In downtowns, a wealth of solutions in reducing pollution

So, let’s begin this journey with something as basic as one-way streets. With one-way streets, the entire roadway width, besides eliminating opposite-direction travel on part of the street, same-direction (or current-of-traffic) vehicle movement enables same-direction parking on both sides of the street. Such a provision can make locating a parking space somewhat less encumbered and … Read more

Renewables to the rescue: Beating a relentless path to clean-air’s door

It is not as if we did not already know humans are great at devising tools. We did. More of the very same as it applies to tools to determine and measure changes taking place in our atmosphere. Of this, we can be sure. Forget great, at that, we’re excellent. What we are not as … Read more

Progress report: California reaches 2020 GHG target of 431 MMTCO2e

“’California’s GHG emissions have followed a declining trend since 2007,’ the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board (ARB) emphasized in the Overview section of ‘California Greenhouse Gas Emissions for 2000 to 2015 – Trends of Emissions and Other Indicators,’ an adjunct or supplement to its ‘2017 Edition California GHG Emission Inventory’ document. ‘In 2015, … Read more

On global aviation emissions-reduction progress ‘we have lift-off!’ A follow-up

In its “Dramatic MBM Agreement and Solid Global Plan Endorsements Help Deliver Landmark ICAO 38th Assembly” Oct. 4, 2013 press release, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced: “ICAO’s States agreed to report back in 2016 with a proposal for a global MBM [Market-Based Measures] scheme capable of being implemented by 2020. Major efforts will … Read more

Air Quality Awareness Week 2018: Choice matters

Ever think about things that impact our lives? And, why does this matter? Where I’m going with this is: decisions we make in life can also impact the environment. It is this that this thread, today’s thread, has to do with. Setting the tone is this idea of three specific areas of living and how … Read more

CATS: Tram to operate sans overhead wires; is almost fully recyclable at end of life

Number 38 in the Clean Air Technologies Series. Electric motors are used extensively. They’re in everything from electric drills and shavers to lawnmowers and buses, cars and trains. The sky is the limit. That these are used in the railway realm is nothing new. What is new, on the other hand, is the way in … Read more

Forward ho! On advancing transportation, it’s a brave new world

Continuing along the lines of the discussion of Tuesday’s post: “U-turn: Our driving profile, on taking the eco-smart road and what that will take,” in today’s thread, considered is where transportation is headed generally. Encouraging signs there are. Exciting times are these. The change in transportation development is coming absent my directly noticing it. What … Read more

SAPS: Potato concerns raking in energy, waste, water savings with sustainability actions

Number 7 in the Sustainable Agricultural Practices Series. The place where food is grown – the farm – is not a place one typically thinks of when thinking of entities adopting sustainability practices. But, more and more, agriculture is, in fact, getting with that program. In this installment we take a look1 at two potato … Read more

Incandescent bulbs in U.S. to go the way of the rotary-dial telephone?

It was only a matter of time that incandescent lights would one day meet their replacements – that’s replacements with an “s”. That “one day” is today. Credit the change to technological advancement and innovation. Light-emitting-diode (LED) and fluorescent lamps have rendered incandescents practically obsolete. Why? The LEDs are roughly 10 times more energy efficient … Read more

Conventional roadwork can’t hold a candle to constructing Cal. high-speed rail

With reference to California high-speed-rail- versus typical road-work, there really is no comparison. The difference, to put it succinctly, is like night and day. So, what makes the former so different? What makes California-high-speed-rail-construction stand alone is the cleanliness or should I say “air-friendliness” of related operations. The building of the California high-speed rail system … Read more