It seems like a lot of folks have a bone to pick with Rep. Joe Manchin [D-WV] who has just this week single-handedly “torpedoed” the Build Back Better bill. The BBB could have been the “the most significant climate legislation in US history,” Megan Mahajan, the manager of energy policy design at the think tank Energy Innovation, told PopSci in October. The plan would put billions of money into developing low-carbon energy technologies and building a national network for electric vehicles.
When this bill dies, so do the chances for the country to reach its lofty and aggressive climate change goals. “There’s still a yawning gap between where we are today and where we need to be to hit President Biden’s climate targets,” Jesse Jenkins, an energy systems engineer at Princeton University who has led an effort to model the effects of the bill on US-wide emissions, told the New York Times. “Without either this bill or a climate bill that’s similar in scope, it’s really hard to see how those goals will be met.”
Unsurprisingly, left-leaning members of the Democratic party and the president himself have voiced frustration with Manchin’s choice. But a more surprising group is speaking out against Manchin’s decision, too—coal miners, including some he represents.
The BBB, along with all of its proposed clean energy benefits, provides a significant boost to coal workers by extending fees paid by coal companies to fund treatments and benefits of workers suffering pneumoconiosis, or Black Lung, which affects thousands of miners across the country. According to the statement, without BBB, that fee will be chopped in half and put the burden of healthcare payments back on individuals and taxpayers. Further, the bill provides tax incentives for companies to build new business on coalfields to employ out-of-work miners.
Additionally, the BBB provides language that would help workers unionize. “This language is critical to any long-term ability to restore the right to organize in America in the face of ramped-up union-busting by employers,” Cecil Roberts, the union’s president, said in a statement. “But now there is no path forward for millions of workers to exercise their rights at work.”
UMWA already released a plan for the energy transition earlier this year stating that “change is coming, whether we seek it or not.” The coal industry saw employment losses of around 50 percent between 2011 and 2020, which will likely continue as the country moves toward a cleaner energy mix. Proposals that include supporting miners and their families by incentivizing alternative jobs in coal country are crucial in protecting these already vulnerable communities.
“We’re likely to lose coal jobs whether or not this bill passes,” Phil Smith, the chief lobbyist for UMWA, told the Washington Post. “If that’s the case, let’s figure out a way to provide as many jobs as possible for those who are going to lose.”
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This story originally featured on Nexus Media News, a nonprofit climate change news service.
On a sweltering morning in July of 2021, thousands of dead fish washed onto the northeastern shores of Pokegama Lake, 60 miles north of Minneapolis.
Deb Vermeersch, an official with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, was called in to investigate.
When she arrived, she saw a quarter-mile stretch of sand covered with the rotting carcass of walleye and Northern pike, which thrive in deep, cool waters, as well as crappies, sunfish and suckers—all warm water dwellers. “They were already pretty decomposed because of the warm water,” Vermeersch recalls.
Because so many different types of fish had died, Vermeersch and her colleagues knew it wasn’t a species-specific parasite, a common cause of fish kills. They zeroed in on the culprit: dangerously low oxygen levels.
Oxygen is disappearing in freshwater lakes at a rate nine times that of oceans due to a combination of pollution and warming waters, according to a study published in Natureearlier this year. Lakes like Pokegama are warming earlier in the spring and staying warm into autumn, fueling algae blooms, which thrive in warm waters, and threaten native fish.
Minnesota, with its 14,380 lakes and temperatures that have risen faster than the national average, is a unique laboratory for studying how climate change is affecting temperate-zone lakes around the world. The state sits at the intersection of four biomes––two distinct prairie ecosystems and two ecologically different forest systems. This means scientists here are able to study how lakes in different ecosystems fare on a warming planet, and look for ways to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
“If you start losing oxygen, you start losing species.“
“What’s going on at the surface is that warmer water holds less oxygen than cool water,” says Lesley Knoll, a University of Minnesota limnologist and one of the authors of the Nature report. She says that longer, hotter summers are interfering with two key processes that have historically kept lakes’ oxygen levels in check: mixing and stratification. In temperate climates, water at the surface of lakes mixes with deep waters in the spring and the fall, when both layers are similar in temperature. As the surface water warms during the summer, the water forms distinct layers based on temperature––cool water at the bottom, warm at the top. This is known as stratification. In the fall, when the surface waters cool again, the water mixes for a second time, replenishing oxygen in deeper waters. But as climate change makes surface water warmer, and keeps it warmer for longer, that mixing doesn’t happen when it should.
“As you have that stronger stratification, the water in the deep part of the lake is cut off from the oxygen at the top part of the lake. If you start losing oxygen, you start losing species,” says Kevin Rose, a biologist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and a coauthor of the Nature study.
Knoll, Rose and a team of 43 other researchers studied 400 temperate lakes from around the world. They found that, on average, surface waters warmed by 7 degrees Fahrenheit and have lost roughly 5 percent of oxygen since 1980; deep waters, which haven’t warmed much, have still lost an average of almost 20 percent of their oxygen. (Thanks to the state’s long-held lake monitoring programs, almost a quarter the lakes in the study were in Minnesota.)
Warming lakes emit methane
Fish kills aren’t the only reason scientists are concerned about lakes losing oxygen. In extreme cases, when deep waters go completely void of oxygen, something else happens: Methane-emitting bacteria begin to thrive.
“As lakes warm, they will produce more methane and most of that has to do with stratification,” says James Cotner, a limnologist at the University of Minnesota.
Lakes normally emit carbon dioxide as a natural part of breaking down the trees, plants and animals that decay in them, but plants in and around fresh water also absorb it, making healthy lakes carbon sinks.
Lakes have historically emitted methane, too––about 10 to 20 percent of the world’s emissions––but the prospect of them releasing more of the greenhouse gas has Cotner and his colleagues alarmed. Methane is about 25 times more potent than CO2 when it comes to trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere.
Cotner is leading a team of researchers who are studying what conditions allow methane-emitting bacteria to prosper in lakes and how conservationists can respond.
“The key questions are understanding how much and when carbon dioxide and methane are emitted from lakes, and what are the key variables that can tell how much will be emitted. Certainly, oxygen is a big part of that, but stratification and warming also plays a role,” says Cotner.
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Pollution plays a big role
It’s not just longer, hotter summers that are causing lakes to lose their oxygen. Polluted agricultural runoff (pesticides and fertilizers) and logging have long plagued Minnesota’s lakes. It’s a problem that’s getting worse worldwide as climate change pushes agriculture further away from the equator and into new territory, says Heather Baird, an official with Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources.
In northern Minnesota, potatoes now grow where pine forests have thrived for years. Phosphorus, a common fertilizer, now runs off from the soil into the region’s lakes, Baird says. Though small amounts of phosphorus occur naturally in lake ecosystems, too much of it feeds harmful algae blooms.
Those blooms, which thrive in warm, nutrient-rich water, set off a chain of events that remove oxygen from deep lake waters.
“When phosphorus builds in lakes and creates algae blooms, those blooms eventually die. As they do, they sink. Deeper down, bacteria break down the algae, using up the remaining oxygen at those lower depths,” said Baird.
A quarter of Minnesota lakes now have phosphorus levels that are so high that the state advises against swimming, fishing or boating in them. Fueled by these nutrients, algae blooms take over, covering the lake in sometimes toxic residue that thrives in warm, nutrient-rich water, as was the case in Pokegama Lake earlier this year. The protists choke out aquatic life, especially fish that thrive in cold, deep waters. This is all exacerbated by warming air temperatures.
The 75 percent rule
Researchers and conservationists in Minnesota are now studying the best ways to protect temperate-climate lakes from the worst effects of climate change. They have found that preserving 75 percent of deep-water lakes’ watersheds appear to keep fish stocks healthy.
“Having a forested watershed helps keep better water quality by filtering out nutrients, which in turn can buffer against the impacts of climate change, to a point,” Knoll said. However, she added, as temperatures continue to rise, “that 75 percent may not be high enough anymore.”
Knoll and state conservationists are focusing their research and efforts on deep, cool lakes that have a better chance of staying oxygenated than warmer, shallower lakes, like Pokegama.
Vermeersch, the Minnesota fisheries supervisor, said it’s unclear what this will mean for the future of lakes like Pokegama. “Hopefully it’s not going to be a linear thing,” she said, adding that fish kills are “probably going to happen more often,” depending on a combination of factors. “When you get lakes like Pokegama that are shallow and already impaired, I think we are going to see more and more conditions like this.”
Correction (December 23, 2021): The story previously identified the wrong Pokegama Lake in Minnesota. The one that experienced the fish kill in July is 60 miles away from Minneapolis, not 140 miles away.
As part of a $37 billion program, General Motors plans to bring at least 30 battery-electric vehicles to market by mid-decade — but it is expanding its electrification strategy to power up pretty much anything “already on the road,” as well as on the water, it announced on Wednesday.
GM looking to electrify “everything,” including offering conversion kits as well as packages for vehicles like this jet tug.
The largest of the Detroit automakers’ Electric Connect and Cruise eCrate systems will allow owners to swap out their conventional gas engines in classic vehicles like the Camaro and E-10 pickup for battery-drive technology. GM also is looking to power up cargo tractors and other airport gear, while also working up ways to bring electric propulsion to the marine industry.
“GM has an established strategy, network of integrators and co-development agreements to apply an extensive array of components and solutions to a broad range of customers and use cases,” said Travis Hester, GM vice president of Electric Vehicle Growth Operations, in a statement Wednesday.
The carmaker estimates there’s a “total addressable market” for swapping conventional drive systems for battery power that could approach $20 billion by 2030.
“As companies across many industries look to reduce their environmental impact, GM is uniquely positioned to serve as a leader not only through exciting new EVs across our brands, but through additional technology applications,” said Hester, “and we look forward to bringing customers — existing and new — along with us on our zero-emissions journey.”
Chevrolet showcased a 1977 K5 Blazer converted to all-electric propulsion at SEMA360 in 2020.
Converting to electric
Demand for conversion technology is already on the rise. There’s been a flood of startups converting classic vehicles, including vintage Camaros, Porsches, Volkswagens and Land Rovers, to run on battery power.
GM targeted the conversion market with the launch of the eCOPO Camaro project car at the SEMA Show several years back, and has revealed other project cars like Project X and the 1977 K-5 Blazer. It is getting ready to provide what are essentially plug-and-play packages, like the Cruise eCrate and Electric Connect, to simplify the process. The goal is to allow owners and conversion companies to make a swap with a minimum of effort.
The Detroit automaker isn’t the only one sensing an opportunity here, however. Ford recently demonstrated the potential for its own Mach-E crate motors, which, as the name implies, uses hardware and software borrowed from its Mustang Mach-E battery-electric SUV. The conversion package can be plugged into classic products such as a 1978 Ford F-100 pickup. Volkswagen and Tesla have also gotten into the game, the latter automaker’s electric drive technology used by one conversion fan on a Rolls-Royce once owned by Johnny Cash.
Multiple applications for electric motors
But GM’s strategy isn’t limited to road-going vehicles.
It’s teaming up with Textron Ground Support Equipment Inc., a Textron subsidiary, to power up ground support equipment like the cargo and baggage tractors, belt loaders and Tug equipment found at commercial airports. Electrifying those vehicles promises to reduce emissions, as well as operating costs, while improving reliability, experts claim.
Commercial fleets, in general are showing strong interest in making the switch to battery power. GM this month began delivering the first of its BrightDrop delivery vans, joining competitors like Ford and Rivian in a market that could rapidly grow this decade, according to industry forecasts.
The opportunity to electrify isn’t limited to ground vehicles, however. A number of manufacturers are looking at ways to harness battery and hydrogen fuel-cell technology for other transportation and cargo applications. Rolls-Royce recently set a speed record with an aircraft outfitted with one of its drive systems. Airbus just released plans for a hydrogen turbofan system.
GM sees big opportunities coming in the marine world. It recently announced a strategic investment in the Seattle-based Pure Watercraft. The move, the automaker said, “represents an opportunity to bring EV technology to the marine industry and help preserve enjoyment of the outdoors for future generations. Together, the two companies will develop and commercialize battery electric watercraft, to accelerate the transition to electric mobility.”
GM also has been exploring ways to electrify the rails. Last June it announced another partnership with Wabtec, one of the largest providers of freight locomotives. Under a non-binding agreement, the automaker will provide both battery and hydrogen fuel-cell systems for prototypes like the Wabtec FLXdrive. Eventually, the technology could replace the conventional diesel-hybrid systems that dominate the rails today.
Charging is key to the transition to electric vehicles and while more chargers are one the way, Ford Motor Co. is launching a new program to ensure the juice needed to run an EV does not contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases.
Ford’s program can be used by current owners of the Mustang Mach-E, E-Transit and Escape PHEV.
With help of one auto industry’s traditional foes, the California Air Resource Board, Ford is beginning what it describes as a “sustainable charging program,” which allows owners of plug-in electric vehicles in California to opt for only carbon-neutral charging at home.
“Ford’s electric vehicle customers are beginning to realize all the possibilities associated with their vehicles and sustainable energy management,” said Matt Stover, director of charging and energy services, Ford Motor Co.
“By working with regulators, utilities and customers for home integration services, we’re enabling EV drivers to lower their carbon footprints, potentially save money and help protect the grid, all through their smartphones.”
California-based owners of all current Ford all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, including the Mustang Mach-E, the E-Transit and the Escape PHEV, plus the F-150 Lightning coming in 2022, are eligible for the program.
Only green energy wanted
The idea is to only use electricity made with renewable sources rather than oil, gas or coal, reducing the carbon footprint of the energy used to power the vehicles.
Ford plans to participate in CARB’s “Low Carbon Fuel Standard,” which will offer customers a new way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change by matching the use of electricity used to charge plug-in electric vehicles at home with 100% local renewable energy, the automaker said.
CARB, which has control of air quality standards throughout California, has long warred with automakers about emissions. Significant health concerns, created by automotive-related air pollution in Southern California, have given CARB enormous influence over emission standards not only across California but also across the United States.
Once enrolled, the FordPass app automatically tracks the amount of electricity used while charging at home. Ford generates, or buys, an equivalent amount of California-sourced Renewable Energy Certificates, an EPA-recognized program that records the generation and usage of green energy.
Ford then sends evidence of the matching amounts to CARB, ensuring that all home plug-in charging activity is matched with zero-carbon electricity.
Ford is investing more than $30 billion in electric vehicles and batteries through 2025. The push supports the company’s longer-term goal of creating a sustainable American manufacturing ecosystem, and to accelerate its progress towards achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2050. Overall, Ford expects 40% to 50% of its global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030.
The new Mitsubishi Outlander already has proven to be one of the most important products the long-struggling automaker has launched in its bid to become relevant to U.S. motorists again. Now, Mitsubishi is hoping to gain even more traction with the upcoming launch of a plug-in hybrid version.
The gas-powered 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander made its debut in February.
The Japanese automaker claims it will yield more range than the old Outlander PHEV, at an estimated 87 km, or nearly 55 miles, per charge — though that’s using the global WLTP test cycle and will likely come down once the American version is tested by the EPA.
“With low (carbon dioxide) emissions and environmental impact from manufacturing and use,” said Takao Kato, MMC’s president and CEO, “the all-new Outlander PHEV model can be considered the best solution for carbon neutrality today.”
Updated, upgraded drivetrain
The Outlander was first introduced in 2001 and, with the fourth generation, it has become a core part of the brand, accounting for about 20% of its global volume. The first plug-in hybrid version was unveiled at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. It produced a combined 197 horsepower by pairing a 2.0-liter inline-4 gas engine with twin 60-kilowatt electric motors drawing power from a 12 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack.
The new Outlander PHEV gets numerous powertrain upgrades, though the automaker isn’t releasing hard specs yet. In a statement announcing the new vehicle it said the plug-in gets “an increase of around 40% in the output of the front and rear motors and drive battery.” The lithium-ion pack, it did note, jumps to 20 kWh. The gas engine, added a spokesman, is a “slightly updated” version of the old PHEV’s 2.4-liter package.
The new Outlander plug-in hybrid will arrive in the U.S. in the second half of 2022.
Mitsubishi also revealed, “The power drive unit for the front motor is newly equipped with a booster function which bolsters driving force by raising the supply of voltage to the front motor while simultaneously improving electricity consumption by raising the efficiency of the generator.”
Third row added
The automaker also took steps to downsize some of the hardware, notably the rear motor and control unit. As a result, the new plug-in will gain room for a third row yielding space for seven occupants.
The drive system now will allow One-Pedal Driving, as well, a feature that effectively allows motorists to minimize the need to jump from throttle to brake when driving in light to moderate traffic. That feature was found to be extremely popular with EV owners, according to the recent J.D. Power Technology Experience Index.
With only modest tweaks, the plug-in adopts the same exterior and interior design as the gas-powered Outlander. The overall strategy is based on a concept dubbed “I-Fu-Do-Do,” which means “authentic” and “majestic” in Japanese.
New design
The new Outlander PHEV is expected to travel more than 55 miles in electric-only mode.
The fourth-generation Mitsubishi Outlander adopted a new styling language called “Dynamic Shield.” Up front, it features a more upright nose with a pinched, dual-level grille and stacked headlamps. From the side, the SUV features a more deeply sculpted silhouette with a bit of a floating roof element.
The automaker clearly wanted to give the new Outlander a more solid and robust look, with such touches as 20-inch wheels and tires and what it calls the Hexagon Guard rear end.
The new SUV grew larger in virtually all dimensions, the width expanding by 2 inches. That means the cabin of the new Outlander is both wider and more spacious than the outgoing model, Mitsubishi adopting more upscale materials and features like tri-zone climate controls, real aluminum panels and a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment display.
The gas-powered Outlander is powered by a 2.5-liter inline-4 that bumped up power by 8.9 percent. At the same time, it reduced fuel consumption by 2.6 percent.
Pricing TBD
Many of the features from the current model are expected to carry over into the PHEV, though Mitsubishi hasn’t provided specific details. The gas model offers Hill Descent Control and Trailer Stability Assist. A Multiview camera system helps drivers see what’s around the vehicle, whether on-road or off. Other features for the new Mitsubishi Outlander include a power-operated panoramic roof and an electrically operated tailgate that can be opened with a kick of the foot under the rear bumper.
Pricing for the gas model starts at $25,795 — plus $1,195 in delivery fees. Pricing for the PHEV is expected to run higher, though the numbers won’t be released until closer to sales launch. That holds for a variety of other specs, including U.S. range, power and performance.
“Sales will commence in Japan on Dec. 16, followed by Australia and New Zealand in the first half of 2022 and North America in the second half of 2022,” Mitsubishi said in a statement. While it did not offer specifics, that would suggest that the Outlander PHEV will be marketed as a 2023 model in the U.S.
In the fall of 2018, Kyle Nossaman, an editor at Gear Junkie magazine, and his wife locked the door of their upscale apartment in Minneapolis and set off for a year of exploring America. They visited most of the lower forty-eight states and almost all the national parks. They rode mountain bikes and a motorcycle, camped and hiked, visited old friends and made new ones, all the while keeping up their jobs part-time, even saving money along the way. And they did all this without ever getting on a plane—because they were driving and living in their very own converted school bus.4
The COVID lockdown was an existential disaster for America’s retail sector—unless you happened to be selling mobile homes. Sales of Thor large camper vans surged after the pandemic lockdown ended, and Mercedes even released its iconic Camper (that sleeps four) in the US after years of popularity in Europe. The RV Industry Association reported a nearly 200 percent jump in sales from the same period of 2019.5 Trailer homes have emerged as a trendy, cost-effective, and sustainable alternative to traditional home ownership. Movements like #skooliebus on Instagram (featuring school buses retrofitted into mobile homes) and “tiny houses” on Pinterest point to the growing popularity of mobile and minimalist living.
The trailer home is the ultimate symbol of the new American mobility. Twenty-five percent of mobile homes are owned by millennials, and the more they and Gen-Z reach home-buying age, the more mobile home sales go up.6 In other words, youth are consciously choosing not to buy houses (that they can’t afford anyway), snapping up motor homes instead. Having witnessed the financial crisis demolish their parents’ house value, they can hardly be blamed for having more faith in mobility than property. Are we witnessing the reinvention of the American dream for the quantum age?
Photo: Scribner
Mobile homes are part of American lore, but a surprising feature of America’s present and future. An older generation of RV dwellers already roams the country seeking part-time jobs that offer cash and food, often exploited like migrant laborers, as Jessica Bruder documents in her book Nomadland, whose film adaptation won the Oscar for best picture in 2021. Trailer home communities have a sense of identity and security that now also draws in young people. Gloria Steinem’s memoir My Life onthe Road fondly recalls the pride of an all-female trailer park in Arizona hat had streets named after Gertrude Stein and Eleanor Roosevelt. For women or the LGBTQ community, trailer parks provide the vibe of a gated residential community but without the price tag. With ever fewer school age children in America, there are plenty of school buses available for purchase—though their engines should ideally be switched from diesel to electric.
“Mobile real estate” is becoming an asset class unto itself, a wise investment for a world where flooding could sweep away your home, giant hailstones could smash through its roof, or a sinkhole could emerge at the end of your driveway. You’re better off if your home is a giant car. Sealander’s trailer has an onboard motor that turns it into a boat, perfect for navigating flooded areas. Especially if you don’t know where your next job will be, a mobile home means you can move to it on short notice. Moving is the ultimate expression of reinvention, and perhaps the most effective as well.
America’s youth should stop chaining themselves to homes they neither need nor can afford—and which aren’t located where they need to be. Instead, we should be designing and building for an age of perpetual mobility. The real estate industry continues to pour concrete into McMansions, and even claims there is a nationwide housing shortfall of 2.5 million homes. But does their crystal ball tell them where people will want to live five years from now? Do they know where the jobs will be? Are they sure they’re building in climate-resilient areas?
There is a reason why these homes are made to be disaster-resistant: One might have to move again.
The great demographic deflation means an inevitable crash in real estate prices, and competition from prefab homes will bring those down even further. Freddie Mac (which provides liquidity to the housing market) has launched a slew of programs to encourage first-time home buyers to invest in far cheaper prefab homes—even if it leaves municipalities and banks sitting on trillions of dollars of stranded housing. No wonder then that an investor such as Warren Buffett has quietly become one of the largest owners of “pre-fabulous” home manufacturers such as Clayton Homes. Even in cheaper states, a manufactured home costs less than half the cost of a two-bedroom apartment, and renting a prefab as little as one-third as much.
The best part of the prefab housing revolution? They can be delivered on the back of a truck—and moved as well. The era of 3D-printed micro housing is at hand. Amazon sells do-it-yourself homemaking kits that cost as little as $20,000 and can be solar-powered or connected to local energy grids. Mighty Buildings’ 3D-printed “casitas” or “granny flats” can be deposited in backyards to cater to the millions of aging lowincome renters or youth on tight budgets. Companies such as Boxabl and Ten Fold make homes that expand to triple their container size in minutes. Millions of discarded shipping containers themselves are easily retrofitted into (mobile) homes. One Estonian startup builds trailer-delivered prefab units that can be homes, offices, shops, storage units, cafes, community areas, or serve many other purposes. All that is required is a flat space for them to be set down on.
Which countries will make the land available, subsidize the cost, and enable or even require public service delivery to 3D home encampments? The Netherlands and France have become leaders in this progressive social policy, while Swedish furniture maker IKEA and construction company Skanska have teamed up to launch BoKlok (Live Smart), a firm that has built more than ten thousand homes in Scandinavia already. In their UK pilot, new occupants pay BoKlok whatever they can afford. Rather than cluttering homes with IKEA stuff, you can just buy your entire home from IKEA.
Movable homes are rolling off assembly lines through an entirely new production process that combines 3D printing, recycled materials, and robotic efficiency. For overpopulated countries in precarious geographies, SoftBank-funded Katerra does turnkey home design and construction for entire towns on short notice, while Icon has already 3D-printed entire villages in Mexico and sturdy units for those living in tents around Austin. But there is a reason why these homes are made to be disaster-resistant: One might have to move again. Self-sufficient, solar-powered container homes can be wheeled to adjust to rising tides, with portable loos that use microbes rather than water to turn human waste into odorless fertilizer. (These are even being deployed on Mount Everest.) This makes great sense for a world of seasonal migrations in which climate change and natural disasters as much as professional preference dictate where we live. For those choosing wheeled residences as a lifestyle choice, architects are designing stylish micro homes with woodstoves; solar power; rooftop water collection; compost toilets; separate kitchen, bedroom, and living areas; and large windows. Their owners can Instagram every new vista.
According to a new study ranking driving in the 100 largest U.S. cities, Raleigh, N.C. ranks tops according to a new report by WalletHub.
Raleigh, North Carolina was ranked as the top city to drive in for 2021.
If there’s a No. 1, then you know there’s a No. 100: Oakland, California placed last.
The ease of driving in America’s largest cities matters, as 87% of daily trips are made in cars, trucks and SUVs. On average, Americans spend about 6 hours a week driving or riding in automobiles — that’s nearly 13 days.
“Longer time behind the wheel could lead to issues such as fatigue, distraction, and impatience for drivers, which are all contributing factors for vehicle crashes,” said David Yang, executive director for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, in a statement.
COVID caused changes
And the pandemic has led more people to abandon public transit for private transportation. But the increased number of private cars is clogging roads and raising tempers, so a look at the overall quality of driving life is timely.
If there is a best place to drive, there’s also a worst: Oakland, California came in last at No. 100.
The WalletHub study measured such metrics as gas prices, new car costs, maintenance costs, insurance rates, parking rates, hours spent in congestion, average commute time, quality of roads and bridges, weather, fatality rates, seat belt usage, the number of uninsured drivers, car thefts, larceny, access to car dealers, repair shops, car washes, gas stations and garages.
Raleigh, N.C. placed first at 67.662 points. It was followed by Lincoln, Nebraska222.; Greensboro, N.C.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Corpus Christi, Texas rounding out the top five.
At the other extreme was Chicago at 95th with 40.69 points, it was followed by New York City; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Detroit; and Oakland.
Other measurables
But the study also ranked several other metrics as well, coming with some interesting results.
Residents in El Paso, Texas and Lubbock, Texas tied for the least amount of time dealing with traffic congestion. Those living in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York tied for spending the most time sitting in traffic.
Chicago ranked 95th in the top U.S. cities to drive in by WalletHub.com.
Chula Vista, California has the lowest fatality rate of 2.55 deaths per 100,000 residents; Memphis, Tennessee lays claim to the highest at 7.8 deaths.
You’re least likely to have your car stolen in Irvine, California. Car thefts occur at a rate of 0.56 per 1,000 residents, while Oakland has the most at 11.61 per 1,000 residents.
Looking for cheap gas? Head to San Antonio, Texas, where it costs the least in America’s 100 largest cities: $2.66 per gallon. Avoid San Francisco where gas is the most expensive at $4.40 per gallon.
Parking your car costs 90 cents for two hours in Hialeah, Florida whereas it will cost you $34.80 for the same amount of time in Boston.
Car owners in Jacksonville, Florida enjoyed the lowest maintenance costs, which includes the cost of gas, while those in Portland, Oregon have the highest, narrowly beating out Honolulu, Hawaii.
But you’ll spend the least amount of time in inclement weather in Las Vegas, Nevada — hardly a surprise. This contrasts with Portland, Oregon, which has the most rotten weather. Again, hardly a surprise.
Tesla surpassed the $1 billion profit mark for the first time on the strength of record-setting production and deliveries during the second quarter.
Tesla surpassed the $1 billion profit mark for the first time in the second quarter.
The California-based EV maker’s $1.1 billion profit was matched by its 11% margins. The company reported revenue of $11.96 billion during the quarter, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $11.4 billion for the quarter, according to FactSet.
Much of the company’s revenue came from its automotive division, which posted a 97% year-over-year increase for Q2 of $10.2 billion. Perhaps just as importantly, its regulatory credits contributed just $354 million, a decline of 17 percent.
“Our operating income improved in Q2 compared to the same period last year to $1.3 billion,” the company said in its report to shareholders, “resulting in an 11% operating margin. This profit level was reached while incurring SBC expense attributable to the 2018 CEO award of $176 million in Q2, driven by a new operational milestone becoming probable.”
Profits come using tried-and-true formula
Deliveries of the new Model S took off during the second quarter.
The company noted its operating income rose because of “volume growth and cost reduction.” The improvements came despite a $23 million hit it took for dabbling in Bitcoin and production issues associated with semiconductor shortages.
Employees charged with cutting costs and improving production performed well during the quarter, Tesla noted, but to earn big profits in the second half of the year, they’ll need to remain diligent.
“With global vehicle demand at record levels, component supply will have a strong influence on the rate of our delivery growth for the rest of the year,” the company said in the report.
EV sales hit at an all-time high in the U.S. during the second quarter, and Tesla recognizes the market is changing. “Public sentiment and support for electric vehicles seems to be at a never-before-seen inflection point,” it said in the report. “We continue to work hard to drive down costs and increase our rate of production to make electric vehicles accessible to as many people as possible.”
A prototype Rivian SUV played a cameo role in today’s launch of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and three other astronauts into space.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, second from left, rode to to the launch pad in a Rivian R1S.
The R1S is one of several battery-electric SUV and pickup prototypes used by Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket company at its launch site in Texas, and it “assist(ed) with launch-day transportation,” Rivian spokesperson Tanya Miller confirmed in an e-mail to TheDetroitBureau.com.
While the R1S may have played a secondary role in the events of the day, it was nonetheless a high-profile breakthrough for Rivian, which plans to put its first retail models into production this year. While Bezos’s launch got off on time, Rivian’s plans have been put on temporary hold.
A battery-electric car in the space race
The founder of online retail giant Amazon — and, until July 5, its CEO, Bezos is one of a small group of billionaires launching their own manned rocket companies. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX already serves as a taxi service for NASA astronauts and is planning a mission to Mars. British entrepreneur Richard Branson was one of several passengers on a hybrid Virgin Galactic rocket-plane to reach the edge of space earlier this month.
Bezos’s flight was shorter, but higher — at just 10 minutes, but a peak altitude of 66.5 miles — than Branson’s. Now Amazon’s executive chairman, he was joined by brother Mark Bezos, as well as Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk, and teenager Oliver Daemen, lifting off from a Texas launch pad atop Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. They eventually reached an altitude of just over 66 miles during their 10 minutes in space. At 82, Funk became the oldest person ever to earn astronaut wings, with 18-year-old Daemen the youngest.
Bezos drove a Rivian R1T back to the landing site later in the day.
The four, in their spacesuits, squeezed into a Rivian R1S for the drive from Blue Origin’s mission control to the pad where a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket waited for liftoff at 9 a.m. EDT.
More than serendipity
The use of the Rivian SUV wasn’t just serendipitous. Amazon is one of the startup’s biggest investors — as well as a major customer. A handful of all-electric Rivian vans are now being field-tested by Amazon Prime. The delivery service expects to field 100,000 this decade.
The R1S, along with the similarly sized R1T pickup, ride on a skateboard-like platform with batteries and motors mounted under the floorboards. Several different versions of the two models will be offered. The top-end R1S will use a 180 kilowatt-hour battery pack capable of up to 400 miles range per charge. Four electric motors, one driving each wheel, will deliver up to 800 horsepower and will be able to launch the battery-SUV from 0 to 60 in about 3 seconds. Prices will start at around $67,000.
They were supposed to go into production this month, but while the factory is slowly rolling out prototypes, volume production has now been pushed back until at least September, company sources confirmed.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe says issues related to the pandemic has pushed back the production starting time of the R1T and R1S.
Looking forward
“The cascading impacts of the pandemic have had a compounding effect greater than anyone anticipated,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe wrote to customers who have placed orders for the vehicles.
The auto industry, as a whole, has been hammered by the pandemic. The entire North American automotive manufacturing network closed for about two months in spring 2020, creating a huge shortage of not only fully assembled vehicles but automotive parts and components. The situation has grown even worse in recent months due to short supplies of semiconductors. That’s a particularly serious problem for electric vehicles that use even more microchips than conventional vehicles.
Along with the R1S, R1T, and the Amazon delivery van, Rivian is expected to launch a line-up of other products. It is also working with other investors, notably Ford Motor Co. The Detroit automaker had planned to develop a Rivian-based SUV for its Lincoln brand. That project has been scrapped but Ford and Rivian have signaled that they will jointly bring other products to market in the future.
This story has been updated. It was originally published on January 11, 2019.
Plastic in the ocean, greenhouse gases in the air, chemicals in the soil—we discuss these types of pollution in dinner table conversations and international media alike. But we often forget about one form of environmental damage: light pollution. Because its effects are more subtle than dirty air and water, we often fail to notice it, but the constant abundance of light can also harm our health, environment, and way of life.
“I think humanity has so far terribly underestimated the significance of manmade light from an environmental perspective,” says John Barentine, director of conservation at the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). “What makes this issue special is that, unlike other forms of environmental pollution, it’s very easy to deal with and very simple to solve.”
By making just a few swaps, you can fight light pollution on three fronts. We can show you how to protect your personal health, darken the environment around you, and petition the nearest city to make changes for the better.
Prevent light from disrupting your sleep
The 24-hour cycle of day and night works in rhythm with our bodies, allowing a glow to signal when it’s time to sleep and when we need to stay alert. However, as we constantly subject ourselves to light, those rhythms are losing their power—and as a result, we’re damaging more than just our sleep cycles.
When you keep bright room lights shining in the hours before bed, they can suppress melatonin, a natural hormone that, among other things, helps regulate daily wake-sleep cycles. Without it, your body doesn’t get the signal that it’s time to unwind, your brain stays more alert, and you often get less sleep—which increases your risk of depression, diabetes, and heart problems. And that’s not all this hormone does. According to a study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, melatonin disruption could raise blood pressure and possibly even increase your risk of type 2 diabetes.
The worst offenders in our homes are LEDs. More cost-effective and energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs, they also require fewer watts to produce the same amount of light. And compared to the glow from traditional bulbs, the waves LEDs emit fall in a bluer part of the color spectrum. However, research suggests that this type of light makes us more alert and cognitively active. As a result, LED lights may disrupt our circadian rhythms more than incandescent bulbs and their rosier rays.
In fact, any blue-tinged light—including that emanating from digital screens like those of cell phones, computers, and TV—delays the onset of melatonin, reducing our sleep and harming our health. Still, we just can’t quit them: The National Sleep Foundation found that 90 percent of Americans use some sort of electronic device in the hour before bed at least three nights a week. Those who texted or used their computers in that time reported that they were less likely to get a good night’s sleep and more likely to wake up feeling groggy the next day.
Digital screens emit blue light that can affect your sleep and harm your health. Free-Photos / Pixabay
Luckily, indoor blue light is a problem that’s relatively easy to fix. If avoiding screens for an hour or two before bedtime is out of the question, change the color of those screens. Apple devices, for example, offer a Night Shift setting that automatically changes the color temperature of their emitted light when the sun goes down (or at any other time you choose). Androids have a similar option called Night Light. If your device doesn’t have a built-in setting, you can find an app to do it for you.
As for the bulbs that illuminate your evening activities, swap bright white LEDs—in both indoor and outdoor fixtures—for versions with warmer color temperatures. And if you can’t eliminate all the blue light, try on a pair of special glasses that filter out blue light.
Replace your outdoor lighting
As mentioned earlier, you should swap your outdoor LEDs for warmer ones. And there are other ways to reduce the amount of light pollution you spread around. While indoor lighting disrupts our health, outdoor lighting negatively impacts animals, plants… and would-be astronomers.
Studies suggest that human lights disrupt mating and migration patterns in many animal species. For example, they distract migratory birds, drawing them off course. On beaches, they contribute to the declining sea turtle population, disorienting hatchlings and drawing them toward city streets—and nocturnal predators—rather than the ocean. Plant life suffers because moths and other beneficial insects wander toward artificial light and die rather than pollinating the greens that rely on them. Even humans might mourn: As bright lights render the stars invisible, amateur and professional astronomers have lost their view of the cosmos.
By changing your outdoor light setup, you can help wildlife thrive—and earn the thanks of any neighboring star gazers. Start by switching off outdoor lights. If you’re worried about safety, some studies suggest that outdoor lighting may have no effect at deterring crime, and that criminal activity may actually increase in better-lit areas. If that doesn’t convince you, install a motion sensor. That way, lights will only switch on when something moves nearby.
Another easy fix is to buy outdoor lighting fixtures that focus the beams. Lamps that don’t direct light in any way contribute more to light pollution, and they’re also inefficient: In 2015, the International Dark-Sky Association estimated that US residential property owners annually waste at least 117 kWh (that’d cost roughly $22 in New York) per household on misdirected outdoor lighting that does nothing but contribute to sky glow.
Replace those types of fixtures with more focused lighting, which you can find at your local home improvement stores or online. Some options even have a dark sky-friendly seal right on the box. Even without this label, you can still see whether a potential purchase will do the job: Look for directional or shielded fixtures that point light downward, so the bulb is only visible from directly underneath.
Dim your city
Reducing the light pollution that big cities emit is not as easy as swapping your light bulbs. For this, you’ll have to petition local governments to act on your behalf. Still, it can be done: Cities like Tucson, Arizona, where IDA is based, and Flagstaff, Arizona, have implemented citywide changes to protect the night, making the sky darker and the stars brighter for all.
Flagstaff led the charge in 1958, when the city passed a lighting ordinance banning sweeping searchlights. In 1972, Tucson required outdoor lighting to have shielding that directs it downward. Flagstaff did the same in 1973. Then in 1986, Tucson updated their ordinance by banning mercury vapor lights and bottom-mounted billboard floodlights. Next, Flagstaff required all roadways and parking lots to switch to low-pressure sodium lights. In 1998, Coconino County passed the world’s first code to restrict both the type of light permitted in the county and the amount of light per acre. Starting in 2016, Tucson replaced its streetlights with LEDs that emit less blue-spectrum light than most, all of them shielded and most of them with wireless connections that make them remotely dimmable.
The result? Flagstaff has one of the most accessible dark skies in the US—you can see the Milky Way from downtown. Tucson has decreased its overall sky glow by 7 percent and the total amount of light by 70 percent.
How can you bring similar changes to your city? “It’s not a technically difficult problem,” says Christian Luginbuhl, a retired astronomer at the US Naval Observatory in Flagstaff. He’s been leading the charge for that city’s dark sky-friendly ordinances since the 80s. “The reason it doesn’t get solved in so many places is that we need more cultural awareness and initiatives. The technical solutions are just a link in the chain,” he says.
At night, urban areas like New York City light up the sky. Free-Photos / Pixabay
According to Luginbuhl, the key factor is getting people passionate about the value of clear night skies, and how light pollution takes them away. To that end, the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition hosts annual star parties in the fall and year-round events—art exhibits, lectures, and musical performances—that promote cultural connection to the night sky.
You can start the journey to dim your city by creating or joining a dark-sky advocacy organization like IDA (which might already have a local chapter near you). Partner with environmental, astronomy, and outdoor-advocacy groups to spread the word about the importance of maintaining dark skies. IDA even has resources to help you get started.
Once community support and commitment exist, talk to jurisdictional authorities like commissioners, zoning boards and elected officials, explaining what people can gain by reducing light pollution. Then ask these authorities to consider city-wide ordinances and positive changes, similar to the ones Flagstaff and Tucson adopted.
Implement lighting zones, so they can have different levels of brightness in, say, more rural versus more urban areas.
Ban upward-facing billboard floodlights.
Limit the amount of light (lumens) that non-residential properties can use.
Require streetlights and parking lights to have shielded fixtures that point down, focusing the rays away from the sky.
“The only way to address light pollution effectively is that we as a society need to decide it’s something we care about,” Luginbuhl says.
This will take time, but light pollution is a problem with a clear solution. Once we solve it, the results benefit us all.
