Even in the smog, solutions can be seen [Editorial]

[webfact]

Even in the smog, solutions can be seen

By The Nation

 

 

The pollution will only keep worsening until fuel and engine standards improve, we switch to electric cars or we get on the Skytrain
 

Bangkok residents have learned a big lesson on air pollution over the past several weeks as levels of airborne particulates 2.5 microns or less in diameter soared above the safety limit in several districts. As of yesterday, some areas were still seeing “PM2.5” reaching 90 micrograms per cubic metre of air, far above the safe limit of 50 micrograms.

 

Many schools in the worst-affected areas were temporarily closed and residents have been increasingly wearing face masks to filter out the pollution. Other measures undertaken to reduce the threat have included creating artificial rain and spraying water into the air, while motorists are being urged to shut off their engines when not in motion.

 

These and other measures are acknowledged to be merely short-term remedies. More importantly, Bangkok and its neighbouring provinces need medium- and longer-term solutions to tackle the PM2.5 crisis. Basically, the problem stems from an ever-increasing number of vehicles burning fossil fuels plying Bangkok’s overcrowded streets. At last count, there were nearly 10 million personal vehicles including motorbikes registered in the capital.

 

Vehicle exhaust, especially from diesel engines commonly found in trucks from pickups to big rigs, are a major source of the air pollution. Unfortunately, the quality of diesel oil and engine specifications in Thailand still lags well behind that seen in more developed countries. The most popular pickup trucks sold in Thailand, for example, still use Euro-4 diesel fuel and engine specs and medium-sized and large trucks use Euro-3, whereas the standard typically found in more environmentally conscious countries is Euro-6.

 

It’s time for the government to speed the upgrade of mandatory emission standards for diesel-powered vehicles and new vehicles’ engine specifications, so that Bangkok can gradually become a safer place to live and visit. The Euro-6 regulations should become the new benchmark for Thailand. Europe is already preparing to enforce Euro-7 regulations next year.

 

Cleaner diesel fuel and more efficient engines on the city’s streets are a long-term solution worth pursuing. Once that’s underway, regulators need to better encourage the driving public’s adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). EVs sold in Thailand are still too expensive for most people to afford. A small fully electric Nissan EV costs nearly Bt2 million.

 

The government has made it policy to prod the automobile industry into a gradual shift in production towards plug-in hybrid Evs, followed by 100-per-cent EVs. If the air pollution is going to be tackled effectively, this timeline will have to be expedited.

 

Also of high priority is the completion of multiple mass-transit railway lines with electric trains, both elevated and underground, over the next five to 10 years. Thanks to the fast-tracking of several multibillion-baht lines in the past four years, Bangkok residents will soon be served by a modern network stretching more than 300 kilometres, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia.

 

The long-term outlook for Bangkok’s air quality is likely to improve if the number of new cars, trucks and motorcycles on the roads recedes significantly in the near future. That will require the majority of residents and workers to be using the sprawling mass-transit network or driving EVs or vehicles burning greener diesel fuel.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30362918

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-25

[mikebell]

Yet advertising vans are allowed to drive slowly around, sometimes in convoy, holding up the traffic; infuriating potential customers yet business leaders cannot see the absurdity and futility of this practice.  It's like saying the BIB roadside stick-ups make Thai roads safer.  Ludicrous thinking.

[mok199]

So many easy 1st step no brainers, Bus exhaust tail pipes must extend up, and to the roof then into the air,not down to the ground blowing fumes and filthy dust churned up from the roads directly into our faces ....Streets must be swept ( and not by an old lady with a straw broom) ,using large motorized street sweepers at night ,then washed using trucks spraying water toward the storm drains......2 easy first steps...START TODAY!!!

[Lungstib]

Without fully realising it society is in a conflict with big business and advertising which at present society is losing. Before we can stop the desire for status vehicles and the trappings of wealth the ice will have melted, the seas risen 2 feet and Bangkok forever changed. The residents buying masks and worrying over their kids being poisoned by the air at school are the same ones driving these children there in big cars and living in all electric, air conditioned coolness at home. We are our own worst enemy.

[canopy]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

areas were still seeing “PM2.5” reaching 90 micrograms per cubic metre of air, far above the safe limit of 50 micrograms

 

Keep in mind Thailand simply made up the 50 micrograms as the safe limit. This is total nonsense and no one should believe it. The World Health Organisation pegs it at 25. Rather than make the air better, the authorities just make up their own scale to hide behind.

 

[Oziex1]

Come on you are supposed to be the hub of electric vehicles by now. 

[fantom]

1 hour ago, canopy said:

 

Keep in mind Thailand simply made up the 50 micrograms as the safe limit. This is total nonsense and no one should believe it. The World Health Organisation pegs it at 25. Rather than make the air better, the authorities just make up their own scale to hide behind.

 

Agree, even China has a lower made up limit of 35. Thailand must assume the WHO level 25.

In the article there is no mention of other sources of particulates, industrial scale burning of agricultural burning of waste from suger cane and corn for example. In my view there seems to be a lack of any scientific analysis of the source of pm 2.5 particles in the atmosphere

 

[fruitman]

And in Lopburi the farmers still burn fields of sugarcane.......

[CGW]

The air quality where I am deteriorated overnight, could hear sugar cane fields being burnt around us last night, AQ is only going to get worse as there is zero enforcement and no will to enforce any standards!

If ever a nation deserved to breathe crap air Thailand is near the top of the list

[fantom]

One interesting aspect of this debate is that gasoline contains ethanol. This ethanol is made largely from mining suger cane. The mining residue is then burnt with no apparent environmental controls or awareness of just where it is all ending up.

 

A study on Thailand's ethanol production, (copy and paste into a browser):

 

An Update on Ethanol Production and Utilization in Thailand- 2014

 

There is a price to pay behind the glowing support for so called bio fuels, it is that to drive 'cleaner' cars, we get more atmospheric pollution. Just to add to the whole mess is that the origin of the fuel stock that is used to make the ammonia that makes the fertilizer that makes the suger cane, is never added to the equation.

[connda]

 

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The pollution will only keep worsening until fuel and engine standards improve, we switch to electric cars or we get on the Skytrain

Agree with the former and the later - the electric cars though?  Electric cars are a smoke and mirrors solution, a slight to hand.  "Look over here at the fossil fuel pollution, don't look at the pollution created in the generation of electricity to power electric cars whether that electricity is in the form of 'green' energy, nuclear, or fossil fuels.  And lets not even mention to pollution in the creation and disposal of batteries." 
At the end of the day the question becomes, "What form of pollution do you wish to deal with?"  Maybe that changes the year they develop and commercialize the first cold fusion reactor, but I'm not holding my breath...well, actually I am holding my breath - the damn air is terrible. 

[DrTuner]

If they are so worried about the vehicles instead of burning fields, here's a quick solution: make it mandatory to route the tailpipe into the cabin. Sorted in no time!