Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits containing high levels of pollutants. Breathing clean air and drinking clean water are two things many Americans take for granted, but perhaps we shouldn’t. In some parts of the country, the air is full of particulates, the ozone layer is thin, and tap water is rife with contaminants.
Despite dramatic progress cleaning the air since 1970, air pollution in the United States continues to harm people’s health and the environment. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA (The Environmental Protection Agency) continues to work with state, local and tribal governments, other federal agencies, and stakeholders to reduce air pollution and the damage that it causes.
Now America is one of the environment friendly country is the world. But still West and Southwest United States experience unhealthier air days than other parts of the country. One reason for this uneven distribution is the increase of oil and gas extraction in the Southwest while eastern states have instead focused on cleaning up power plants. Other significant contributors to particulate matter pollution are wildfires on the West Coast, wood burning stoves, older diesel vehicles and industrial plants. Weather and climate in certain regions can also serve to trap pollutant particles in one area, leading to multiple consecutive unhealthy air days.
We can make a difference in our country’s air quality with a little effort. New air filter technologies are being developed. Since particulate matter (PMs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have caused serious health problems, new types of air filter technologies are being developed.
Traditional air filters have a restricted use and low degradability, and after use, they become non-disposable waste. So here is a highly powerful, environmentally friendly, transparent, and multifunctional air purification filter that is very effective at reducing air pollution, protecting the environment, and detecting hazardous chemical vapors encountered in daily life.
An electrospinning method was used to create uniform silk protein nanofibers on a window screen. The optical properties of silk Nano fibrous air filters (SNAFs) (translucence and scattering) are beneficial for achieving view ability and regulating the room temperature. The fabricated SNAFs could have air filtration efficiencies of up to 90% and 97 percent for PMs smaller than 2.5 and 10 m, respectively, outperforming commercial semi-high efficiency particulate air (semi-HEPA) filters.
The SNAFs can naturally degrade after use. SNAFs impregnated with organic dyes are capable of sensing dangerous and toxic vapors experienced in daily life. Human activities have resulted in a great deal of pollution since the "Industrial Revolution." Because of their small size and heavy adhesion to toxic chemicals, particulate matter (PM), the term used to describe a mixture of few-micron-sized solid particles and liquid droplets in air, has posed significant public health concerns.
Inhalation of PM2.5 (fine PM with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 m or less) was linked to 3.45 million premature deaths worldwide in 2007, and this figure is expected to rise today. PM10 (fine PM with a diameter of 10 m or less) can accumulate in bronchioles via the airway during respiration.
The world is trying to go green and attempting to adopt the renewable energy solutions and reducing carbon making activities to overcome the global warming effects. Thus, in a drive to go green, the countries are trying to develop alternatives using solar and wind drawn energy instead of oil and gas consumption to produce electricity. Each passing year continues to break heatwave records due to global warming. So living in a sustainable, ecofriendly environment is becoming increasingly important. That’s why world needs to take a strong step for this.