Electric school bus in California, US. Photo: Flickr.com / Wiliam Newton CC BY-NC-ND

Cleaner vehicles could save 100,000 lives in US

The American Lung Association estimates large health benefits and healthcare cost savings from switching to zero-emission cars and trucks. The switch could save more than 100,000 lives and $1.2 trillion in healthcare costs over the next three decades.

The report looks at what we could gain if we transition to a society where all passenger and heavy-duty vehicles have zero emissions and are powered by clean, renewable energy by 2035. “These are ambitious but achievable targets,” said Will Barrett, director of clean air advocacy for the American Lung Association and lead author of the report. It shows that our fossil-fuelled society not only leads to climate change, but how much we can gain by switching from fossil fuels. The fossil fuels used for transport are harmful for public health at every step of the supply chain, from extraction and transportation to combustion in cars and trucks. If the US were to meet the targets in the report the road transportation sector would see a 92 per cent decrease in smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution, a 61 per cent decrease in fine particle pollution, and a 93 per cent decrease in greenhouse gas pollution by 2050. That would prevent over 100,000 premature deaths, 2.8 million asthma attacks, and a variety of other health problems over the next 30 years. It would lead to reduced environmental injustice for the communities living next to truck freight roads where the air pollution disproportionately affects people of colour and those with lower incomes. Barrett called these findings “stunning new information on the transition to zero-emission electricity and transportation”.

Source: Grist 30 March 2022, https://grist.org/transportation/zero-emission-vehicles-save-100000-lives/

 

 

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