People in Paris can now stay informed on the air quality they are breathing.

A company called Aérophile has built a giant tethered helium balloon, the AERO30NG Aérophile 5500 model, that will display real-time reports of ambient air quality and air pollution produced by auto emissions using an innovative lighting system, which can be seen from more than 20 km (12.4 miles) away.

Located in the Parc Andre Citroën and filled with 6,000 cubic meters of helium, the balloon will definitely become a tourist attraction considering that it will provide non-polluting rides for up to 30 passengers at a time.

The Aérophile balloon gathers data from several sensors installed by Airparif - an organization that measures air quality in France and will signal the ambient air quality in colors. It using three projectors located inside of the balloon and a high-powered rotating laser at the base sweeps across the lower half of the balloon.

Red signifies highly polluted air, orange for polluted, yellow for moderate, light green for clean, and green for very clean. Do you think we’ll ever get to see it green? At least for now, I doubt it!

“Flight aboard a tethered gas balloon AERO30NG is a unique experience full of sensations for the passengers.

Silent and without vibration, the gondola is open to the air, allowing passengers to experience the sensation of being on a flying balcony 150 m in the sky.

A 360° panorama unfolds before them, and in a single gaze they can take in the whole landscape.”

Aérophile is a company specialized in manufacturing tethered gas balloons for tourist and cultural attractions so you may want to believe them in doing a great job with the Air de Paris balloon.

Another great place where I think tourists would enjoy seeing such a balloon would be in Beijing for the Olympics. It could be mainly red, though.

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City of Boulder, Wyoming, and its 75 souls that live there have something in common with much larger cities across North America: high levels of air pollution. The root cause for the bad air is the region’s booming natural gas industry because the Sublette County is home to one of the largest natural gas reserves in the United States.

Craig Jensen, resident of the unincorporated community of Boulder, is concerned of the changes. He said that the sky is no longer colored or the horizon crystal clear as they used to be. “Makes you wonder what it’s going to do to the grass, the trees and the birds”, he said. He’s right and Wyoming issued the first ozone alerts after ground-level ozone numbers exceeded healthy levels, 11 times since January.

Boulder, Wyoming is not meeting federal air-quality standards right now and if things won’t change there will be drastic measures that will affect everyone in the region including the energy sector.

Gas developers in the area said they are working to reduce ozone and emissions. They insisted their companies should continue drilling.

The Department of Environmental Quality is aware of the air problem in the area and David Finley said “We understand that the people who are living up there cannot wait two or three years for us to develop regulatory tools.” They are working together with the gas companies, on a plan to reduce air pollution in the area.

Craig Jensen, have seen the both sides of a booming gas industry in the area. He’s been paid royalties for wells on his land, which allowed him to buy all sorts of “toys”, but he’s now wishing the good old days to come back, with clear skies, less traffic and fewer people.

Source [AP]

Haile Gebrselassie a 34 years old Ethiopian runner, the guy that managed to break over 25 world records and won numerous Olympic and World Championship titles, has recently declined going to the Beijing Olympics because of air pollution.

The marathon champ who suffers from asthma told Reuters in a phone interview:

“The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42 kilometers in my current condition.”

He will race on track though, probably in the 10,000 meter race.

Though Beijing has 17 million residents, 3 million cars and sandstorms from time to time the authorities said they’re are taking all the measures to ensure a cleaner air by the time the Summer Olympics start. I sure hope they get it done because I’d enjoy a good run.

via GreenDaily (photo by minuano12)

If until now I thought Milan to be the capital of fashion and great soccer, things have changed and surprisingly they have another badge to add. Milan is the “Pollution Capital of Europe” and the main reasons to believe so, are toxic fumes from traffic clogged streets.

photo by Dunc-It

However, the fact that they rank first place on pollution in Europ isn’t the biggest shock or concern. Macedonio Melloni hospital warned that such levels of pollution are considered guilty for high infant mortality rates and for making children sick. Breathing problems, heart diseases and cancer are the effects of very high levels of pm10s which are extremely small particles coming from car exhausts, that affect both adult people and in particular children.

Research conducted by Dr Fiocchi from the Macedonio Melloni hospital revealed that in a 10-day period when pm10s levels where averaging 67 ug/m3, 176 admissions have been recored, while on another 10-day period that averaged 110 ug/m3 which is way over the limit, the admissions topped at 401 more than double. February 15 is the record with pm10s levels reaching 185 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which is almost 4 times over the official limit.

“The figures confirmed the urgent need to limit the damage that is affecting one child in four in the region” he said.

Ironically, the fact that the air in Milan is so bad comes a few months the Ecopass system - a daily pass that you pay money for to enter the city - has been put in place.

Lung specialist, Prof Luigi Allegra of Milan University has pointed out a few ways of fighting with air pollution in Milan, out of which creating new metro lines and better public transportation are just a few. He also mentioned that diesel cars use should be discouraged because diesel engines provide 100 times more pm10s.

There are solutions, they just need to accept that there’s a problem.

via Telegraph

The first time I’ve been in Italy I was amazed by so many scooters. Old, new, it doesn’t matter because you see them in different colors at every corner. I even heard people calling Rome as the scooter-capital of Europe.

A classic Vespa scooter. Photo by the-spidernet

But there seems to be a problem. The Italian government is keen on keeping a healthier air in their cities and one of the measures they are taking is paying owners to change their old scooters with new ones. Obviously the 2-stroke engine emits much more harmful pollutants than a new generation 4-stroke model and add the fact that there’s no catalyst and you have a big polluter.

This is why authorities will offer a 300 Euro bonus when buy a new scooter and ditch your old one. Of course, if you live in Italy.

Source