Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
“Dedicated high-speed rail dollars kept in the Valley will simply go farther,” the Air Quality Matters blog post of Jun. 14th, showed how $4.2 billion in state rail bonds, in being applied to construction work in California’s San Joaquin Valley, could be a tremendous asset where hiring, stimulating local economies and improving area and state … Read more
This June 16th marks five years since construction on California’s statewide high-speed rail program first began. There are now 4,000 laborers doing bullet-train-related building work in the Golden State’s Central Valley at over three dozen sites. That level of commitment notwithstanding, there are those who think that they know what’s best regarding where yet-unspent dedicated … Read more
Natural gas. It is used to dry our clothes, cook our food, heat our water and warm our homes. All true. But, from an air quality standpoint, how clean-burning or unhealthy are the gas-fired appliances that we use? Many, apparently, just don’t make the grade. As far as unhealthy indoor air quality from natural gas-powered … Read more
No one knows with absolute certainty what transportation patterns in the United States will be like once over the Corona Virus pandemic or whether we’ll return to travel patterns exactly the way they were pre-pandemic. Speaking to this, a team of researchers from two universities (Vanderbilt and Cornell) got to work to consider several possible … Read more
In California’s expansive and agriculturally conducive San Joaquin Valley, encompassing eight counties in all, one-in-five children is an asthmatic. According to the California High-Speed Rail Authority highlighting childhood health and freight and passenger train transport and travel in a media release expresses that in the Valley the childhood asthma rate is better than double the … Read more
Sometimes people mistake a locomotive for a train but there is no mistaking a train for a locomotive. And just like a locomotive isn’t a train and a train isn’t a locomotive, there should be no confusing steam with diesel-electric with diesel-hydraulic with straight electric with hydrogen (fuel-cell-electric) locomotive power. The type of energy supply … Read more
Transportation is the largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S., making it climate enemy number one. Globally, America’s transportation system is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire economies of France and the United Kingdom combined. But a new report from Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group describes … Read more
The below Feb. 12, 2020 news release from the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Advancing California’s leadership in building a modern, clean, and sustainable transportation system, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) today [Feb. 12, 2020] issued its Draft 2020 Business Plan for public review and comment. The Draft 2020 Business Plan affirms the policy recommendation … Read more
On Jan. 29, 2020 the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Annual Energy Outlook 2020 report. Also known as the AEO2020, the outlook includes updated projections of future energy production and use in the United States. The below is from the Energy Information Administration’s Jan. 29, 2020 press release titled: “EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook … Read more
When taken into consideration that the purchase of fuel and the taxes paid on that fuel, maintenance (e.g. oil and filter changes), insurance, registration, smog testing (biennial or every two years, typically) and parking to name a few, car ownership isn’t exactly an inexpensive proposition. Also there are associated social and environmental costs to consider. … Read more