User:Valleyair/sandbox

• Healthy Air Living Schools provides several important tools to help protect studennts.
  Healthy Air Living Schools provides several important tools to help protect studennts.
• Free signage helps discourage drivers from idling at school sites.
  Free signage helps discourage drivers from idling at school sites.

Healthy Air Living (acronym HAL) is the air-quality educational program of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (Valley Air District), the local air-quality regulatory agency for the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. The Valley Air District is responsible for regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the Valley air basin, which includes the following counties: San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and the Valley portion of Kern. Healthy Air Living encourages residents to ″Make One Change″ in their daily routines and activities in order to reduce emissions that form air pollution in the Valley.

Emissions in the Valley

The types of pollution that are predominant in the Valley air basin are ozone (″smog″) during summer and particulates (PM) during fall and winter. Although there are multiple sources of emissions that form each type of pollution, the main source for these pollutants is vehicle use. Healthy Air Living encourages people to primarily reduce their vehicle miles traveled through alternative types of travel such as carpooling and vanpooling, using mass transit and other forms of transportation, and reduce vehicle-related emissions through not idling their vehicles.

Healthy Air Living has components that are targeted at specific populations, such as Healthy Air Living Schools and Healthy Air Living Partners.

Healthy Air Living Schools

Healthy Air Living Schools is a free program of several school-based tools and resources that are available to any kindergarten through high school educational organization in the air basin. Components of HAL Schools include the Air Quality Flag Program, the Real-time Air Advisory Network (RAAN) and the Anti-idling Program. Training and materials delivery is provided through the Valley Air District. More than 700 schools throughout the eight-county air basin are Healthy Air Living Schools.

Air Quality Flag Program

The Air Quality Flag Program provides a set of four color-coded flags that correlate with the Daily Air Quality Forecast, which is issued by county each day and describes the overall expected air quality. An automated email is delivered to the inbox of the participant's designated coordinator the previous afternoon, and the appropriate flag is raised at the school site the next day. This informs school site personnel, students and passers-by of the expected general air quality, allowing them to take the appropriate precautions for outdoor activity.

Real-time Air Advisory Network

The Real-time Air Advisory Network (RAAN) is a current, real-time, localized tool that delivers monitoring data from any of the District's dozens of monitors throughout the Valley to the enrollee's designated email address or smartphone. Data is delivered soon after the start of each hour if air quality is deteriorating or improving. RAAN is a useful tool because air quality is not static and can diverge significantly from one location to another throughout the air basin, depending on the pollutant and any localized events that are occuring, such as a wildfire or dust storm.

Anti-Idling Program

Idling a vehicle for more than 10 seconds usees more gas than cutting and restarting an engine, and pumps emissions into the air. HAL Schools addresses this through the Anti-Idling Program, which educates school site personnel and drivers, and provides signage for use at schools. Emissions produced by fuel combustion contribute to ozone formation, as well as creating unhealthy air quality in the vicinity of idling vehicles.

Healthy Air Living Partners

Healthy Air Living Partners (HAL Partners) is a voluntary, free program that links environmentally aware businesses through a commitment to air quality improvement. HAL Partners declare their intention to keep air quality at the forefront of their day-to-day business decision-making, and encourage their workforces to also adopt air-friendly behaviors, often offering incentives such as order-in lunches, establshing carpooling resources or on-site services that reduce the need to drive at lunch. In return, HAL Partners are featured on www.healthyairliving.comand given tools such as newsletters and incentive items that display their inclusion in HAL Partners.