{"id":4337,"date":"2017-03-15T20:16:06","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T12:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/?p=4337"},"modified":"2020-07-15T11:56:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T03:56:47","slug":"chinas-air-improve-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/chinas-air-improve-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Did China’s Air Improve in 2016?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Embassy\u2019s complete data for 2016 is now out! Smart Air analyzed the data to see if China\u2019s air got any better in 2016.<\/p>\n

There are a few reasons to think 2016 was a good year. China has moved to tighten standards on gasoline and diesel<\/a> and increase renewable power<\/a>. 2016 also saw the G20 meeting, which came with extended factory closings and blue skies from Hangzhou to Beijing.<\/p>\n

\"Thank<\/p>\n

The Good News<\/h3>\n

2016 averaged 73 micrograms, a full 31 micrograms lower than the peak in 2010 and 10 micrograms lower than 2015. Beijing\u2019s PM2.5 has decreased each year since 2013.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Bad News<\/h3>\n

Despite that improvement, Beijing\u2019s air is still three times the World Health Organization\u2019s 24-hour limit<\/a>.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

And 25 is really a loose limit because studies have shown that even levels below 25 micrograms harm human health<\/a>. A stricter limit is the WHO\u2019s annual limit of 10 micrograms, which is the average in cities like San Francisco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That declining average also masks a bad November and December for Beijing, when PM2.5 shot up above the historical averages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How Are<\/strong> Other Cities Doing?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We analyzed data from US Consulates in other major Chinese cities. The data showed that 2016 was a good year across China. PM2.5 was down in 2016 for four out of five cities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The only exception was Chengdu, which was flat at 73 micrograms\u2014and now tied with Beijing.<\/p>\n

But \u201cgetting better\u201d does not mean \u201csafe.\u201d All five cities are above the WHO\u2019s 24-hour limit and at least several times the annual limit.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBottom line<\/h3>\n

PM2.5 dropped across China in 2016, but air is still far from safe.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Embassy\u2019s complete data for 2016 is now out! Smart Air analyzed the data to see if China\u2019s air got any better in 2016. There are a few reasons to think 2016 was a good year. China has moved to tighten standards on gasoline and diesel and increase renewable … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1035,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[75,204],"class_list":["post-4337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-pollution","tag-beijing","tag-chengdu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4337"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11497,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions\/11497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}