Does ground level Ozone contribute to Global Warming?
For the scientists in the audience. Does ground level Ozone contribute to Global Warming? If so, then shouldn’t we do everything we can to reduce ground level Ozone? Sort of a two for one special, help your health and help the planet.
Ozone is a good thing if it is high in the atmosphere. There would be no life without the protective shield of Ozone around the planet. When Ozone is lower near the ground it is one of the chief components of smog. Here in East Tennessee we used to live in one of the best places anywhere on this planet but in the last ten years Knoxville has Ozone concentrations that are in the top ten worst in America.
Michael Silence wrote on February 23, 2005, “”Diesel & Health in America: The Lingering Threat” ranks Knox County in the top 10 percent of counties nationwide in adverse health effects from diesel pollution.”
What has been the response from our elected leaders? The Orange Route and the new Interstate I-3 from Savannah. More ground level Ozone, more sprawl, and of course more ground level Ozone. But what is more important, economic development or your health? When you don’t vote you give your answer by proxy.
I know of three things that will dramatically lower ozone in our valley. The first is scrubbers on TVA coal power plants. Some progress has been made but much more needs to be done.
The second is low sulfur coal for TVA coal power plants It costs more on the front end but actually saves money in the final result. Compared to the implementation of scrubbers it is a bargain.
The third is low sulfur diesel fuel for trucks. Many people think biodiesel is the answer but bio-diesel is such a small percentage it hasn’t made much of a difference. Biodiesel is good for recycling food oil that would be wasted but it is more of a politically correct overture than a real solution.
Between our national government and private industry real solutions have been delayed to effectively do something about air pollution in East Tennessee and perhaps even Global Warming. But that delay results in higher health care costs and is merely a transfer cost to individual citizens.
Low sulfur diesel is just beginning to be sold. It should have been available four years ago. There is always an excuse to put off what needs to be done. How do we expect anything to be done on Global Warming when the track record is so poor in solving our local East Tennessee problems with Air Pollution?
My point is this, our local air quality has a more immediate affect on your life and health than global warming does. At least at this point in time. When do we decide to think and act locally?
What does your pick for the U.S. Senate have to say about air pollution in East Tennessee?
July 21st, 2006 at 8:50 pm
The problems with the initial low sulfur diesel was that with the process of refining out the sulfur cause all the lubricating qualities to be refined out also. This is pretty hard on the engines. Early solutions I’ve heard of were to add two-cycle oil and also seek out injection pumps that were rated to run K1 kerosene.
Another early problem (first seen in California) was that the vast majority of gaskets in use didn’t like the new stuff. In fact, one of the side effects of the initial low sulfur fuel over on the left coast was that without the most volatile components, it had the effect of drying up a bunch of very important o-rings. So in the effort to clean the air, a whole bunch of diesels started spilling fuel all over the road. Not exactly what they had in mind, I’m sure.
It was the same deal when they took out the lead in gas. There was a bunch of older equipment still out there on the road.
Latest fun thing from reformulated fuel: It seems that the ethanol is dissolving through the fiberglass tanks on some boats. Fun.
July 21st, 2006 at 8:52 pm
That’s the ethanol in the new reformulated gas, BTW.
July 22nd, 2006 at 5:59 pm
It was the same deal when they took out the lead in gas. There was a bunch of older equipment still out there on the road.
How difficult is it to find an additive for the older trucks?
No one wants the trucks to be harmed but this is very similar to the time when they took lead out of gas. The .Gov took forever to do that but it was a huge improvement. Truckers said it would ruin engines.
The current idea is dual tanks at truck stops. If the low sulfur fuel costs more, even a nickle more a gallon, who will buy it? We need to make some real steps on dealing with Ozone pollution. I am Anti-Kyoto treaty but we as a country need to get going.
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Dude, My first car was a ’73. It was designed to take either unleaded or leaded gas. I remember being able to buy leaded gas up till at least ’86. That’s over a decade of phase in.
When I was talking about the engines dumping diesel all over the highway, it was specifically those early ’80 or so normally aspired VW rabbit engines. The cure, oddly enough, was to add 10% straight pump gas to the diesel. That made the mix volatile enough to keep those o-rings fluid tight, while still not being volatile enough to detonate.
There’s very few of those un-rebuilt 25+ year old engine still in service, which was my point. You gotta phase that stuff in.
One other thing. This isn’t “low-sulfur” fuel, it’s “ultra-low sulfur”. It’s a further reduction in the sulfur content in fuel.
Again. I’m not saying I don’t support it, I’m just saying that that you need to phase it in.
You could charge an extra nickel for the higher sulfur fuel, and cut taxes by a nickel for the ultra low sulfur stuff. This way there would be an incentive to overhaul, you would be guaranteed to save 10 cents a gallon.
July 25th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Um, I hate to nitpick here, but SOx emissions aren’t related to ozone formation.
SOx is a contributing factor in acid precipitation. Ozone pollution is caused by NOx and hydrocarbon emissions and most importantly, stagnant air and sunlight, which is why ozone is a problem only in June, July and August — the hottest, sunniest months.
Cleaning up SOx emissions will help reduce air pollution. But it won’t put a dent in ozone.