1 Chapter 12 Air Resources Engineering 12 1 Identify specific locations near where you live that experience frequent inversions Are there major pollutant sources in that area that might be trapped by the inversion layer Solution Students responses will vary Guidance Typically most people will have first hand experience with ground level inversions only since none of us spend much time at some altitude above ground Locations could include valleys or flat areas that have rapid evening cooling e g deserts Other locations could be on the leeward side of mountain ranges Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and Julie Beth Zimmerman John Wiley Sons New York 2009 2 12 2 Identify a household cleaning product you have around your dormitory apartment or home Referring to the list of chemical ingredients on the package go to the OSHA Web site www osha gov and find the PEL for one of the chemicals listed See if you can also find information on possible health impacts of the chemical Next determine a nonhazardous substitute for the product you have identified The following Web site provides information on natural substitutes for items such as household cleaning pest control and personal care hygiene products www care2 com greenliving Solution Students responses will vary Possible solution Awesome Cleaner has 2 butoxy ethanol listed as its main ingredient Going to the OSHA web page for PEL Limits for Air Contaminants 1910 1000 Table Z 1 Looking at the table 50 ppm is the OSHA legal limit for an eight hour period of exposure Note that NIOSH recommends a 5 ppm exposure limit and ACGIH a 20 ppm limit There are many online references for possible health impacts For 2 butoxy ethanol potential impacts include nose and throat irritation nausea vomiting dizziness headache and diarrhea Long term exposure could cause cancer or damage to liver and kidneys Possible natural replacement a blend of vinegar and water Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and Julie Beth Zimmerman John Wiley Sons New York 2009 3 12 3 Define NAAQS and identify NAAQS pollutants Solution NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards These are concentration based limits that air cannot exceed without triggering health impacts and regulatory penalties upon the region NAAQS Pollutants as of 2008 1 Lead Pb 2 Carbon Monoxide CO 3 Nitrogen Dioxide NO2 4 Sulfur Dioxide SO2 5 Ozone O3 6 Particulate Matter two standards one for particulate matter less than 10 m in diameter PM10 and another for particulate matter less than 2 5 m in diameter PM2 5 Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and Julie Beth Zimmerman John Wiley Sons New York 2009 4 12 4 Go to the World Health Organization s Web site www who org Select a particular air pollutant and write a report of up to two pages on the global magnitude of the problem and what engineered and policy solutions are needed to deal with this problem Solution Students responses will vary Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and Julie Beth Zimmerman John Wiley Sons New York 2009 5 12 5 Investigate sources of hazardous air pollutants emitted near your community Go to Scorecard www scorecard org or a similar Web site to gather data about air pollutant emission The Scorecard site makes the Toxics Release Inventory easily searchable by using your zip code you can find a list of major air polluters in your area For your area identify the top three polluters their emissions pollutant annual emission rate emission trend over the last several years What percent of the emissions are to air relative to other media Solution Students responses will vary Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and Julie Beth Zimmerman John Wiley Sons New York 2009 6 12 6 Emission trends are not the same everywhere Reductions in SO2 have been widespread but not universal from 1980 to 2000 Hypothesize why some states have decreased emissions while others have not Solution Possible state level factors influencing SO2 trends include 1 Population trends 2 Fuels used in energy production e g Appalachian coal 3 Energy conservation policies Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and Julie Beth Zimmerman John Wiley Sons New York 2009 7 12 7 Examine today s national air quality index AQI pattern at the urban area closest to your school see www airnow gov What conditions are causing any patterns you observe Solution Students responses will vary Factors influencing the AQI could include pollutant emission activity stability of atmosphere weather and transport from upwind sources Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and Julie Beth Zimmerman John Wiley Sons New York 2009 8 12 8 Assume you are employed at a large utility company that provides electricity via a network of coal fired power plants Your demographic forecasts suggest that the region to which your company provides power to should experience a 10 percent increase in population over the next decade Unfortunately the region frequently has ambient concentrations of sulfur dioxide near the NAAQS and you know that historically population is proportional to emissions and those emissions are proportional to ambient concentrations The bottom line is that regional emissions cannot increase Identify and briefly explain three different sustainable strategies to deal with this problem Solution Some possibilities 1 Use lower sulfur content fuels e g cleaner coal natural gas wind solar etc 2 Implement energy conservation strategies for customers 3 Offset emissions by purchasing emission credits from utilities outside the region 4 Improve efficiencies in power generation and transmission facilities Solutions Manual prepared by Ziad Katirji and Heather E Wright Wendel Environmental Engineering Fundamentals Sustainability Design James R Mihelcic and