Air Quality Talk

Bryce Bird, director of the Utah Division of Air Quality, gave this talk on air quality in Utah:

Air quality continues to be an issue in Utah and many other parts of the country, but we are making progress. Despite the fact that with each year more miles are driven and the demand for energy increases, air quality in Salt Lake City is much better than it was 40 years ago (see 2014 article). This improvement in air quality is a result of new technology and stricter regulations. NASA recently released this image which shows that nitrogen dioxide concentrations have decreased across the country in the last 5 years.

Source: NASA

Air quality monitoring and regulation continue to be important for human health. In a 2010 report, the Environmental Protection Agency stated that for every dollar spent on air quality brings $40 in benefits. (This is much more than NASA's economic benefit which is about an $8 return for every dollar spent.)