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How we can be sure our air is safe to breathe? This album introduces the principles and concepts of air quality management and looks at how we analyse pollution control problems. Five video tracks review the nature and characteristics of air pollution today and demonstrate how air quality data is interpreted. They include a comparison between shipping and car emission levels, the processes used to remove pollutants from the air, and ways in which British Aerospace could limit its Volatile Organic Compound emissions in the future. This material forms part of T308 Environmental monitoring, modelling and control.
By: The OpenLearn team (The Open University,)
- Duration 30 mins
- Updated Friday 26th March 2010
- Posted under Engineering & Technology
Track 1: Air Pollution
A short introduction to this album.
© The Open University 2008
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Tracks in this podcast:
Track | Title | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Air Pollution | A short introduction to this album. Play now Air Pollution |
2 | Air Pollution | Keeping watch on the invisible. The Clean Air Act banished smog from our cities in the 1950s, but today there are new types of air pollution . Play now Air Pollution |
3 | Pollution: Shipping | How do we measure pollution in the air and what vehicles have the worst emissions? Lloyds' 5 year study compares ship emissions and air quality on shore. Play now Pollution: Shipping |
4 | Pollution: Cars | Lab tests are carried out to determine car emissions, but interpreting the data into real pollution statistics is harder than it seems. Play now Pollution: Cars |
5 | Clear Solutions | How to clean the air. Demonstration of methods used to remove pollutants from the air, including factory emissions. Play now Clear Solutions |
6 | Industrial Emissions | How to curb industrial emissions of VOC's. The challenge facing British Aerospace in finding alternatives to solvents. Play now Industrial Emissions |
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Publication details
-
Originally published: Friday, 26th March 2010
Copyright information
- Body text - Content : Copyright The Open University
- Audio/Video tracks: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 The Open University 2008
- Image 'Air Pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2008
- Image 'Combating air pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2009
- Image 'Sajid Javid giving speech at a Conservative conference' - Gareth Milner under Creative Commons BY 4.0 license
- Image 'Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest, near Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Brazil.' - CIFOR under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
- Image 'Smog in Delhi in 2008.' - wonker under CC-BY licence under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license
- Image 'A NASA image captures a smog cloud over Northern India & Pakistan in 2003' - Copyright: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
- Image 'Carbon emissions' - under Creative-Commons license
- Image 'Agricultural biofuels' - KBS / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 under Creative-Commons license
- Image 'Modelling pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2008
- Image 'Noise Pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2009
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Publication details
-
Originally published: Friday, 26th March 2010
Copyright information
- Body text - Content: Copyright The Open University
- Audio/Video tracks: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 The Open University 2008
- Image 'Air Pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2008
- Image 'Combating air pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2009
- Image 'Sajid Javid giving speech at a Conservative conference' - Gareth Milner under Creative Commons BY 4.0 license
- Image 'Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest, near Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Brazil.' - CIFOR under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
- Image 'Smog in Delhi in 2008.' - wonker under CC-BY licence under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license
- Image 'A NASA image captures a smog cloud over Northern India & Pakistan in 2003' - Copyright: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
- Image 'Carbon emissions' - under Creative-Commons license
- Image 'Agricultural biofuels' - KBS / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 under Creative-Commons license
- Image 'Modelling pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2008
- Image 'Noise Pollution' - Copyright: The Open University 2009
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What’s in the air you breathe and how do you know it’s safe? Pollution control is vital since nobody has a choice when it comes to inhaling the air around them. This album introduces the scientific processes behind air monitoring and air quality management. The five video tracks explore the nature of pollution arising from different forms of transport, and look at how data is interpreted and how pollutants can be minimised. To complete the album, Senior Lecturer Rod Barratt explains the choice of some of the case studies provided, and unpicks the issues that emerge, while Dr Suresh Nesaratnam gives an overview of The Open University course. This material forms part of The Open University course T210 Environmental control and public health.

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Britain's new home secretary Sajid Javid has announced his plan to make the British immigration system less hostile and more humane.

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How are tiny air pollutants causing massive storms in the Amazon?
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London’s great smog prompts link with Delhi
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Why is New Delhi experiencing ever-worsening periods of smog?
The Indian city is seeing levels of dangerous pollution - similar to those that killed Londoners in 1952. Ranjit Devraj shines a light through the gloom.

TV, Radio & Events
Bang Goes The Theory 7: Episode 8
This week the Bang team looks at air pollution: what it is, where it comes from, and what it's doing to us.

Nature & Environment
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Explore the personal side of climate change with GUINOT's diary entry.

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The cleaning up of the North American Great Lakes is one of the great success stories in pollution control. Modelling gives scientists the tools to forecast outcomes in a complex environment: how will the pollution accumulate? what will happen if pollution is stopped all together? The two video tracks on this album demonstrate how modelling techniques provide a scientific basis for the political decisions that have revived the area. The material forms part of course MSXR209 Mathematical Modelling.

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How do your ears work and what kind of sound levels can damage your hearing? The five video tracks in this album explain basic concepts such as units of noise, sound insulation and noise control. Car manufacturers like Lexus have developed the quiet car, but this kind of technology benefits the driver, not the people living beside busy roads. Locals from a Derbyshire village explain how the construction of the A50 has affected their lives. The Transport Research Laboratory analyses tyre noise on road surfaces in order to create a definitive report on the state of Britain's roads. This material forms part of T308 Environmental monitoring, modelling and control.
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