Pollution and Transport

Topic: Transport related to pollution
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Abstract
Transport came to the lime light of the pollution debate after the issue of pollution from sooty smog from the burning of coal got to be solved. Since solving of the issue, emissions that ensue from the transport sector including motor vehicles, jets, and trains have been the main contributors to the pollution of the air. The effects of the emissions affect the urbanites health conditions, in addition to affecting the production, of ozone in the troposphere. This research paper considers the impacts of the various forms of transport to the atmosphere. The paper looks at the relationships between; urban land traffic, that is road and rail, in relation to the human health. It also looks at the relationship between emissions from the jets and the global change. In the last part of this paper, it looks at the role played by the emissions from ships and the relationship between the emissions and the deposition of acidic sulphur oxides. The examples that get to be discussed in this level get to be considered with a degree of uncertainty since the three sectors of the economy are dynamic in nature. The paper focuses on the steps that the stakeholders in the environmental conservation are taking through concerted efforts in order to abate the degree of air pollution. Key words found in this paper are motor vehicle emissions, aerosols, impacts on the health, ship emissions and jet emissions(Stephenson, 2010).
Introduction
There is widespread recognition that transport is a significant contributor the pollution of the atmosphere. The environmental authorities world over is aware of the increasing role that gets to be played by all modes of transport that use fossil fuels. The main are of concern for the regulators are in part. The third international symposium on transport and air pollution laid emphasis on the urban transport and the impact it has on the urban air quality. In the most of authoritative researches on the environment, much emphasis gets to be laid on the effect of transport on the urban air even though they mention shipping and other issues relating to air pollution. This paper seeks to look at the issues while laying equal emphasis on the three sectors. Individual case will get to be presented while giving a scientific account on the occurrence of the pollution. The research restricts itself to emission of gases and particles(Stephenson, 2010).
While making an overview of the pollution of the air it is explicit that save for a few modes, most of the modes of transport are responsible for the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere. The only difference between the emissions made by any of the modes is the degree of pollutants found in the fuel used by the mode of transport under consideration. The most significant and common pollutant from the fuels is the carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide comes from complete combustion of the fuel which gets to be attained by ensuring that the combustion chambers of the vehicles have air in excess. This trait is common in the diesel engines lean burning petrol engines(Stephenson, 2010).
However, the combustion in the engines is not complete as most people would like to believe. This leads to emission of carbon monoxide and some percentage of hydrocarbons that are potentially volatile when they get to be released in to the environment in the mixture of exhaust gases. There is also emission of droplets of fuel that has not undergone combustion at all. Most of the fuels have impurities such as sulphur and vanadium. Sulphur in the fuels gets to be oxidized into sulphur dioxide which is acidic. Vanadium is usually not combusted into any form since it requires high pressure. Nitrogen is also burnt into nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide. All the nitrogen oxides are acidic leading to the formation of acidic rain in the event of contact with moisture in the atmosphere(Stephenson, 2010).
The following is an analysis of lifecycle of the emissions that arise from any form of transport. These emissions are just but a fraction of the total air pollution, but they are a considerable one. Most of these emissions take place at the specific time and lace for the transport activity. Over 50% of the emissions that come from the engine of a vehicle come get to be produced during combustion. Carbon dioxide gets also to be produced during the production of the roads. Most of the carbon dioxide that gets to be produced during construction of the roads occurs in the breaking of the stones that make up the concrete that gets to be used in the making of the roads. An additional 10% of the total emissions that come from the transport sector are non carbon. This makes the total emissions that get to be produced at the time of the construction of transport infrastructure and in the actual transport event to be a total of 70%. In addition to the construction of the roads and the actual transport, other works involved with the transport industry like the painting works of the vehicles lead to emission of pollutants into the environment(Stephenson, 2010).
Emissions get to be also produced by the rail cars and the few of electric powered vehicles albeit in a far away production place away from the point of use. The emissions got the concern with the production of power that generates the electricity that powers the vehicles. This is because some of the countries use coal to generate electricity. The coal powered electricity centers get to be bound to produce more sulphur dioxide compared to the one not moving and mobile fuel combustion. This is because the amount of sulphur that gets to be found in coal is greater than the amount found in petroleum. The electric powered vehicles may also be using electricity that gets to be produced by use of nuclear. This may be the only way to attain zero emissions in generation of electricity to power electric cars. However, the attainment of this power for the vehicles is unattainable and dangerous(Stephenson, 2010).
The urban transport is mainly responsible for the extensive air pollution. The air pollution is due to little or no effort from the urban societies in the abatement of the air pollution that resulted from the transport sector. This aspect of the pollution abatement was due to the main focus of the authorities got to be mainly directed towards coal combustion in homes and offices. After the coal got to be replaced by central heating systems, the focus of the pollution debate shifted to the transport sector. This led to a series of enactments aimed at the avoidance of pollution as result of the transport sector. The stakeholders in the pollution debate got to shift their focus on the transport sector in terms of the design of the machines and the emission levels attained. One common transport masterpiece was the Concorde. The plane design focused on the speed that got to be attainable from the plane at the expense of the environmental risk in terms of the carbon emissions. Fortunately the modern aircraft manufacturers are conscious of this factor hence they minimize the carbon emissions from the planes as much as possible(Stephenson, 2010).
Automotive emissions to come into the lime light got impetus from the infamous Los Angeles smog. This came at the time when urban air problem was not a problem at most parts of the world. This soot is different from the one that had been handle in the colder towns found in the temperate cities in Europe. This one was not from the burning of coal in home grills but it was as a result of urban transport industrialization. Unfortunately, the problem is still persistent up to today. This smog got to be produced from the photochemical combination of the of nitrogen oxides with hydrocarbons. The two pollutants constituted the main emissions from the auto mobiles that were increasing in number in the late 1950s and 1960s. The attempts to deal with these effects of the growing number of motor vehicles, there came to be the invention of the catalytic converters that got to be fitted in to the auto mobiles(Stephenson, 2010).
Another evidence of air pollution in the urban areas due to transport was through the sudden acidification. A proof of the acidification came when there got to be witnessed uniform dying of the trees in the highly polluted of East Germany. There was also massive death of the fish that got to be noted to be floating on the surface of the water. Similar death of fish got to be reported in northern America. There was primarily a result of emissions form a coal combustion plant. The focusing on the plant alone failed in bringing a lasting solution. This made the authorities focus on the private vehicles. This served to prove that the authorities had come to the realization that the transport sectors more specifically the ground transport was a substantial cause of air pollution. These pollutants were the precise ones that had caused the deaths of fish and acidifications of leaves(Stephenson, 2010).
In the conclusion of the effects of the ground transport on the air pollution, is a brief insight into the factors that are relevant in determining of the magnitude of the impact of transport on the human beings. There is also an evaluation of the features of air pollution resulting from road transport sector that set it apart from other sources of air pollution. One of the reasons to why the road transport is different from other sector is due to the proximity of emissions to the human beings who are the receptors. This poses a direct danger to the health of the immediate people. This factor also makes it difficult for the atmosphere to dilute the emissions. Furthermore, the issue is aggravated by the design of the streets. The construction of tall buildings by the road sides has an effect of sheltering the road from wind. This ensures that the people who are outside their homes get exposure to the pollutants though the people who spend most of their time indoors do not feel the effect of the sheltered pollutants(Stephenson, 2010).
Impact of air transport on global atmospheric change
Air transport gets to be usually confused to be a considerable impact on the ground pollution in the areas surrounding the airports. However, this assumption is refutable. Various studies that have been conducted have led to an indication that the impact of air transport on the ground gets to be outweighed by the vehicles and ground machines. This assumption gets to be based on the on the big size of the jets. The jets have an impact on the stratosphere since that is the place that they stay for long compared to the ground. The emissions from the jets usually get to be dispersed before the jet settle on the ground(Stephenson, 2010).
The pollution from aviation leads affects the higher altitudes. These places have less atmospheric pressure and due to their location they are relatively pure compared to the ground. This means that a small amount of emissions from the plane is potentially dangerous. The predominant gases from the jets consist mainly of oxygen of nitrogen. These oxides get to be mainly produced during the times when a plane is in flight. The planes also emit water vapor and carbon dioxide. The final product that gets to be emitted as a pollutant is the carbon particles that are the principal basis of the formation of ice nuclei(Stephenson, 2010).
Most of the civilian transport planes are sub sonic. These flights that are in use today fly in the range of the height between 10 to 12 kilometers from the ground. This region gets found in the lower stratosphere in the higher altitudes and troposphere elsewhere. Since civilian supersonic planes are no longer in production, the paper will lay much of its emphasis on the lower stratosphere and the troposphere. Emission of nitrogen oxides in the troposphere leads to the formation of ozone. The artificial ozone may lead to the ozone coming down to the ground level. In the event of the ozone coming to the lower level there is the formation of the photochemical air pollution(Stephenson, 2010).
The ozone has come to have a widespread global effect since it leads to global warming. This is because ozone if a green house gas. This trait about the gas leads to the conservation of the terrestrial radiation. One of the effects of global warming that comes from the ozone is the melting of ice; this ice leads to rising in the ocean level and coastal flooding. The air routes followed by most of the planes get to be found in the Atlantic regions. Hence the northern hemisphere is more affected by the artificial ozone than the southern hemisphere(Stephenson, 2010).
In areas where the planes fly in the stratosphere the effect is totally different from the area where the planes fly in the troposphere. The nitrogen oxides that get emitted lead to the destruction of the natural ozone which acts as the protective shield against ultra violet rays. The emission of solid particles and sulphur dioxide from planes is comparatively negligible to the one produced on the ground. However, the effect that the two types of emissions is realer. Sulphur dioxide gets mixed with water droplets to form dilute sulphuric acid. This acid destroys the ozone through heterogeneous chemical reaction cycles. This partially counters the warming effect from the reactions in the troposphere(Stephenson, 2010).
The above mentioned effects do not have a direct impact on the atmosphere. However, carbon dioxide emissions affect it directly. They lead to the warming of the climate since the carbon dioxide absorbs the infra red radiation. This is potentially risky since carbon dioxide is not a reactive gas. Hence the effect from the gas can be sustained for considerably long durations. Current impacts of the global emissions from the planes are difficult to quantify. This is because the chemical reactions are complex since the reactions are different at different temperatures. Secondly, the emissions that take place in the stratosphere take place at flight paths that got to be highly localized. Hence any of the people placed with the task of studying it they find it difficult to come up with a conventional scale to apply on the study. This make studies conducted to be liable to error(Stephenson, 2010).
Impact of the marine transport on pollution
Shipping has not been affected by the varied rules concerned with the ratification of emission of sulphur. The recommendations for the reduction of marine emissions are dependent on the costs and benefits related to the measure that are being taken into consideration. The emissions of sulphur by the marine industry are dependent on the type of fuel that the industry uses. The main fuels used in the shipping industry are heavy fuels which have a high concentration of sulphur(Stephenson, 2010).
The emissions have an adverse effect on the areas that a have alkaline geology. These acids get to be usually formed when the sulphur oxides get to be mixed with the rain water. The alkaline rocks cannot sustain the acid if it is in excess of the original deposits. Areas that have acidic rocks display traits such as the disruption of flora and fauna. The effects of the acidic depositions are difficult to recover even when there was to be minimal depositions or none at all. This is because the recovery period for a land that has been affected by acidic depositions can take many decades(Stephenson, 2010).
The abatement of the shipping emissions has the potential of reducing acidification in the world. The reduction of the emissions can lead to the benefits that will be accrued by the entire population. Implementation of the controls gets to be concentrated to the shores since the land is the one that gets to be highly affected by the emission of the acidic sulphur emissions(Stephenson, 2010).
In conclusion, the pollution of the air gets to be highly affected by the transport sector. The sector has effects that are unique to the three of the key transport means. The sector that gets to be heavily affected is the urban transport. This leads to the depletion of the immediate environment. The factors that make ground transport be the main heavily affected mode by the air transport is that it is the most utilized transportation mode. The main emissions from the roads are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, fuel droplets, and solid particles. In the air transport the emissions are similar to the ones that come from the auto mobiles. The effects of the emissions in air transport depends on the level at which the plane flies. The effects could be the cooling of the environment or warming. The main emission from the marine transport is the sulphur. The effects of the gases include corrosion of alkaline geology and deterioration of land in the acidic rocked areas. These sources form the main links between pollution and transport(Stephenson, 2010). References
Stephenson, J. (2010). Air pollution: Air quality, visibility, and the potential impacts of coal-fired power plants on great basin national park, Nevada. New York: DIANE Publishing.

References: Stephenson, J. (2010). Air pollution: Air quality, visibility, and the potential impacts of coal-fired power plants on great basin national park, Nevada. New York: DIANE Publishing.