The Olympics

The Olympics

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News, information and stories about the Olympic Games.

Thursday 28 June 2007

Chinese Visit States

Chinese officials, as they gear themselves up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are taking advice from researchers in North Carolina to help combat smog and other environmental problems in Beijing.

A group of Chinese air modelers, engineers and meteorologists recently completed three weeks of training at RTI International, a research institute based at Research Triangle Park, where they learned to use state-of-the-art computer modeling to forecast air pollution.

Bob Zerbonia, project director for RTI, said:

"They have some pretty severe air pollution problems.

They have been addressing them but are still not where they want to be. The Olympics are the driving force now, but it's a long-term deal
."

Environmental improvement efforts in Beijing have been hampered by the country's rapid growth, a high level of construction activity and increasing number of vehicles on the roads.

Shi Aijun, director of monitoring and pollution management for the city of Beijing, said:

"We hope the effort of this project will help Beijing produce more scientific and economically efficient pollution control strategies.

Specifically, by using this modeling system, we can finally decide which are the major emission sources
."

Special measures will be implemented before the Olympics, including a 30% cut in emissions from factories, replacement of old diesel buses and taxis, and tighter emission standards for automobiles.

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