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Tourism and greenhouse gas emissions

January 17, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Tourism is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 9% of the global total. Over the past 15 years, its emissions have grown more than twice as fast as those of the rest of the global economy.

Unless the tourism industry finds ways to slow down its growing emissions, those emissions will continue to increase by 3 to 4% each year, meaning that they will double every 20 years. The major drivers behind tourism’s growing emissions have been slow improvements in tourism-related technologies coupled with the rapid growth in demand.

Transportation is tourism’s main source of greenhouse gas emissions. Planes and cars generate the most carbon dioxide but there are contributions from tour buses, boat rides, ferries, and trains as well. The increasing demand for international travel has been the largest contributor to the growth of tourism-related emissions. But just as people’s homes generate emissions from energy use, so do hotels and other lodging used on vacations.

The United States, China, and India are responsible for 60% of the total increase in tourism’s carbon footprint. Generally speaking, it is the world’s wealthiest nations that have the most tourists exploring the world.

Researchers from Australia’s University of Queensland recommended several measures to slow the growth of tourism’s carbon emissions. These include reducing long-haul flights, imposing carbon dioxide taxes, setting carbon budgets, and the use of alternative transportation fuels. At the local level, tourism businesses making use of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles would help.

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Tourism leads the pack in growing carbon emissions

Photo, posted September 14, 2014, courtesy of Gary Campbell-Hall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Progress towards electric school buses

November 8, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The U.S. has nearly half a million school buses providing daily transportation for about 20 million students. Most of these buses are powered by diesel engines which not only dump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere but also fill kids’ lungs with harmful fumes.

Thanks to various federal and state incentive programs, this situation is starting to change. School districts all over the country are beginning to swap out old diesel buses for emissions-free electric-powered school buses.

Electric school buses are finding their way into school districts of all sizes and demographics. The first district in the country to go fully electric was in Martinsville, Texas, which last year converted its 4-bus fleet. The first large urban district to go all-electric was the 74-bus fleet in Oakland, California this summer.

The EPA’s $5 billion Clean School Bus program and many state initiatives are providing incentives for the transition. Five years ago, there were less than 1,000 electric school buses in the U.S. Now there are about 5,000 and more than 7,000 additional buses are in the pipeline.

Apart from the climate implications, there is urgency to replacing diesel school buses from a health perspective. Diesel exhaust is classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and it contains fine particles and nitrogen oxides, both of which are well-documented asthma triggers.

Electric buses are more expensive than diesel buses, but they are much cheaper to operate. School districts need to put in place charging infrastructure. The transition is not so easy to accomplish, but it is an important step, and more and more school districts are taking it.

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Slowly but Surely, U.S. School Buses Are Starting to Electrify

Photo, posted May 5, 2021, courtesy of California Energy Commission via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Benefits of electric school buses

July 1, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There are about half a million school buses in use in the U.S. A large number of them are older, highly polluting diesel buses. There are well-established health and climate benefits of switching from diesel vehicles to electric vehicles but making the switch is expensive. Diesel buses generally cost between $65,000 to $120,000, depending on the type and configuration. Electric buses cost about $250,000 each.

The substantial cost makes it a difficult decision for local, state, and federal officials, particularly since the actual magnitude of the benefits is not well known.

A new study by researchers at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health has quantified these benefits. According to the study, replacing each bus may yield up to $247,600 in climate and health benefits. These benefits derive from fewer greenhouse gas emissions and from reduced rates of adult mortality and childhood asthma.

The study compared the amounts of carbon dioxide emitted from diesel bus tailpipes to the emissions associated with generating electricity for the buses and producing their batteries. It also compared how these respective emissions contribute to fine particulate air pollution, which is linked to adult mortality and the onset of childhood asthma. The study concluded that particularly in dense urban settings, the savings incurred from electrifying older school buses easily outweigh the costs of replacing them.

An important question not tackled in the study is how electric school buses impact children’s exposure to in-cabin air pollution while riding the bus. This issue could further inform policy decisions.

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Electric school buses may yield significant health and climate benefits, cost savings

Photo, posted May 9, 2008, courtesy of Christine H. via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

An Arctic Bus | Earth Wise

February 17, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

People have built vehicles for all sorts of extreme environments. There are deep-sea exploration vessels and there have been lunar and Mars rovers. But one thing that hasn’t existed so far are buses to transport groups of people around in extreme conditions in the Arctic. Engineers at two Russian Universities are developing a passenger bus for riding in the Far North. The project is being funded by the Russian Federation Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the URAL Automobile Manufacturing Plant.

The requirements for the vehicle are daunting. The bus must be operable at extreme temperatures – 60 below zero Fahrenheit and lower – and have no difficulties even in challenging off-road conditions.

Current Arctic crew buses are not capable of getting through snow blockages and the all-terrain tracked vehicles that can get through them do not have sufficient passenger capacity. In addition to being able to go through snowbanks, the bus should be able to float on water for an hour.

Apart from its ability to withstand harsh Arctic conditions, the bus will also have a quarters module. This means that it will have an autonomous life-support system for passengers in case of emergency. The quarters module will be designed to sustain up to 20 people for up to 24 hours. The module might also be used to hold medical equipment, thereby enabling practitioners to reach remote settlements and treat patients.

The first tests of prototypes for the bus will be conducted in the near future. The project aims to have the new Arctic Bus design complete and ready for manufacture by the end of 2023 and it will go into production in 2024.

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“Arctic Bus” Being Readied to Be Tested in the Far North

Photo, posted April 21, 2017, courtesy of Markus Trienke via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Lockdown Cleans Up Indian Air | Earth Wise

May 13, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week.

India suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the world. Of the most polluted cities in the world, 21 out of 30 were in India in 2019. According to World Health Organization standards, at least 140 million people in India breathe air containing 10 times or more greater levels than the safe limit for pollutants. Air pollution contributes to the premature death of 2 million Indians every year.

Half of India’s air pollution comes from industry, 27% from vehicles, and 17% from crop burning. Crop burning is prevalent because it is much cheaper than mechanical tilling after the harvest.

On March 25, the Indian government placed its 1.3 billion citizens under a strict lockdown to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The country-wide mandate decreased activity at factories and drastically reduced car, bus, truck, and airplane traffic.

Within one week, NASA satellite sensor observed aerosol levels at a 20-year low for this time of year in northern India. Aerosols are tiny solid and liquid particles suspended in the air that reduce visibility and can damage the human lungs and heart. Some aerosols have natural sources, such as dust storms, volcanic eruptions, and forest fires. But many come from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and croplands. Scientists expected to see changes in atmospheric conditions during the Indian lockdown, but the current changes are dramatic. They also present a unique opportunity to separate how natural and human sources of aerosols affect the atmosphere.

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