|
CHINA> Regional
![]() |
|
Beijing air cleanest in 9 years
By Lan Tian (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-02 20:27 Beijing's air quality in the first six months of this year has been the best in nine years, with 146 days of blue skies, an environmental official said. During the same period last year, Beijing experienced just 123 days of clear skies, before which the capital saw no more than 99 days of blue skies since 2000, Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing municipal environmental protection bureau, said at a press briefing on Thursday. The city follows a five-grade classification of air quality based on the air pollution index (API), the level of airborne pollutants involving sulfur dioxide, oxynitride and inhalable particulate. API below 50 is excellent, from 51 to 100 is fairly good; 101 to 200 is slightly polluted; 201 to 300 is poor; and more than 301 is hazardous, according to the bureau. Du said that the city saw 25 days of blue skies in June, which was the best during the same months since 2000.
Experts said the improving air quality is the result of the city government’s decade-long efforts to control air pollution and the environmental protective measures taken during last year’s Beijing Olympic Games. “The emission of pollutants has decreased dramatically after years of efforts to transform energy-intensive industries and shutting down highly polluting factories,” said Wang Dawei, assistant chief engineer of the air quality control division of the bureau. Moreover, citizens’ lifestyle has been more environment-friendly since the Beijing Games, he said. Although the city has registered about 200,000 new vehicles so far this year, the level of emissions has not increased as 55,000 heavy polluting vehicles were removed from the streets, he said. |
克拉玛依市| 烟台市| 渭源县| 大关县| 邵东县| 绍兴市| 沽源县| 天水市| 防城港市| 西平县| 安国市| 龙里县| 颍上县| 孟村| 洞口县| 涿鹿县| 隆安县| 东丰县| 色达县| 木兰县| 五指山市| 台安县| 东安县| 离岛区| 汤原县| 忻城县| 澎湖县| 连云港市| 陆丰市| 武安市| 上杭县| 桂林市| 剑川县| 永清县| 静安区| 望城县| 遵义县| 特克斯县| 长春市| 乐安县| 临武县|