北京兩種空氣污染物同比增30%
黃安偉 報道 2013年04月04日
北京——一家中國新聞機構周三報道稱，今年第一季度，中國首都北京的兩種主要空氣污染物比去年同期增加了將近30%。
這兩種污染物分別為二氧化氮和直徑在2.5到10微米之間的顆粒物(即PM10)，據中國報紙《新京報》報道，這些污染物的濃度似乎在1月份急劇上升，與去年同期相比增加47%。報道引用了北京市環境保護局局長陳添的話。
另一種污染物是二氧化硫，其濃度在今年第一季度略微下降。
陳添說，上述兩種污染物的濃度大幅度上升是因為排放量較大。報道援引陳添的話說，「城市生活生產導致的排放遠遠超過環境容量。」
報道稱，環保局表示，這兩種污染物的增加在某種程度上也與地形特點和氣象條件有關。報道說，北京一月份的空氣相對濕度是10年來最高的，地面風速是10年來最小的，這兩個因素導致逆溫層降低，不利於污染物擴散。
今年冬天，中國北方的城市一直被創歷史新高的空氣污染困擾，很多中國人都對污染情況感到擔心和憤怒。今年1月，北京市政府所記錄的PM2.5（即直徑等於或小於2.5微米的顆粒物）濃度令人震驚。據記錄，PM2.5的最高濃度曾接近1000毫克/立方米，與20世紀中期工業化的倫敦污染最嚴重時的水平不相上下。
1月中旬，北京就像是機場的吸煙室，一些外國人把這種持久而無處不在的霧霾稱作「空氣末日」。
《新京報》引用陳添的話說，增加的PM2.5濃度中有60%是燒煤和燒油造成的。科學家認為PM2.5的致命性及對人體的危害程度比PM10更高，因為這些更微小的顆粒能夠深深嵌入人體組織，還能穿過肺部。
為避免增加成本，石油和能源行業的大型國有企業一直在阻止有關部門提出的環保措施，這些措施將會降低污染物的濃度。
上周日，研究人員發佈的數據顯示，中國2010年由於戶外空氣污染而導致的過早死亡人數達120萬，幾乎佔全球總數的40%。這個數據來自對全球主要致死原因的研究，即《2010年全球致病量研究》(2010 Global Burden of Disease Study)，其研究結果於去年12月在英國醫學雜誌《柳葉刀》(Lancet)上發表。研究人員稱，在中國，戶外空氣污染是導致死亡的第四大風險因素。
中國的一篇官方報道上周稱，中國環境退化的成本是1.54萬億元人民幣，約合2300億美元，佔國內生產總值的3.5%，這個數目是2004年的三倍。
德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)2月發佈報告稱，中國現行的增長政策將會導致未來十年中空氣污染程度的持續激增。
2013年04月04日
Two Major Air Pollutants Increase in China
BEIJING — In the first three months of this year, two major air pollutants increased by almost 30 percent here in Beijing, the Chinese capital, over the same period in 2012, according to a report Wednesday by a Chinese news organization.
Levels of the pollutants — nitrous dioxide and particulate matter that is between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in diameter, called PM 10 — appeared to have surged sharply in January, when they increased 47 percent over the same month last year, according to the report by The Economic Observer, a respected Chinese newspaper. The report cited as its source Chen Tian, head of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.
A third pollutant, sulfur dioxide, decreased slightly over the same three-month period.
Mr. Chen said the main reason for the huge increase in two pollutants was high levels of emissions. Citing Mr. Chen, the report said "the emissions created by those living and producing in the city far exceed what the environment can take."
The report said the environmental bureau had concluded that the increases in the two pollutants had been also partly due to topography and weather conditions. Beijing recently had its highest levels of relative humidity in a decade, and surface wind speeds were the lowest in 10 years, which together resulted in a lower-temperature inversion layer that trapped pollutants, the report said.
Cities in northern China have been grappling this winter with record levels of air pollution, which have stirred fear and anger among many Chinese. In January, the Beijing municipal government recorded shocking concentrations of particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller, called PM 2.5. The highest concentrations were recorded at nearly 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, which was on par with some severely polluted days in industrial London during the mid-20th century.
Beijing resembled an airport smokers' lounge in mid-January, and some foreigners called the persistent and omnipresent smog an "airpocalypse."
The Economic Observer quoted Mr. Chen as saying that 60 percent of the increased levels of PM 2.5 were due to the burning of coal and fuel. PM 2.5 is considered more potentially fatal or debilitating than PM 10, because the smaller particles can embed deeply in tissue and can penetrate the lungs.
To prevent cost increases, large state-owned enterprises in the oil and power industries have consistently blocked proposed environmental policies that would cut down the levels of pollutants.
Last Sunday, researchers released data that showed that outdoor air pollution had contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010, which was nearly 40 percent of the global total. The data were based on international research done on leading causes of death, the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study, which was published in a paper last December in The Lancet, a British medical journal. In China, outdoor air pollution was the fourth-leading risk factor for death, the researchers said.
An official Chinese news report said last week that the cost of environmental degradation in China in 2010 was 1.54 trillion renminbi, about $230 billion, or 3.5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. The amount was three times that of 2004.
A Deutsche Bank report from February said current growth policies would mean a continuing surge in air pollution over the next decade.
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