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In winter on the Utah Wasatch Entrance, on common now we have 5 days, notably in Salt Lake County, when the air is unsafe to breathe. There are one other 18 days, on common, when the air is simply “bad” to breathe. You can find naysayers like our President Elect who will query whether or not world warming is actual, and even whether it is (and even when it’s harmful), is it actually brought on by people burning fossil fuels? Nonetheless, even probably the most delusional skeptics need to grant that the poisonous air that may be a hazard to human well being, notably on a number of winter days on the Utah Wasatch Entrance, the Colorado Entrance Vary, and in Metropolitan Los Angeles, is brought on by burning fossil fuels — and specifically by motor autos.
What Are We Doing In Utah To Mitigate The Downside?
Salt Lake County has invested in 42.5 miles of electrical streetcar/gentle rail (TRAX) tracks with 50 stations. TRAX runs extraordinarily effectively on metal rails with electrical propulsion and power seize upon deceleration. The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has additionally invested in 80 miles of FrontRunner/Heavy Rail tracks with 16 stations, as seen within the picture beneath. FrontRunner is diesel-powered, however on metal rails, and it’s far more environment friendly than the 100 or so motor autos that every practice replaces.
The FrontRunner route runs 80 miles from Ogden within the north by way of Salt Lake Metropolis to Provo within the south. The TRAX important line runs from Draper within the south to Salt Lake Central in downtown Salt Lake Metropolis. The Purple Line runs from the Day Break Grasp Deliberate Neighborhood within the southwest to the College of Utah soccer stadium and medical heart within the northeast. The Inexperienced Line runs from West Valley within the southwest by way of Salt Lake Central, the place it connects with FrontRunner and continues west to Salt Lake Worldwide Airport. There, you may fly nonstop to Paris or Amsterdam, amongst many different locations.
One other main focus of UTA to cut back air pollution is to transform the UTA bus fleet to electrical buses. The primary supply of UTA electrical buses was in 2020. Now in 2024, there are 34 all-electric buses that are a part of the 406-bus fleet that UTA operates in Utah.
Sadly, an enormous a part of the air pollution on the Wasatch Entrance comes from automobile air pollution on the streets and highways, resembling Interstate I-15.
Northern Utah is bounded on the east by the Wasatch Mountain Vary and on the west by Nice Salt Lake and Utah Lake. This funnels the higher a part of northern Utah site visitors into the Interstate I-15 North/South hall. I-15 has been fairly just lately widened into 12 lanes all the best way from Ogden within the north to Spanish Fork within the south, a complete of 88 miles. I-15 runs full or practically full 12 hours a day, 6 days per week. Since its current widening, site visitors jams are fairly uncommon, however with the booming northern Utah inhabitants, site visitors jams will turn into extra frequent and there’s no prospect of additional I-15 widening. Whereas the FrontRunner commuter rail runs for 80 miles of this distance, the majority of northern Utah north/south site visitors runs on I-15. So, the one viable answer to cut back air air pollution in northern Utah is to affect the automobile fleet.
The internal two of the 12 I-15 lanes are reserved for HOVs (Excessive Occupancy Autos) with two or extra occupants by the Utah Division of Transportation (UDOT). In an effort to incentivize air pollution discount, UDOT has issued 6,650 permits which permit hybrid and electrical autos to make use of the HOV lanes with just one occupant. Again in 2014 once I bought my first Nissan Leaf, I used to be capable of buy certainly one of these passes, and I’ve maintained it by way of the 4 EVs that I’ve owned. Sadly, the 6,650 permits have been absolutely subscribed already in 2015 and the one solution to get one now could be by lottery when one of many authentic permits turns into out there. Sadly, the EV HOV incentive program is scheduled to run out by the summer season of 2025. The picture beneath exhibits three EVs, together with my Tesla, on I-15. Additionally, within the higher lefthand nook is a photograph of the Clear Cross HOV Lane Digital Identifier that’s connected to the middle of my windshield.
There are about 80,000 battery-electric autos registered in Utah now, however that’s nonetheless only some % of the overall automobile fleet. Nonetheless, I continuously see two or extra EVs on I-15 on the identical time now, as proven within the picture above. We’re used to listening to of recent automotive gross sales of over 90% in Norway, 80% in Sweden, and 50% in China for automobiles with a plug. I used to be shocked to learn that we had reached 19.6% within the 3rd quarter of 2024 for US automobiles with some extent of electrification. US battery-electric automobile new automotive gross sales are nonetheless solely 7.4% of the overall. Nonetheless, if practically all of the plug-in hybrids, that are 8.8% of recent automotive gross sales, are absolutely recharged every evening, we’re speaking about 16.2% of recent automotive gross sales going to automobiles which might be burning little or no fossil gas.
Additionally, Amazon has about 20,000 electrical supply vans on US streets at current, with a aim of 100,000 by 2030. In my neighborhood in Lindon, Utah, all Amazon deliveries at the moment are made with electrical vans. Moreover, the USPS has began to ship with electrical postal vans. If the variety of private autos and business fleet autos proceed to be electrified, maybe there’s some likelihood of considerably lowering the variety of days with lethal air on the Wasatch Entrance within the foreseeable future.
Practically half of Utah’s electrical energy remains to be generated utilizing coal, however none of it’s generated on the Wasatch Entrance, the place it will contribute to poor air high quality. In truth, the one electrical energy technology of the northern Utah Wasatch Entrance is from fossil gasoline in Lindon, Utah, on the plant proven within the picture beneath. Whereas it doesn’t resolve the CO2 emission drawback, it doesn’t contribute to poor winter air high quality in northern Utah.
Different Progress On Clear Vitality In Northern Utah
There are at present quite a few rooftop photo voltaic installations in northern Utah, however there’s little or no progress with renewable grid-scale electrical energy technology. One set up is the small 8-turbine wind farm on the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. The wind farm takes benefit of the diurnal winds blowing up and down the canyon, and it generates 42 GWh per yr.
There may be additionally a small photo voltaic panel array on the Jordan River in South Jordan, Utah, as proven within the picture beneath.
In any other case, the one vital renewable grid-scale power technology in Utah is in central Utah in Milford, close to Beaver. There are each substantial wind and photo voltaic farms in that location. Nonetheless, this set up is minute in comparison with these in California, Texas, Wyoming, and even Iowa and southern Minnesota.
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