Air Quality Impacts: Increased Air Pollution from Increased Energy Use
Our continued reliance on fossil fuels creates a vicious cycle of pollution. As we burn coal and oil in our power plants and
factories and gasoline in our cars, we worsen chronic air pollution problems such as acid rain and urban smog — and we
cause global warming. In turn, global warming will serve to exacerbate air pollution. A number of studies demonstrate that
surface- level ozone concentrations and fine particulate (PM10) pollution will increase with a rise in temperature (Cline, 1992,
p. 130; EPA, 1989, p. 205). In addition, higher temperatures accelerate the oxidation rates of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxide to sulfuric and nitric acids, the precursors of acid rain (Gery, et al., 1987).7
More air pollution will require increased costs for pollution control. For example, the EPA projects that the aggregate cost to
reduce additional volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by the amount necessary to keep ozone standards constant could be as
much as $3.5 billion ($1989) each year (U.S. EPA, 1989, p. 215). Of course, the direct costs of mitigating pollution reflect
only part of the price society must pay for environmental degradation. Air pollution imposes significant costs on society —
disease and death; damage to forests, crops, and buildings; and diminished tourism. For example, the effect of ozone pollution
on crops alone could result in annual losses of up to $5.8 billion (MacKenzie and Mohamed, p. 300). Air pollution is also
responsible for a number of human health problems, including respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
According to Dr. Joel Schwartz, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, current air pollution concentrations are responsible
for 70,000 early deaths per year and over 100,000 excess hospitalizations for heart and lung disease in the U.S. This could
increase 10 to 20 percent in the U.S. as a result of global warming, with significantly greater increases in countries that are
more polluted to begin with (Schwartz, September 11-12, 1995).
By lowering greenhouse gas emissions through a reduction in our use of fossil fuels, we will see twin benefits — less global
warming and lower levels of air pollution.
sierraclub.org |
