Emerging Indoor Air Quality Issues In Developing Countries

indoor air quality
In terms of aggregate health effects, household solid fuel use is currently the most important source of indoor air pollution in developing countries. Although relatively equitable economic and rural development has contributed to reducing the use of solid fuels in some settings (e.g., in some newly industrialized Asian countries), indoor air pollution is likely to remain an important health risk in poorer developing countries in the absence of successful intervention programs. More broadly, indoor air quality issues in developing countries are dynamic phenomena that require dynamic research and policy responses. (more…)

Health Effects Of Exposure To Indoor Smoke

indoors smoke
Exposure to indoor air pollution from the combustion of solid fuels has been implicated, with varying degrees of evidence, as a causal agent of several diseases in developing countries. In a review of the epidemiological evidence for the health effects of indoor smoke from solid fuels, Bruce et al. concluded that, despite some methodological limitations, epidemiological studies provide compelling evidence of causality for acute respiratory infections (ARI) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This is reinforced by experimental data, studies of pathogenesis, and indirect evidence from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and ambient air pollution studies. (more…)

Health Benefits Of Household Energy Transitions

household energy consumption
Reducing exposure to indoor air pollution from household energy use can be achieved through interventions in of the following areas:

* Emissions source and energy technology (fuel– stove combination).
* Housing design and ventilation.
* Behavior and time–activity budget. (more…)

Primary Energy Use and Clean Coal Technology

clean coal technology
Transportation is another sector that has increased its relative share of primary energy use. This sector has serious concerns as it is a significant source of CO2 emissions and other airborne pollutants, and it is almost totally based on oil as its energy source. An important aspect of future changes in transportation depends on what happens to the available oil resources, production and prices. At present, 95% of all energy for transportation comes from oil. (more…)

Global Energy Consumption & Energy Demand in Electricity and Transportation

global energy demand
Global energy consumption in the last half century has increased very rapidly and is expected to continue to grow over the next 50 years. However, we expect to see significant differences between the last 50 years and the next. The past increase was stimulated by relatively “cheap” fossil fuels and increased rates of industrialization in North America, Europe, and Japan; yet while energy consumption in these countries continues to increase, additional factors are making the picture for the next 50 years more complex. These additional complicating factors include the very rapid increase fuel economy in energy use in China and India (countries representing about a third of the world’s population); the expected depletion of oil resources in the not-too-distant future; and the effect of human activities on global climate change. (more…)

UK Energy Demand: The United Kingdom Trends in Energy

uk energy demand
The long-term prospects for the U.K. economy are inevitably uncertain, and the most recent Department of Energy long-term projection puts forward three scenarios for the next 30 years with GDP growth rates of roughly 2.5, 1.5 and 0.5% p.a. The highest value corresponds to slightly less than the 1948 - 72 average, the central value is close to the long-run average over the last 80 years, and the lowest figure is similar to the performance during the current recession since 1973. (more…)

Nuclear Generating Capacity In The United Kingdom

nuclear united kingdom
Following the recent completion of three nuclear power plants, there is now some 9.6 GW of nuclear capacity in the United Kingdom. The nuclear share of electrical output, which has stood at around 13% for many years, should rise to around 20% when this capacity is in full operation. A further two reactors are currently under construction which will increase the British nuclear capacity to more than 12 GW by the late 1980s, which could bring the nuclear share of electrical output to around 25%. (more…)

Household Fuel Use Patterns In Developing Countries

Indoor air quality (IAQ) research deals with the presence, levels, health effects, and control of physical, chemical, and biological factors in indoor environments, including homes, workplaces, and vehicles. IAQ research in industrialized countries has examined hundreds of specific factors (e.g., temperature, various chemicals, and mold), sources of pollution environment (e.g., environmental tobacco smoke, occupational factors, consumer cleaning products, and moisture), and control technologies (e.g., ventilation). (more…)

Acidic Deposition Formation and Trends of Acid Rains

Acidic Deposition
The formation of acidic deposition is largely from the combustion of fossil fuels and the smelting of sulfide ores. Minor natural sources exist such as the formation of hydrochloric and sulfuric acid from gaseous volcanic eruptions.

There are well over 100 gaseous and aqueous phase reactions that can lead to acid formation and more than fifty oxidizing agents and catalysts may be involved. However, in the simplest terms sulfur in fuels is oxidized to SO2 , and SO2 in the atmosphere is further oxidized and hydrolyzed to sulfuric acid. Most nitric acid is formed by the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) to NOx (NO and NO2) during high temperature combustion emissions, followed by further oxidation and hydrolysis that produces nitric acid in the atmosphere. (more…)

Income Tax and Energy Supply: Tax Codes Credit for Energy Production

income tax energy
Various provisions in the federal income tax treat energy producers more or less favorably than other businesses. By changing the after-tax rate of return on investments in the energy sector, the Tax Code may alter the long-run supply of specific types of energy.

In general, the income of all participants in the energy sector is subject to income tax of one form or another. Two notable exceptions arise in the generation and sale of electricity. Governmental agencies (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Bonneville Power Administration, and municipally owned power companies) account for approximately 14 percent of the electricity sold in the United States. (more…)

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