a study published in January<\/a> in the journal Lancet Planetary Health used satellites to measure actual emissions. The study, conducted between 2019 and 2023, focused on California, which has among the highest rates of EV use in the country, and nitrogen dioxide, one of the gases released during combustion, including when fossil fuels are burned. Exposure to the pollutant can contribute to heart and lung issues or even premature death. Across nearly 1,700 ZIP codes, the analysis showed that for every increase of 200 electric vehicles, nitrogen dioxide emissions decreased by 1.1%.<\/p>\n\u201cA pretty small addition of cars at the ZIP code level led to a decline in air pollution,\u201d said Sandrah Eckel, a public health professor at USC\u2019s Keck School of Medicine and lead author of the study. \u201cIt\u2019s remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group had tried to establish this link using Environmental Protection Agency air monitors before, but because there are only about 100 of them in California, the results weren\u2019t statistically significant. The data also were from 2013 through 2019, when there were fewer electric vehicles on the road. Although the satellite instrument they ultimately used only detected nitrogen dioxide, it did allow researchers to gather data for virtually the entire state, and this time the findings were clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s making a real difference in our neighborhoods,\u201d said Eckel, who said a methodology like theirs could be used anywhere in the world. The advent of such powerful satellites allows scientists to look at other sources of emissions, such as factories or homes too. \u201cIt\u2019s a revolutionary approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Johnson, who researches environmental health at Harvard University\u2019s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and was not involved in the study, said she\u2019s not aware of a similar study of this size, or one that uses satellite data so extensively. \u201cTheir analysis seems sound,\u201d she said, noting that the authors controlled for variables such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts toward working from home.<\/p>\n
The results, Johnson added, \u201ctotally make sense\u201d and align with other research in this area. <\/p>\n
When London implemented congestion pricing in 2003, for example, it reduced traffic and emissions and increased life expectancy. That is the direction this latest research could go too. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t take the next step and look at health data,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich I think would be interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Horton, who leads Northwestern University\u2019s climate change research group, also sees value in this latest work. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe results help to confirm the sort of predictions that numerical air quality modelers have been making for the past decade,\u201d he said, adding that it could also lay the foundation for similar research. \u201cThis proof of concept paper is a great start and augurs good things to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eckel hopes that, eventually, advances in satellite technology will allow for more widespread detection of other types of emissions too, such as fine particulate matter. That could even help account for some of the potential downsides of EVs, which are heavier and could therefore kick up more tire or brake dust than their gasoline counterparts. On the whole, though, she believes the picture overwhelmingly illustrates how driving an electric car is better not just for the planet but for people.<\/p>\n
Research like this, she says, underscores the importance of continued EV adoption, the sales of which have slumped recently, and the need to do so equitably. Although lower-income neighborhoods have historically borne the brunt of pollution from highways and traffic, they can\u2019t always afford the relatively high cost of EVs. Eckel hopes that research like this can help guide policymakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are concerns that some of the communities that really stand to benefit the most from reductions in air pollution are also some of the communities that are really at risk of being left behind in the transition,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Previous research has shown that EVs could alleviate harms such as asthma in children, and detailed data like this latest study can help highlight both where more work needs to be done and what\u2019s working.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting that we were able to show that there were these measurable improvements in the air that we\u2019re all breathing,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Another arguably hopeful finding was that the median increase in electric vehicle usage during the study was 272 per ZIP code.<\/p>\n
That, Eckel says, means there is plenty of opportunity to make our air even cleaner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline: A new study out of USC finds that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-276706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}