The NYT Tool To Track Car Emissions In U.S. Cities — Cleantech Rising
With the closing of coal plants and the ascendance of renewables in the US, carbon emissions from electricity generation have fallen, leaving the transportation industry to wear the dirty crown. The majority of those transportation emissions come from the cars and trucks we drive.
Track Your City’s CARbon Emissions
Although electric vehicles are starting to gain popularity, they’ve done virtually nothing to curb carbon emissions thus far. In almost every single metro area of the U.S., the total amount of carbon emissions from passenger vehicles has increased since 1990.
A thin silver lining is that some metro areas have seen a slight decrease in emissions per capita.
The New York Times has put together a fantastic tool that allows you to view any metro area in the U.S. and see how auto emissions have changed. Here is how emissions in Los Angeles, the car capital of America, have changed:
And here’s what the heart of oil country in Texas looks like:
What’s going on with Vegas? We’re talking CO2 emissions not Ethanol intake:
Clearly, there’s much work to be done in the transportation sector. Tesla is merely the beginning. From the great work compiled by the NYT, we see that we’ll need both individual and wholistic community efforts to curb auto emissions.
Act on Climate
If this newsletter has sparked your curiosity, try looking up other states and cities on the New York Times auto emission tracking tool!
Originally published at https://cleantechrising.com on November 15, 2019.
