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

T & C: Our impact on Earth; its impact on us – Part 6: Waste: Smart disposal thereof does much, goes far

Contemplative point 4: Consumption and waste go hand in hand. Reduce consumption and you get reduced waste. Increase consumption and what you get is increased waste. In case you haven’t noticed it, there is a proportional relationship thing going on here between consumption and waste. In the consumption/waste combination, never is consumption ever in the … 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

Progress Report: California on track to reach 2020 GHG target of 427 MMTCO2e

Another year has passed and California’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to fall. For purposes of this discussion, representative data covers years 2000 to 2015, inclusive. “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 … Read more

Making an impact: The effect on air from electric cars – NONE!

Year after year on the world-transport-activity stage, on-road travel accounts for the largest share.1 In the USA alone, meanwhile, there are over 250 million registered automobiles and trucks and buses total, yet only a small fraction derive their propulsion means from 100 percent electric power – about 160,000 light-duty vehicles in 2016. Across the globe … 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

Time that air-pollution awareness get its deserved due

Air pollution. Who can deny its existence? Not you, not I, no one! Air pollution, though not something you can hold or feel, it is nevertheless real. However, big-picture-wise, air pollution gets paid hardly any mind at all – barely registering a blip on the planet’s radar screen of most-pressing issues. It seems as if the … Read more