PM 2.5
'Affordable Clean Energy Rule' Proposed to Replace Clean Power Plan
On Tuesday, EPA released its new rule to regulate emissions from existing power plants, essentially leaving it to the states to determine appropriate emissions levels rather than setting actual standards each state has to meet like the current rule.
Smog So Bad United Airlines Won't Fly There
It's not the poor visibility but the air quality, ten times worse than Beijing, that has caused the airline to stop flying to New Delhi.
Inadequate Diesel Vehicle Testing Results in 38,000 Global Fatalities Annually
While the study stems from research that found Volkswagen diesel cars had used 'defeat devices' to pass emissions tests, the new study points to inadequacies in the tests themselves, resulting in 50 percent higher pollution than testing permits.
The Surprising Region with the Nation's Worst Particulate Air Pollution
It's not Southern California, with its ports and congested freeways, California's Central Valley, with its bowl-like topography, Houston, with its oil refineries, or the midwest, with its coal power plants. Hint: think Santa Claus.
EPA Rejects Southern California Plan to Reduce Fine Particulate Pollution
The South Coast Air Quality Management District is in the news again, this time for going too easy on the region's big polluters—just what staff had warned would happen before the board fired its well-respected executive director.
VW Scandal Obscures Diesel's Real Problem
It's easy to focus on the sensational headlines based on the fraud committed by Volkswagen, but doing so masks the deadly and ongoing problems of diesel emissions plaguing the world's densely populated cities.
New Delhi Restricts Diesel Cars; Beijing Issues Second Red Alert
It took an act of the Supreme Court for India to address the incredibly unhealthy levels of particulate matter in New Delhi. New rules are aimed at diesel cars, SUVs, and taxis. In Beijing, pollution triggered a red alert for only the second time.
Saying Bye-Bye to Fireplaces And Wood-Burning Heaters in the Bay Area
In a Bay Area first, new home construction in most of the region will be banned from having these heating devices installed as the result of a rule adopted unanimously by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Oct. 21.
Should Electric Vehicles Be Taxed or Subsidized?
The answer depends on location, according to previous studies on EVs. The study from NBER evaluated both gas and electric-powered vehicles to determine their effect on the environment. A surprising recommendation is a new road funding option.
China Bans the Use of Coal Around Cities
In this Sunday Review editorial, The New York Times applauds China's announcement that it will ban coal burning in the Beijing region by 2020, but warns that some solutions to air pollution will exacerbate climate change.
Victims of China's Air Pollution: Lung Cancer in 8-Year-Olds
Though smoking is on the decline in China, lung cancer rates are rising. Twenty-year olds have joined seniors as likely patients, attributed to the toxic clouds containing particulates that regularly envelope China's eastern cities.
Strict Standards for Ship Emissions Cleanse Bay Area Air
Thanks to a Calif. law implemented in 2008 requiring ocean-going ships to switch from high-sulfur bunker fuel to cleaner fuels within 24 miles of the coast, Bay Area air quality significantly improved by reducing deadly particulate emissions.
Beijing Smog Levels "Off The Scale"
In Beijing, the level of air pollution is the highest the monitors at the U.S. embassy have ever recorded since put in place in 2008. The pollution results from a combination of weather conditions and particulate matter - most from coal burning.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
