Getting Creative with Coral Reef Conservation

05.11.2019

coral_reefs_koralni_grebeni — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Li Fei)

This week in Los Angeles, 15,000 people will be attending one of the biggest creativity conferences in the world, Adobe MAX. It’s not the kind of event that is normally associated with conservation, but this year is different. The creative community is getting involved in coral reef conservation and it might just help save an entire ecosystem.

Corals aren’t as charismatic as big cats, elephants or dolphins, so when people consider where we should focus our conservation efforts, corals rarely get attention, protection and funding support. They live in a world that’s out of sight and out of mind, and it’s a world that is rapidly changing. The ocean absorbs 93 per cent of climate heat and coral reefs are firmly on the frontline of the climate issue. In 2016-2017, half the corals on the Great Barrier Reef died from ocean heatwaves and that was just one of many reef systems that were hit. Just imagine if half the trees in the Amazon suddenly died—how concerned the world would be.

Corals rank as one of the most important animals on the planet—a foundation species that supports a quarter of all ocean life and over a billion people with food and income. They’re worth US$375 billion each year to the global economy. Put simply, we can’t afford to lose them. Yet despite all this, there’s remarkably little support for saving corals. We’ve lost over half the world’s corals already and the speed of decline is accelerating.

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that we could lose between 70 and 90 per cent of the world’s coral with a 1.5˚C global increase in temperatures, and up to 99 per cent of corals with a 2˚C increase. “Coral reefs are perhaps the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth to climate change, like nature’s fire alarm. We are running out of time if we want to save these iconic ecosystems, and it will require partnerships across a diverse range of sectors to do so,” says Gabriel Grimsditch, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) marine ecosystems expert.

It has become clear we need to be very creative if we are going to save them. To do just that, UNEP has joined forces with The Ocean Agency, Adobe, Pantone, We Transfer, the World Surf League and PADI: Professional Association of Diving Instructors, and together we are aiming to unlock the potential of the global creative community in rapidly attracting mainstream support for coral reef conservation. The aim is to create enough attention and excitement around the issue that it rapidly becomes a priority for ambitious policy support and funding.

The inspiration for the initiative came from the corals themselves. Some corals turn incredibly colourful when under too much stress from ocean heatwaves combined with excessive sunlight. It happens during the coral bleaching process and is caused by a chemical that corals produce which acts as a sunscreen. Instead of just turning white (the colour of their skeletons which becomes visible during the bleaching process), the colourful chemicals make the corals appear to ‘glow’ in bright colours. It’s nature’s most vibrant warning signal—a signal that we’ve reached a tipping point for the planet. But it is warning that has largely gone unnoticed.

Using new technology, Adobe and Pantone teamed up and directly sampled the colours of these glowing corals (uniquely captured during the filming of the Netflix Original Documentary, Chasing Coral), to create an official Pantone range. The Glowing Gone campaign, launched in June 2019, challenged the creative community together with the powerful brands they work with, to use these colours to amplify coral’s warning signal and demonstrate support for urgent action.

The initial phase of the campaign was a big success with well over 1,000 creatives getting involved. They inspired major brands like the World Surf League to get on board too. The world’s best surfers competed in ‘Glowing’ jerseys at a Glowing-themed Pro-tour event in Tahiti, broadcasting support for coral reef conservation to the world. The diving community, through PADI, is also getting involved in the next phase of the campaign, launching at Adobe MAX this week. This phase is not just for creatives. Everyone is invited to get ‘Glowing’.

Source: UNEP

Confrontation: Small Hydropower Plants and Big Issues

05.11.2019

river_reka_priroda_nature_vodopad_waterfall — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Jeffrey Workman)

We asked two experts if the construction of small hydropower plants is a national interest, or a public interest is to stop the process of further construction of these power plants, and how to find the right balance between the need for clean energy on the one hand and the conservation of water resources, biodiversity, and the environment on the other. On the pages that follow, these questions were answered by Prof. Svetlana Stevovic, PhD, scientific advisor at the Innovation Centre of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, and Prof. Ratko Ristic, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade. You will notice that their points of view are sometimes contradictory. Nevertheless, they should help us understand the causes and consequences arising from this burning issue.

EP: Could we expect the effects of the rebellion against small hydropower plants to be transferred on to other renewable sources since there is always some environmental impact and the electricity bill includes – which is currently very negatively perceived – a compensation for privileged producers for all renewable energy sources and not just hydropower?

Svetlana Stevovic: Rebellion is always possible if the public is not well informed. The technological process of getting electricity is not cheap at all. Citizens are paying the highest price for the consequences of producing electricity from fossil fuels, primarily coal, among other things by their poor health. Similarly, subsidies in renewable energy (RES) are known to be one-off. They last for 12 years, after which RES is in the free market. As it turned out so far in Europe, these RES influenced the reduction of the total electricity price in the market. It is because RES projects, relieved of financial obligations after exiting the subsidy period, can drive down the cost. If you were to campaign against other RES sources, you could always find arguments against construction, as each construction causes some environmental disturbances, and through ecology, you can easily provoke rebellion and overturn any solution. One thing is for sure: the rebellion caused by the environmental impact of electricity generation, if this continues with protests against the use of RES, as well as the overthrowing large and necessary multi-purpose hydropower facilities, could easily be transformed into a revolt caused by a lack of electricity.

Ratko Ristic: I do not believe that the rebellion against SHPPs will affect resistance to other forms of RES, as they do not have such negative environmental consequences. Every human activity has some negative consequences for the natural environment. Still, if there is a clear consensus on the public interest, that is, the interest of the majority of citizens in an area, then the project is ethically acceptable. In the case of SHPPs, only individuals and interest groups benefit, with significant adverse environmental consequences, which is not acceptable to most citizens in our country.

EP: What has changed in our country and the world since the Cadastre of SHPP (which defined 856 potential sites for the construction of SHPP with a total capacity of 450 MW) in 1987? Do today’s SHPPs problems arise partly from the implementation of this outdated document?

Svetlana Stevovic: Before I got my PhD and went to faculty, while working in Energoprojekt – Hydro engineering, at the Hydropower Systems Bureau, as a young engineering designer I was a participant in the development of the Serbian Cadastre of SHPPs. One of the key purposes of that document at the time was for the military. The Cadastre was made with the basis of technological development from that period, with different hydrological inputs and property relations. Due to climate change, hydrological regimes have changed in the world and in Serbia, the extremes have become more intense and more frequent, and each project done decades ago would have to be updated. Otherwise, in Serbia, the Cadastre of SHPPs was repealed under the Law on spatial planning. For the purpose of the construction of a small hydropower plant, it can only be used today as an information base. Each SHPP investor is obliged to create entirely new substrates with current data in the field of geology, geodesy and hydrology. In addition, public authorities thoroughly review the social, energy and other aspects of the current state of the site and issue conditions in accordance with all restrictions, and the answer may be negative. To conclude, referring to the 1987 Cadastre as a problem is merely a fiction of the opponents of the construction of SHPPs.

Ratko Ristic: Numerous administrative procedures were started by referring to the Cadastre of Small Hydropower Plants (from 1987), which was never adopted as an official state document, which caused a lot of problems. Since 1987, there have been drastic modifications of the hydrological regime on numerous small watercourses, and during the design of the so-called Cadastre, no one considered nature protection.

EP: At what point is the impact on the natural environment considered during the construction of the SHPP?

Svetlana Stevovic: Analysis is made at an early stage of the project documentation development. When the investor is in the phase of developing a conceptual design for SHPP, a request is submitted to the Institute for nature conservation of Serbia, whose expert services decide whether or not a site can be built and, if so, under what conditions. Also, if the response from the Institute for nature conservation of Serbia for a site is positive, it is further evaluated through the Environmental Impact Assessment Study. During the construction, construction, water and environmental inspectors check whether the works are performed according to the issued acts or not.

Ratko Ristic: It is envisaged that the appropriate inspection services monitor the process of construction of SHPP, from the beginning through all phases, until completion (construction, ecological, forestry, and water management inspection), and to record all irregularities, which they partially do. However, there are numerous examples where inspections do not act on reports or respond inappropriately (cases of laying pipelines in riverbed for high water and removing coastal vegetation in sections of several kilometers, which is explicitly prohibited; perforating barriers to install pipelines; diverting water flow from the natural trough; self-willed change of intended construction sites; construction of access roads without evacuation bodies for surface water, which thus become a source of erosion material and accelerate the formation of flood runoff; destruction of habitats of strictly protected species.)

Interviews by: Tamara Zjacic

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine on CLIMATE CHANGE, september-november 2019.

New Standards for Air Conditioners and Refrigerators Set to Tackle Climate Change

04.11.2019

air_conditioners_klima_uređaji — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Growing demand for air conditioning units and refrigerators is threatening to accelerate global warming, but new guidelines could help reduce emissions by setting clear performance standards for new appliances.

The new model guidelines for room air conditioners and refrigerators provide a tool for developing and emerging economies on laws and policies requiring new appliances to be energy-efficient and use refrigerants with a lower global warming potential.

If ambitious efforts in line with the guidelines are pursued throughout Africa alone, the annual impacts by 2030 would result in savings of 40 terawatt hours of electricity—equivalent to the output of almost 20 large power plants and a cost of US$3.5 billion in electricity bills—and a reduction of 28 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

“We need to expand access to cooling, which is essential to many aspects of human life and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Brian Holuj of the UN Environment Programme’s United for Efficiency initiative (U4E), and one of the lead authors of the guidelines. “But we need also need to mitigate the energy and environmental impacts. The guidelines advise governments on how to do just that.”

Cooling on a growth spurt

Cooling is critical for human health, productivity, manufacturing, data centres and research. But the anticipated growth will accelerate climate change unless we change our approach.

Typical cooling units require electricity and a refrigerant gas to operate. When electricity comes from fossil fuel power plants—which is the case for nearly 75 per cent of the electricity in non-OECD countries—they emit greenhouse gases and air pollution.

Globally, an estimated 3.6 billion cooling appliances are in use today, and this is projected to increase to 9.5 billion appliances by 2050. If cooling is provided for all who need it in a warming world—and not just those who can currently afford it—this would require up to 14 billion cooling appliances by 2050.

Electricity consumption varies widely, but household refrigerating appliances in some unregulated markets have been found to consume over 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity (kWh) per year, whereas some of the best consume around one fourth as much.

Minimum standards can make real difference

Minimum energy performance standards and energy labels, if well-designed and implemented, are some of the fastest and most effective approaches to improve efficiency.

The problem is that while dozens of countries have minimum energy performance standards and energy labels, many are outdated or unenforced. Inadequate standards and labels leave countries vulnerable as dumping grounds for products that cannot be sold elsewhere.

By producing clear guidance, the guidelines can ensure that standards and labels are effective.

Aside from the energy profile, many refrigerants have a global warming potential that is well over 1,000 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, countries will phase down hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants—one type of such climate-warming gases—by over 80 per cent over the next 30 years. The climate benefits are significantly enhanced by improving energy efficiency while phasing down hydrofluorocarbons. According to the latest research, moving to best available cooling technologies would reduce cumulative emissions by 38–60 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030 and 130-260 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2050.

“To get the most climate and development benefits from the refrigerant transition, we need a combined strategy that links the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons required by the Kigali Amendment with improved cooling efficiency. This includes integrating policies for enhanced cooling efficiency into the broader frameworks of energy and climate policy, and the enhanced nationally determined contributions of the Paris Agreement,” said Gabrielle Dreyfus, Chief Scientific Advisor, Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program. “These new model guidelines offer well-proven policy options to promote energy efficiency.”

The guidelines are another strand to a global movement to make cooling efficient and climate friendly. The Cool Coalition—a global network connecting over 80 partners—also works to expand access to cooling while reducing the climate impact. Its partners from industry and government are all pledging concrete initiatives to make the cooling industry part of the climate solution.

Source: UNEP

Spain Offers to Host UN Climate Conference After Chile Cancellation

01.11.2019

javier-martinez-od-qHnPg9J8-unsplash — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Javier Martinez)

Spain has offered to host the COP25 UN climate conference in December after weeks of violent protests forced the Chilean government to cancel both the global environmental meeting and next month’s Apec trade summit.

On Thursday afternoon, the Spanish government said the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, had offered to help the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, “in any way that might be needed – including hosting the summit in Madrid”.

In a statement, it added: “Spain believe that multilateral climate action is a priority for both the UN and the EU, and one which demands the highest commitment from all of us.”

The Spanish government said its offer had been relayed to the UN by Carolina Schmidt, the Chilean environment minister who is also the president-designate of COP25. It will now be studied by the UN climate change panel at a meeting in Bonn next week.

Piñera had blamed the “difficult circumstances” Chile was facing for the decision to withdraw from hosting COP25, and said his government’s primary concern had to be “fully restoring public order, security and social peace”.

“This has been a very difficult decision – which has caused us great pain – because we understand perfectly the importance [of the events] for Chile and for the world,” Piñera said on Wednesday as he announced the decision.

Patricia Espinosa, the UN’s climate change executive secretary, said the UN was exploring alternative hosting options for the climate summit.

“It is encouraging to see countries working together in the spirit of multilateralism to address climate change, the biggest challenge facing this and future generations,” she said in a statement.

Environmental activists expressed relief that the COP may still go ahead, but also concern about the logistics and cost for cash-strapped organisations who lost non-refundable tickets to Chile.

“It’s great that there is an offer on the table from Spain. But there is still uncertainty,” said Jennifer Tollman, policy adviser for climate diplomacy with E3G. “A lot of people sank a lot of money into this. For participants in developing countries this is a huge issue. Without support, this could impact participation by the global south.”

The change in venue could also affect the content of the talks. Tollman said the protests in Chile reminded delegates that social equality has to be part of the equation. “Climate policy has to be social policy. That’s what will be discussed inside and outside the negotiation rooms.”

Former climate negotiator for Colombia, Isabel Cavelier, agreed that the demonstrations in Santiago should focus the minds of participants on the need to halve emissions and radically restore nature.

“Otherwise the situation we are seeing in Chile – which led president Piñera to this extreme decision – will become the new norm, as social unrest will only be exacerbated by the climate crisis.”

Chile’s protests began in mid-October as a student-led fight against a 3.7% hike in metro fares. But the demonstrations quickly swelled into a much broader mutiny against inequality, the cost of living and police repression.

According to Chile’s Human Rights Institute, 3,535 people have been arrested since 17 October and 1,132 have been taken to hospital, 38 of them with gunshot injuries.

On 18 October, Piñera declared a state of emergency after violence broke out on the streets of the capital, Santiago. He later declared the country was “at war” with “evil” delinquents.

After failing to quell the unrest, Chile’s president tried to placate protesters with a conciliatory televised address in which he asked forgiveness for the “shortsightedness” of the country’s political leaders.

Source: Guardian

Electric Cars Could Be Charged in 10 Minutes in Future, Finds Research

31.10.2019

New battery technology could give electric cars more than 200 miles of charge in as little as 10 minutes, according to new research.

Lithium ion batteries have had a dramatic impact because of their ability to store a large amount of energy in a small, compact battery and be recharged again and again. A trio of scientists were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry for their contributions to the development of the batteries earlier this month.

However, lithium ion batteries also present a worry for drivers: that their vehicle will run out of power mid-journey and leave them potentially facing a lengthy recharge.

Now scientists say they are addressing the issue by making it much quicker and easier to charge the battery, meaning cars will spend less time at charging points and get back on the road faster.

“If we have a ubiquitous fast-charging infrastructure on the roadside, drivers need no longer to worry about the cruise range. After driving 200-300 miles per charge, one can pick up another 200-300 miles by charging for 10 minutes,” Dr Chao-Yang Wang, a professor at the Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study, told the Guardian.

Rapid charging in a matter of minutes requires a high current. However, at low temperatures – even at 30C (86F) – such charging of lithium ion batteries can cause problems as metallic lithium forms in spikes around the anode. Higher temperatures of about 60C (140F) would allow the lithium ions to move fast enough to avoid this problem – but keeping a battery hot can also result in problems.

“At high temperatures battery active materials will react with the electrolyte to form passive surface films, consuming active lithium as well as causing high resistance,” said Wang.

The formation of such films take time, he said. As a result, the team came up with the idea of keeping the battery at 60C for just long enough to charge it up.

To do so, the team developed a battery that uses thin nickel foil to create an internal self-heating structure. By heating the battery to 60C, then cooling it to room temperature, they were able to charge the battery to 80% in 10 minutes but avoid damaging it, even when repeatedly charged in this way. A Tesla Model S currently takes 40 minutes to charge from a flat battery to 80% using a supercharger.

While the team used single cells of smaller capacity, about 10 amp hours, in their study, they say the technology could be applied to develop a battery for an electric car.

“We can charge batteries of different sizes with the same [charging] time as long as the charge current increases proportionally with the battery size,” said Wang. “For car battery of 150 amp hours, a fast charge station would have to provide a 900 amp current for 10 minutes.”

That, he said, was already feasible with existing fast chargers.

The future, Wang said, looks bright. “Our technology is simple but elegant … I guess that it will take two to three years of in-vehicle testing and evaluation before it is used in commercial vehicles.”

Prof Clare Grey from the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the study, welcomed the research. “The interesting point is that it suggests that the positive effects of heating – reduced lithium plating – outweigh the considerable degradation processes that kick in at higher temperatures,” she said. But, Grey added, there is a long way to go, saying that the approach now needs to be scaled up to larger battery packs while there could be other degradation mechanisms that need to be considered. “But,” she added, “it’s important to challenge conventional wisdom and come up with innovative approaches.”

Source: Guardian

How to Manage Air Quality Data

31.10.2019

zagađenje_vazduha_fabrike — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Sam Bark)

As part of the “FOI-4-ALL“ competition, conducted by the Bureau for Social Research in cooperation with the Partners for Democratic Change Serbia, and Law Scanner, the Fractal organization has got down to a research task on how much the monitoring of air quality at the local level is current, receptible, and available to the public. The project is funded by the Delegation of European Union to the Republic of Serbia.

The Fractal organization was founded in 2001 in Belgrade with a mission to promote communication, trust, and cooperation between people from different backgrounds. Guided by the same idea, representatives of Fractal and their associates also carry out the action entitled “For better air quality through transparent and responsible data management”.

Members of Fractal and associated organizations wanted to determine the extent to which omissions arise in the implementation of the Law on Air Protection and the Law on Environmental Protection through the receipt, and insight of contracts, reports, and all other available documents of the Institute of Public Health and other relevant institutions responsible for measuring.

According to the annual report of the Environmental Protection Agency, the cities with the worst air quality in our country are Uzice, Valjevo, Subotica, Sremska Mitrovica, and Kragujevac. The troublesome fact is that Kosjeric and Smederevo are excluded from the report because of an insufficient number of measurements and data volumes.

All of these cities are based on heavy and light industry. These productions plants produce not only products for the market, but also a large quantity of pollutants harmful to human health and natural environment. For this reason, it is essential that the residents of these cities have easily accessible, current, and understandable information about the state of their environment.

Local self-governments in Serbia are obliged to publish, on their official websites, the data they receive from local air monitoring networks and to make them visible and understandable. The research efforts of the Fractal Team gave insight into whether the situation “on the ground” corresponds to a legally prescribed reporting model.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Fred Rivett)

A report by the World Health Organization states that about seven million people die annually due to exposure to fine particles in polluted air that penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system, causing stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory infections.

Nine out of ten people worldwide breathe excessively polluted air. Citizens of Uzice, Valjevo, Subotica, Mitrovica, Kragujevac, Kosjeric, and Smederevo do not belong to that small group of lucky people who have the luxury to live their life to the fullest. Therefore, they should have easier access to the results of air quality monitoring in their municipalities, as well as health recommendations on how to protect themselves when air pollution is extremely high.

Is it how it works in
practice?

Finding air quality data on the websites of the cities of Valjevo, Kragujevac, Subotica, Sremska Mitrovica, Smederevo, Uzice, and Kosjeric and their local Institutes of Public Health is a real research undertaking for an average citizen, who needs apart from the Internet, nerves of steel. It is precisely the lack of transparency on the website of the city of Valjevo that has forced us to contact the competent authorities to check that we did not overlook some segment of their site. However, the answer is missing – unless we count “Thanks, the City of Valjevo” as a clear enough direction. We have come to the requested data, but not with this gratitude.

On the official website, the most current information available is the Annual Report on air quality control in Valjevo and the monitoring of the impact of polluted air on human health in 2018 and the Report on air quality for December 2018. Citizens of Valjevo can access these data within the subsection Environmental Protection in the Documents section. However, the average citizen will not be very much aware of the fact that the mean annual concentration of soot in the territory of the city of Valjevo was 14 milligrams per cubic meter – unless he knows how much the legally prescribed upper limit is. Apart from this, although the authority of the Institute of Public Health of this municipality states that they are responsible for chemical air testing, we were not able to come up with the result of this study on the site of the Institute we were not able to come up with the result of this study.

When it comes to the site of the city of Kragujevac, a link to the Institute of Public Health is available on it, but information on air quality is not. Even on the Institute’s website, the most we could find is a general text on air pollution, with measuring points and parameters for air pollution in Kragujevac.

On the site of the city of Subotica you can find annual reports and a map with stations for measuring air quality. But if you are extremely dedicated to “searching” for air quality data, you will also find a link that will take you to the Environmental Protection Agency website where you can see the state of the air in real time. On the map of the Environmental Protection Agency, the presented information is very clear since each level of air quality has its proper colour in the legend: excellent – green, good – blue, acceptable – yellow, polluted – red, and very polluted – purple. The only thing that could confuse is the fact that the red colour is not the one that marks the highest alarm level. Within the Public Health Institute Subotica, there is a Department for Environmental Protection with several laboratories, one of which is a Laboratory for Physical and Chemical Investigations of Air pollution, but apart from the description of its activities on the website of the Institute, we were not able to find the results of its work.

Citizens can find the Annual report on the state of air during the last year, and the last available monthly report is December 2018 on the official website of Sremska Mitrovica. As we have already mentioned, this kind of reporting about air quality is not only time consuming to the inhabitants, but potentially not easy to understand. The site of the
Institute of Public Health of this municipality, in the section for air, offers the services of analyzing the air.

Smederevo residents can view monthly reports on air quality from January to November 2018. In the absence of a municipal Institute of Public Health, these pieces of information were provided by the Institute of Public Health Pancevo.

Uzice and the Institute of Public Health Uzice make the best example in the field of air quality monitoring. The link from the municipal website leads to the Institute, which provides insight into the state of air pollution in such a way that it is understandable to an ordinary person. Measuring points are located in Uzice and Sevojno. Apart from the measured values and the air quality index and its explanation, the citizens of Uzice can monitor the state of air through descriptive categories, such as good and moderately good, which are presented in the table with adequate colours. The review also contains recommendations for citizens in situations where air pollution levels are exceeded, as well as the history of pollution and more detailed information.

At the official presentation of the Municipality of Kosjeric, we were unable to find information about the air. Kosjeric does not have the Institute of Public Health.

As a key problem of the websites of these cities and institutes, we saw their disorganization and maladjustment to modern trends with a lot of information that are displayed without a logical sequence. In this multitude of data on sites, it is challenging for users to find any information they need, including those related to air.

Even the official website of Uzice with an excellent display of information on the state of air which we have highlighted as a positive example has certain shortcomings in the aesthetic sense.

Given the fact that the residents of these communities face the problem of severe air pollution, city authorities should improve the availability of this information to their citizens, but also modernize the websites comprehensively. Reports are often outdated, but also unclear to ordinary citizens.

It turns out that the obligation to inform citizens about air quality is like a dead letter. The search for data in this area on the official internet presentations of the mentioned cities looks like roaming around in the labyrinth. Therefore, it is necessary to work on improving transparent and responsible citizen reporting on the state of the environment and the more efficient implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Serbia.

This text was prepared by Fractal team within the project entitled “For better air quality through transparent and responsible data management”. The project is implemented as a part of the “FOI-4-ALL“ competition in cooperation with Partners for Democratic Change in Serbia, Law Scanner, and the Bureau for Social Research, and is funded by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia.

Read the whole article in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine on ENERGY EFFICIENCY, June 2018. – August 2019.

Bus-Sized Fatberg Weighing 40 Tonnes Cleared from London Sewer

30.10.2019

sewer_kanalizacija — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

A 40-tonne fatberg the size of a double-decker bus has been cleared from a London sewer by Thames Water engineers who pulled out some of it by hand.

The mass of fat, grease and other materials that weighed the same as three red buses, was discovered earlier this year clogging up a sewer in Greenwich, the water company said.

It took three weeks for Thames Water workers to clear the “disgusting” blockage which at points took up 80% of the sewer’s capacity. They used a combination of high-powered water jets to blast it loose and removed debris by hand.

Fatbergs are formed when fat, oil and grease are poured down sinks and drains and combine with items that should not be flushed down the toilet, such as unflushable wet wipes, nappies and cotton buds.

Thames Water’s network protection team has been visiting food establishments in the area, to make sure they are not putting fat, grease and oil down their sinks and that fat traps are installed and working.

Matt Rimmer, Thames Water’s head of waste networks, said: “This was a massive and disgusting blockage that took a great deal of effort and teamwork to clear and get the sewer working well again.

“I’m happy that our team was able to get down and work hard to quickly to clear the fatberg before it could cause problems for our customers and the environment.

“We’d urge everyone to help fight the fatberg by only flushing the 3Ps – pee, poo and paper – as well as disposing of fat and oils in the bin, not the sink.”

Source: Guardian

Antarctic Ozone Hole Is Smallest on Record

30.10.2019

seal_penguins_antarctic_foka_pingvini_antarktik_ice_led — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Derek Oyen)

In 2019, the hole that developed in the ozone layer over Antarctica was the smallest on record since the ozone hole was first discovered, according to scientists at NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In an average southern hemisphere spring, the hole expands throughout September and mid October to a maximum extent of about 21 million square kilometres (8 million square miles), an area larger than the United States and Canada combined. In 2019, the hole reached 16.4 million square kilometers (6.3 million square miles) on September 8, but then shrank to less than 10 million square kilometres (3.9 million square miles) for the remainder of September and the first half of October.

“It’s great news for ozone in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Paul Newman, chief scientist for Earth Sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But it’s important to recognize that what we’re seeing this year is due to warmer stratospheric temperatures. It’s not a sign that atmospheric ozone is suddenly on a fast track to recovery.”

The long-term recovery of the ozone layer is underway but is still expected to take years, according to the 2018 quadrennial review from the Scientific Assessment Panel of the Montreal Protocol, which controls ozone depleting substances. Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone is projected to heal completely by the 2030s followed by the Southern Hemisphere in the 2050s and Antarctic by 2060, according to report. WMO is one of the contributors to the Scientific Assessment and its Global Atmosphere Watch network stations monitor ozone, both in the troposphere, the lower 10 km of the atmosphere (where it is a pollutant), and in the stratosphere, 10 to 50 km above the ground (where it provides protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.

An uncommon weather event—a sudden stratospheric warming—disrupted the circulation in the polar stratosphere in early September, just as the ozone hole was beginning to form. Warmth in the stratosphere reduces the formation of polar stratospheric clouds, which are a critical link in the chain of events that lead to the ozone hole.

The weather system causing the rapid rise of stratospheric temperatures also lead to weakening of the Antarctic polar vortex, a slowly-spinning pool of stratospheric air trapped by a ring of fierce westerly winds—the polar night jet—that emerges in the upper stratosphere during winter at the South Pole. The region poleward of the polar jet includes the lowest temperatures and the largest ozone losses that occur anywhere in the world.

The breakdown of the polar vortex helped the ozone hole in two ways. The early season warmth minimized further formation and persistence of polar stratospheric clouds. Because these clouds enable the chemistry that produces ozone-destroying substances, fewer clouds meant less ozone destruction.The weak polar vortex also allowed more ozone-rich air from lower latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere to mix into the polar stratosphere and partially patch the hole that had begun to form. The lingering warmth prevented it from reforming.

This is the third time in the last 40 years that weather systems have caused warm temperatures that limit ozone depletion. Similar weather patterns in the Antarctic stratosphere in September 1988 and 2002 also produced atypically small ozone holes.

There is no identified connection between the occurrence of these unique patterns and changes in climate.

Source: WMO

Oktoberfest ‘Produces 10 Times as Much Methane as Boston’

28.10.2019

For the millions of people who descend on Munich for the annual bash, Oktoberfest is a celebration of beer, bands and bratwurst.

But as the dust settles for another year on the world’s largest folk festival, and die Bierleichen (“beer corpses”) return to the land of the living, environmental scientists have released the first analysis of methane emissions from the 16-day party.

Researchers at Technical University in Munich walked and cycled around the perimeter of the festival last year with mobile sensors aloft. The instruments found the event emitted nearly 1,500kg of methane – 10 times the amount that wafted off Boston, Massachusetts, in the same period.

The scientists attributed most of Oktoberfest’s emissions to leaks and incomplete combustion in cooking and heating appliances. Though an appreciable part of the rise in the gas, about 10%, was attributed to the flatulence and burps of attendees.

Jia Chen, who studies greenhouse gases in urban environments, said: “The observed methane concentrations cannot solely be explained by biogenic sources.

“We have strong indications that fossil fuel methane emissions by gas grills and heating appliances are major sources.”

After carbon dioxide, methane is the second most common greenhouse gas emitted by human activity. Though shorter-lived, it is more effective than carbon dioxide at heating the atmosphere and accounts for about 20% of global heating due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions since 1750. Atmospheric levels of the gas have surged in recent years for reasons scientists cannot fully explain.

Having noticed a spike in Munich’s methane levels during Oktoberfest in previous years, Chen and her colleagues decided to monitor the event to see whether major festivals made important contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.

More than six million people visit Oktoberfest each year and make their way through more than seven million litres of beer, 100,000 litres of wine, half a million chickens and a quarter of a million sausages.

To Chen’s surprise, on average, every square metre of Oktoberfest in 2018 released 6.7 micrograms of methane per second. Less than 10% was calculated to come from festivalgoers in the form of flatulence and burps, according to a paper submitted to the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Chen believes the work can help festival organisers draw up policies to reduce their methane emissions. The study concludes the releases of methane are high enough for major festivals to be considered greenhouse gas sources in local emissions inventories.

“Large but time-limited festivals, like Oktoberfest, are sources that have not been accounted for in existing emission inventories, even though, as we have seen, the methane emissions are significant,” Chen said. “Inaccurate or incomplete emission inventories are a problem, because many decisions
are based on this data.”

With people travelling to Oktoberfest from more than 50 countries, methane leaks from the Theresienwiese site are not the greatest environmental concern. But improving gas appliances to reduce methane emissions still makes sense, Chen said. “Small steps can bring us closer to achieving the world climate goals,” she added.

Source: Guardian

Offshore Windfarms ‘Can Provide More Electricity Than the World Needs’

25.10.2019

offshore_wind_park_vetropark_na_moru — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Erecting wind turbines on the world’s best offshore sites could provide more than enough clean energy to meet global electricity demand, according to a report.

A detailed study of the world’s coastlines has found that offshore windfarms alone could provide more electricity than the world needs – even if they are only built in windy regions in shallow waters near the shore.

Analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that if windfarms were built across all useable sites which are no further than 60km (37 miles) off the coast, and where coastal waters are no deeper than 60 metres, they could generate 36,000 terrawatt hours of renewable electricity a year. This clean energy boom would easily meeting the current global demand for electricity of 23,000 terrawatt hours.

“Offshore wind currently provides just 0.3% of global power generation, but its potential is vast,” said the IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol.

The study predicts offshore wind will grow 15 fold to emerge as a $1tn (£780bn) industry in the next 20 years and will prove to be the next great energy revolution.

The IEA said earlier this week that global supplies of renewable electricity were growing faster than expected and could expand by 50% in the next five years, powered by a resurgence in solar energy. Offshore wind power would drive the world’s growth in clean power due to plummeting costs and new technological breakthroughs which include turbines close to the height of the Eiffel Tower and floating installations that can harness wind speeds further from the coast.

The next generation of floating turbines capable of operating further away from the shore could generate enough energy to meet the world’s total electricity demand 11 times over in 2040, according to IEA estimates.

The report predicts that the EU’s offshore wind capacity will grow from almost 20 gigawatts today to nearly 130 gigawatts by 2040 and could reach 180 gigawatts with stronger climate commitments.

In China, the growth of offshore wind was likely to be even more rapid, said the IEA. Its offshore wind capacity is forecast to grow from 4 gigawatts to 110 gigawatts by 2040 or 170 gigawatts if it adopts tougher climate targets.

Birol said offshore wind would not only contribute to generating clean electricity, but could also offer a major opportunity in the production of hydrogen, which can be used in place of fossil fuel gas for heating and in heavy industry.

The process of making hydrogen from water uses huge amounts of electricity but abundant, cheap offshore wind power could help produce a low-cost, zero-carbon alternative to gas.

In the North Sea, energy companies are already planning to use the electricity generated by giant offshore windfarms to turn seawater into hydrogen on a floating “green hydrogen” project, backed by the UK government. The clean-burning gas could be pumped back to shore to heat millions of homes by the 2030s. The UK has committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The overlap between the UK’s declining oil and gas industry and the burgeoning offshore wind sector could offer major economic benefits for the UK, Birol said.

“Offshore wind provides a huge new business portfolio for major engineering firms and established oil and gas companies which have a strong offshore production experience,” he said. “Our analysis shows that 40% of the work in offshore wind construction and maintenance has synergies with oil and gas practises.”

Source: Guardian

Free Running Challenge that Enables Users to Compete with a Wild Snow Leopard

25.10.2019

snežni_leopard_snow_leopard — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Helena Lopes)

Aiming to highlight the need to conserve the world’s endangered wildlife, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), adidas Runtastic further supported by Internet of Elephants and the Snow Leopard Trust launched a running challenge in the free adidas Running app that enables users to compete with a wild snow leopard in Mongolia.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Helena Lopes)

The free adidas running app, launched in Pasching, Austria, is part of an international wildlife conservation campaign dubbed Run Wild, and will run for a period of 12 days from the International Snow leopard Day on 23 October 2019.

The Run Wild campaign aims to create a positive and powerful connection between runners and endangered species, to grow their understanding of the complexity of conservation, and to harness support for the hard work it takes to keep animals safe.

“Snow leopards are one of the most emblematic species of mountain regions. Yet their habitats are under unprecedented pressure due to climate change and related drivers such as land-use change and habitat degradation, shift, fragmentation or loss, as well as increased human-wildlife conflict and poaching,” said Matthias Jurek, Programme Management Officer for UNEP dealing with mountain ecosystems. “With this unique partnership, we hope to help to boost the general public’s interest in these as well as other vulnerable species.”

“Based on our company’s mission that through sport, we have the power to change lives, we are trying to harness the immense power of our digital platform to create a positive change toward sustainability and to protect our planet and all its inhabitants,” said Chris Thaller, Head of Creative Projects for adidas Runtastic and initiator of the Run Wild campaign.

Users of the app will be able to make runs and compete with Uuliin Ezen, a real wild snow leopard from Mongolia who is tracked by the Snow Leopard Trust using GPS technology for scientific purpose. Additionally, runners will get an insight about Uuliin’s daily activities and his challenges finding food and surviving poaching; the app will also present users with the opportunity to contribute to the conservation work that keeps him safe. To ensure safety of the species, the app only uses movement data and not the actual locations of the snow leopard.

The illegal trade in wildlife is a key driver of the global loss of biodiversity, as well as posing environmental, economic, development and security risks. UNEP, through its WildforLife campaign, works closely with various partners to prevent and reduce demand for illegally traded wildlife products and to reverse these trends in order to protect vulnerable species and the human well-being that depends on healthy ecosystems.

Recent research shows that one million species are threatened with extinction today, and that climate change is a key driver of global biodiversity loss. UNEP’s VanishingTreasures programme supports climate-smart wildlife conservation of endangered mountain species such as the iconic snow leopard in Central Asia, Royal Tiger in Bhutan and mountain gorilla in Virunga.

“We urgently need to engage millions more people with wildlife and nature if we want to turn the tide of the extinction of wildlife, and in order to do that we have to be unconventional and daring,” said Gautam Shah, Internet of Elephants CEO and founder. “We’re incredibly excited that adidas Runtastic is opening up their platform of tens of millions of users for conservation purposes.”

UNEP is providing conservation expertise, and the Snow Leopard Trust are providing research based know-how for the app; adidas Runtastic is leveraging its 150 million-plus registered user platform and marketing power, and the Internet of Elephants co-created the concept and is providing engagement expertise and conservation-focused storytelling to ensure that the Run Wild campaign is a success.

Source: UNEP

Melting Glaciers Reveal Five New Islands in the Arctic

23.10.2019

melting_ice_topljenje_leda — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Roxanne Desgagnes)

The Russian navy says it has discovered five new islands revealed by melting glaciers in the remote Arctic.

An expedition in August and September charted the islands, which have yet to be named and were previously hidden under glaciers, said the head of the northern fleet, Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseyev.

“Mainly this is of course caused by changes to the ice situation,” Moiseyev, who headed the expedition, said at a press conference in Moscow. “Before these were glaciers; we thought they were (part of) the main glacier. Melting, collapse and temperature changes led to these islands being uncovered.”

Glacier loss in the Arctic in the period from 2015 to 2019 was more than in any other five-year period on record, a United Nations report on global warming said last month.

Russia has opened a string of military and scientific bases in the Arctic in recent years, with interest in the region growing as rising temperatures open up shipping routes and make hitherto inaccessible mineral resources easier to exploit.

This summer’s expedition to two archipelagoes – Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya – involved a team of 60 people, including civilians from the Russian Geographic Society, and was the first onboard a rescue towboat instead of an icebreaker.

Video of expedition members encountering an angry walrus that attacked their inflatable landing craft went viral last month.

“The two months this year when we held our expedition to Franz Josef Land can be described as warm,” said Denis Krets, commander of the northern fleet’s expedition force. “We were very lucky because we could land on islands where not every year the shore and the inshore water is free of ice.”

During the expedition, the defence ministry announced it had found five new islands in Vize Bay off Novaya Zemlya, a vast mountainous archipelago with two main islands. The islands had previously been seen on satellite images but the expedition was the first to see them.

It also said it had also confirmed the existence of an island that had been previously mapped as a peninsula of Hall Island, part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, west of Novaya Zemlya.

Moiseyev said names for the new islands were “upcoming”.

“Of course each island will receive a name but first you have to lay out the case for it,” he said.

Source: Guardian

Asia Poised to Become Dominant Market for Wind Energy

23.10.2019

IRENA_Future of Wind_press release — Photo: IRENA

Asia could grow its share of installed capacity for onshore wind from 230 Gigawatt (GW) in 2018 to over 2600 GW by 2050, a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) finds. By that time, the region would become a global leader in wind, accounting for more than 50 per cent of all onshore and over 60 per cent of all offshore wind capacity installed globally.

According to the “Future of Wind” published at China Wind Power in Beijing, global wind power could rise ten-fold reaching over 6000 GW by 2050. By midcentury, wind could cover one third of global power needs and – combined with electrification – deliver a quarter of the energy-related carbon emission reductions needed to meet the Paris climate targets. To reach this objective, onshore and offshore wind capacity will need to increase four-fold and ten-fold respectively every year compared to today.

“With renewables, it’s possible to achieve a climate-safe future,” said IRENA’s Director-General Francesco La Camera. “Low-cost renewable energy technologies like wind power are readily-available today, representing the most effective and immediate solution for reducing carbon emissions. Our roadmap for a global energy transformation to 2050 shows that it is technically and economically feasible to ensure a climate-safe, sustainable energy future. Unlocking global wind energy potential will be particularly important. In fact, wind energy could be the largest single source of power generation by mid-century under this path. This would not only enable us to meet climate goals, but it would also boost economic growth and create jobs, thereby accelerating sustainable development.”

The global wind industry could become a veritable job motor, employing over 3.7 million people by 2030 and more than 6 million people by 2050, IRENA’s new report finds. These figures are respectively nearly three times higher and five times higher than the slightly over one million jobs in 2018. Sound industrial and labour policies that build upon and strengthen domestic supply chains can enable income and employment growth by leveraging existing economic activities in support of wind industry development.

But to accelerate the growth of global wind power over the coming decades, scaling up investments will be key. On average, global annual investment in onshore wind must increase from today USD 67 billion to 211 billion in 2050. For offshore wind, global average annual investments would need to increase from USD 19 billion to 100 billion in 2050.

Statistical highlights:

Asia would account for more than 50% of global onshore wind power installations by 2050, followed by North America (23%) and Europe (10%). For offshore, Asia would cover more than 60% of global installations, followed by Europe (22%) and North America (16%).
Within Asia, China would take the lead with 2525 GW of installed onshore and offshore wind capacity by 2050, followed by India (443 GW), Republic of Korea (78 GW) and South-East Asia (16 GW).
Globally, the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for onshore wind will continue to fall to 2-3 cents USD/kWh by 2050 compared to 6 cents USD/kWh in 2018. Costs of offshore wind will drop significantly to 3-7 cents USD/kWh by 2050 compared to 13 cents USD/kWh in 2018.
Wind turbine size for onshore applications will increase, from an average of 2.6 megawatts (MW) in 2018 to 4-5 MW for turbines commissioned by 2025. Offshore applications will likely increase to 15-20 MW in a decade or two. Floating wind farms could cover around 5-15% of the global offshore wind installed capacity (almost 1 000 GW) by 2050.

Read the full report “Future of Wind”.

Home Sweet Home

23.10.2019

građenje_kuće_slama — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

For thousands of years, people have used straw to build their homes. According to scientific knowledge, even African tribes from the Stone Age made houses of this material. The most significant advance in the mentioned type of construction was made in the mid 19th century when the inventors developed the straw-bale technique. The invention of special machines enabled the production of light, biodegradable blocks of exceptional isolation capacity.

One of the first buildings of straw was the school in the federal US state of Nebraska that suffered an ignominious fate. In 1902, the school walls were eaten by cows. Although the animals browsed this educational institution, the builders of that time learned a valuable lesson. Since then, builders have begun to cover objects made of straw, with cement, mortar or mud.

With the advent of rapid industrialization and new building materials, the trend of straw-bale construction disappeared in order to experience a rapid boom in the early twenties of the last century. Thanks to the significant savings achieved with the use of baled straw, this construction technique attracted the attention of architect Goran Milenkovic. He wrote a book “Straw-bale construction” together with professor Slobodan Krnjetin from the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad.

“In the nineties of the 20th century, by developing global awareness of environmental pollution and awakening concern because the construction sector in the total global energy consumption has a share of as much as 40 per cent, as well as transport and industry, the construction of baled straw got into stride in The United States, Europe and Australia”, said Goran.

The book describes different construction methods, and each of them provides longevity and stability, provided that walls are well insulated from moisture and other harmful external conditions. Even though the straw decays in the soil in 6 months, in optimal circumstances – on dry, it subsists up to three thousand years.

Under appropriate conditions that are not difficult to provide, facilities made of straw provide their customers with many benefits. Goran stressed out that excellent thermal insulation properties of straw provide 70 to 90 per cent lower energy consumption for space heating compared to classical buildings. “Heat comfort and energy efficiency meet standards three times more than prescribed. The price of a building per square meter is between 20 and 30 per cent lower compared to classical construction. It is important to note that the wall of baled straw covered with the finishing layer of lime mortar is characterised by excellent sound insulation and fire resistance in the duration of 90 to 120 minutes and the achieved temperature of 1,000 °C. In addition, air quality is better because there is no emission of harmful gases from the walls. The process of material production requires a small amount of energy, which greatly contributes to the energy efficiency of the constructed facilities. Due to its high elastic properties, the material behaves like a “silencer” gives great resistance to earthquakes,” our interlocutor pointed out, adding that the straw bale has an incredibly low price of around 60 dinars.

“Houses of baled straw breathe and are pleasant to live in. Materials in nature best regulate the reception and release of moisture, so they mitigate sudden temperature changes. Straw reduces electromagnetic smog due to the long stems pressed in all directions. After the installation and plastering, it becomes inert and the possibility of developing any allergic reactions to the material disappears. Such houses have excellent sound insulation, because the straw bales are elastic, allowing them to absorb sound vibrations. Most people say their sounds are louder in the interior of the building, which is due to better isolation of the sounds from the background noise coming from the environment,” Goran explained to us and mentioned examples where in addition to private houses, kindergartens, and even churches are built of straw around the world.

We took the opportunity to check the accuracy of the entrenched statement that the straw represents hotbed for pests. Goran denied these claims by the following arguments: “This thesis does hold water. Rodents do not eat straw, and hard-pressed bales with a density of 90 to 100 kg/m³ are strong more than enough to resist their attack. Straw, unlike hay, does not contain nutrients, so it does not attract insects either. Parasites are mainly looking for openings, nesting areas and food, and the properly dislocated wall of baled straw does not offer any of it.“ As a measure of intensified precaution and additional binding of binders to straw buildings, Milenkovic recommended the installation of thickly knitted, thin meshes in plaster on all the joints of the foundation and the wall, as well as on the upper joints of the wall and the roof structure.

Prepared by: Jelena Kozbašić

Read the whole article in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine on ENERGY EFFICIENCY, June 2018. – August 2019.

Renewable Energy to Expand by 50% in Next Five Years – Report

22.10.2019

windturbine_vetrenjača — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Global supplies of renewable electricity are growing faster than expected and could expand by 50% in the next five years, powered by a resurgence in solar energy.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) found that solar, wind and hydropower projects are rolling out at their fastest rate in four years.

Its latest report predicts that by 2024 a new dawn for cheap solar power could see the world’s solar capacity grow by 600GW, almost double the installed total electricity capacity of Japan. Overall, renewable electricity is expected to grow by 1,200GW in the next five years, the equivalent of the total electricity capacity of the US.

“This is a pivotal time for renewable energy,” said the IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol. “Technologies such as solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind are at the heart of transformations taking place across the global energy system. Their increasing deployment is crucial for efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, reduce air pollution, and expand energy access.”

The Guardian reported earlier this month that a renewable energy revolution could end the world’s rising demand for oil and coal in the 2020s, decades ahead of forecasts from oil and mining companies.

Renewable energy sources make up 26% of the world’s electricity today, but according to the IEA its share is expected to reach 30% by 2024. The resurgence follows a global slowdown last year, due to falling technology costs and rising environmental concerns.

However, Birol warned that the role of renewables in the global energy system would need to grow even faster if the world hopes to meet its climate targets.

The report said growing climate ambitions in the European Union and the US played the biggest role in driving the IEA’s forecasts higher, but it will be China which leads the way in rolling out wind and solar energy projects.

The IEA expects solar energy to play the biggest role in jumpstarting fresh growth in global renewable energy because falling costs are already below retail electricity prices in most countries.

The cost of solar power is expected to decline by a further 15% to 35% by 2024, spurring further growth over the second half of the decade.

The appetite of energy-hungry businesses and factories is expected to be the biggest driver of the solar power boom as company bosses exploit falling costs to help cut their energy bills.

Source: Guardian

Scores More Heart Attacks and Strokes on High Pollution Days, Figures Show

21.10.2019

hospital_bolnica_health_zdravlje_heart_attack_srčani_udar — Photo-illustration: PIxabay

Scores of children and adults are being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment on days of high pollution in cities across England, figures show.

Each year emergency services see more than 120 additional cardiac arrests, more than 230 additional strokes and nearly 200 more people with asthma requiring hospital treatment on days of high pollution compared with the average on days of lower pollution.

The data, to be published in full next month, shows the extra strain that poor air quality is putting on already stretched NHS emergency resources.

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said: “These new figures show air pollution is now causing thousands of strokes, cardiac arrests and asthma attacks, so it’s clear that the climate emergency is in fact also a health emergency. Since these avoidable deaths are happening now, not in 2025 or 2050, together we need to act now.”

Previous studies have found spikes in hospital admissions and GP visits on days of high pollution, but the new data gives precise numbers for nine English cities and shows a clear relationship between heart attacks, strokes and respiratory illnesses and dirty air.

The researchers defined high pollution days by dividing the year in two based on levels of pollution and comparing the number of cases of the relevant illness in the higher pollution half of the year with the number of similar cases on each day in the lower half.

The data, collated by King’s College London (KCL), covers London, where there are 338 more emergencies a year on higher pollution days compared with low pollution days, Birmingham (65 a year), Bristol (22), Derby (16), Liverpool (28), Manchester (34), Nottingham (19), Oxford (10) and Southampton (16).

Much of the recent research on air pollution has focused on the lifelong effects of chronic exposure, including cognitive decline, stunted growth in children and premature death. However, it can also bring on serious illness more immediately.

Jenny Bates, an air pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Many people may not realise how dangerous air pollution at high levels can be, and that it can trigger heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks as well as having long-term health effects. These figures will be a wake-up call for city leaders to take the strongest possible action.”

The government has pledged to tackle air pollution in its environment bill, proposals for which were laid out after the Queen’s speech. Campaigners are concerned that the measures proposed are too vague and too weak.

Polly Billington, the director of UK100, a network of local government leaders across England that have pledged to shift wholly to clean energy by 2050, said: “We would like to see World Health Organization air pollution standards included in the bill, as they are widely seen as gold standard, with a legally binding timetable to meet them, as that creates certainty and enables long-term planning. The absence of significantly increased powers for local leaders, together with a lack of reference to the need for adequate funding, are the big holes in the bill that will hold action back.”

On Wednesday the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and UK100 will hold an international clean air summit with the World Health Organization (WHO) director general, Tedros Adhanom.

Heather Walton, a health expert with the environmental research group at KCL, said the study was intended to provide more detail than others that have tended to concentrate on the effects of air pollution on life expectancy, such as estimates that pollution contributes to 36,000 deaths a year in the UK.

By homing in on hospital admissions for cardiac arrests, strokes and asthma, the researchers were able to provide a clearer picture of the acute impacts on people and how emergency services are affected. “This provides additional evidence of the important need for further action to reduce air pollution,” Walton said.

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