Tag Archives: air pollution

Bitcoin Mining: Researchers find it environmentally unsustainable, threat to future energy

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Taken as a share of the market price, the climate change impacts of mining the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin is more comparable to the impacts of extracting and refining crude oil than mining gold, according to an analysis published in Scientific Reports by researchers at The University of New Mexico.

The authors suggest that rather than being considered akin to ‘digital gold’, Bitcoin should instead be compared to much more energy-intensive products such as beef, natural gas, and crude oil.

“We find no evidence that Bitcoin mining is becoming more sustainable over time,” said UNM Economics Associate Professor Benjamin A. Jones. “Rather, our results suggest the opposite: Bitcoin mining is becoming dirtier and more damaging to the climate over time. In short, Bitcoin’s environmental footprint is moving in the wrong direction.”

In December 2021, Bitcoin had an approximately 960 billion US dollars market capitalization with a roughly 41 percent global market share among cryptocurrencies. Although known to be energy intensive, the extent of Bitcoin’s climate damages is unclear.

Researchers at The University of New Mexico find digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin is more comparable to the impacts of extracting and refining crude oil than mining gold./CREDIT:
University of New Mexico

Jones and colleagues Robert Berrens and Andrew Goodkind present economic estimates of climate damages from Bitcoin mining between January 2016 and December 2021. They report that in 2020 Bitcoin mining used 75.4 terawatt hours of electricity (TWh) – higher electricity usage than Austria (69.9 TWh) or Portugal (48.4 TWh) in that year.

“Globally, the mining, or production, of Bitcoin is using tremendous amounts of electricity, mostly from fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas. This is causing huge amounts of air pollution and carbon emissions, which is negatively impacting our global climate and our health,” said Jones. “We find several instances between 2016-2021 where Bitcoin is more damaging to the climate than a single Bitcoin is actually worth. Put differently, Bitcoin mining, in some instances, creates climate damages in excess of a coin’s value. This is extremely troubling from a sustainability perspective.”

The authors assessed Bitcoin climate damages according to three sustainability criteria: whether the estimated climate damages are increasing over time; whether the climate damages of Bitcoin exceeds the market price; and how the climate damages as a share of market price compare to other sectors and commodities.

They find that the CO2 equivalent emissions from electricity generation for Bitcoin mining have increased 126-fold from 0.9 tonnes per coin in 2016, to 113 tonnes per coin in 2021. Calculations suggest each Bitcoin mined in 2021 generated 11,314 US Dollars (USD) in climate damages, with total global damages exceeding 12 billion USD between 2016 and 2021. Damages peaked at 156% of the coin price in May 2020, suggesting that each 1 USD of Bitcoin market value generated led to 1.56 USD in global climate damages that month.

“Across the class of digitally scarce goods, our focus is on those cryptocurrencies that rely on proof-of-work (POW) production techniques, which can be highly energy intensive,” said Regents Professor of Economics Robert Berrens. “Within broader efforts to mitigate climate change, the policy challenge is creating governance mechanisms for an emergent, decentralized industry, which includes energy-intensive POW cryptocurrencies. We believe that such efforts would be aided by measurable, empirical signals concerning potentially unsustainable climate damages, in monetary terms.”

Finally, the authors compared Bitcoin climate damages to damages from other industries and products such as electricity generation from renewable and non-renewable sources, crude oil processing, agricultural meat production, and precious metal mining. Climate damages for Bitcoin averaged 35% of its market value between 2016 and 2021. This share for Bitcoin was slightly less than the climate damages as a share of market value of electricity produced by natural gas (46%) and gasoline produced from crude oil (41%), but more than those of beef production (33%) and gold mining (4%).

The authors conclude that Bitcoin does not meet any of the three key sustainability criteria they assessed it against.  Absent voluntary switching away from proof-of-work mining, as very recently done for the cryptocurrency Ether, then potential regulation may be required to make Bitcoin mining sustainable.

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Exposure to air pollution in infancy alters gut microorganisms, may boost disease risk [Preventive Steps]

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Exposure to air pollution in the first six months of life impacts a child’s inner world of gut bacteria, or microbiome, in ways that could increase risk of allergies, obesity and diabetes, and even influence brain development, suggests new CU Boulder research.

“This study adds to the growing body of literature showing that air pollution exposure, even during infancy, may alter the gut microbiome, with important implications for growth and development,” said senior author Tanya Alderete, assistant professor of Integrative Physiology at CU Boulder.

At birth, an infant hosts little resident bacteria. Over the first two to three years of life, exposure to mother’s milk, solid food, antibiotics and other environmental influences shape which microorganisms take hold. Those microbes, and the metabolites, or byproducts, they produce when they break down food or chemicals in the gut, influence a host of bodily systems that shape appetite, insulin sensitivity, immunity, mood and cognition. While many are beneficial, some microbiome compositions have been associated with Chrohn’s disease, asthma, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.

Air pollution/photo:en.wikipedia.org

“The microbiome plays a role in nearly every physiological process in the body, and the environment that develops in those first few years of life sticks with you,” said first author Maximilian Bailey, who graduated in May with a master’s in Integrative Physiology and is now a medical student at Stanford University.

Boosting inflammation

For the study, the researchers obtained fecal samples from 103 healthy, primarily breast-fed Latino infants enrolled in the Southern California Mother’s Milk Study and used genetic sequencing to analyze them.

Using their street addresses and data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System, which records hourly data from monitoring systems, they estimated exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 (fine inhalable particles from things like factories, wildfires and construction sites) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), a gas largely emitted from cars.

“Overall, we saw that ambient air pollution exposure was associated with a more inflammatory gut-microbial profile, which may contribute to a whole host of future adverse health outcomes,” said Alderete.

For instance, infants with the highest exposure to PM2.5 had 60% less Phascolarctobacterium, a beneficial bacterium known to decrease inflammation, support gastrointestinal health and aid in neurodevelopment. Those with the highest exposure to PM10 had 85% more of the microorganism Dialister, which is associated with inflammation.

infant-small child/photo:en.wikipedia.org

Infants are particularly vulnerable to the health hazards of air pollution because they breathe faster and their gut microbiome is just taking shape.

“This makes early life a critical window where exposure to air pollution may have disproportionately deleterious health effects,” they write.

Meantime, Alderete advises everyone to take these steps to reduce their exposure to both indoor and outdoor pollutants:

  • Avoid walking outdoors in high-traffic zones
  • Consider a low-cost air-filtration system, particularly for rooms children spend a lot of time in
  • If you are cooking, open the windows
  • And for new moms, breastfeed for as long as possible

“Breast milk is a fantastic way to develop a healthy microbiome and may help offset some of the adverse effects from environmental exposures,” Alderete said.

Air pollution is more dangerous for women than men: Study

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The impact of breathing diesel exhaust fumes may be more severe for females than males, according to new research that will be presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona, Spain [1].

Researchers looked for changes in people’s blood brought about by exposure to diesel exhaust. In both females and males, they found changes in components of the blood related to inflammation, infection and cardiovascular disease, but they found more changes in females than males.

The research was presented by Dr Hemshekhar Mahadevappa, from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada and was a collaboration between two research groups led by Professor Neeloffer Mookherjee at the University of Manitoba and Professor Chris Carlsten at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Dr Mahadevappa told the Congress: “We already know that there are sex differences in lung diseases such as asthma and respiratory infections.

Air pollution/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

Research showed that breathing diesel exhaust creates inflammation in the lungs and has an impact on how the body deals with respiratory infections. In this study, we wanted to look for any effects in the blood and how these differ in females and males.”

The study involved ten volunteers, five female and five male, who were all healthy non-smokers. Each volunteer spent four hours breathing filtered air and four hours breathing air containing diesel exhaust fumes at three different concentrations – 20, 50 and 150 micrograms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic metre – with a four-week break in between each exposure.

Volunteers donated blood samples 24 hours after each exposure and the researchers made detailed examinations of the volunteers’ blood plasma. Plasma is the liquid component of the blood that carries blood cells as well as hundreds of proteins and other molecules around the body. Using a well-established analysis technology called liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, the researchers looked for changes in the levels of different proteins following exposure to diesel exhaust and compared the changes in females and males.

Airpollution/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

Comparing the plasma samples, the researchers found levels of 90 proteins that were distinctly different between female and male volunteers following exposure to diesel exhaust. Among the proteins that differed between females and males, were some that are known to play a role in inflammation, damage repair, blood clotting, cardiovascular disease and the immune system. Some of these differences became clearer when volunteers were exposed to the higher levels of diesel exhaust.

Professor Mookherjee explained: “These are preliminary findings, however they show that exposure to diesel exhaust has different effects in female bodies compared to male and that could indicate that air pollution is more dangerous for females than males.

“This is important as respiratory diseases such as asthma are known to effect females and males differently, with females more likely to suffer severe asthma that does not respond to treatments. Therefore, we need to know a lot more about how females and males respond to air pollution and what this means for preventing, diagnosing and treating their respiratory disease.”

Air pollution/photo:en.wikipedia.org

Professor Zorana Andersen from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, is Chair of the European Respiratory Society Environment and Health Committee and was not involved in the research. She said: “We know that exposure to air pollution, especially diesel exhaust, is a major risk factor in diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There is very little we can do as individuals to avoid beathing polluted air, so we need governments to set and enforce limits on air pollutants.

 

Polluted air may pose great threat to your kidneys, says study

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There is good evidence that polluted air increases the risk of respiratory problems such as asthma — as well as organ inflammation, worsening of diabetes and other life-threatening conditions. But new research suggests air pollution can also fuel something else: chronic kidney disease, or CKD, which occurs when a person’s kidneys become damaged or cannot filter blood properly.

Recently published in PLOS ONE, a University of Michigan study highlights the lesser-known connection.

“Similar to smoking, air pollution contains harmful toxins that can directly affect the kidneys,” says Jennifer Bragg-Gresham, M.S., Ph.D., a Michigan Medicine epidemiologist and the study’s lead author.

“Kidneys have a large volume of blood flowing through them, and if anything harms the circulatory system, the kidneys will be the first to sense those effects.”

People with diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure or heart disease are at increased risk of developing CKD. Which is why high-risk patients who live in heavily populated or polluted areas should recognize the danger and take precautions, Bragg-Gresham says.

Why air pollution is dangerous?

Air pollution contains fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which is a cocktail of microscopic particles.

Because these particles are virtually weightless, they can stay in the air longer, causing humans to unavoidably inhale them on a regular basis without knowing it. PM2.5 can lead to serious health effects when inhaled often.

By reviewing Medicare claims data and air-quality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the study’s authors found a positive association between CKD rates and PM2.5 concentration.

Says study co-author Rajiv Saran, M.D., a Michigan Medicine nephrologist and director of the United States Renal Data System Coordinating Center at U-M: “If you look at areas that are heavily polluted versus areas that are less polluted, you will find more chronic kidney disease.”

According to figures cited in the new research, chronic kidney disease afflicts more than 27 million Americans. People with CKD have an eightfold increased risk of cardiovascular mortality.

Unfortunately, PM2.5 is almost impossible to avoid.

We encounter air pollution from many simple everyday activities, such as cooking and driving. Other contributors are smoking, burning wood, packaged spray products, household appliances and, perhaps the most obvious, industry and vehicle emissions.

Air pollution also contains heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium — all of which are known to negatively affect the kidneys.

Problems and preventive measures

The U-M research examined several prior studies on the issue, including an effort conducted in select coal-mining areas of Appalachia that found a 19 percent higher risk of CKD among men and a 13 percent higher risk in women compared with those who lived in counties with no mining.

The good news: PM2.5 levels are much lower in the U.S. than in other industrialized countries such as China and India.

“What this means for the countries with higher PM2.5 is significantly higher odds of CKD,” says Bragg-Gresham, also an assistant research scientist at U-M. “Our research was only able to examine a small range of PM2.5 values present in America but was able to find a significant association.”

However, it’s still important to take precautions when exposed to air pollution, especially for people who have existing health conditions or who live in densely populated or polluted cities.

“In heavily polluted areas, consider wearing masks that cover your nose and mouth, limit hours outside and limit long hours commuting to work in high traffic as well,” Saran says, adding that the risk should be taken seriously.

“Many people don’t see the seriousness of air pollution because it isn’t something visible, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less important for your health.”

China, India Behind 50% of Global Deaths Due to Air Pollution: Study

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China and India together contributed for more than half of the total global deaths due to air pollution in 2015, said a study by the U.S.-based Health Effects Institute (HEI).

The report showed that air pollution caused more than 4.2 million deaths in 2015, making it the fifth highest cause of death. But just two countries – India and China alone reported 2.2 million deaths, or half of the global deaths.

The institute on its website – www.stateofglobalair.org – said 92% of the world’s population lives in areas which are filled with polluted or unhealthy air. In turn, air pollution causes cancer, stroke and heart disease, as well as chronic respiratory problems such as asthma.

However, China is trying to bring down the deaths but India has a long time to go, it said. In January, a ministry spokesman told domestic media, “It is currently too early to draw conclusions about the extent of the impact of smog on health, especially its long-term impact on the body.”

The report said most of the world’s population lives in areas where air quality is unhealthy and an estimated 92% of people live in areas where fine particulate matter concentrations (small dust or soot in the air) exceed the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guideline of 10 µg/m3.

Air pollution is a complex mixture of particles and gases and the composition varies from place to place, depending on what sources are present, including power plants, heavy industry, traffic, weather conditions, and how they mix in the atmosphere, said the organisation in it study.