Our air stinks. In fact, Fairfield County ranks in the top 25 of most polluted areas in the US, mostly due to ozone levels.
And while much of those
noxious gases drift our way from New Jersey and New York City, a large part of our pollution is
home-grown: it’s due to heavy volumes of
traffic, especially diesel trucks, which emit nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile
organic compounds (VOCs)—key ingredients in ozone formation.
Yes: I-95 is hazardous
to your health.
And all of this gets worse in
the summer due to the heat which increases ozone production, often trapping it
over our heads due to temperature inversions. By one
estimate, almost 200 CT residents die each year due to our air quality.
We will all remember back to June of 2023 when our sky turned orange due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. That created truly hazardous conditions that literally made breathing bad for you. With global warming, we’ll see things like this happening again.
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Canadian wildfire smoke - June 2023 |
So, what does any of this have
to do with transportation? Mother nature’s
pains (like the Canadian wildfires) notwithstanding, it is transportation’s
pollution that is the #1 source in our
state, EPA
blaming it for half of all our bad air.
TRUCKS: These are the vehicles responsible for most of our air pollution. While medium to large trucks represent only 6% of traffic they cause 53% of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, 45% of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), linked to respiratory and cardiovascular health issues, and 25% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Better air filters may help as
does burning biodiesel and enforcing no-idling rules. But the real solution
will be electric-powered trucks. However, the Trump administration has slashed tax
credits for new buyers and frozen plans for the rollout of charging stations.
TAKE THE TRAIN: Riding
Metro-North is five to six times more fuel efficient than driving. Those electric trains’ power-generation gives
them the equivalent of 125-160 MPG. And
that’s improved further by the trains’ regenerative braking which means that,
even when stopping, they generate more power.
Getting more folks on the
train also reduces highway traffic, making those vehicles more fuel efficient
because they’re not spewing exhaust in stop-and-go traffic.
But our diesel locomotives (which
run on the Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford lines) are a different matter. For their runs in Connecticut they are big
polluters, just like trucks. The World
Health Organization and EPA call diesel exhaust a Class 1 carcinogen, right up
there with tobacco and asbestos. New
locomotives that are on order will improve that with battery operation and
improved filtration.
SHIPS: Yes, both commercial and pleasure craft
contribute to air (and in this case noise and water) pollution, again because
of their diesel engines. It’s not by
chance that wind-powered sailors refer to powerboaters as “stink potters” and “blow
boaters”. There are some
electric-powered boats under development, but they’re more expensive and don’t
offer the same range.
So, whether your travels take
you on the open waters or (hopefully) open roads, remember that there’s more to
the cost of your trip than fuel: there’s the cost to our shared environment.