Coal pollution mitigation Since air is mostly nitrogen, combustion of coal often leads to production of nitrogen oxides. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are primary causes of acid rain. For many years--before greenhouse gasses were widely understood to be a threat-- it was thought that these by-products were the only drawback to using coal. These by-products are still a problem, but they have been greatly diminished in most advanced countries due to clean air regulations. It is possible to remove most of the sulfur dioxide (SO), nitrogen oxides (NO), and particulate matter (PM) emissions from the coal-burning process. For example, various techniques are
Emission standard limit that sets thresholds above which a different type of emission control technology might be needed. While emission performance standards have been used to dictate limits for conventional pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and oxides of sulphur (NOx and SOx), this regulatory technique may be used to regulate greenhouse gasses, particularly carbon dioxide (CO). In the US, this is given in pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour (lbs. CO/MWhr), and kilograms CO/MWhr elsewhere. In Canada, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999) transfers the legislative authority for regulating emissions from on-road vehicles and engines to Environment Canada from