Looking out my window right now at 2am in the morning, all I see is misty fog where I would usually see a city here in Beijing. I really don't see how more mist would help. They need a big giant freaking fan to create wind...powered by coal, of course, just for purposes of irony.
Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
21–30 of 105 posts
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#22I wonder if a bigger version of this could be built to inject a cloud of ash into the atmosphere to help mitigate climate change [1].
[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/david_keith_s_surprising_ideas_on_...
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#23Wouldn't spraying water into air with sulfur oxides just create acid rain?
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#24Why do the cities pay for them? Why aren't the coal-burning energy utility companies paying for them, out of pocket?
> Why aren't the coal-burning energy utility companies paying for them, out of pocket?
Because no-one has the power to make them, I think. If it's easier (and probably cheaper) to take measures to address the problem yourself than it is to force compliance, then that's the sensible way to go.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#25Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
When the root cause is bad government that can't enforce environmental laws due to corruption...and you are the government who doesn't want to change (say by more accountability via elections and a free press), looking for something that instead treats the symptoms is attractive. Make no mistake, China's pollution problem is very much a political one.
India's pollution is as bad, if not worse: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/02/india-v...
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#26Looking out my window right now at 2am in the morning, all I see is misty fog where I would usually see a city here in Beijing. I really don't see how more mist would help. They need a big giant freaking fan to create wind...powered by coal, of course, just for purposes of irony.
It's for dust control, which is one source of the problem. Maybe not so much in Beijing.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#27I wonder if a bigger version of this could be built to inject a cloud of ash into the atmosphere to help mitigate climate change [1]. [1] https://www.ted.com/talks/david_keith_s_surprising_ideas_on_...
I think it would safer and more prudent to move away as quickly as possible from fossil fuels as primary fuel sources.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#28Mist may be able to "catch" the visible particles and go to some length to then putting it into groundwater, but all of the dangerous stuff is in the small particulates that will remain in the air.
Out of sight, out of mind seems to the aim of this.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#29Mist may be able to "catch" the visible particles and go to some length to then putting it into groundwater, but all of the dangerous stuff is in the small particulates that will remain in the air. Out of sight, out of mind seems to the aim of this.
Even small particles will be reduced by misting/spraying water.
I have worked in industrial settings and water is surprisingly effective in reducing airborne particulates.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#30Wouldn't spraying water into air with sulfur oxides just create acid rain?
I was thinking the same thing... Is the cannon supposed to somehow disperse the sulfur oxides? Or is that not how it works?