In Barcelona, the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation conducted a seminar in which there were studies on pollution and its effects on human health. Noting pollutant emissions in cities are mainly from the transport sector, industry, households and public works, the seminar presented natural gas as an efficient, real and viable solution to reduce pollutant emissions while being environmentally friendly and economically profitable.
During the seminar, National Research Council (CSIC) research professor Xavier Querol said that in the last decade and following the implementation of European Union directives, air quality has improved dramatically. On the other hand, the co-director of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (Creal), Jordi Sunyer, explained the effects of urban pollution on human health, and gave as an example the pollution in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games.
Josu Goiogana, General Sales Manager of Wärtsilä Iberica, S.A., a company dedicated to solutions for the marine market, focused on the difference between conventional fuels and natural gas for shipping, and how the latter can improve the quality of air. Goiogana assured participants that switching to liquefied natural gas (LNG) marine fuel could prevent 50,000 premature deaths a year caused by the use of marine fuels high in sulfur.
The seminar also focused on the benefits of natural gas in road transport. José Ramón Freire, responsible for Mobility Solutions Gas Natural Fenosa, explained that natural gas for vehicles reduces local pollutant emissions and CO2 and is cheaper than gasoline or diesel. For example, a user spending EUR 20 (USD 27) in a private car can travel more than twice the distance on CNG than using gasoline.
At a Foundation seminar held earlier this year in Santander, Cantabria, it was stated that the transport sector is responsible for 29% of greenhouse gases. Participants learned that despite new cars being less polluting than in the past, the large increase in the number of vehicles in circulation has to a certain extent neutralised the technological improvement. In the last decade, the fleet of vehicles in Spain has increased by 23%, coming to more than 33 million vehicles.
(Source: Gas Natural Fenosa)
