Bangkok Emissions 'worse Than London'

[phaethon]

Bangkok emissions 'worse than London'

Published: 23/04/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

Bangkok residents produce as much of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as New Yorkers, and more than Londoners, a UN-sponsored study has found.

The more carbon dioxide is released, the warmer the climate could become, which could put the city at increased risk of natural disasters, the study said.

The likely consequences for the city, already prone to flooding and land subsidence, will be "severe", according to the Bangkok Assessment Report on Climate Change 2009, released yesterday.

"Land subsidence, when combined with a rising sea level, could leave Bangkok under 50-100cm of water by 2025," the report said.

"Rising temperatures could also affect the flow of water in the Chao Phraya and Mae Klong rivers."

Both Bangkok and New York emitted 7.1 tonnes of CO2 a head in 2007, the report found.

Bangkok's emissions were higher than those of London's residents, who produced 5.9 tonnes a head.

The transport sector, responsible for almost 38% of CO2 released annually, is the largest contributor, particularly passenger vehicles.

The report was produced by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Bangkok-based Green Leaf Foundation with support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, are primary contributors of warming temperatures.

The report says a warmer climate in Bangkok could also lead to increased heat-related diseases and the spread of diseases such as dengue fever. The city must take action to reduce the impact of climate change, said Park Young-Woo, regional director of the UNEP's regional office for Asia and the Pacific.

Options for making Bangkok a "climate-proofing" city include improving the public health infrastructure and disease surveillance and prevention programmes, creating early warning systems for extreme weather events, and implementing stricter zoning and building codes to minimise damage from storms and rises in sea levels.

[bkkjames]

are you surprised?

[Boater]

are you surprised?

i am not

[dave111223]

are you surprised?

Yes, i figured it would be higher than New York also.

1 city bus could probably equal half of London on it's own.

[bkkjames]

I found this interesting..

The report says a warmer climate in Bangkok could also lead to increased heat-related diseases and the spread of diseases such as dengue fever. The city must take action to reduce the impact of climate change, said Park Young-Woo, regional director of the UNEP's regional office for Asia and the Pacific.

Options for making Bangkok a "climate-proofing" city include improving the public health infrastructure and disease surveillance and prevention programmes, creating early warning systems for extreme weather events, and implementing stricter zoning and building codes to minimise damage from storms and rises in sea levels.

1) How does improving public health infrastructure and disease surveillance, creating early warning systems for weather events (rain?), implementing all that zoning etc do anything to address the causes?

2) How does the rising temperatures affect the rivers exactly? More drought = more water?

F_uking heck, pretty simple stuff we are talking about here - don't need a UN study to tell everyone that 4 million cars on the road everday pollute the air and contribute to global warming.

This was no doubt a 10 million dollar study to tell us what we already know.

[teacup]

Well I have read in some scientific journal that .......

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.

[thunder30101]

i dont really mind all the other stuff its the particulate matter that jacks me up so bad in bkk, dirty diesels and two strokes everywhere.

[bkkjames]

Well I have read in some scientific journal that .......

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.

Sorry, wrong - give you a hint Teacup - head to the Flatuous Cow topic in here for a hint.

Excuse me.

[teacup]

Well I have read in some scientific journal that .......

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.

Sorry, wrong - give you a hint Teacup - head to the Flatuous Cow topic in here for a hint.

Excuse me.

couldn't find anything there except.....cow dunks

[aussiejosh]

Well I have read in some scientific journal that .......

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.

Wow that wasn't written by someone who has a vested interest in deforestation at all.... "The plants are the ones polluting, cut down the trees!"

I mean, hel_l vegetation lasted longer than the human race and so far in the last 300 years we have done about 10,000 years of climate change. Since 1999 the worlds temperature has risen from anywhere in 1.3 degrees C to 3.5 depending on who you ask. Of course the scarier studies have been hidden away to stop the public from realizing but it doesn't take a scientist to tell you its hotter than usual and the seasons are being effected by it. I was here for 105 days before it rained once for about 15 minutes. Then it rained right before songkran, I know its the weather, but the science behind it is sound.

I came to Thailand personally because I am interested in being a part of the solution, I actually am trying to launch a green product here at the moment which when you add it to your air conditioner it actually increases its efficiency by 20-50% thus saving the associated costs and saves the environment. I am not going to say more because I am still in the initial phases. But I can tell you its hugely popular in Dubai and the States, and is in use by many big name hotels and businesses including citigroup and LG.

Seriously, this is the only planet we have, I have only been on it for 20 years and I want to give my children the chance I had to experience it before we completely destroy it.

GO GREEN!

[teacup]

Hey don’t kill the messenger!, aussie

For your info - they just found another planet that might resemble earth with/ deep deep ocean, as of last week jaa. So there will be some hope for your kids after all, hmm I think

So…how GREEN r u?….care to elaborate

[DP25]

No surprise it's higher than London. They have a much, much more extensive metro system as well as congestion charges for vehicles.

[indothai]

Bangkok worse than London or New York?!! NO WAY !!!

Bangkok have strict laws and enforcement regarding emissions !!!

Just the other day I saw a bunch of police stopping trucks and buses measuring for emissions and noise !!! I'm happy to say that they ALL PASSED !!!

[Brigante7]

No surprise it's higher than London. They have a much, much more extensive metro system as well as congestion charges for vehicles.

Sorry but London doesn't have a congestion charge, it has a pollution charge but they call it a congestion charge, let me explain.

You have 2 cars that are identical in every way except one runs on LPG, the car that runs on LPG doesn't pay the congestion charge but the other car does, that to me is a pollution charge as both cars take up the same road space.

Brigante7.

[phaethon]

Just the other day I saw a bunch of police stopping trucks and buses measuring for emissions and noise !!! I'm happy to say that they ALL PASSED !!!

After a small administrative fee was paid...

[wasabi]

Solution

Head in sand

Until that sand happens to be under water.

[h90]

Well I have read in some scientific journal that .......

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.

burn the jungle down.....clean air...problem fixed.

Bangkoks bad air might come from the vegetation/trees beside the streets...cut em down.

[h90]

Just the other day I saw a bunch of police stopping trucks and buses measuring for emissions and noise !!! I'm happy to say that they ALL PASSED !!!

After a small administrative fee was paid...

If the fee is too often and too high they may also repair the truck....

Who gets the money is not that important for the nature.

[thunder30101]

I hope someone has a huge insurance policy for repairs after they add snakeoil to an expensive cooling system, my oldest brother has been a commercial refrig/ac engineer for the last 35 years in the states and i never saw anything like that, thailand is actually very efficient by using individual cooling units everywhere instead of central cooling sytems, and if ya really dont like rain go to arizona 6 months without rain now that is nice lol. And also why is the un panels science so sound when many more scientists some which i know have their work discarded ? Could it be that there is a bonanza of money just waiting for these people. I love al whore who admits to a 10,000 dollar us utility bill for his property and makes millions being so green lol

[Oberkommando]

So substituting used palm cooking oil for diesel in Police vehicles didn't work then?

[321niti123]

I found this interesting..

The report says a warmer climate in Bangkok could also lead to increased heat-related diseases and the spread of diseases such as dengue fever. The city must take action to reduce the impact of climate change, said Park Young-Woo, regional director of the UNEP's regional office for Asia and the Pacific.

Options for making Bangkok a "climate-proofing" city include improving the public health infrastructure and disease surveillance and prevention programmes, creating early warning systems for extreme weather events, and implementing stricter zoning and building codes to minimise damage from storms and rises in sea levels.

1) How does improving public health infrastructure and disease surveillance, creating early warning systems for weather events (rain?), implementing all that zoning etc do anything to address the causes?

2) How does the rising temperatures affect the rivers exactly? More drought = more water?

F_uking heck, pretty simple stuff we are talking about here - don't need a UN study to tell everyone that 4 million cars on the road everday pollute the air and contribute to global warming.

This was no doubt a 10 million dollar study to tell us what we already know.

Replying to the red line

the rising temperature causes sea level to rise (as most educated people would know), this is because the polar icecaps are melting, and not only the polar icecaps, but also because ice on the top of high mountains melt and comes down from the mountains through rivers into the ocean. And as the water rises, the chao praya and maekong river banks are going to flood. The ice melting from the mountain will also affect the rivers. a lot of the rivers in thailand are formed from the rivers in the more northern countries, such as china or even mongolia and as the ice melts more water comes down the river, and as any educated person should know, water tend to move toward the lowest place they could go to due to the earths gravitational pull. And as more water comes into the thai rivers, the water will weigh more, and as the mass increases so does the velocity. So to answer your question, rivers tend to move faster, and become because of the global increase in temperature, and drought caused by global warming is not going to start just yet because the more water= more evaporation, and more evaporation=more water vapor=more rain=more flood. and also the cutting down trees also = more flash floods because the trees could not slow down the water. Global warming is a mojor issue, and i dont appreciate you mocking global warming.

reply to green

It is true that the ten million dollar research tells us some of what we already know, but the research can provide a specific number of tonnes of CO2 emmited and this information can be used to create a goal, and construct a priority list on which cities should be targeted for global warming awareness campaigns.

Also if you didnt know, cars are not the only thing that causes global warming, electric powerplants, ships, airplanes, oil rifineries, also human and animal fart (releasing methane but not the main cause, only minor and not considered by most scientist as a main concern).

[321niti123]

Well I have read in some scientific journal that .......

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.

burn the jungle down.....clean air...problem fixed.

Bangkoks bad air might come from the vegetation/trees beside the streets...cut em down.

Ummm, plants turn CO2 into oxygen and incase u didnt go, they go through a process called photosynthesis and uses the sun to turn CO2 and H2O into O2 and C6H12O5 and use that to power themselves. so actually they helpuse up CO2 and they can live without stealing all of our oxygen. cutting them down is the worse thing that can be done now. for more info search google for a bio website or another great idea GO TO SCHOOL or GO BACK TO SCHOOL!

[plachon]

I found this interesting..

The report says a warmer climate in Bangkok could also lead to increased heat-related diseases and the spread of diseases such as dengue fever. The city must take action to reduce the impact of climate change, said Park Young-Woo, regional director of the UNEP's regional office for Asia and the Pacific.

Options for making Bangkok a "climate-proofing" city include improving the public health infrastructure and disease surveillance and prevention programmes, creating early warning systems for extreme weather events, and implementing stricter zoning and building codes to minimise damage from storms and rises in sea levels.

1) How does improving public health infrastructure and disease surveillance, creating early warning systems for weather events (rain?), implementing all that zoning etc do anything to address the causes?

2) How does the rising temperatures affect the rivers exactly? More drought = more water?

F_uking heck, pretty simple stuff we are talking about here - don't need a UN study to tell everyone that 4 million cars on the road everday pollute the air and contribute to global warming.

This was no doubt a 10 million dollar study to tell us what we already know.

Replying to the red line

the rising temperature causes sea level to rise (as most educated people would know), this is because the polar icecaps are melting, and not only the polar icecaps, but also because ice on the top of high mountains melt and comes down from the mountains through rivers into the ocean. And as the water rises, the chao praya and maekong river banks are going to flood. The ice melting from the mountain will also affect the rivers. a lot of the rivers in thailand are formed from the rivers in the more northern countries, such as china or even mongolia and as the ice melts more water comes down the river, and as any educated person should know, water tend to move toward the lowest place they could go to due to the earths gravitational pull. And as more water comes into the thai rivers, the water will weigh more, and as the mass increases so does the velocity. So to answer your question, rivers tend to move faster, and become because of the global increase in temperature, and drought caused by global warming is not going to start just yet because the more water= more evaporation, and more evaporation=more water vapor=more rain=more flood. and also the cutting down trees also = more flash floods because the trees could not slow down the water. Global warming is a mojor issue, and i dont appreciate you mocking global warming.

reply to green

It is true that the ten million dollar research tells us some of what we already know, but the research can provide a specific number of tonnes of CO2 emmited and this information can be used to create a goal, and construct a priority list on which cities should be targeted for global warming awareness campaigns.

Also if you didnt know, cars are not the only thing that causes global warming, electric powerplants, ships, airplanes, oil rifineries, also human and animal fart (releasing methane but not the main cause, only minor and not considered by most scientist as a main concern).

Please niti try to avoid posting on subjects that you clearly know little, and understand even less, especially using terms like "as any educated person should know". Studying an atlas of SE Asia and learning about where Thai rivers rise, flow and go, would be a good start. No Thai rivers rise in Mongolia and only two transboundary rivers - the Mekong and Salween rise in China. Then study a bit about the physics of water and basic hydrology would be a good next step, as what you have posted above is patently ridiculous. As a final step, I also respectively suggest you read up plenty about climate change - its causes, impacts and solutions - before posting misleading information that tends to confuse others or worse, cause derision about your shaky grasp on simple scientific principles and geographical facts. There is much good information out there, in Thai and English.

Meant as kind advice.................

Edited April 26, 2009 by plachon

[corkman]

Funny how input on the environment is generally treated with distain. The simple fact is that Bangkok has no regard whatsoever for this topic. Generally, any human beings' first priority is meeting the bottom line..... i.e. roof over the head nad food in the belly. When you see some of the poor sods crammed 20 per vehicle, in the back of a pick-up at rush hour in bkk, I doubt that their first priority is the emmissions of the vehicle they are travelling in. What are the authorities going to do about that........ what can they do about that...... S.F.A. I'm afraid.

To that end, what can be done? As with anything, it is the smallest changes that can have the biggest impact. I am a firm believer that if anyone (or tyhe vast majority) is given the opertunity to do the "right" thing, at no cost to themselves, then they will........ but when you expec people to take a hit, personally, they will resist it - no matter how small that hit may be. Case in point - in the west most shopping malls have two types of bin....... recycling and waste; but most people cannot be arsed to move their hand 50cm to the left or right and drop their rubbish in the "correct" bin....... you see that would involve some one having to think about what they are doing. So, simply put, a bit of clever legistlation is what is needed. For example, here in Ireland, the gouvenment recently implemented a "carbon emmissions" based car tax scheme: not just for road tax, but for import duty on the car........ where previously a 3.20 deisel BMW would have cost 10k more than the petrol equivalent, it is now more or less on par....... the result - everyone is buying the cleaner more effecient deisel........

The trick to tackling climate change is "baby steps"......... you can't legistlate agianst the poor who can barely makes end meet....... so the rich have to leed by exmaple...... and the only thing that motivates the rich is the bottom line....... So, until there are sweeping changes in the political landscape in Bkk, I doubt anything will be done about the matter of polution, because we all know that the gouvernemnt are the puppets of the bkk elite.......

[rethaired]

Funny how input on the environment is generally treated with distain. The simple fact is that Bangkok has no regard whatsoever for this topic. Generally, any human beings' first priority is meeting the bottom line..... i.e. roof over the head nad food in the belly. When you see some of the poor sods crammed 20 per vehicle, in the back of a pick-up at rush hour in bkk, I doubt that their first priority is the emmissions of the vehicle they are travelling in. What are the authorities going to do about that........ what can they do about that...... S.F.A. I'm afraid.

To that end, what can be done? As with anything, it is the smallest changes that can have the biggest impact. I am a firm believer that if anyone (or tyhe vast majority) is given the opertunity to do the "right" thing, at no cost to themselves, then they will........ but when you expec people to take a hit, personally, they will resist it - no matter how small that hit may be. Case in point - in the west most shopping malls have two types of bin....... recycling and waste; but most people cannot be arsed to move their hand 50cm to the left or right and drop their rubbish in the "correct" bin....... you see that would involve some one having to think about what they are doing. So, simply put, a bit of clever legistlation is what is needed. For example, here in Ireland, the gouvenment recently implemented a "carbon emmissions" based car tax scheme: not just for road tax, but for import duty on the car........ where previously a 3.20 deisel BMW would have cost 10k more than the petrol equivalent, it is now more or less on par....... the result - everyone is buying the cleaner more effecient deisel........

The trick to tackling climate change is "baby steps"......... you can't legistlate agianst the poor who can barely makes end meet....... so the rich have to leed by exmaple...... and the only thing that motivates the rich is the bottom line....... So, until there are sweeping changes in the political landscape in Bkk, I doubt anything will be done about the matter of polution, because we all know that the gouvernemnt are the puppets of the bkk elite.......

Could not agree with you more on this!

Now, if only that diesel BMW could come down in price another 10k more (if you are poor) and now the poor could start afford it too! I know that would be unfair, but I have been told by many that life is unfair when I must pay more, work more to make as much as a CEO say, or work with more stress or risk! Time for the wealthy who were born with a silver spoon you know where to suck it up a little!

Of course, driving the next electric car (not hybrid) might be better, especially with all that extra hydroelectric energy that Thais are bound to have at their disposition!

Edited April 26, 2009 by rethaired

[Artabus]

I came to Thailand personally because I am interested in being a part of the solution, I actually am trying to launch a green product here at the moment which when you add it to your air conditioner it actually increases its efficiency by 20-50% thus saving the associated costs and saves the environment. I am not going to say more because I am still in the initial phases. But I can tell you its hugely popular in Dubai and the States, and is in use by many big name hotels and businesses including citigroup and LG.

Seriously, this is the only planet we have, I have only been on it for 20 years and I want to give my children the chance I had to experience it before we completely destroy it.

GO GREEN!

Good post.

Why a partial solution, only looking at reducing consumption? Why not look as well at the source of the energy used? as even if you chop 20% off the consumption, that's not enough... Did you know, there's a company that markets a solar film - you could affix it to windows, that would perhaps also reduce the heat in the eg office in the first place (ignoring the thermal flux through the walls that is!). So look it up on Google, then maybe distribute it in Thailand. I would have thought you could market it as saving on the electricity costs even futher, so pays for itself. This is not a plug, by the way, they're nothing to do with me, I just liked their product when I saw it on the Net about 6 months ago.

I don't think Thailand is ready for you, but could be wrong!

[brahmburgers]

As the previous post alludes to - people in general, and Thais in particular have a whole lot of room for improvement - when it comes to conservation. Here are some suggestions:

A. use less AirCon. currently, millions of cubic meters, just in Bkk, are cooled unnecessarily and at too cold a temperature. AC units will be blasting away, even if the outside temperature is reasonably cool (businesses give no thought for opening windows). Thais have an ideal temperature for comfort, 2 degrees above and they're all saying 'ron.' Loads of money could be saved if the A.C. mega-problem was addressed with reason. plus, most of Thailand's electricity is pulled over from Laos - and all that Lao electric is hydro, therefore necessitating forest destruction - and forcefully relocating poor villagers.

B. Transportation is a giant morass in Bkk. The list of things that could be done to lessen pollution is a long one. Many improvements would cost little or no money.

Also, a note about comparing NYC to Bkk. I'd venture that a fairly done scientific study would find that NY city air is cleaner than Bkk air. I haven't been to NYC for awhile, but I've been to L.A. (a larger city) and SF California recently, and those cities' air, though dirty, is way cleaner than Bangkok's. Though not terribly scientific, I can attest when I look up at the sky in the daytime in a California city, the sky is blue. When I do the same in Chiang Mai or Bkk, the sky is whitish-gray.

Try this; look in to the night sky on a non-cloudy night, and gauge approx how many stars you see. In Bangkok, it's probably a few dozen. Gazing up in NYC, it's hundreds. Of course, you'd have to pick observation posts which aren't affected too much by light pollution (something which Bangkokians aren't yet aware of).

Here's another similar test of overall air cleanliness: Go to a remote rural place in Thailand, and gaze in to the night sky. At best, you might see hundreds of stars, and possibly a smudge of the Milky Way. Now try the same at a remote place in 'the lower 48' (the US), and you'll see so many stars and galaxies - it will blow your mind. The Milky Way will be a giant bright swath. I did that in October in the Nevada desert (Pyramid Lake) and it was a reminder of what the night sky should/could look like in a clean world. You won't get a view like that anywhere in SE Asia, except perhaps way out at sea.

[coconutmonkey]

For your info - they just found another planet that might resemble earth with/ deep deep ocean, as of last week jaa. So there will be some hope for your kids after all, hmm I think

Oh, yes. That's it...... so naturally, we can keep on destroying this planet cause there's another one just like it....... maybe.

Isn't this the attitude that's started the problems in the first place.

(No offense, I do understand this wasn't the intention of the post....)