Harmful Emissions Cause Beijing to Cut Cars in an Olympic Experiment

Harmful emissions such as NOx, Carbon Monoxide, and Particulate Matter, are the talk of Beijing, China at the moment. The city is set to host next years Olympic games, but according to a report in the Daily Mail, the air quality has recently been at National Standard Grade 2, meaning that it is unsuitable for any activity.

In an attempt handle this issue; the city passed a law requiring cars with odd numbers on the final digit of their license plates to remain unused on Saturday and Monday, and cars with even numbered plates to stay off of the road on Friday and Sunday. According to the article. This had not only been good for emissions, but it had also reduced traffic in Beijing, which was very popular with the locals.

What I found interesting about this was the creativity of the city of Beijing to handle the problem. I have no doubt that with half of the people in the city unable to use their cars, it was a bit inconvenient, but it was an interesting idea nonetheless. This does however, also point out the inadequacy of today’s hydrocarbon based fuels, and again bring to the forefront a need for a solution to the incompletely burned fuel.