Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
generating industry in Britain, which saw the
CEGB replaced by two private com-panics in
1990. After some consideration of fuel-switching
as a cheaper alternative, both companies reverted
to FGD technology for emission control, but only
at three stations rather than the original six (Park
1991).
Although this procrastination means that the
proposed emission reductions will take longer to
achieve, it may allow Britain to take advantage
of new technology currently under development.
Experiments with systems such as LIMB which
involve the furnace injection of acid reducing
chemicals, promise emission reductions that are
more cost-effective than those of existing
scrubber technology (Ridley 1993). The
installation of these new, cheaper systems may
deal with some of the economic issues which have
contributed to the slow adoption of emission
control strategies in the past. Ironically, the
environmental effects of reduced acid emissions
may never be fully known. Cooperative studies
by British and Scandinavian scientists have all
but ended, and many of the research funds
available for the study of acid rain in the 1970s
and 1980s have been lost to apparently more
pressing issues, including global warming and
ozone depletion (Pearce 1990).
NO
X
, has caused it to develop into a major
environmental problem. It is mainly confined to
the industrialized areas of the northern
hemisphere at present, but has the potential to
become a problem of global proportions. Acid
rain damage is extensive in the aquatic
environment, and is increasingly recognized in
the terrestrial environment. Damage to buildings
is common in some areas, but the effect of acid
rain on human health is less obvious.
Progress towards the large scale abatement of
acid emissions has been slow, and methods for
controlling NO
X
lag behind those for dealing with
SO
2
. Emissions of sulphur dioxide are beginning
to decline in many areas. Although lakes and
forests damaged by acid rain will take some time
to recover, action is being taken to improve the
situation, and that, in itself, is psychologically
important. Finally, much has been written about
the necessity to 'clean-up' acid rain. Ironically,
the acidity is really the end-product of a series of
natural cleansing processes by which the
atmosphere attempts to maintain some degree
of internal chemical balance.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Adriano, D.C. and Haas, M. (1989)
Acidic
Precipitation; vol. 1: Case Studies,
New York:
Springer-Verlag.
Howard, R. and Perley, M. (1991)
Poisoned
Skies,
Toronto: Stoddart.
Park, C.C. (1987)
Acid Rain: Rhetoric and
Reality,
London: Methuen.
SUMMARY
Acid rain is a natural product of atmospheric
chemical reactions. Inadvertent human
interference in the composition of the
atmosphere, through the addition of SO
2
and
