Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
It’s a known fact the pollution continually being poured into our atmosphere is detrimental to health and wellbeing when breathed in. The fact of the matter is, as reported in The Guardian newspaper recently, in the world, greater than 9.5 in 10 people are exposed to unhealthy air, a thorough air-pollution study has found. Put … Read more
Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future is a collection of chapters, vignettes if you will, composed by both the conductor (lead author) – Daniel Sperling – and a cohort of contributors. Three Revolutions is chockfull of information, much backed up by supporting documentation (what’s contained in the “Notes” section). … Read more
It is impossible to not air-pollute. Think about it. How would it be possible to have even some of the things that life offers without the polluting of our air? It wouldn’t be. But, the key is, if pollution cannot be completely avoided, then there should be as little pollution as possible. And, hence the reason … Read more
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
Americans are driving more than ever before. And, in the United States, because of all the “stop-and-go” or “stopped-in-traffic” driving, drivers are delayed an average of 44 hours annually. Non-eco-friendly driving in addition to any delay associated with such, contribute both to poor air quality and human health degradation. Yes, it’s true that driving has … Read more
By now, you’ve seen the ubiquitous, yes, ubiquitous images, scenes, photos of smoke billowing from industrial stacks; strings, lines, queues of light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles so concentrated, freeways and surface streets appearing parking-lot like; and smog so thick, at first glance, what’s in the air actually looks like fog. As to the point in the middle … Read more
It would seem that the most efficient transport systems are the most expensive to build. So, there is an obvious trade-off. Operationally, the most efficient are also the most cost-effective or cost-efficient. That said, at the end of the day, from an operational standpoint, monetarily, the worth of the most cost-effective or efficient should be … Read more
Back on Aug. 6, 2013 I composed the “Legal challenge to proposed southern California-based rail yard project launched” Air Quality Matters blog post in which I reported: “In southern California … I understand that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway is proposing to build an expansive intermodal rail terminal that, if built, would sit on Port … Read more
Contemplative point 2: Running a city takes energy. The former feeds off the latter to survive. Energy: it can neither be created nor destroyed; only changed. Energy can be friend or foe; an asset or detriment, in other words. Energy is responsible for bringing to life things that we often take for granted like lit … Read more
Projections are that by 2050, 9 billion people will inhabit the Earth. Such is reflective of improving conditions or at least conditions not getting worse. Such would have to be case, right, i.e., if the case is to be made that a population that big can be adequately provided for? In recent times population has … Read more