Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
It has been reported that if high-speed rail were placed on the California ballot today the electorate would vote it down. While that may be true, it would not be a landslide defeat. There are still a considerable number of Californians that continue to support the project, myself included. So, keep in mind that California … Read more
In the past on the Air Quality Matters blog and elsewhere I have talked quite a bit about transit-oriented development or TOD. But, I’ve yet to discuss – here or elsewhere – development-oriented transit or DOT. That stops right here, right now. Whereas TOD is development that is built up around transit stops and train … Read more
In the mid-1980s when I was doing Master’s thesis work, I obtained a Cal Poly college catalog for the years 1984-’86. My research was all about the program I enrolled in when I attended said university located in San Luis Obispo in California, between Sept. 1973 and Mar. 1976 – Engineering Technology. Interestingly, and quite … Read more
Much painstaking work has been initiated to limit fossil-fuel burning so as to reduce the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases and therefore prevent any further related fallout. A complete moratorium on the burning of fossil fuels is the ideal. Being that this is not likely to happen anytime soon, it is, however, important to keep … Read more
For the longest time, it has seemed like, air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases were thought of in different contexts. Air pollution is thought of as being associated with poisons (toxic chemicals, toxicants or chemical pollutants) and haze in – or discoloration of – the air and poor – and damage to – health, hospitalizations and … Read more
In 2016, the transportation sector for the first time since 1978 contributed the most emissions. So, in terms of new vehicle purchases, how is the world responding? In America as of Oct. 2018, the number of electric vehicles purchased reached 1 million, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA). “In less than a decade, … Read more
So, I wanted to get a feel for what the tenor toward climate change in the European Union (EU) is. Important and integral to the discussion on climate change and global warming are not just the terms greenhouse gas and the greenhouse effect but when it was that those terms were first introduced into the … Read more
The below Dec. 13, 2018 press release is from the American Public Transportation Association. With innovations in public transportation and new service providers, reliance on car ownership is no longer the only way to be mobile. Nearly 80 percent (77 percent) of commuters see public transit as the backbone of a lifestyle that includes current … Read more
The below Sept. 21, 2018 press release is from the American Thoracic Society. Burning wood or coal to cook food is associated with increased risk of hospitalization or dying from respiratory diseases, according to new research conducted in China and published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. … Read more
Now that electrics have arrived bus-riding has never been better. Not only has travel this way improved, but with electric buses transiting up and down municipal thoroughfares, be they school or commuter, there is none of that typical engine noise so common with and prominent in diesel versions, and the black smoke that can often … Read more