California public transportation in 20 years should be safe for the environment
Days when California residents in the United States breathed exhaust fumes from passing buses could soon become history. The fact is that the authorities of the region decided to make all public transport “without a exhaust” for 20 years.
The bill became law after a unanimous vote this Friday. Separately, it is worth noting that the state authorities do not agree with Trump’s policy of lowering environmental transport standards in order to promote the oil and gas industry and related products.
New rules prohibit transport workers to buy buses with internal combustion engines of any type, these vehicles will be gradually decommissioned. By 2040, state public transportation should be 100% green.
According to experts in the field of the environment, the bill will really be able to help clean the air of the state, where the atmosphere is heavily polluted with exhausts. After the usual buses, the rules apply to shuttles from airports, garbage trucks and courier cars.
The law affects about 14,000 buses with internal combustion engines. They will gradually be replaced by electric buses and vehicles operating on fuel cells.
The time interval specified in the bill should give time to transport agencies and equipment manufacturers to create new type of transport systems. In principle, there should be no problems with the replacement, since in the USA the normal service life of the bus is about 12 years.
It is worth noting that the share of buses and trucks is about 7% of the total state vehicle fleet, but this small fraction contributes as much as 20% of air pollution. Among the other gases, nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere, which provoke smog.
Now in the State runs only about 150 "clean" buses. According to experts, the authorities' requirements will help reduce emissions in California by about 1 million tons by 2040. True, the Trump administration, which, as mentioned above, is lobbying for the interests of the oil and gas industry, can prevent this from happening. However, state officials told companies that supply vehicles that they must adapt their manufacturing processes to California law without regard to US law (environmental regulations).
State officials are hoping that by 2020, emissions will be reduced to the levels of the 1990s. To this end, besides the measures already announced above, the authorities declared that by 2045 all the energy in the state should be “green”, generated by solar, wind and hydroelectric power stations.
Representatives of the authorities believe that the actions referred to in the article not only provide for the reduction of pollution, but also give a signal to automakers from all over the world - the transport must become “clean”. California is one of the first regions in the world that do a lot, if not everything.
In the state itself there are six factories that can produce electric buses, which allows you to do without state resources.
