: Air, Carbon emissions, Europe | Tagged: Carbon credits, Europe | Leave a Comment »
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an opinion on Feb. 24th of the validity of EPA’s designation of particulate matter of varying sizes as an air pollution contaminant. You may ask me, what does that mean? Think dust and soot. EPA had determined standards for how much particulate matter should be in the [...]
Filed under: Air, United States | Leave a Comment »
Volcanic eruptions can be cause serious air pollution issues. Check out these links:
This is happening in Hawaii:
http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/kilaueastatus.php
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAZ8zB9AM756uRRnvQ9xTzpBRRfQD90FOQV00
Here is Chile:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24483158/
Maybe we should put scrubbers on those…
Filed under: Air, South America, United States | Tagged: volcano, Sulfur dioxide, ash, particulates | Leave a Comment »
