SMOG TOWER: "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• Union Environment Minister said the number of cities with “improved air quality” had increased to 104 in 2020 from 86 in 2018 and attributed this to policies of the government. He was speaking at a public function to mark the International Day of Clean Air For Blue Skies.

 

 

 

About:

• However, the Environment Ministry’s own stand, on record in Parliament, has been that reduction in air pollution in 2020 was primarily due to the lockdown.
• To a question in the Lok Sabha on February 12, it said the COVID-19 related lockdown had resulted in a “temporary improvement” of air quality in many cities due to closure of industries, fewer vehicles plying, drop in construction activities and absence of human activities.
• Yadav also “virtually inaugurated” a smog tower at Anand Vihar, Delhi. A smog tower is designed as a large/medium scale air purifier to reduce pollution, usually by forcing the air through filters.

 

 

About:

• Smog towers are structures designed to work as large-scale air purifiers.
• They are usually fitted with multiple layers of air filters, which clean the air of pollutants as it passes through them.
• China has the world’s largest smog tower.

 

Working of the Tower:

• It uses a ‘downdraft air cleaning system’ where polluted air is sucked in at a height of 24 m, and filtered air is released at the bottom of the tower, at a height of about 10 m from the ground.
  • It is different from the system used in China, where a 60-metre smog tower uses an ‘updraft’ system — air is sucked in from near the ground, and is propelled upwards by heating and convection. Filtered air is released at the top of the tower.