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News headlines November
2008
£1.5m Teom spending spree
Defra has chosen Air Monitors to supply 70 Teom FDMS’s for the national
air quality monitoring network. 35 are already in place, the rest will be
installed by the end of the year.
Teom 1400 lives on
The old style 1400 Teom will continue to be available
More details emerge on Defra derogations
Speaking at the recent Epuk air quality update meeting held in
Birmingham, Defra’s Jonathan Lartice revealed further details on how the
Government intends to take forward ‘compliance flexibility’ – essentially a
three year derogation from meeting the EU air quality directive.
Sanctions sought
The Campaign for Clean Air in London (CCAL) is encouraging the European
Commission to take the UK to court for failing to meet its air quality
obligations.
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www.cleanairinlondon.org
Guidance nears on biomass installations
Ruth Calderwood of the City of London told the Epuk conference held in
Birmingham about the development of guidance for biomass boilers.
Air quality Beacon year ends
The Beacon year is now over – but there is still some life in them yet,
Sefton’s Gary Mahoney told the Epuk air quality update in Birmingham last
month.
Agencies gears up for global warming
The Epuk conference in Birmingham last month heard how the Environment
Agency is attempting to integrate climate change into industrial permitting.
All change – Shaw out, Hunt in
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s recent Cabinet shake up sees air quality
and noise minister Jonathan Shaw moving on. He had been in office for a year
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www.decc.gov.uk
Agency solicits views on Monckton
works
The Environment Agency is consulting directly with local residents to
see whether they are happy with levels of nuisance emissions from the
Royston Monckton Coke and Chemical site near Barnsley.
Camden welcomes portable fuel cell pack
Camden has revealed details of a hydrogen fuel cell generator which can
be used to power roadside emissions testing equipment. It is offering to
lend the equipment to other London boroughs. .
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Further details email gloria . esposito @ camden . gov . uk
Royal Society targets ozone ...
The Royal Society says ozone is a growing problem and that current
emission controls are not enough to reduce concentrations.
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Ground-level ozone in the 21st century: future trends, impacts and policy
implications http://royalsociety.org
..as WHO also notes need to work
harder
The World Health Organisation’s European centre has produced a report on
the health risks of ozone.
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Health risks of ozone from long-range transboundary air pollution
www.euro.who.int
WHO prompt child exposure summary
WHO has set out a table of exposure of children to particle pollution.
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www.enhis.org
Monitors spread the message
Air Monitors has teamed up with Solus to provide a broadcasting system
aimed at spreading air quality messages to the public.
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www.airmonitors.co.uk
Design guide launched for waste
facilities
Guidance has been released on good design for waste facilities.
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www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/facilities.htm
£10m for 100 low emission vehicles
£10m of funding from the Technology Strategy Board will be used to
launch 100 ultra low carbon demonstration vehicles to be on roads by end of
2009.
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Further details available on the Technology Strategy Board website –
www.innovateuk.org
Renewable fears from Epuk
Air quality issues have not been covered sufficiently, Epuk says in its
response to the Government’s Renewable Energy Strategy consultation
Benn visits Epuk in Brighton
Environment minister Hilary Benn has visited Epuk in Brighton.
Fresh air walking for west London
West London is launching an internet site that suggests fresh air
walking routes to encourage people to leave their cars at home.
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www.walkit.com/showcase
www.westlondonairquality.org.uk
Use more traps
Particle trap makers have come together to call on the Government to
adopt guidance for local authorities to reduce emissions from construction
and demolition sites.
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www.eic-uk.co.uk
Cranfield call
Next year’s Department of Health/HPA indoor and outdoor air pollution
research workshop will be held at Cranfield University on 20-21 April.
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www.le.ac.uk/ieh
Electric potential
Cenex and Arup have recently completed a study of the scope of the UK
transport sector to switch to electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
This study considers a wide range of issues relevant to the development and
roll out of electric vehicles.
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www.berr.gov.uk/files/file48653.pdf
Travelbuster launch
Epuk has launched a new online travel calculator to encourage kids to
walk to school.
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www.travelbuster.org.uk
California gets tough
Californian legislators have proposed new rules to tackle truck
emissions.
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www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/newsrel.htm
Emissions report out
A new NAEI report presents the latest estimates of emissions to the
atmosphere from the UK for the period 1970 to 2006.
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UK Emissions of air pollutants 1970 to 2006 can be viewed on the reports
section of www.airquality.co.uk
Climate challenge
As Beacons move on from air quality, the City of London is one of the
authorities nominated as a climate beacon.
Ships cut emissions
The International Maritime Organisation’s Marine Environment Protection
Committee (MEPC) has agreed revised pollution limits for shipping.
More Heathrow woes
Opposition to the continued expansion of Heathrow is building up. US
wood burners US wood stove makers have agreed to cuts in emissions.
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Further information
www.epa.gov/woodheaters
Oldies for IAQM
The Institute of Air Quality Management has decided to accept fellowship
applications.
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www.iaqm.co.uk
Data done
2006 1x1km CO2 emissions data is now available by local authority area.
Also 2006 1x1km emissions data has been posted on the NAEI data warehouse.
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www.naei.org.uk
Fees set out for LAPC
Defra has outlined the level of charges that can be levied by councils
for their industrial regulation activities.
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Consultation on local authority environmental regulation of industrial
plant: 2009/10 fees and charges can be viewed on
www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/localauth-plantfees09-10/index.htm
Biomass shift?
Allan Jones, appointed by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone to promote
renewable energy on new developments through London Development Agency, has
left his job.
Motorcycles tested
DfT has just released a 2004 report assessing the performance and
exhaust emissions for motorcycles over three different emission drive
cycles.
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Motorcycle exhaust emissions factors and test cycles programme: final report
can be viewed on
www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/environment/research/cqvcf/ricardomotorcycleemissions.pdf
US lead tightened
The US has tightened its standard on lead.
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www.epa.gov/air/lead/actions.html
Good practice
The review and assessment website has recently been updated with a
number of good practice examples of Round 3 progress reports and detailed
assessments.
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More details on the review and assessment helpdesk website
www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/review
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