The NOx problem
The nitrogen problem is caused by a group of NOx gasses. These gasses contain compounds of nitrogen and oxygen, causing a variety of problems.
Destruction of habitat
Pollution
Global warming
Acid rain, smog and overfertilisation causes destruction of habitats where millions of species are threatened.
Indoor and outdoor pollution causes problems to the respiratory system and can be measured in years of reduction in lifespan.
While concentrations of the N2O gas are low, it is 300x more potent per molecule than CO2. Resulting in a 6% contribution to global warming.
NOx in The Netherlands
With the highest NOx concentration of Europe the stikstof crisis is a topical problem, causing destruction of nature and impacting the economy and wellbeing of humans. The Netherlands had to implement the following measures
Buying out farms
Halting construction
Reduction of speedlimit
The government set a target to reduce the number of farms and implemented NOx reduction measures, like changing food. This has caused farmers to protest multiple times.
Rule: “0 net NOx deposition on nature areas during construction or lifetime use”. Which causes problems for around 50% of the construction sites in the Netherlands.
20 million cost for replacing signs and software, not counting the economic impact of longer travel times. The effect of this measure is 0,13% total NOx budget.