Remove Air Pollution Remove Carbon Dioxide Remove Clean Energy Remove Nitrogen Oxides
article thumbnail

Ask a Scientist: Gas Plants Disproportionately Harm Marginalized Communities

Union of Concerned Scientists

Responsible for 12 percent of all US global warming emissions from human activities, methane traps significantly more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, making it 86 times more harmful for the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. First, there’s air pollution. Its primary component is methane.

article thumbnail

A 100% Renewable Energy Future is Possible, and We Need It

Union of Concerned Scientists

And we’re still trying to recover from a pandemic that has made even more clear the disproportionate impacts of air pollution on overburdened communities, making them even more vulnerable to the negative impacts of COVID 19. Just as important, cleaning up the power grid can also decrease carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

DEP Awards 4 Grants Totaling $2.9 Million To Replace Old Diesel With Clean-Energy Vehicles

PA Environment Daily

By replacing older polluting engines and equipment with new technologies, funded projects remove nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and hydrocarbon pollution from the air. Zero- and low-emission vehicles also lower carbon dioxide emissions, helping to lessen climate change.

article thumbnail

Reliance on Gas Power Plants Fuels Inequity

Union of Concerned Scientists

Air pollution Gas-fueled power plants and compressor stations release emissions that pollute local air and have dangerous health impacts to nearby residents. Most notable of these polluting emissions are nitrogen oxides (NOx).

article thumbnail

Good News—and Bad—about Fossil Fuel Power Plants in 2023 

Union of Concerned Scientists

With the clean energy transition already under way, the US electricity mix is set to continue changing this year. Solar power is expected to make up about half of all additions of US electric generating capacity in 2023, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). I’ll start off with the good.

article thumbnail

Ask a Scientist: Two Dozen States Can Meet 100 Percent of Electricity Demand with Renewables by 2035

Union of Concerned Scientists

We also evaluated the potential to accelerate the use of renewable energy dramatically through state-level renewable electricity standards, which have been major drivers of clean energy in recent decades. Under the no-new-policy scenario, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides decline only by 27 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

article thumbnail

Too Many Gas Power Plants are the Problem Not the Solution

Union of Concerned Scientists

Over the year, those plants emitted 661 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, more than 13% of the US’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Aging plants and state clean energy goals are certainly helping that trend. Why is this inequitable and disproportionate siting a problem?