http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair just how bad is it? Tue, 27 May 2008 08:52:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Today 27 May 2008 Beijing's API is 463, the worst of this year so far. People often ask me if i think the situation is getting any better, but unfortunately i don't think it is. Let's look at the numbers for this year, keeping in mind that the yearly average API ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=77 Over the last 3 months it has been tempting to think that the air quality in Beijing was actually improving since the start of the year, but the last weeks have been as bad as we are used to. The graph below shows the daily API values in blue, with a black trend ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=75 Beijing is seeing an unusually long series of 'blue sky days', today is the 8th one in a row (SEPA API 21-28 Jan), but you may have noticed the air smells of sulphur more than usual. Indeed for the last 4 days (25-28 Jan) SEPA is reporting SO2 as the ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=74 The New York Times reports that the USA olympic team will bring up to 1000 air pollution face masks to Beijing, and it seems this is not the first time: United States triathletes wore masks in China last September, but removed them before competing. They stepped off the bus looking like ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=73 Today's API is 66 only, much lower than the last 3 days, probably because of the snow that cleared out the air last night. Interesting to note however that the main polluting substance was not PM10 (fine dust) as it is 99% of the time, but SO2 (sulphur dioxide) first ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=72 This article of the China Daily reports the dramatic last days of the year at the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau when it looked like they would not reach the target of 245 blue sky days for 2007. They mention that the target for 2008 will be 11 more days (256 ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=70 Chinese media report that from 1 Jan 2008 Beijing has adopted the China IV fuel standard, which means all gasoline and diesel sold in the city should comply with EURO IV. This will further reduce SO2 emissions (and according to the graphs on our emissions page also the PM and Nox), ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=69 Yesterday the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy awarded London and Paris an award for their efforts to increase the livability of their city. London's congestion charge is a great success, inspiring many cities around the world (including perhaps Shenzhen?). Congestion has dropped 21% and bus ridership increased 45% as ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=68 Yesterday 13 January 2008 Miyun Reservoir reported an API of 13, lowest of the 27 stations in Beijing (the lowest value this year was 12, also in Miyun on 1 Jan). Not so surprising as you can see from the below picture of the reservoir i took yesterday; difficult to consider ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=67 What i reported below seems to be nothing new under the sun; the New York Times carried an article yesterday referring to a study that says: ..the city changed its method for measuring pollution in 2006. In particular, officials stopped including readings from two stations in polluted areas and began using ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=65