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  • br In December consecutive waves of major

    2019-05-16


    In December, 2016, consecutive waves of major smog shrouded China, particularly the North China Plain and Sichuan Basin, resulting in suspended schools, halted industrial production, and heavy traffic. Atmospheric levels of fine particulate ghrelin receptor antagonist (PM) spiked to more than 500 μg/m in Henan and 1000 μg/m in Shijiazhuang. Beijing even issued a red alert for pollution levels between Dec 16, 2016, and Dec 22, 2016. What causes smog events is under debate. According to new research, nitrogen dioxide and water vapour combine through a complex chemical chain reaction to form a sulphate-rich haze. Analysis of the chemical compositions of particulate matter suggests that its main sources include central heating, vehicle emissions, and road dust. In the past decade, scientific evidence seemed to favour vehicle emissions as the main culprit behind smog in China. Nevertheless, these observations have overlooked the proportion of nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, and particulate matter that is released by heavy industry. In fact, manufacturing of iron and steel, cement plants, coal combustion, and refinement of petroleum were proven to be the main sources of particulate matter leading to wintertime smog in Beijing. As such, heavy industry is more likely to be a greater source of intensive pollutant emissions than vehicles. Many heavy industrial enterprises in northern China emit excessive amounts of pollutants that are rich in sulphur dioxide and particulate matter, the ingredients of haze. More crucially, some industrial enterprises secretly release emissions at night, which is a prominent issue that is difficult to regulate. Reduction of anthropometric emissions is the most viable way to mitigate air pollution. Public attention should be immediately shifted back to implementing feasible urgent interventions. Suspension of heavy industry production might offer temporary relief but does not target the issue at its root. China has established stringent laws to curb industrial pollutant emission but is confronted with poor implementation. Stringent and unannounced inspections should be used to identify and fine industrial corporations emitting excessive amounts of pollutants (particularly those responsible for clandestine night-time emissions); however, it is important that these measures are implemented before, not after, smog has occurred. Cleaner energy, such as solar energy and wind power, advocated by president Jinping Xi, is an appealing approach to reduce pollutant emissions but entails substantial financial burden requiring governmental investment and public support. China needs to abandon its convention of waiting for pollutants to cause a problem before managing their emission.