Environ. Sci. Tech: Mortality Assessment from Ship Air Pollution.

[NNadir]

Recently Germany decided to phase out all of its nuclear plants, which produce no air pollution, and to begin importing millions of tons of coal from South Africa, to replace it.

The ships will need to travel about a 1/3 of the circumference of the earth.

Goody. The upcoming issue of Environ. Sci. Tech. has an estimate about the mortality from dangerous fossil fuel waste associated with tankers, including coal tankers. Here are some excerpts:

The marine transport sector contributes significantly to air pollution, particularly in coastal areas (1–8). Annually, ocean-going ships are estimated to emit 1.2–1.6 million metric tons (Tg) of particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameters of 10 μmor less (PM10), 4.7–6.5 Tg of sulfur oxides (SOx as S), and 5–6.9 Tg of nitrogen oxides (NOx as N) (9–12). Recent studies have estimated around 15% of global NOx and 5–8% of global SOx emissions are attributable to oceangoing ships (10, 11). Given nearly 70%of ship emissions occur within 400kmof land (2, 11, 12), ships have the potential to contribute significant pollution in coastal communities–––especially for SOx. For instance, Capaldo et al. (1) estimate that ship emissions contribute between 5 and 20% of nonsea-salt sulfate concentrations and 5–30% of SO2 concentrations
in coastal regions...

...Exposure to shipping-related PM2.5 emissions in 2002 resulted in 19,000 (Case 1a) to 64,000 (Case 1c) cardiopulmonary and lung cancer mortalities globally, depending on the emission inventory and on the particles considered. Approximately 92% of the estimated premature mortalities are from cardiopulmonary illnesses. Mortalities increase by approximately 40% in 2012 due to trade-driven growth in shipping emissions...

Heckuva job, German anti-nukes, heckuva job!

Our results indicate that shipping-related PM emissions from marine shipping contribute approximately 60,000 deaths annually at a global scale, with impacts concentrated in coastal regions on major trade routes. Most mortality effects are seen in Asia and Europe where high populations andhigh shipping-relatedPMconcentrations coincide. Based on previous estimates of globalPM2.5-related mortalities.

Heckuva job, antinukes, heckuva job!

Of course, the deaths won't stop when the coal is delivered to Germany. The real fun will begin when the Germans start to burn the coal they've shipped. When that happens, 60,000 dead per year will seem like small potatoes.

The abstract is here: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/esthag/asap/abs/es071686z.html

[Systematic Chaos]

1. What are you so hepped up about??

It's just a little harmless gas. This coal is clean, baby!!!!

:sarcasm:

[Turbineguy]

2. People do not understand

the amount of polution put out by ships. OK, they generally do not pump oil directly over the side anymore but the fuel they use has been getting progressively worse in quality over the years. In fact ships have been acting in the role of off-shore incinerators by burning the refuse of refineries and whatever products can be added to the residual fuel.

Ships' fuel is the refuse of refineries which have become better at extracting good contituents from crude oil. Engine designers have been working diligently to enable engines to burn progressively lower quality fuel.

Steamships in particular are bad because they can burn nearly anything in the boilers. As long as it can be atomized, it can be burned.

Even ships operated with the utmost care and consideration for the environment still pollute because of the fuel.

Diesel powered ships purify fuel to go to the engine and then burn the resulting sludge in incinerators.

[phantom power]

3. Amazing, isn't it. 60,000 deaths *every year*. Just from shipping.