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Electric Truck

Coming in 2020: Electrification of Transportation, Including Trucks

Auto manufacturers will offer more battery and plug-in hybrid models this year, and the nation's largest state is expected to approve a new regulation requiring medium and heavy-duty truck manufacturers to sell zero-emission vehicles.

January 10, 2020 - Government Technology

Car-Centric Planning

Report from London: Pollution Pricing Reduces Tailpipe Emissions

A new report shows that London's new emission fee, an additional driver charge that became operational 24/7 in April for all motor vehicles not meeting Euro standards that enter the congestion charge zone, has cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 31%.

October 29, 2019 - Smart Cities Dive

Old Car Batteries

The Most Carbon-Intensive Component of Electric Vehicles Deserves Attention

It's well known that an electric vehicle is only as clean, from a greenhouse gas perspective, as the electricity it consumes to power it. A new study finds that the electricity used in the manufacturing of car batteries also must be considered.

October 24, 2018 - Bloomberg News

Double Trucks

A Departing Blow to Clean Air on Pruitt's Final Day

Friday may have been disgraced EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's last day in office of the agency in charge of protecting the nation's environment, but he still managed to roll back a regulation to create lasting air pollution far greater than VW did.

July 9, 2018 - The New York Times

Silicon Valley

Clean Energy's Impact on Public Health

Because of the coal power it displaces, solar and wind energy generated in the Mid-Atlantic, and Upper Midwest has an outsized impact.

August 21, 2017 - Vox

Electric Cars

Electrifying California: Volkswagen Settlement Approved

The biggest obstacle to the adoption of electric vehicles in California, a shortage of charging infrastructure, just became a lot more manageable thanks to $200 million from Volkswagen stemming the from the dieselgate settlement.

August 2, 2017 - Los Angeles Times

Tailpipe

Another Nail in the Coffin of the Internal Combustion Engine?

Is the movement away from gasoline and diesel-powered cars unstoppable? In response to air pollution litigation, the British government announced on July 26 that sales of gasoline and diesel vehicles would be banned by 2040.

July 31, 2017 - The New York Times

Metro Buses

Los Angeles Metro Begins Conversion to Renewable Natural Gas Buses

At a June 22 meeting, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board ordered 295 buses that will be fueled with renewable natural gas. An expected purchase of 35 electric buses was delayed until next month's meeting.

July 1, 2017 - NGT News

Zero Emissions Bus

Los Angeles Metro to Go Fully Electric by 2030

The move is risky. The agency has no electric buses now, and the last ones it operated performed so badly they had to be returned. The plan is to make the transition in phases, and hope that battery technology improves.

June 20, 2017 - KPCC

Tailpipe

Inadequate Diesel Vehicle Testing Results in 38,000 Global Fatalities Annually

While the study stems from research that found Volkswagen diesel cars had used 'defeat devices' to pass emissions tests, the new study points to inadequacies in the tests themselves, resulting in 50 percent higher pollution than testing permits.

May 17, 2017 - The International Council on Clean Transportation

Air Quality and Environmental Justice Lead to Push for Zero-Emission Locomotives

The California Air Resources Board has petitioned the U.S. EPA to adopt more stringent emissions standards for locomotives in order to improve air quality at rail yards, many of which are located adjacent to disadvantaged communities.

April 23, 2017 - RailwayAge

Tailpipe

New Player in Dieselgate

Similar violation but new player—Fiat Chrysler, accused by U.S. EPA of willfully violating emissions standards for certain models of diesel Jeeps and Ram pickups. The charge comes a day after DOJ settled civil and criminal suits with Volkswagen.

January 13, 2017 - The New York Times

Cleanest Diesel Locomotives to Join Southern California Commuter Rail Fleet

Forty so-called Tier 4 locomotives, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation requiring a dramatic reduction in particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions, will be joining Metrolink's fleet covering 512 track miles in six counties.

July 20, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

The Greening of Large Trucks Begins at California's Ports

A Planetizen blog post by Casey Brazeal asks, "When will the trucking industry electrify?" Three truck manufacturers and electric truck builder BYD Motors are now in competition thanks to a $23.6 million state grant to the South Coast Air District.

May 9, 2016 - Fleet Owner

EPA Rejects Southern California Plan to Reduce Fine Particulate Pollution

The South Coast Air Quality Management District is in the news again, this time for going too easy on the region's big polluters—just what staff had warned would happen before the board fired its well-respected executive director.

March 22, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

Volkswagen Submits Another Recall Plan for Diesel Cars

Volkswagen has already submitted its recall plan for its 2-liter diesel engines—it was rejected by both the EPA and California Air Resources Board. It also needed to submit a recall plan for 3-liter diesel engines to CARB by Feb. 2, which it did.

February 4, 2016 - Bloomberg Business

VW Scandal Obscures Diesel's Real Problem

It's easy to focus on the sensational headlines based on the fraud committed by Volkswagen, but doing so masks the deadly and ongoing problems of diesel emissions plaguing the world's densely populated cities.

January 7, 2016 - The New York Times

Air Pollution Forces Italian Cities to Enact Serious Driving Restrictions

Unusually mild and dry weather in much of Italy has worsened air quality so much that city governments are acting to reduce emissions from one of the chief sources of air pollution by enacting odd-even license restrictions on driving.

December 29, 2015 - The New York Times - Europe

New Delhi Restricts Diesel Cars; Beijing Issues Second Red Alert

It took an act of the Supreme Court for India to address the incredibly unhealthy levels of particulate matter in New Delhi. New rules are aimed at diesel cars, SUVs, and taxis. In Beijing, pollution triggered a red alert for only the second time.

December 21, 2015 - The New York Times - Asia Pacific

Power Plant

25 Coal Power Plants to Shutter in Michigan in Five Years

Credit EPA emission regulations for the decisions by utilities to close the aging plants. Michigan receives half its power from coal—the most polluting fossil fuel. The new Clean Power Plan rule will cause more remaining plants to close in time.

October 15, 2015 - Power Engineering

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