Air Quality Management You, your interests, and experience in air quality management
Air Quality Management
You, your interests, and experience in air quality management
Share why you are taking this course and preview the content of this course to share what topics most excite you and what topics you are most anxious about or unsure about. Also, please find out the air quality in your zip code as part of the introduction about yourself and the air quality in your locality!
DQ2 Quantitative analysis and critical thinking
I often see a lot of anxiety around quantitative analysis. We need to use quantitative analysis to make decisions every day so it is important to practice, and we shall do so every week. Here are some questions that relate to our course content and discussions this week centered on thinking quantitatively and analytically.
We talked about PM2.5 and PM10. What is the diameter of these particulates compared to the diameter of the width of your hair? How many PM2.5 would it take to be the same width as your hair?
In this week’s reading, I converted 70 ppb of O3 to percent of O3 in our atmosphere that would be harmful for us to breath. Can you show how to do this conversion? What about converting from ppb to ppm? How would you go about doing that? Once these conversions have been clearly demonstrated, please find the concentration of the other pollutants that you have been concerned about and their concentration levels that have human health impacts. Convert between ppm, ppb, and % for the pollutant you have chosen to discuss.
One of the important uses of qualitative analysis is to check out data you see. I had stated that I take about 23,040 breaths a day. How many breaths is that per minute? Is that figure in the correct range for an adult? About how much more breaths per minute do toddlers take? What about babies? What do those data tell you about the most vulnerable age group? Explain your reasoning.
Quantitative analysis goes hand in hand with critical analysis. Look at what is presented and ask questions like where, what, how much, how was it measured, in what context and how long. We will be practicing critical thinking though discussions, quiz questions, and assignments.
Let’s take a look at one of the figures used in the Introducing the key concepts of air quality management video you viewed this week:
There is something already wrong with this few-years-old data. What is the incorrect information and what is the percentage change in that information. What about the other components in our atmosphere? Have they changed more than a few relative percent? By the way, what is the difference between relative percent and percent?
Figure from: Wyche, K. & Smallbone, K. (2017). Introducing the key concepts of air quality management. University of Brighton. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BERM_1ktwpc
DQ3 Global to local state of air quality – what are the main issues and how do we monitor them
This week, we got to view a wide variety of air quality monitoring resources – from global air monitoring by NASA to various countries and provinces to cities like London and Amsterdam. What were the most memorable parts of these videos in terms of the impact of air quality and how it was monitored and managed? Please make sure to add to what your classmates have begun by sharing something they have not shared or adding depth to something they did share.
ENMT380 Air Quality Management
Week 2 Discussion
DQ1 Overview of basics of our atmosphere
The basic science of our atmosphere should have been covered in your basic science classes, and covered in the readings and viewings for this week and last.
Discussions provide a chance to implement knowledge into appropriate context – so let’s create connections from your knowledge base with discussions of the following questions:
· What is the basic vertical structure of our atmosphere? What defines the differences between these layers? That is, what are the physical and chemical differences between these layers? Do that distribution of molecules change in going from the troposphere to the stratosphere? Explain why or why not.
· Refresh us on the tropospheric content of our atmosphere and the determining factor for a pollutant.
· What are some of the horizontal connections in air circulations that connect continents across oceans?
DQ2 Chemistry of our atmosphere
Below are some questions to get you started in discussing the course readings and viewings for this week:
Explain why we have an oxidative atmosphere.
What are the most important oxidation sources in our atmosphere? Why are these agents called “detergents”?
All chemicals need to be discussed in context of the environment they are in and how much of that chemical there is. This week you learned about ozone in the troposphere and stratosphere. Why is ozone formed differently in these two environments and why is one called the “good ozone” and one the “bad ozone”?
Write a chemical reaction that occurs in our atmosphere that you read about this week. Explain the chemical reaction in plain English. Why should we care about the reaction you wrote? What are the implications in air quality management?
You only need to take one of these questions but please make sure to add to the discussion. That is, make sure you are adding something new to what has already been posted – either as a question, a gentle correction, more information or greater clarity of concepts.
DQ3 Importance of numbers and plots as the basis for decision making
Often people have a difficult time understanding how tiny changes in our atmosphere can have huge effects. For example, the concept of something much less than 0.001% affecting air quality baffles the average person.
(a) Each student should provide at least one example to help each other understand the importance of tiny concentrations of pollutants in our atmosphere.
(b) Speaking of concentrations, how do you convert each of the following numbers:
How many ppm is 0.00001%?
How many ppb in a ppm?
If analysis in a 4.0 L air sample taken at 20 C and 1.0 atm found 3.0 micrograms of NO2, how many ppm of NO2 is in that air sample?
What if we found 3.0 micrograms of SO2 in that same sample. How many ppm of SO2 is in that air sample?
Please make sure to show your work, including all units.
(c) In one of the power point presentations provided to you this week, we examined a graphics on U.S. energy use in 2014.
From this graph, please extract the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from each of five different sectors and convert them to percentage. Once this has been accomplished, the next student should make a plot showing how much CO2 is emitted from each of these five different sectors of our economy. What type of plot would best illustrate the relative contributions from these different energy sectors?
(d) Find data on U.S. energy use for coal and solar as a function of years. Provide the data and then let’s plot it together as a class.
(e) This week, you are to plot NAAQS data from the census bureau. Do you have any questions about how to plot? Can you see how similar it is to what we are doing in the previous exercise under this topic?
ENMT380 Air Quality Management
Week 3 Discussion
DQ1 History of Air Quality Management and basics of our legislation and regulations
Your course readings and viewings noted different historical cases of air quality.
As part of beginning to understand the basis of air quality management in terms of regulations and legislation, please discuss the following questions as a class:
Provide a brief history of air quality management in the U.S. and why we moved from local to national air quality legislation. Is there a scientific basis for the need to manage air quality at the national or even global level?
Let’s first review the difference between legislation and regulations. Please explain the difference and how the two are interrelated. What is EPA’s role with legislation and regulations? What is meant by enforcement?
In your reading about the Clean Air Act (CAA), you were given three different dates for the CAA. Why? Explain the significance of each date.
What does the EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) do?
What is the regulatory framework for the CAA and the reason for this regulatory framework?
Which titles are most applicable to air quality management today? Explain your answer.
Make sure to read what your classmates have written and add to their discussion. Make sure to cover key words such as NAAQS, primary standards, secondary standards, and best available control technology.
And please come back to clarify or add to the discussion as needed.
DQ2 Impacts of poor outdoor air quality
Some questions to help you discuss the impact of poor air quality:
Take one of the six criteria pollutants and discuss the major sources of emissions for that pollutant. Note the general amounts contributed by these sources. That is, it is important to focus on major sources of emissions rather than minor sources of emissions.
How do the natural sources of these pollutants compare to anthropogenic sources of these pollutants?
What is the global air pollutant of greatest concern according to Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policies? How many premature deaths are attributed to this pollutant and why?
Explore the EPA website link provided in this week’s reading on nonattainment. Where do you live? Which EPA region are you in? Are you near any of the nonattainment areas for the criteria pollutants. If so, which criteria pollutant?
What are the air quality concerns in your area? Are they human health or welfare concerns – or both? This is a great way to start thinking about and gathering information for your future assignments.
Please add to the discussions by reading what your classmates have discussed and then do one of the following: add some new facts, provide a different perspective, bring greater depth or more connections, or gently correct.
DQ3 The Clean Air Act
Much of this should be review since this Act is covered in your required course ENMT 303: Environmental Regulations and Policies. Please use the discussion questions below to help guide an engaging discussion that will refresh all our memories:
What do you think about the video “Basics of the Clean Air Act” as a review for CAA? What aspects were review and what were new from ENMT 303?
Thinking ahead to your Final Assessment, which of the six titles of the CAA are applicable? Explain why.
It is important to listen and ask questions as appropriate. What questions would you ask if you were listening to this live presentation?
How applicable are Renewable Fuel Standards to air quality issues in your locality?
What can the EPA do if a State Implementation Plan (SIP) does not achieve targets?
What is something about the management of air quality that you took away from the video? Can you connect your takeaway about the CAA with how it applies to your local air quality issues?
How is the CAA related to climate change?
ENMT380 Air Quality Management
Week 4 Discussion
DQ1 Emission sources and amounts and natural processes for mitigation
This topic integrates previous course reading and viewings with this week’s content and should be particularly helpful in working on your assignment due at the end of this week.
(1) Take one of the six criteria pollutants and discuss the major sources of emissions for that pollutant. Note the general amounts contributed by these sources. That is, it is important to focus on major sources of emissions rather than minor sources of emissions.
How do the natural sources of these pollutants compare to anthropogenic sources of these pollutants?
What has occurred in the past when these pollutants (such as CO, NO2, SO2, and particulates) are emitted into our atmosphere?
Please add to the discussions by reading what your classmates have discussed and then do one of the following: add some new facts, provide a different perspective, bring greater depth or more connections, or gently correct.
(2) Alternatively, you can also discuss the specific air pollutants from anthropogenic sources such as coal-fired power plants and cars run by combustion engines.
(3) In your course reading this week, we discussed that “People, in their everyday lives, have many personal sources of air pollution: automobiles, home furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces, and barbecues. A family of four may produce 1,700–1,800 kg/year of gases and 40–70 kg/year of particulate matter (Boubel et al. 1994, 77). Although these quantities may seem miniscule compared to those of a power plant, they must be multiplied by all the families (or individuals) in the country – some 80,000,000 households.”
Using 40 kg/year of particulate matters per American household, how many kg of particulates is produced yearly by Americans?
Where are those sources of particulate production by the average American?
What occurs to those particulates in our atmosphere?
Using 40kg/year of particulate matter production per family, how much particulates is that per day?
If you produced that in a room consisting of 3 meters cube, how many μg/m3 of particulates would that be?
How does that compare to NAAQS?
DQ2 Various ways of sampling & analyzing air
Here are some questions to help you think about and learn from each other about sampling and analysis:
(A) We covered a number of sampling devices including:
Summa canister
Sampling pumps
Sorbent tubes
Vapor badge
Please discuss how these sampling devices work. We will end the week with a table summarizing various devices on the context in which they should be used.
(B) We also covered the basics for some analytical methods for determining the amount of pollutants in each sample. The analytical methods include, gravimetric analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry, Chemiluminesence, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Have you used one of these analytical techniques before? If so, provide some details on what you have done and integrate with course reading concepts this week. Share your thoughts and knowledge on one of these analytical techniques and what it can measure (the latter should logically follow from the former).
Why is there no one analytical technique to analyze for all pollutants?
DQ3 Control technologies
We have read about control technologies for both mobile and stationary sources. Please take one of the technologies below and share your knowledge about how the technology works, what air pollutants it controls, and where that technology would most likely be used.
Some of those control technologies that you read about and you will be assessed on are:
Electrostatic precipitator
Filters
Cyclone
Wet scrubbers
Bag house filters
Condensers
Afterburner
Oxidizing catalytic converter
Reducing catalytic converter
ENMT380 Air Quality Management
Week 5 Discussion
DQ1 Discussion of key words and concepts
It is important to use key words and concepts clearly and applicably. Feel free to share a key word or concept you have learned in air quality management or discuss the following keywords, which are important in understanding possible responses and strategies for air pollution management:
Policies
Legislation
Regulations
Strategies
Tactics
Please make 1-2 short sentences to demonstrate how you can use these terms in appropriate context. See if you can use all five of these key terms in context to a situation. As always, you are expected to read what others have said and gently correct or add to the learning of this classroom in other ways.
DQ2 Responses and strategies for air pollution management
What have you seen about responses and strategies to manage air pollution, particularly in the cases you viewed this week? Please share thoughts about the case that most struck you and what strategies were used for that case. Then share what the priority pollutant is in the hometown or city you have chosen to report on for your final assessment and the environmental, engineering, and economic factors that should inform your strategy. Remember that your outline for your final assessment is due this week, so this is a great place to share what you have been finding out about your hometown or location that you are investigating for your final assessment.
How does your strategy compare to the strategies used in L.A., Beijing, and Atlanta that Dr. Bryan N. Duncan, deputy project scientist for the Aura Mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center?
In the first part of this discussion, we examined strategies at the program level. With a bachelor’s degree, you will most likely start at the sampling and analysis level. In this course, we try to provide a comprehensive coverage so that you know both the details of what needs to get done and overall strategies. Clearly, no matter what level of management, cost analysis is important.
Let’s take the scenario of you working in a lab that routinely analyzes arsenic (As). Your lab uses inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, EPA method 6010:
http://legismex.mty.itesm.mx/secc_inter/SW-846/6010a.pdf
Your boss asks you to attend a seminar to learn about different analytical methods and you see this graph below as part of the presentation:
What does this graph tell you about the various methods and what will you do with this graph to impress your boss about your critical thinking abilities?
DQ3 What do the various aspects of air quality management mean to you? What do you think are your strengths and what are your weaknesses in the areas of air quality management?
We have been using the graphics from https://www.gjesm.net/article_20581.html to think about the major considerations for managing air quality.
Looking at this figure, explain the area that you have the greatest strength. For example, if you are really good in science, perhaps you are great at explaining all the factors that determine the state of air quality. My weakness is in determining optimal policies – simply because optimal policies occur only when there is clear communications and trust between people. And trust is a difficult thing to earn these days.
How would you explain the essence of the air quality management figure above? Do you have another figure that you think better represents air quality management? If so, please share and explain why you think the figure you have chosen better represents air quality management.
As always, read what others have written and add to the discussion
ENMT380 Air Quality Management
Week 6 Discussion
DQ1 Energy used in our comfortable lives today – how much, source, and consequences
We learn this week that it takes about 600,000 kilocalories of energy to run our daily lives on average – from cars and refrigerators and heating to electronic usage! Can you see why people often say the average American uses the equivalent of a few hundred energy slaves to run our lives? (We use the energy of an additional 299 human beings in addition to the energy needed to feed ourselves.)
Most of the energy equivalent of the 299 large pepperoni pizzas is in the form of fossil fuels. We can see from the readings and viewings that the majority of our air pollution issues are from fossil fuel use. Remember the six criteria pollutants? What are they and how are they related to fossil fuel use?
Not only is fossil fuel use the root cause of the six criteria pollutants, but readily available fossil fuels has encouraged a lot of different synthetic chemicals usage. Think about all the air pollutants you are aware of. Name one and look at the source of it. Is it related to fossil fuel use?
You have your final assessment due in two weeks. For your final assessment, you were to investigate the air pollutant of greatest concern in your location. What is that air pollutant and how is it related to fossil fuel use?
What is the most energy intensive thing you do on a daily basis or the most energy intensive item you have purchased? Explain how many kJ or kilocalories that activity or production of that item takes. How do you convert between kJ and kilocalories?
Once we get a sense of how much energy the average American use, let’s talk about energy sources and the consequences of those energy source use. First of all, we should all know that all of our energy sources ultimately comes from the sun. From this simply fact, it would seem most logical to use as much directly from the sun as possible. The most direct would be to use passive solar heating and cooling, followed by either wind or solar power. Your thoughts on this? Fell free to ask any questions about energy sources and how one form of energy is turned into another form of energy. You will be quizzed on this.
Take a look at this plot of energy returned to energy invested for various sources of energy. Compare two of the energy sources on that plot and explain why there is a difference in the ratio of energy invested to energy returned. Make sure to read what others have said and add something new to the discussion in terms of knowledge or insight.
DQ2 Thinking about optimal air quality management policies
We have been told for decades now about individual changes we can make, some of which were covered in your course content this week:
Designing house so that we have south-facing windows
Great energy efficiencies of appliances you use
Energy use reduction by behavior changes such as turning off lights and carpooling
Since it takes energy to make things, materials goods reduction would also mean energy reduction.
What would propel these changes? Market signal to use less energy in general and market signal to transition to 21st century energy sources? Is that what the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act would do?
Use the details we have discussed in this class related to the Air Quality Management Cycle to discuss what optimal policies for air quality management would be. Use graphics from https://www.gjesm.net/article_20581.html
How would a carbon tax or other economic instruments address the root of our air quality issues? What do you think of an overall policy to price fossil fuel extraction as was discussed in several of your course readings and podcast this week.
DQ3 Communicating the need to transition to 21st century energy sources
In any management, and particularly for environmental management, you need to get the public involved. That means communicating in such as way as to get a buy-in to the new policy and maybe even some action as well.
Some of us spend quite a bit of time each week working with the general public about the need to transition to 21st century energy sources. Note that I purposely avoided talking about mitigating climate change. Part of the reason is that climate change is complicated, leading to all kinds of phenomena such as the weakened polar vortex in January of 2019, which led to some extreme cold weather in the U.S. east of the Rockies. Another reason is that climate change became polarized during the past 30 years.
Some questions for you to consider in discussing communications:
Which of the videos you have seen about climate change or need to transition to 21st century energy sources (either in this class or in other classes) have you found most effective in communicating the need to have optimal policies to transition out of fossil fuels? Explain why you thought that video was effective.
How would you communicate the most effective policies to address the root cause of our air quality issues to the general public or to a specific group that you work with or socialize with. Share a bit about your audience and how you would simplify the content we have discussed in class.
What resources in this class have you found to be most helpful as a concerned citizen in terms of air quality and its relationship to energy use? How will you use that resource as a concerned citizen?
What resources do you think have been most helpful to your future work in air quality management? How would you use that resource to communicate and what do you hope to accomplish with that communication?
ENMT380 Air Quality Management
Week 7 Discussion
DQ1 Indoor Air Quality Concerns – sources, emissions, and impacts
You saw and read about indoor air quality issues this week. Let’s discuss three of the considerations for air quality management – the drivers (sources of emissions), the pressure (emissions), and the impact as we examine how to manage indoor air quality.
What are indoor air quality impacts and the sources for the emissions that produce these impacts? You can share what occurs in your home or share what you have learned about emission sources, emissions, and impacts from your course readings and viewings this week.
What are the similarities and differences to outdoor air quality management? Make sure to tackle the issues of noise, mold, CO, and particulates at the minimum.
Is CO2 an issue for indoor air quality? Why or why not?
What are the standards and regulations for indoor air quality management?
DQ2 Critical analysis of an ad that claims they have the solution to air quality problems and establishing an IAQ program
(1) What do you think of the ad for the Air Visual Node advertisement of their air quality monitor? Yes, I had you look at an ad!
a. Was there any misinformation in the ad? What were the connections they wanted you to make that were a bit “loose”?
b. What does the AirVisual Node’s smartest air quality monitor actually monitor?
c. What are the sources for those pollutants that they monitor?
d. The AirVisual Node ad said they have the solution to the air quality problem. What is their solution?
(2) Your reading about Indoor Air Quality this week discussed establishing Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) programs for building and facility management. Does your place of work have an IAQ program? If so, please provide the basics of your workplace IAQ and how it compares to your EPA website reading this week. If you do not have an IAQ, share what you thought were the most interesting aspect(s) of the IAQ. What types of monitoring does the IAQ program require? What are guidelines for corrective actions when monitoring indicates there is a problem?
(3) One former student stated her workplace should have an IAQ program because “We have four small offices within the building and at least one individual in each office uses a space heater during these colder months. These heaters are always on. Space heaters are a source of carbon monoxide.” This student assumes that all space heaters are a source of CO. Are they? Do you agree with this student that her workplace should have an IAQ program? Why or why not?
DQ3 Thinking about optimal policies for indoor air quality management
Under Topic 1 this week, we discussed the drivers (sources of emissions), the pressure (emissions), and the impact of indoor air pollutants. Under Topic 2, we discussed one policy option to indoor air quality management – establishing an indoor air quality (IAQ) program. Let’s think outside the box and think more creatively about optimal indoor air quality management. What are your thoughts about having proactive in place of reactive policies
Source: https://www.gjesm.net/article_20581.html
What were past responses to poor indoor air quality and what do you think are optimal policies to tackle this issue? Please make sure to use content from classroom readings and discussions to provide thoughtful integrative answers to this question. How does your suggestion relate to the major drivers, pressures, and impact of poor indoor air quality, targeting specific indoor air pollutants that we know need to be addressed holistically.
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