Producing clean energy has helped reduce greenhouse gases by as much as 3,000 tons over the past eight months.
Renewable energy sources in Iran (solar and wind power plants) generated over 350 million kilowatt hours of electricity in the period.
If the same volume was produced by thermal power plants, which use gas as feedstock, 1.3 million cubic meters of gas would be needed, IRNA reported.
According to Iran's "Energy Balance Sheet for 2015" issued by the Energy Minister, greenhouse emissions reached 600,000 tons in 2015 mostly from power plants that used eco-unfriendly diesel and mazut. It was only after the scale and scope of the problem sunk in that officials started thinking about investments in and promotion of clean energy.
Moreover, the South Pars Gas Field development project helped the Energy Ministry to supply power stations with natural gas thereby curbing CO2 emissions and other pollutants.
The National Iranian Gas Company is developing the massive SP gas field in the Persian Gulf in 24 phases. South Pars holds an estimated 40 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, or roughly 8% of the world’s reserves and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensates. It is shared with Qatar’s North Field that spans over 6,000 square kilometers.
industrial centers including Isfahan, Shiraz and the capital have been suffocating under a blanket of smog and haze because of which schools have been closed in several cities where air pollution reached dangerous levels. The toxic air filled hospitals with people suffering from various respiratory ailments
Renewable sources produced less than 200 MW in 2015. Output has since risen gradually over the past four years and now is in the region of 750 MW.
Both moves (providing power stations with gas and boosting renewable capacity) have had a major positive impact on curbing pollution in mega cities like Tehran and Isfahan.
Nonetheless, industrial centers including Isfahan, Shiraz and the capital have been suffocating under a blanket of smog and haze because of which schools have been closed in several cities where air pollution reached dangerous levels. The toxic air filled hospitals with people suffering from various respiratory ailments.
Fuel is Fine!
Some link the worsening air quality to the poor quality of gasoline sold by the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company. Senior officials, including Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, NIOPDC boss Alireza Sadeqabadi and Nayyereh Pirouzbakht, head of Iran National Standards, have repeatedly denied the connection claiming that the fuel is fine.
There have been (uncorroborated) reports on social media about the low quality of gasoline. Independent observers believe that the catalysts to improve the quality of fuel cannot be imported due to the US economic sanctions.
Experts including the former minister of roads and urban development, Abbas Akhoundi, say in addition to the quality of fuel used in vehicles and power plants, there are other factors contributing terribly to the poison in the air.
Habitability Issue
“A major factor that has long been ignored is habitability of cities like Tehran,” he said.
A simple question officials must answer is whether or not Tehran really has the capacity to house 14 million people.
Water from five dams namely Lar, Taleqan, Latyan, Mamlou and Karaj is transferred to the sprawling city and this is while water shortages have always been a major concern of the people living in the megapolis that has expanded dangerously in all four directions over the past half century.
Those who think long-distance water transfer projects (from the Oman Sea or Caspian Sea) can address the water crisis, need to rethink. Such solutions, at best, could be short-term simply because cities keep on growing, rainfall declines and there is no let up in the water consumption rates and waste.
Unlike what some officials think and say, making a region habitable does not depend only on enough water or fuel to drive their cars.
Each region (for example Tehran) can accommodate a certain number of people and cars, so no matter how perfect the quality of the fuel, air pollution will be a permanent danger when the rains stay away.
