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Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

bbc.com

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Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#61

Post by energy123 »

Aurornis wrote: post #60
ecshafer wrote: post #3

Anecdata I was living very close to a busy highway, and my young daughter was wheazing when she had a cold, we had to give her medicine via a nebulizer. When we moved out to the country more, far away from any major roads, these issues all disappeared within a couple months.

Living very close to busy highways is known to generate poor air quality. I recommend anyone in those locations buy an air purifier for their kids' rooms. I bought a couple reasonably priced HEPA purifiers and I change the filters on schedule. Replacement HEPA filters are very cheap. Also watch out for things that we do indoors that can generate bad air quality. I had a friend who bought a VOC meter and noticed very…

It's a good start, but for VOCs and gases you'll need activated carbon. Those 2-in-1 filters do exist but cost more. And many are scams because they don't have enough volume of activated carbon.

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#62

Post by trial_version »

subygan wrote: post #42

completely anecdotal. my earliest childhood memories in india were of asthma, sinusitis and constant cold. this was consistent until i was 26 and since then I've moved to the US and lived in New York with 0 days of sinusitis or breathing trouble. and i fallback to trouble breathing when i go home again. even New York is so much more better than Bangalore or my small village in the middle of coffee farms

During my childhood, I lived across the street from a brewery. I suffered from chronic sinusitis for years, and no one understood the cause. When I moved to a different part of town, the problem immediately stopped. The same thing happened to one of my classmates who lived in the apartments next to me.

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#63

Post by jabl »

simonsquiff wrote: post #51
XorNot wrote: post #5

So punchline, probably a good idea to electrify all the cars yeah?

100%, and not just due to no emissions / minimal break dust. The noise reduction is a massive dividend. I used to live in london 10+ years ago, and when I come back I’m stunned by the noise difference, it really is so much quieter especially in central london. EVs everywhere especially replacing the horribly noisy diesel black cabs and buses. Very noticeably different and much more pleasant, and improving all the tim…

Absolutely.

It's annoying though that EV's need that extra Darth Vader on wheels sound to warn pedestrians, I'd prefer them to be as quiet as possible.

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#64

Post by testing22321 »

6LLvveMx2koXfwn wrote: post #55
jillesvangurp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs use regenerative braking. So they hardly produce any brake particulates. And the tire particulates are heavy so they don't stay airborn for nearly as long. At low speeds, tires don't wear out as quickly. Europe has quite a few cities where traffic is increasingly discouraged from going to the inner cities. Cities like Paris and London are much transformed from what they used to be and it shows in the health stati…

There is a generator at the end of my street in a shipping container sized metal box, it also has a mini office and loo, and is used by the construction workers digging holes in the road. It has company spiel written on the side, promoting the box's environmental credentials, including the punchline: 'Zero NOX when generator not in use'. No shit Sherlock.

I look forward to the day coke is marketed as “zero fat!”

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#65

Post by Sha1rholder »

energy123 wrote: post #61
Aurornis wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living very close to busy highways is known to generate poor air quality. I recommend anyone in those locations buy an air purifier for their kids' rooms. I bought a couple reasonably priced HEPA purifiers and I change the filters on schedule. Replacement HEPA filters are very cheap. Also watch out for things that we do indoors that can generate bad air quality. I had a friend who bought a VOC meter and noticed very…

It's a good start, but for VOCs and gases you'll need activated carbon. Those 2-in-1 filters do exist but cost more. And many are scams because they don't have enough volume of activated carbon.

Why would they cut corners? Activated carbon isn’t expensive.

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#66

Post by dave7 »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #14
satvikpendem wrote: post #4

Using scientists being "stunned" should take the same amount of relevance as someone being "slammed" in article titles.

Smokers don't magically undo the damage they did to their lungs after they stop smoking. Stunned might be hyperbole, but it is at least a little bit surprising.

They absolutely do! Not all the way, but if you'd have smoked a pack a day for 15 years and then have given up for the last 15, there's absolutely no way you'd be saying this!

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#67

Post by bcraven »

theplumber wrote: post #56
JayShower wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about biking near a highway? E.g. in Chicago the lakeshore bike trail is next to a busy 8 lane highway

I remember I’ve read somewhere that jogging is actually net harmful for health in the city due the air pollution.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10817787/How-ch...

Generations of men have been taught that when walking with a woman on a pavement, they should always take the side closer to the road allowing her to keep further away from the traffic.

But Dr Iarla Kilbane-Dawe claimed that Londoners should avoid walking too near the kerb because on busy streets, air pollution can be up to a third higher than on the inside of the pavement.

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#68

Post by [deleted] »

smcin wrote: post #57
roughly wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine does research on air pollution from cars - the TL;DR is you should not live within a third of a mile of a highway. The falloff is pretty sharp, but you don't want to be in that zone.

Doesn't it depend on the mix of diesel/petrol/electric? In particular many cities ban or restrict diesel.

[deleted]

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#69

Post by jabl »

smashah wrote: post #36
stuaxo wrote: post #2

I've needed my inhaler way less since the ULEZ came in. Visiting London used to mean blowing your nose to black snot for a week afterwards, these days living in London it's pretty good.

Pretty sure that's due to the tube.

What's so uniquely bad about the tube in London? Poor ventilation and brake dust?

Re: Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone

#70

Post by throwaway89201 »

6LLvveMx2koXfwn wrote: post #55
jillesvangurp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs use regenerative braking. So they hardly produce any brake particulates. And the tire particulates are heavy so they don't stay airborn for nearly as long. At low speeds, tires don't wear out as quickly. Europe has quite a few cities where traffic is increasingly discouraged from going to the inner cities. Cities like Paris and London are much transformed from what they used to be and it shows in the health stati…

There is a generator at the end of my street in a shipping container sized metal box, it also has a mini office and loo, and is used by the construction workers digging holes in the road. It has company spiel written on the side, promoting the box's environmental credentials, including the punchline: 'Zero NOX when generator not in use'. No shit Sherlock.

Might instead refer to a start-stop / battery backup kind of system, where idling-but-on doesn't burn any fuel, but sudden loads can still be serviced.
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