41–50 of 78 posts
Side node: is China doing ok in terms of innovation? If yes, how come in such a regime? I would expect everything to be stuck in bureaucracy.
Side node: is China doing ok in terms of innovation? If yes, how come in such a regime? I would expect everything to be stuck in bureaucracy.
>If yes, how come in such a regime? I would expect everything to be stuck in bureaucracy. Haha you're funny... It's us in the West stuck with bureaucracy. China's growth is unprecedented, with a labor force that's becoming more educated and has always been very hungry for work (no beer or foosball needed). We're finally starting to see engineers and scientists trained here going back after they graduate. For a startu…
I wish there was more than anecdotal evidence for this. China has very strong statistics for their pollution levels that are often recorded in their weather reports. For a project this big, they should be able to quantify the results instead of just relying on what people say about the air :/ EDIT: I'm a dummy, although the article leaves with an anecdotal, there are some nuggets of stats "The average reduction in PM…
Perhaps this will help:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copern...
So... to drop the PM2.5 amount by 15%, this tower must be removing many many tons of particulate matter every day. How is it removed from the filters they speak of? How expensive is that to do? I have some questions about the practicality. On the other hand, I wonder if anyone's ever built a 100m placebo before. It could be a really interesting university study on the placebo effect in disguise.
> many many tons of particulate matter every day Let's do the math. Guidelines state that the limit on PM2.5 particulates is approximately 10 micrograms per cubic meter for an annual average. Xian, where the tower was installed, is currently ( http://aqicn.org/city/xian/ ) under 231 ug/m^3 of pollution. The tower is supposed to process 10 million cubic meters of air per day. 10^7 m^3 x 231 x 10^-6 g/m^3 x 10^-3 g/kg…
The microgram is a very small unit :) I mean, a gram is already pretty dinky, a millionth of it is even tinier! The whole point of these particles is that they're miniscule and can pass through tissue other particles can't, so maybe it's not so surprising that it's not a massive amount when you pile them up.
This may sound like a naive question, but how does this compare to say, trees?
Trees don’t do much for PM2.5. They are a reasonable solution for dust storms, which do generate lots of (but not all) PM10.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223101...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Trees don’t do much for PM2.5. They are a reasonable solution for dust storms, which do generate lots of (but not all) PM10.
Follow up, can you define much here? I am just interested in this, I read this paper as a primer to my own question, and it seems that with proper city and road planning combined with the effect trees have locally on the air quality it seems we could have noticeable improvement, especially during the leafy seasons. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223101...
I don't see Humanity becoming less destructive on the environment, so this represents our future. It would be nice if an outside source could verify its effectiveness
So... to drop the PM2.5 amount by 15%, this tower must be removing many many tons of particulate matter every day. How is it removed from the filters they speak of? How expensive is that to do? I have some questions about the practicality. On the other hand, I wonder if anyone's ever built a 100m placebo before. It could be a really interesting university study on the placebo effect in disguise.
> many many tons of particulate matter every day Let's do the math. Guidelines state that the limit on PM2.5 particulates is approximately 10 micrograms per cubic meter for an annual average. Xian, where the tower was installed, is currently ( http://aqicn.org/city/xian/ ) under 231 ug/m^3 of pollution. The tower is supposed to process 10 million cubic meters of air per day. 10^7 m^3 x 231 x 10^-6 g/m^3 x 10^-3 g/kg…
As for the volume of air, I'm most curious where the 15% measurement was taken and how consistent it was. How far from the tower? How many different places were measured? How many days are in the sample? What's the P-Value?
But still, thanks. Makes this interesting to think about.
Side node: is China doing ok in terms of innovation? If yes, how come in such a regime? I would expect everything to be stuck in bureaucracy.
If anything, it goes to show representative democracy plus unrestrained capitalism is not the only way to run a modern, advanced civilization.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> many many tons of particulate matter every day Let's do the math. Guidelines state that the limit on PM2.5 particulates is approximately 10 micrograms per cubic meter for an annual average. Xian, where the tower was installed, is currently ( http://aqicn.org/city/xian/ ) under 231 ug/m^3 of pollution. The tower is supposed to process 10 million cubic meters of air per day. 10^7 m^3 x 231 x 10^-6 g/m^3 x 10^-3 g/kg…
That's really interesting. Maybe the pm2.5 is less visible than the PM10, but maybe I'm just way way off. As for the volume of air, I'm most curious where the 15% measurement was taken and how consistent it was. How far from the tower? How many different places were measured? How many days are in the sample? What's the P-Value? But still, thanks. Makes this interesting to think about.
I agree, this is very surprising. Before I saw LeifCarrotson's calculation, I would have thought "tons" was the right unit as well. There's so much polluted air, you'd think that it would add up to some significant amount of matter, but apparently not.