Saturday, January 24, 2015

Air Quality

Last week, Jay Leno appeared on the Bill Maher's Real Time.  I've never been much of a Jay Leno watcher and don't know much about him, but apparently he's very knowledgeable about cars.  The segment got under way with a discussion of our surprisingly low fuel prices over the last month.  Leno predicted the reason for the price drop was that we are driving smarter, more fuel efficient cars.  There are probably 20 million more cars on the road than there were ten years ago but we are using less fuel.
He gave an interesting comparison about how our cars have changed over the years.  A 1977 Ford Galaxy parked on the road with the engine off pollutes the air more than a new car driving down the road at 65 mph.  The paint used on the Galaxy alone pollutes the air.  Our cars are being built better and therefore our pollution has actually been greatly reduced over the last 20-30 years. And in a city like Los Angeles, where we are addicted to our cars and have very limited public transportation, that reduction in pollution does say something about those pesky regulations that have been placed on cars over the last several years.
Leno referenced not being able to see the mountains when he first moved out here in the mid 70s due to the smog we had here.  Having been born in the 70s, I have actually witnessed the reversed pollution that has taken place over the last several years.  I vividly remember looking out towards the mountains, any of them, and have them be just covered in a haze of brown smog.  Our air was BROWN.  It would sock itself in The Valley (the mountains corralling it in), and you could literally see the air.
There were many days when, as a kid who played outside for hours, it would hurt to breathe.  A deep breath would seize up your lungs.  When telling our parents about how our chests hurt after running and playing, they would say things like, "It's the smog.  Try taking smaller breaths," or, "Don't breathe too deeply when you're outside."  We had been the most polluted city for so many years, it was just the norm.
But now, it is a rare day to see the brown haze hanging over our heads, and I can't tell you the last time my chest hurst.  We are still a heavily polluted city in other types of pollutants, but so much less of it comes from our cars.  But it does always make me chuckle when, once-in-a-blue moon, poor air quality is calculated and we have to keep our school kids inside the buildings.  The announcement is given via the PA system.  It makes me roll more eyes.  Air quality?  You have got to be kidding me.  If  your chest ain't hurting when you breathe, it's fine!


13 comments:

  1. If you type in LA smog you get a vision of the city that was horrible. And it seems there was no oil power station in the city. I thought there was a few, but it seems not.

    I need to read more before I can fully comment.

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    1. Ya, it was bad. And they say the 60s were even worse than the 70s.
      This article is pretty good at briefly explaining the history and how we went from worse to sorta bad. :)
      http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/we-used-be-china/la-smog-battle-against-air-pollution

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    2. I still think LA was burning high sulfur fuel oil from the wells in town to power the lights. But I cannot find a reference, dammit. Memory is dodgy on this maybe.
      Going mountain bound, hopefully the wind will blow the dross and reveal the kernel.

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    3. I'm not coming up with anything either, and I have no idea one way or the other. But I wonder, would it be called something different here? High sulfur fuel oil wasn't coming up with much when I searched that term.

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    4. I'm almost certain it was in the National Geographic.

      Anyhoo's. Data from my forays into late nite tv.
      Leno is a car buff. He has a huge collection of them. Just a question though, was there scrubbers on the AC back then to filter the air.

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    5. I'm assuming you mean AC in the car? And I don't know the answer to that. Or did you mean our central AC?
      Yes, apparently he IS a motorhead. :) I don't much care for his schtick, but I found him being interviewed was interesting - he's interesting.

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    6. No, I mean in the house. If the air was that polluted outside, it was inside too.

      What I find tedious with Leno et al is they have a guest and are far far more interested in their own next bon mot so they don't actually hear the guest.

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    7. From what I know about it, which granted isn't much, central air doesn't contribute to the pollution problem other than its excessive use of electricity. But it's not emitting anything pollution worthy into the air. From my understanding about that time after WW 2 until the 60s there was the huge boom in people, industry, and cars. In addition the garbage incinerators, which were outlawed in the 60s I think, were commonplace for most households.
      In addition to all the carmaker regulations, we also have to get our cars SMOG checked in order to register them/renew their license. Any car older than 5 years has to be checked by a certified checker every other year to be sure it isn't polluting more than it's regulated to do so. It's a big pain, and a cost which the car owner pays in addition to the registration, but it does really limit the number of cars that are blowing smoke out their exhaust pipe or hood of the car.

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  2. I remember when we had to stop using our incinerator in the back yard because of smog....that was sometime in the late 50's or early 60's. Smog was an everyday thing back then.

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    1. Yes, I've heard about that being a large contributor to the cause as well. We weren't doing that in the 70s as I think by then it had been stopped. We still have some of the worst aq in the world, but after 20+ years of that common brown haze, the air seems beautiful to me - Just having more blue sky than not.

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  3. I guess the fact I've lived in a small town/rural area the majority of my life, smog is beyond my comprehension!

    (I can't believe I haven't popped over here from Vince's blog sooner!)

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    1. Welcome!
      One of a few pluses to living outside the city. Sometimes the small town life sounds very appealing! :)

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  4. such a horrible thought.. to think you couldn't take a deep breath when outdoors..

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