The benefits of electric school buses are clear, and communities across the United States are eager to get on board. What’s more, many of the advantages of electric school buses are even more consequential for low-income and underserved school communities, as discussed in a previous article in this series. By Michelle Levinson World Resources Institute This is […]
The recent enactment of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the United States is an important step on the path to cleaner school bus rides for the more than 20 million children who rely on an iconic yellow bus every day and a chance for states to follow with bold action. By Katrina McLaughlin and Justin Balik World […]
On the final day of comments, 15,750 pro-life Christians submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of its proposed rule to strengthen the emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The rule, if implemented, would significantly curb greenhouse gas emissions from America’s tailpipes for all model year 2023-2026 vehicles. By the […]
After months of debate and negotiation, Congress has passed a sweeping measure to upgrade many parts of the nation’s infrastructure. The bill provides US$1.2 trillion in funding, including $550 billion in new federal spending; the rest renews and updates existing transportation programs, such as highway construction. By Jennifer Weeks The Conversation While the bill is […]
Ford Motor Company announced plans on Monday to invest $11.4 billion to accelerate their electric vehicle manufacturing, the single largest investment in the company’s history. In a joint venture with its main battery cell supplier, South Korean company SK Innovation, the companies plan to build three electric vehicle battery plants along with a plant to […]
Most of America’s 107,000 gas stations can fill several cars every five or 10 minutes at multiple pumps. Not so for electric vehicle chargers – at least not yet. Today the U.S. has around 43,000 public EV charging stations, with about 106,000 outlets. Each outlet can charge only one vehicle at a time, and even […]
At least 30 times as much lithium, nickel and other key minerals may be required by the electric car industry by 2040 to meet global climate targets, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). By Josh Gabbatiss CarbonBrief These metals are among a handful that are considered vital in the manufacture of solar panels, wind turbines and […]
President Joe Biden is calling for a more than 60% increase in spending to fight climate change in his first federal budget compared to the previous annual budget, with more than $US36 billion in climate-related investments spread across nearly every agency of the government. That includes more than $10 billion in nondefense spending on clean […]
The Ford F-series pick-ups are iconic: “the undisputed heavyweight champion of American roads.” They’ve been the best-selling pickup in the US for almost 50 years. By Michael Brune Sierra Club The company itself lives equally large in the American imagination. Ford was instrumental in creating the mid-century compact between workers and employers. Thanks in large part to […]
When discussing low-carbon transportation and the question of why cars play such a dominant role in our society, it is often tempting to fall back on a comfortable and familiar answer: We drive cars because we like them! The COVID19 pandemic, however, has radically disrupted people’s travel habits, with uncertain outcomes for car use. On one […]
The biggest source of air pollution in UK cities is traffic, and in a new report, researchers discovered that a major contributor to the problem is the popularity of unnecessarily large and fuel-hungry cars. Tom Stacey, Anglia Ruskin University The Conversation Known disparagingly as “Chelsea tractors”, sport utility vehicles – more commonly known as SUVs […]
As concern mounts over the impacts of climate change, many experts are calling for greater use of electricity as a substitute for fossil fuels. Powered by advancements in battery technology, the number of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on U.S. roads is increasing. And utilities are generating a growing share of their power from renewable […]
COVID-19 has affected almost all aspects of transportation. For the public sector, economic shutdowns have gutted the tax revenue needed to buy and maintain government vehicle fleets. Perhaps no municipal entity has been hit harder than public transit agencies, which have seen ridership plummet by up to 97%. Some transit operators are close to bankruptcy, while some bus […]
While 315 elected officials today applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring sales of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035, they said it is “not enough” in a press release issued after he signed the order. By Dan Bacher They said Newsom also should declare a state of emergency for the climate crisis. “Governor […]
We need to change our transportation system, and we need to do it quickly.Road transportation is a major consumer of fossil fuels, contributing 16 per cent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, which warm up the Earth’s atmosphere and cause changes to the climate. It also pollutes the air, threatening health and costing taxpayers billions […]