Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
Going back to an earlier time and as reported on Dec. 9, 2012 in “To meet prescribed emissions-reduction targets, San Diego must get transportation plan right,” I related: “San Diego … has been in the spotlight. It isn’t just that the southern California community was the very first in the state (and America) to have … 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 chock full of information, much backed up by supporting documentation (what’s contained in the “Notes” … Read more
Can bus rapid transit in Fresno in California’s mid-section deliver quality?, Will it be quicker?, are two key questions to ask of the city’s latest transit offering. Even before the “Q” (how the new BRT is branded) was a sure thing, being contemplated was what the enhanced transit bus service would be able to bring. … Read more
So, what’s it like for a city’s downtown workers to forego the car and utilize other means in terms of satisfying or fulfilling duties? Just ask Seattle, Washington, the Pacific Northwest-located city. Commute Seattle in a 2014 “Downtown Seattle Commuter Trends” press release reported, “[m]ore people are commuting to Downtown Seattle than ever, but the … Read more
City planner Jeff Speck in his book Walkable Cities: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time makes clear the point that in the United States the air pollution dynamic has shifted. Rather than the bulk of America’s smog-forming pollution coming from industry, it is now sourced mainly from vehicle exhaust.1 How this … Read more
Suburbanization: One of the most successful growth and development schemes going; that is, until it wasn’t anymore. It has overstepped its bounds – literally! Greg Dierkers, Erin Silsbe, Shayna Stott, Steve Winkelman and Mac Wubben of the Center for Clean Air Policy in “CCAP Transportation Emissions Guidebook – Part One: Land Use, Transit & Travel … 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
In November two-thousand-six, when it came time to vote a second time on extending Fresno County, California’s Measure C – the half-cent sales tax referendum to improve county transportation (the first attempt failed to garner enough support), I voted “No.” I knew that the extension, post-2006 all the way out to 2027 (the time the … Read more
For almost 40 years U.S. transportation held the No. 2 spot. In 2016, this sector moved to the top in emissions output, outstripping energy for the first time since 1978. There are two reasons and two reasons only for the reversal: 1) transportation emissions increased; and 2) energy emissions fell. It’s that simple. The good … Read more
An industrious organization known as Aclima (with the help of Google), is taking air-pollution measuring to the streets, literally; to the next level, if you will. But, why the need to mobile monitor? As Aclima explains, “Today Aclima’s mobile air quality measurement technology creates the opportunity to provide air pollution data to regions lacking measurement, … Read more