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California Flooding | Earth Wise

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Starting in December, a series of “atmospheric rivers” brought record storms to California producing as much rain in three weeks in some areas as they normally have in an entire year.  The historic levels of rain (and snow in the mountains) have swollen rivers, flooded roads and homes, forced evacuations, knocked out electric power for millions of people, and resulted in more than 20 deaths.

Atmospheric rivers are air currents that carry large amounts of water vapor through the sky.  They are not unusual for California but recurrent waves of them like those that have happened recently are very infrequent.  Studies by the U.S. Geological Survey have shown that such a phenomenon recurs in California every 250 years.  There were a series of storms causing disastrous floods in California in 1861-62.

The atmospheric rivers are born in the warm waters of the tropical Pacific.  During La Nina phases, the atmospheric rivers typically make landfall on the northern West Coast. During El Nino phases, atmospheric rivers are more likely to end up in Southern and Central California. During transitions between the phases, as is happening now, the storms can cover large parts of the state.

Modern forecasting is pretty good at predicting the forthcoming occurrence of these storms and has led to some helpful actions, such as reservoir operators preventing dams from overflowing or bursting.  But there is a gap between science and decision-making.  It is pretty clear what needs to be done when tornados or hurricanes are on the way.  It is less clear what actions are appropriate when there are going to be repeated heavy rainstorms.

These storms will have an effect on California’s megadrought, but just how much of an effect remains to be seen.

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Flooding in California: What Went Wrong, and What Comes Next

Photo, posted January 5, 2023, courtesy of Sarah Stierch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Mauna Loa Eruption And Climate Tracking | Earth Wise

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Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, erupted for the first time in nearly 40 years in late November.  A 124-foot aluminum tower at the top of the volcano has been the site of carbon dioxide measurements for over 60 years but the eruption cut off power to the site, stopping the monitoring.

Carbon dioxide measurements on Mauna Loa began in 1958.  The project was started by geochemist Charles Keeling and eventually taken over by his son Ralph Keeling upon his father’s death in 2005.  It is the longest continuous record of the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the world.

Mauna Loa is an ideal location for carbon dioxide monitoring because it is a remote location away from both carbon dioxide sources like dense population centers and roads, and carbon sinks like areas of heavy vegetation.

There are hundreds of carbon dioxide monitoring stations around the world, including more than 70 operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, so the interruption will not stop global recordkeeping.  But Mauna Loa holds significant symbolism as the first and most frequently sited source of carbon dioxide data.

There have been other interruptions in the measurements.  Federal budget cuts in 1964 paused them for about 3 months.  A 1984 eruption also cut off power to the facility and shut it down for about a month.

When the facility first started operating, the average carbon dioxide concentration was measured at 313 parts per million.   Most recently, levels have peaked at around 421 parts per million, the greatest concentration in at least 4 million years. 

Power will be restored to the Mauna Loa facility and its measurements will resume.

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Mauna Loa Eruption Threatens a Famous Climate Record

Photo, posted November 29, 2022, courtesy of L. Gallant / USGS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Electric Cars And The Remote Road Test | Earth Wise

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One reason many people are hesitant about switching to an electric car is range anxiety, the fear that their car’s battery will die on them in the middle of a trip.  It is pretty much the same thing as running out of gas, but somehow it seems like more of a danger.

Perhaps this was true when charging stations were few and far between and electric cars couldn’t go very far on a charge, but these days, the average electric car can drive about 200 miles on a charge and there are charging stations all over the place.

A big difference between gas cars and electric cars is that many people can charge their cars at home and start every day with the equivalent of a full tank.  With an electric car, there is little reason to use up all nearly all the charge before filling up the tank again.

The truth is that most people don’t drive all that much on the average day anyway.  In the US, the average driver goes about 39 miles a day.  In Europe, is it considerably less.  Yes, there are some people who drive 200 miles a day, but they are few and far between.

Remote and regional Australia is a place where distances between essential services can be very large.  But a new study from the Australian National University found that even under those trying conditions, the vast majority of residents, about 93%, can go about their business even with the lower-range electric vehicles available on the market without having to recharge en route.

Electric cars may not be practical for some drivers, but for most, they are already a great choice.

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Electric vehicles pass the remote road test

Electric car range and 5 reasons why your range anxiety is unwarranted

Photo, posted May 21, 2022, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Scourge Of Salt | Earth Wise

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Rising seas are increasing saltwater intrusion on land and rising temperatures are causing greater evaporation.   The result is mounting levels of salt in waters and in soils.

Rising sea levels cause salty ocean water to push further into river deltas.  There is already a surge in saltiness across all inhabited continents.   Seawater works its way further upstream when dams hold back water.  Pumps that remove fresh water from underground sources for irrigation and drinking supplies add to the problem.  In dry regions, irrigation systems delivering water to crops increasingly bring salt onto fields.

People add to the problem by pouring saline drainage water from mines into rivers and by using salt to de-ice roads in the winter.

A modeling study pinpointed hotspots for climate change-induced salinization in numerous locations including the U.S. Southwest, wide areas of Australia, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, central India, northern China, and more.

Some ecosystems are adapted to saline environments but major alterations in the balance between saline and fresh water is creating growing problems for ecosystems, lake fisheries, crop growing, and even human health.

The damage caused by salt is likely to be so severe that salinization will become a major cause of environmental refugees when the land they live on can no longer sustain them. 

Salt will be a growing threat to the world’s food supplies, especially where farmers depend on artificial irrigation.  About a third of the world’s food is grown in irrigated fields, and a fifth of those fields are deemed to already be salt-contaminated.  Ultimately, only a halt to climate change will be capable of combatting the scourge of salt.

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Salt Scourge: The Dual Threat of Warming and Rising Salinity

Photo, posted June 3, 2017, courtesy of Jason Jacobs via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Houseplants And Indoor Air Quality | Earth Wise

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Many of us have houseplants in our homes and offices.  The foliage and flowers add beauty and comfort to our indoor spaces.  But it turns out that there are health advantages as well.

Many studies have demonstrated that indoor houseplants can help keep you happier and healthier by improving your mood, reducing fatigue, lowering stress and anxiety, and improving focus.  Houseplants can also improve indoor air quality.

According to a new study by researchers from the University of Birmingham in the U.K. in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, ordinary houseplants can potentially make a significant contribution to reducing indoor air pollution.

The researchers tested three types of houseplants commonly found in homes in the U.K: Peace lily, corn plant, and fern arum.  These plants are easy to maintain and not overly expensive. 

In the study, the research team exposed these houseplants to nitrogen dioxide, which is a common indoor pollutant.  The plants were isolated in a test chamber containing levels of nitrogen dioxide comparable to what might be in an office situated next to a busy road.  The researchers found that all the plants were able to remove about half of the nitrogen dioxide in the chamber in just one hour.    

In a poorly ventilated small office with high levels of air pollution, the researchers calculated that five houseplants would remove up to 20% of the nitrogen dioxide.  In a larger space, the effect would be smaller – around 3.5% – although this figure could be increased by adding more plants.

Bringing nature indoors is one way to breathe cleaner air.

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Common houseplants can improve air quality indoors

Reducing air pollution with plants

Photo, posted September 21, 2014, courtesy of Olin Gilbert via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Electric Pickup Trucks | Earth Wise

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There are more and more electric cars on the market as auto manufacturers move toward fleet-wide electrification.  In the United States, pickup trucks are massively popular.  The top three selling vehicles in the country are all trucks, led by the Ford F-Series.  Thus, it is no surprise that automakers are now turning their attention to electric pickup trucks.

Some of the trucks are from established manufacturers like Ford and Chevy and others from new companies like Rivian.  The Ford F-150 Lightning is bound to be a big seller.  There are hundreds of thousands of pre-orders for Tesla’s exotic Cybertruck, now expected to enter the market next year.

A recent study looked at the environmental impact of pickup truck electrification.  The central question is what does the transition to electric trucks mean for the overall decarbonization of the transportation industry?

Researchers from the University of Michigan and the Ford Motor Company conducted a cradle-to-grave assessment of the life cycle of pickup trucks and compared the implications of truck electrification to those of sedans and SUVs.

The study found that replacing an internal combustion-powered vehicle with a battery-powered vehicle results in greater total greenhouse gas emission reductions as the size of the vehicle increases, which is no real surprise considering how much more gas larger vehicles use.

The study also found that manufacturing electric vehicles produces more emissions than gas-powered vehicles, but the impact is offset by savings in their operation.  Breakeven time is little more than a year.

Basically, the results are that replacing gas-powered trucks with electric trucks is even a bigger win for the planet than replacing gas cars with electric cars.  Let’s hope we see plenty of electric trucks on the roads in the near future.

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Study: Greater greenhouse gas reductions for pickup truck electrification than for other light-duty vehicles

Photo, posted September 22, 2020, courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Cheaper Electric Cars | Earth Wise

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The price of the batteries that power electric cars has fallen by about 90% since 2010.  This continuing trend will eventually make EVs less expensive than gas cars.

For many years, researchers have estimated that when battery packs reach the price of $100 per kilowatt-hour of energy storage, electric cars will cost about the same as gasoline-powered vehicles.  In 2021, the average price of lithium-ion battery packs fell to $132 per kilowatt-hour, down 6% from the previous year.  According to analysts, batteries should hit the average of $100 as soon as 2024.

It is not the case that as soon as the $100 level is reached, EVs will abruptly reach cost parity.  Across different manufacturers and vehicle types, the price shift will occur at different rates.  However, by the time batteries reach $60 a kilowatt-hour, EVs will be cheaper than equivalent gasoline models across every vehicle segment.

It is not known exactly when EVs will cost less than gasoline models, but there is little doubt that this point is coming.  We have only been talking about the purchase price of a new vehicle.  When one looks at the total cost of ownership of a vehicle, including fuel, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation, it is a different story.

Because of savings on fuel and maintenance, EVs are already in many if not most cases cheaper to own than gas-powered cars.  The Department of Energy provides an online calculator to help consumers estimate the cost differences between gasoline and electricity.

In any case, the number of electric cars on the market is increasing and the number of gas-powered cars will be shrinking.  Sooner or later, we will all drive electric.

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Inside Clean Energy: Batteries Got Cheaper in 2021. So How Close Are We to EVs That Cost Less than Gasoline Vehicles?

Photo, posted July 29, 2017, courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Roads And Chimpanzees | Earth Wise

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The chimpanzee is a species of great ape native to tropical regions of Central and West Africa.  Chimpanzees are highly social animals and can live to be over 50 years old.  In fact, chimpanzees are our closest cousins.  We share about 98% of our genes with chimpanzees. 

According to the African Wildlife Federation, it’s estimated that at most only 300,000 chimpanzees remain in the wild today.  They face a myriad of challenges, including habitat degradation and hunting. 

According to new research from the University of Exeter in the U.K., roads have a negative impact on chimpanzee populations that can extend for several miles.  In the study, which was recently published in the journal Conservation Letters, the researchers analyzed the impact of major and minor roads on wild western chimpanzee numbers in the eight African countries in which they live.  They found that negative impacts extended an average of 10.7 miles from major roads, and 3.4 miles from minor roads.  The researchers found that the density of chimpanzee populations dropped steadily from the edges of these areas to the lowest value alongside the roads.  Only 4.3% of the chimpanzees’ range remains unaffected by roads. 

While the study did not investigate why roads affect chimpanzee numbers, the research team did offer some clues.  In addition to noise and roadkill, roads provide access to unexploited areas for industries that often reduce or remove chimpanzee habitats.  Roads can also restrict chimpanzee movements, and provide easier access for hunters. 

The researchers hope their findings will bring about more effective guidelines to mitigate the impact of roads on wildlife.   

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Roads have far-reaching impact on chimpanzees

Photo, posted August 12, 2014, courtesy of Rod Waddington via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Is Peak Oil Here? | Earth Wise

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For many years there has been talk of “peak oil”, the point at which rising world oil consumption would peak and then start declining.  Some analysts have been predicting that this could happen by the 2030s.   But the coronavirus pandemic drove a 9% slump in oil demand in 2020 that some economists are saying might never be entirely reversed.

There are three major forces driving down the world’s appetite for oil:  decarbonization of economies to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement, declining demand for oil as renewable energy sources and electric vehicles are increasingly adopted, and detoxification as cities act to curb particulates and emissions from burning petroleum.

The largest single factor is electric vehicles.  Automobiles currently consume almost half of the world’s oil.  As of the end of 2020, there were an estimated 10 million electric cars as well as more than 600,000 electric buses and trucks.  This is still less than 1% of all vehicles, but 5% of all new cars being bought are now electric and the number is growing rapidly.  Experts estimate that nearly a quarter of global car sales will be electric vehicles by 2025 and many car manufacturers are promising to sell only electric cars within the next 10 years.

The decline in oil demand is pretty much inevitable at this point.  The main question is how quickly it will happen.  Road transport makes up 48% of global oil demand, petrochemicals account for 14%, aviation 7%, and shipping 6%.  Ultimately all these things are likely to diminish over time. 

Only time will tell, but the long-awaited arrival of peak oil may already have happened.

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Amid Troubles for Fossil Fuels, Has the Era of ‘Peak Oil’ Arrived?

Photo, posted April 14, 2019, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Paving With Plastic | Earth Wise

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The country of Ghana has an ambitious plan to recycle and reuse as much plastic waste as it produces each year (which is over a million tons) by 2030.  As part of this plan, they have started to pave roads in Accra, the capital city, with asphalt containing a slurry of used plastics – shredded and melted bags, bottles, and snack wraps.  Only a quarter of Ghana’s roads are currently paved, so waste plastic has many opportunities for use in paving.

Plastic roads first appeared in India two decades ago.  There are now over 60,000 miles of them in that country.  Several countries have only recently built their first plastic roads including South Africa, Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States.

Studies have shown that roads containing waste plastic have the potential to perform as well or better than traditional roads.  They can last longer, can tolerate wide temperature swings better, are stronger and more durable, and are more resistant to water damage, cracking, and potholes.

Ordinarily, asphalt for roads consists of 90 to 95% aggregate – typically some mixture of gravel, sand, and limestone – and 5 to 10% bitumen, which is a black gooey substance extracted from crude oil that binds the aggregate together.  Plastic-enhanced roads replace varying amounts of the bitumen (often as little as 4-10%, but sometimes much more), with plastic that is actually a stronger binding agent.

Plastic roads reduce the amount of bitumen in roads, thereby reducing carbon emissions.  The plastics are not heated enough to release gases and the roads do not appear to shed microplastics.  Plastic roads will not solve the world’s plastic waste problem, but they can help by diverting lots of plastic from landfills.

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How Paving with Plastic Could Make a Dent in the Global Waste Problem

Photo, posted June 4, 2010, courtesy of Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Improved Radar For Cars | Earth Wise

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Self-driving cars require a variety of sensor systems in order for the cars to safely navigate roads and deal with the wide range of objects and conditions that they encounter.  Two competing technologies that cars use to identify and locate objects on the scene are radar and LiDAR. 

Radar uses transmitted radio waves to locate objects and LiDAR bounces laser beams off of objects.   Each has its shortcomings.   Radar has the problem that only a small fraction of the transmitted signals gets reflected back to the sensor, so that there is frequently insufficient data to fully characterize a scene.  LiDAR has the problem that it is an optical system that does not work well in fog, dust, rain, or snow.  It is also much more expensive than radar.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new system that they describe as a LiDAR-like radar. The system consists of two radar sensors placed on a car’s hood and spaced about 1.5 meters apart.  This configuration enables the system to see more space and detail than a single radar sensor.

Having two radars at different vantage points with an overlapping field of view creates a region of high-resolution with a high probability of detecting the objects that are present.  The system also overcomes noise problems of conventional radar systems.

The researchers developed new algorithms that can fuse the information from two different radar sensors and produce a new image free of noise.

Self-driving cars have to combine detection technologies like radar with cameras and ultrasonic sensors.  Duplicating the capabilities that people use in order to safely drive a car is a complex problem requiring a combination of multiple sensors and sophisticated software.

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Upgraded radar can enable self-driving cars to see clearly no matter the weather

Photo, posted January 2, 2014, courtesy of Bradley Gordon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Shutting Down Pollution | Earth Wise

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With much of the country shut down as the coronavirus forces people to stay at home, there has naturally been a drastic reduction of traffic on roads and highways.   And with that decrease, there has been a dramatic reduction in pollution as well.

A satellite that detects emissions in the atmosphere linked to cars and trucks has observed huge declines in pollution in major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta.

Los Angeles is infamous for its rush-hour traffic but that has pretty much ceased to exist. Similar changes can be seen in the San Francisco Bay Area, where nearly 7 million residents have been ordered to shelter in place.  New York City is less dependent on car travel than in other metro areas, but the shutdown of office buildings, schools, and restaurants has nonetheless resulted in a substantial reduction of traffic on the streets of the city.

While this sudden decline in air pollution over U.S. cities has some near-term health benefits, those benefits are likely to be fairly minor in the big picture.  When the coronavirus outbreak subsides and people are allowed to leave their homes and go back to their normal lives, air pollution will most certainly rebound to previous levels.  In any event, studies have shown that long-term exposure to air pollution has a larger impact on public health than any transient events.

Having much cleaner air for a while is certainly a good thing, but this shutdown is not a sustainable way to reduce air pollution and the long-term effects of the coronavirus crisis will certainly not be positive.

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Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down for Coronavirus

Photo, posted March 15, 2020, courtesy of Tom Collins via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Falling U.S. Carbon Emissions

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Reducing carbon emissions is a goal embraced by nearly every country in the world, but actually accomplishing it isn’t easy. It is true that renewable energy sources are playing a growing role in energy systems, but counterbalancing that trend is growing energy demand, especially in developing countries.

Here in the US, energy-related CO2 emissions actually went up nearly 3% in 2018 compared with 2017.  But the US Energy Information Administration is now forecasting a 2% drop in emissions this year.

The main reason energy-related emissions are headed lower at this point is coal-fired power plant retirements.  More than 90% of the coal used in the US goes toward electric power and utilities are increasingly turning away from coal.

The rapid shift away from coal has mostly been due to the increasing use of natural gas.  Natural gas is not actually a clean and green fuel, but it is definitely less carbon-intensive than coal.  Overall, the total installed capacity of renewable sources – hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass – has now actually surpassed the capacity of coal plants.  Given that renewables have in many places become the cheapest power option, there is little chance that coal has much of a future, despite efforts by the current administration.

The electric power sector is gradually moving away from all carbon-emitting sources – a trend that is being reinforced by legislation in many states.  The real CO2 emissions leader is petroleum, which accounts for nearly half of the total.  We have a long way to go to reduce emissions from the use of petroleum.  There are over 250 million cars and trucks on US roads and only a little over a million of them don’t burn fossil fuels.

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US energy-related CO2 emissions expected to fall this year, almost solely due to a drop in coal use

Photo, posted November 6, 2017, courtesy of Cindy Shebley via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Making Roads From Ocean Plastic

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Like many other places around the world, India has a big problem with plastic waste.  Its 1.3 billion people each use an average of 24 pounds of plastic per year and much of it ends up in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

Fishermen in India’s southern state of Kerala have taken on the battle against plastic waste in the ocean by launching a campaign called Suchitwa Sagaram, or Clean Sea, in which they are collecting the plastic and bringing it back to shore.

In the first 10 months of the program, fisherman have removed 25 tons of plastic from the Arabian Sea.  Once the plastic waste reaches shore, it is fed into a plastic shredding machine.  As is the case for many of India’s plastic recycling schemes, the shredded plastic from the sea is converted into material that is used for road surfacing.

There are more than 20,000 miles of plastic roads in India, mostly in rural areas.  In fact, more than half the roads in the southern state of Tamil Nadu are plastic.  Such roads have become popular because they are more resilient to India’s searing heat.  The melting point of plastic roads is around 150 degrees Fahrenheit as compared to 122 degrees for conventional roads.

Roads made from recycled plastic are also cheaper than ones using conventional plastic additives.  A mile of plastic road uses the equivalent of a million and a half plastic bags and saves about a ton and a half of asphalt.  Overall, plastic roads are about 8% cheaper than conventional roads and create jobs for people in the fishing communities.

India’s plastic roads are a promising way to fight the problem of ocean plastic pollution.

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These Indian fishermen take plastic out of the sea and use it to build roads

Photo, posted April 25, 2016, courtesy of Bo Eide via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Weather-Responsive Traffic Signals

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We all spend time sitting at red lights – sometimes it seems like a whole lot of time.  There is a fair amount of science applied in the design of traffic signals that at least has the aim of easing congestion and improving traffic safety.

Signals in modern cities are timed using optimization models that analyze multiple factors including traffic volume and speed with the goal of safely getting as many vehicles as possible through intersections.  It sure doesn’t seem that way in many places, but that is the intent in any case.

But a real problem with these models is that they assume normal conditions including weather conditions.  In places that experience real winter conditions, the assumptions of traffic models fail.  If the road surface is covered with snow and ice and visibility is poor, variables like speed and stopping distances become very different.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada collected data from real-world intersections and ran computer simulations to determine the effects of adjusting traffic signal behavior in bad weather (as well as in the presence of other conditions such as accidents or construction.)  They found that such adjustments could reduce traffic delays by as much as 20%.   

Cities with computerized signal systems are already equipped to remotely and inexpensively adjust the timing of traffic lights.  To gain the benefits of smarter signals, there would need to be video cameras and a certain amount of artificial intelligence software that would be able to automatically tweak the timing of lights in response to traffic changes caused by weather, accidents or construction. 

It sounds like a great idea.

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Weather-responsive intersections could ease traffic congestion

Photo, posted September 22, 2009, courtesy of Tristan Bowersox via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Trees And The Future Of Cities

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The shade of a single tree is a welcome source of relief on a hot summer day.  But even a relatively small patch of woods can have a profound cooling effect.  A new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison looks at the role trees play in keeping towns and cities cool.

According to the study, the right amount of tree cover can lower daytime temperatures in the summer by as much as 10 degrees.  The effects are noticeable from neighborhood to neighborhood and even on a block-by-block basis.

Cities are well-known to be hot spots due to the urban heat islanding effect.  Using trees to keep temperatures more comfortable in cities can make a big difference for the people who live and work there.

The man-made structures of cities – roads, sidewalks, and buildings – absorb heat from the sun during the day and slowly release it at night.  Trees, on the other hand, not only shade those structures from the sun, but they also transpire -or release water in the air through their leaves – which helps to cool things down.

According to the study, to get maximum cooling benefits, tree canopies must exceed forty percent, meaning that city blocks need to be nearly halfway covered by tree branches and leaves.  To get the biggest bang for the buck, cities should start planting more trees in areas that are already near the forty percent threshold.  But

trees can’t just be in parks.  They need to be in places where people are active.

If we want the places where we live to be more comfortable and resilient in a warming world, we need to plant more trees.

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Study suggests trees are crucial to the future of our cities

Photo, posted May 26, 2012, courtesy of Mislav Marohnic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Misconceptions About Electric Cars

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Tesla’s Model 3 was one of the best-selling cars in the United States last year, eclipsing all but a handful of sedans.  This was the first time that an electric car had that honor and is indicative of how electric cars are finally becoming mainstream.  A host of other new electric models from multiple manufacturers will be the entering the market over the next couple of years.

Despite all of this progress, there is still a great deal of misinformation about electric cars.  A new study commissioned by Volkswagen revealed some of the widespread misconceptions about the vehicles.

Some people believe that electric cars can’t be driven through puddles.  Nearly one in five people believe that electric cars slow down as the battery depletes.  Many people believe that electric cars are fundamentally less safe than gas-powered cars.

More generally, people are unaware of how far current electric cars can drive on a charge.  More and more models can go 200 and even over 300 miles between charging sessions.  People also don’t know how quickly cars can charge up either.  Fast chargers like Tesla’s Superchargers can add 200 miles worth of charge in about 20 minutes.  And people don’t know what it costs to charge electric cars.  In most places, it is only a fraction of what it costs to drive the same distance using gasoline.

Despite their limited knowledge about electric cars, the 2,000 people surveyed in Britain were positively disposed towards them with nearly 6 in 10 saying that they would like to own an electric car some day and would even consider one as their next vehicle.

Electric cars will become more familiar and less exotic as more and more of them are on our roads and highways.

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Major misconceptions prevent drivers from buying electric cars, study claims

Photo, posted April 6, 2018, courtesy of Brian Doyle via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/electric-cars-misconceptions-battery-charging-safety-volkswagen-study-results-a8700536.html

Making Cities Cooler

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Cities are particularly miserable during heatwaves.   With lots of concrete and asphalt surfaces, they soak up lots of heat and re-radiate it.  Lots of tall buildings block cooling breezes.  Factor in car exhaust and heat from air conditioners and it all adds up to the urban heat island effect.  Cities can be several degrees warmer during the day and as much as 20 degrees warmer at night.  All of this extra heat is not just a comfort issue, it is a serious health problem.

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V2V And Safer Cars

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Automated cars are coming, but they face many challenges in sharing the roads with human drivers.  The on-board sensors in these cars are very effective in many ways, but they cannot see around corners or see through buses or trucks.  They won’t know if six cars ahead, someone has slammed on their breaks leading to a chain-reaction collision.  Of course, human drivers have the same problems.

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