Air quality policy in the U.S. and the EU – a review Kuklinska, Karolina; Wolska, Lidia; Namiesnik, Jacek
Atmospheric pollution research,
January 2015, 2015-01-00, 20150101, Volume:
6, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The high level of atmospheric pollution is a global problem that has taken on particular significance in recent years and will continue to grow in the near future. Air pollution directly affects the ...health, living organisms, vegetation, water, soil and buildings. Additionally, it moves easily even over long distances. Certain air pollutants influence the climate, cause negative processes in the protective ozone layer and contribute to the greenhouse effect. Therefore it is important to protect the air by taking actions to ensure its best possible quality. In this paper, the development of air quality policies in the United States of America and European Union was analyzed and it was shown how these legislations were implemented and also the air quality policies in these states were compared. Although the U.S. and EU have achieved significant improvements in air quality, the area of air quality management in both regions still requires a more integrated and ambitious approach.
The article deals with the issue of local expenditure on air protection and climate, as an expression of local authorities' concern for these most important environmental problems today. ...International documents adopted in december 2015 on this issue also echoed in the local space. They intensified the activities of Polish local governments in this matter. The study analyzes the investment activity of local authorities in the field of air and climate protection in the municipalities of the Busko poviat located in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in 2015-2018. It highlights the problem of the still limited financial resources of many smaller municipalities, but also the simple façade of the political declarations of local leaders in relation to subsequent actions. It also sees the problem of residents' access to the gas network as one of the barriers that hinder the energy transformation and help to stop climate change. The main hypothesis of the article is that the level of expenditure of the municipalities of the Busko district on air protection and climate has improved, although it still turns out to be insufficient in relation to the existing needs in this area. Its verification has become possible thanks to the use of financial statements covered by the analysis of local governments and data from the Statistical Office in Kielce.
Due to its irritating, allergenic, toxic, pathogenic, and carcinogenic effects, suspended particulate matter seriously threatens human health. Therefore, it seems obvious to control the level of ...concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 particles and their reduction in the indoor environment such as homes, workplaces, or public utilities. In the following work, an attempt was made to determine the efficiency of a home air purifier based on the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 particles at selected measurement points in a teaching room located in the building of the Bialystok University of Technology. The tests were carried out in March and in April 2021, using the DT-96 meter, which measured the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 in the air. During the research, the PM2.5 and PM10 of the outdoor air, taken from measuring stations in the city of Białystok, were taken into account, and the time and intensity of the air purifier operation were taken into account. The obtained test results made it possible to assess the initial state of air quality in the test room, as well as to determine the parameters affecting the best efficiency of the air purifier and to notice the dependencies in changes in the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 between the indoor and outdoor environment.
Protection of air and groundwater as an adaptation to climate change is currently one of the main economic and social challenges at both the global, national, regional and local levels. This is ...confirmed by the author’s review of the literature in this area. Higher wealth of Polish municipalities is not always consistent with greater municipal involvement in environmental protection and its results, which requires deeper analysis. Factors such as the nature of municipalities and the natural conditions of municipalities due to their spatial location are also important. The subject of this article’s research is a comparative analysis (based on detailed indicators of environmental governance of the Central Statistical Office (CSO)) of the degree of involvement of 30 Polish municipalities of varying wealth in air and groundwater protection, as well as a comparison of their natural conditions in terms of forest cover and biodiversity, which should promote better adaptation to climate change at the local level.
Clánek analyzuje vyvoj povinného pfimíchávání biopaliv do pohonnych hmot, nafty a benzinu. Pfimíchávání biopaliv má za úkol napliiovat ekologické eile Evropské unie spocívající v nasem závazku ...snizovat emise CO,. Zákon o ovzdusí, ktery od 1. 1. 2007 povinné pfimíchávání biopaliv do nafty a benzinu stanovil, byl novelizován. Touto zménou doslo ke zrusení povinnosti pfimíchávání biopaliv 1. generace do pohonnych hmot, a to z dúvodu, ze je Ize vyuzít pfi vyrobé potravin ci krmiv. Vyrobci pohonnych hmot vsak mají moznost v pfimíchávání biopaliv i nadále pokracovat.
The purpose of the article is to present the legal aspects of air protection in force in Poland and European Union countries with particular emphasis on odor nuisance. It lets you see how difficult ...it is to clearly define this problem in law. The work includes legal acts, arrangements (public consultations), executive acts in Poland and European Union countries regarding air protection, with particular emphasis on odor nuisance. The work refers to European Union directives, European Parliament directives, European Council decisions which set out the rights in the field of air quality and air quality management, as well as legal acts, findings, guidelines, and decisions of relevant bodies dealing with air protection in selected European Union countries and in Poland. Comparing the provisions in force in the European Union, EU countries and in Poland, it can be concluded that the European Union does not set specific, uniform provisions regarding odor nuisance, i.e. a law or regulation that would typically address this problem. Directives on air emissions have been created. The European Union has allowed countries to adapt the rules themselves at local level (i.e. each EU country according to their own research, analyzes).
This article attempts to discuss selected elements of a legal model of air protection in Poland synthetically in order to provide Slovak readers with some overview of the same, which may, ...subsequently, become the starting point for an international scientific discussion in this field. The author firstly describes the background of the present poor quality of air in Poland, and afterwards presents a brief analysis of reasons why the air should be understood as a common good subject of state protection. Eventually, the author classifies air protection instruments in Poland and discusses the selected ones.
The article considers the problems of inconsistence in the atmospheric air protection legislation. In particular, the Author indicates the unfounded distinctions in the competence of federal and ...regional environment protection bodies concerning the right to bring a suit against violators of the air protection rules and regulations. On the basis of extensive research of current legislation and case law the Author suggests optimizing the competence of environment protection bodies.
Various types of energetic fuel combustion processes emit dangerous pollutants into the air, including aerosol particles, marked as PM10. Routine air quality monitoring includes determining the PM10 ...concentration as one of the basic measurements. At some air monitoring stations, the PM10 measurement is supplemented by the simultaneous determination of the concentration of PM2.5 as a finer fraction of suspended particles. Since the PM2.5 fraction has a significant share in the PM10 fraction, the concentrations of both types of particles should be strongly correlated, and the concentrations of one of these fractions can be used to model the concentrations of the other fraction. The aim of the study was to assess the error of predicting PM2.5 concentration using PM10 concentration as the main predictor. The analyzed daily concentrations were measured at 11 different monitoring stations in Poland and covered the period 2010–2021. MLP (multilayer perceptron) artificial neural networks were used to approximate the daily PM2.5 concentrations. PM10 concentrations and time variables were tested as predictors in neural networks. Several different prediction errors were taken as measures of modeling quality. Depending on the monitoring station, in models with one PM10 predictor, the RMSE error values were in the range of 2.31–6.86 μg/m3. After taking into account the second predictor D (date), the corresponding RMSE errors were lower and were in the range of 2.06–5.54 μg/m3. Our research aimed to find models that were as simple and universal as possible. In our models, the main predictor is the PM10 concentration; therefore, the only condition to be met is monitoring the measurement of PM10 concentrations. We showed that models trained at other air monitoring stations, so-called foreign models, can be successfully used to approximate PM2.5 concentrations at another station.
Solving the problem of atmospheric air pollution has been one of the most pressing topics on the modern agenda of sustainable development for more than a decade. Every day mankind emits significant ...amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic substances such as SO
2
, particulate matters, benzene, lead, etc. The low quality of atmospheric air caused by high degree of contamination entails significant negative consequences for the environment and human health in the long term. A steady increase in greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere provokes an increase in average temperature and, consequently, serious climate changes. Governments of different countries are developing a wide range of state programs to protect the environment and are implementing various initiatives to eco-modernize industrial enterprises that are the largest emitters of emissions. However, despite the measures taken, the situation with atmospheric air pollution remains acute in most countries of the world. The purpose of this study is to review and analyse the most common economic and administrative-legal instruments used to reduce the negative impact on atmospheric air. Based on the results of the study, the most effective tools were identified and recommendations for their further improvement were proposed.
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