Post was not sent - check your email addresses! (UC Berkeley photo by Kaitlyn Lieschke). As the United States moves more and more freight each year, the challenge of reducing emissions from this sector will continue to grow. Cars, trucks, and buses powered by fossil fuels are major contributors to air pollution. On March 16, six counties in the Bay Area became the first region in the U.S. to tell non-essential employees to stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19. Make your impact. Text STOP to opt out. When used as a vehicle fuel, natural gas can offer life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions benefits over conventional fuels, depending on vehicle type, duty cycle, and engine calibration. Together with methane, and in a very small part HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), nitrous oxide emissions account for about 5 to 6 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles. Transportation expert Hanjiro Ambrose discusses the importance of recycling EV batteries. Specific companies are given a limit, or cap, on the amount of CO2 they can emit, but are allowed to sell, or trade, their emission allowances to other companies if they reduce their own emissions. These policies and investments should also ensure that workers from marginalized communities gain access to training and job opportunities, and that electric vehicle deployment is prioritized in the communities already breathing the dirtiest air. In addition, natural gas reduces some engine emissions. Air pollutants emitted from cars are believed to cause cancer and contribute to such problems as asthma, heart disease, birth defects and eye irritation. The data come from a network of carbon dioxide sensors set up around the Bay Area by UC Berkeley scientists over the past eight years — a network that is already being replicated in several cities around the world. These gases are primarily water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. He and his team have also installed four stations in San Francisco, including two at the Exploratorium, and are collaborating with colleagues elsewhere to build similar networks in Los Angeles, New York City and Houston, as well as in Glasgow. The US continues to keep intercontinental ballistic missiles on high alert—creating the risk of a mistaken nuclear war in response to a false warning. The right policies and investments from federal, state, and municipal governments will accelerate the transition to a zero-emissions transportation system. Published Jul 23, 2008 “We are making the case that this is the way to track urban CO2 in cities all over the world,” he said. Call for investments in public health and human security, not nuclear weapons. (617) 547-5552. Glasgow, Scotland, will announce tomorrow (Nov. 10) that it plans to install 25 of these monitors within the next year in time for the Nov. 1, 2021, start of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in that city. The EPA in 2009 invoked the so-called endangerment clause to regulate CO2 emissions, but the Trump administration filed a lawsuit to repeal the regulation. Climate change is fueling wildfires. The US food system should be providing healthy, sustainable food for everyone. “This is what it would look like for CO2, if we electrified the vehicle fleet,” said Ronald Cohen, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry and of earth and planetary science and senior author of the study. Here's how. Start your monthly gift right now. Additional emissions are associated with refining and distribution of fuels and to a lesser extent, manufacturing and disposal of the vehicle. A recent study used such estimates of human activity to document that, during the pandemic, cities around the world saw a drop in CO2 emissions. Transportation is a major source of air pollution in the United States. Text "SCIENCE" to 662266 or sign up online. When electric vehicles start retiring, what happens to their batteries? We need to grow a resilient food system from the ground up. Addressing heavy-duty vehicle pollution is critical for improving air quality and reducing global warming emissions in communities around the country. The three main greenhouse gases produced by cars … “Going forward, we expect that direct observations of CO2 will help us refine an understanding of the emissions that are contributing to air pollution and, simultaneously, the air pollution emissions will help us refine our understanding of the emissions of CO2.”. “Here we would have a direct measure,” Cohen said. Public transit needs support from Congress now. Indeed, tailpipe pollutants pose health risks at every stage of life, and can even cause premature death. Fortunately, there are solutions that can benefit both farmers and fishers. By continuing, you accept our use of cookies. The Union of Concerned Scientists is actively monitoring the coronavirus pandemic and its implications for scientific integrity. Continuing to lower emissions from fossil fuel–powered trucks is an important first step. But the impacts of climate change, driven by global warming emissions, also affect people's health and the well-being of entire communities. “We measure those pollution gases, but we don’t have the data in the atmosphere to say how much fuel was burned. (UC Berkeley image by Ronald Cohen). Greenhouse gases are found in the Earth's atmosphere; they absorb and re-emit infrared radiation, causing the earth to heat. No purchase necessary. Overall, human-caused CO2 levels dropped 30% after shelter-in-place restrictions limited mobility. The UC Berkeley work was funded, in part, by the Koret Foundation. Together, you’ll help implement strategies that will help us defend science and protect the health of our planet and communities. Just as electric cars are helping to reduce pollution from passenger vehicles, electric trucks and buses could eliminate tailpipe pollution entirely, and increase the development of clean, renewable electricity and hydrogen. Cohen is participating in a webinar about the project tomorrow, 8-11:45 a.m. PST, along with Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, and Glasgow and Scottish leaders. Emissions from cars increase the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This article was written by the It Still Works team, copy edited and fact checked through a multi-point auditing system, in efforts to ensure our readers only receive the best information. But these vehicles also also greatly affect public health and global warming. This is the way to know we are on track to meet our goals.”, Weekly carbon dioxide concentrations during the six weeks before shelter-in-place (Feb. 2-Mar. “Our goal is to give people data to support what they are doing, so they can make judgements about what works effectively,” Cohen said. ICYMI - @UCBerkeley @IGISci researchers give E. coli ability to pull CO2 from air, boosting ability to make new pro… https://t.co/wvful4DCMj, When the pandemic forced Bay Area residents to shelter in place in March, chemist Ron Cohen saw an opportunity to see how air quality was affected. Pushed by winds the clouds transport these acids, sometimes thousands of kilometers from the site of the pollution. The solid lines show the median CO2 levels across the BEACO2N network. An air pollution monitor mounted at a school on Mare Island in Vallejo. Natural Gas Vehicle Emissions. These include setting targets for electric truck and bus adoption, enacting standards for manufacturers to make more of these types of vehicles, and developing and funding incentive programs to help cities and companies achieve these goals.