Amtrak year-over-year ridership gains impress, inspire

Some good news. In the 2013 federal fiscal year which ended Sept. 30th, the National Railroad Passenger Corp. – better known as Amtrak – set a new ridership record meaning it broke the previous one set in FFY 2012. A total of 31.6 million passenger trips were made on Amtrak trains, according to Tim Sheehan … Read more

Not choosing transit could be missed opportunity

For the majority of Americans, land-based transportation options are limited to the automobile. My first reaction is what if everyone who traveled used the car to do so? My sense is that before too long demand for something other than the motor vehicle to satisfy personal mobility needs would, at the very least be strong and, at most, overwhelming. … Read more

On global aviation emissions-reduction progress ‘we have liftoff!’

Yesterday, I talked about reduction of particulate matter and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from diesel trucks, buses, and construction and off-road equipment. Today, aviation gets its turn as it has to do with said emissions reduction. Two percent is the amount of “global manmade carbon emissions” aviation pumps into the air, this according to the International … Read more

Reducing black carbon, carbon dioxide, particle pollution in California air

The California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board (ARB) in “Fact Sheet: California’s Plan to Reduce Diesel Particulate Matter Emissions,” notes, “In 1998, California identified diesel particulate matter (diesel PM) as a toxic air contaminant based on its potential to cause cancer and other adverse health effects.” Added ARB in 2004: “Each year in California, … Read more

A ‘conditional’ go-ahead re fracking in California

With an estimated 250 million motor vehicles plying American roadways daily, I can’t help but think of all of the gasoline being consumed yearly. Using an annual average per-capita vehicle miles traveled rate of 9,363 and an arbitrary average vehicle-miles-per-gallon rating of 17, in doing the math, that works out to the burning by each vehicle … Read more

Electrifying, National Plug In Day is!

Who would have ever guessed there’d be a day (or days) of the year devoted – first nationally and now internationally – to bringing about greater awareness of plug-in electric motor vehicles or EVs? Certainly not I. According to Plug In America, today and yesterday this year are both designated National Plug In Day. It is up to participating cities to decide which … Read more

Author highlights air pollution, mitigating solutions

Journalist, author and teacher, Linda Marsa, in her latest book: “Fevered: Why a Hotter Planet Will Hurt Our Health – and How We Can Save Ourselves,” details what I as a San Joaquin Valley, California resident know all too well – air pollution, a scourge affecting the likes of the area’s four million inhabitants and growing. … Read more

On polluted air, cleanup requires both a will and a way

So, my car has a dead battery. Last evening, I raised the vehicle’s hood and had a look. Even though externally the battery looked sound, internally it just wasn’t delivering the amps (amperage) needed to start the car. Using a volt-ohm-meter (VOM) I purchased years ago, with an analog display no less, I measured the battery’s voltage … Read more

CATS: In ‘passing’: On ‘track’ to trim emissions

Number 27 in the Clean Air Technologies Series. What percentage of Americans outside railroad industry circles – that is, those with no direct railroad ties – would you say actually give more than a glancing thought to train-released emissions? Two, three, four percent? More? Less? Whether a “direct” railroad connection or no, lives, though, are … Read more

To help with diesel-rule compliance, Calif. Air Board gets trucker assist

A New Year’s Day 2014 deadline is fast approaching. Out-of-compliance diesel trucks – estimated to number in the tens of thousands – require engine replacement or retrofitting to meet strict California emissions standards. Either this or potentially hefty fines will be assessed, apparently. Meeting the deadline and therefore being in compliance, could very well be the … Read more