Dynamic Road Pricing for Vancouver?

Innovative B.C. starts the road-pricing revolution (Andrew Coyne, The Regina Leader-Post Dec. 13, 2014) 

Also discussed here: The shocking truth about B.C.’s carbon tax: It works (Ross Beaty, Richard Lipsey and Stewart Elgie, the Globe and Mail, Jul. 09 2014) 

Today we review news that Vancouver area Mayors have decided to ask their voters to agree by referendum to two new “taxes” – a sales tax and a comprehensive road-pricing plan – that would be a first for any Canadian city, collect revenue from other than municipal property tax and virtually eliminate traffic congestion. One downside is that implementation would only come in 5 to 8 years - would the next elected civic administrations be up to the challenge? As jurisdictional children, the municipalities would also need to get provincial approval. There is reason to expect a positive response as B.C. is also the first province to have implemented a successful carbon tax on consumer goods 6 years ago, reaffirmed in a recent provincial election, and given citizens the lowest personal income taxes in Canada.

Key Quotes: 

“a group of Vancouver-area mayors,…will put the package to the region's voters in a referendum next spring.. Lower Mainlanders will have it within their power to bring about a revolution in public policy - three of them: 

*the first time a proposal to increase taxes was put directly to voters in Canada, via a referendum or plebiscite 

*the first municipal sales tax in Canadian history…about $125 per household annually, and earmarked for the mayors' transit plan.. a much-needed shift in the municipal tax base: away from property taxes 

*the first comprehensive system of road tolls - what the mayors call "mobility pricing" - in the world. .. all cars, all roads, all the time, adjusted dynamically in response to traffic conditions and collected electronically via on-board GPS-based transponders.. 

[and]  a Mobility Pricing Independent Commission to oversee its planning and implementation within five to eight years." 

“At a stroke, it would effectively abolish congestion, by common consensus the worst of Canada's urban blights” 

“B.C.’s tax, implemented in 2008, covers most types of fuel use and carbon emissions. It started out low ($10 per tonne of carbon dioxide), then rose gradually to the current $30 per tonne, which works out to about 7 cents per litre of gas. .. Since the tax came in, fuel use in B.C. has dropped by 16 per cent; in the rest of Canada, it’s risen by 3 per cent ” 

“B.C. now has the lowest personal income tax rate in Canada (with additional cuts benefiting low-income and rural residents) and one of the lowest corporate rates in North America”  

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What Are the Life Cycle Pollution Impacts from Electric Cars?

Life cycle air quality impacts of conventional and alternative light-duty transportation in the United States (6 page pdf, Christopher W. Tessum, Jason D. Hill, and Julian D. Marshall, Proceedings f the Ntional Academy of the United States of America (PNAS), Dec. 15, 2014)

Also discussed here: Switching to vehicles powered by electricity from renewables could save lives (ScienceDaily, Dec. 15, 2014)

Today we review a paper that compares the amount of pollution (as PM2.5 and ozone) produced in generating power for electric powered vehicles compared with the use of conventional gasoline. Results indicate that the use of biofuels (such as ethanol from corn) increases health impacts from pollution by 80% while using renewable sources such as natural gas, wind, water or solar reduces the impact by 50% (noting that natural gas is a pollutant in terms of climate change). This study underlines the lack of benefits from biofuels in terms of pollution and health.

   

Key Quotes:

“Air pollution is the largest environmental health hazard in the U.S., in total killing more than 100,000 people per year. Air pollution increases rates of heart attack, stroke, and respiratory disease.”

 “Our assessment of the life cycle air quality impacts on human health of 10 alternatives to conventional gasoline vehicles finds that electric vehicles (EVs) powered by electricity from natural gas or wind, water, or solar power are best for improving air quality, whereas vehicles powered by corn ethanol and EVs powered by coal are the worst.”

“powering vehicles with corn ethanol or with coal-based or “grid average” electricity increases monetized environmental health impacts by 80% or more relative to using conventional gasoline. Conversely, EVs powered by low-emitting electricity from natural gas, wind, water, or solar power reduce environmental health impacts by 50% or more”

“Their analysis included not only the pollution from vehicles, but also emissions generated during production of the fuels or electricity that power them. With ethanol, for example, air pollution is released from tractors on farms, from soils after fertilizers are applied, and to supply the energy for fermenting and distilling corn into ethanol.”

"Our work highlights the importance of looking at the full life cycle of energy production and use, not just at what comes out of tailpipes,"

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Is it Time for Carbon Taxes at the State/Provincial/City Sub-national Level?

Economic and Emissions Impacts of a Clean Air Tax or Fee in Oregon (SB306) (169 page pdf, Legislative Revenue Office, State of Oregon, Dec. 2014)

Also discussed here: Time to talk carbon tax: Conversation kicks off with Medford rally, report from PSU (Wendy Culverwell, Portland Business Journal, Dec. 5, 2014)

And here: Carbon Tax and Shift: How to make it work for Oregon’s Economy. (36 page pdf, Liu, Jenny H. and Renfro, Jeff, Northwest Economic Research Center Report, Mar. 1, 2013)

And here: Lima Call for Climate Action Puts World on Track to Paris 2015 (Press Release, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 14, 2014)

And here: NAZCA- The Non-state Actor Zone for Climate Action (Cooperative And Individual Actions On Climate Change In Partnership With Countries , United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 2014)

On the eve of the UN’s last Conference of the Parties (COP20) in Lima which aimed to lay out a path to achieve the major reductions in carbon emissions needed by 2050, we review the plans and analyses of a state in the northwest USA. Oregon is considering a levy that would reduce its emissions to 1990 levels by 2030 at $100/ton tax. Detailed economic impacts include the gain in revenue of over $2B at a carbon tax of only $60/ton. Potential negative impacts such as reduced tourism income or a loss of competitiveness with neighboring states were found to be small or insignificant. This is precisely the kind of effort needed by sub-national entities to be able to make long and short term commitments which would reduce the severity of climate change impacts

.  
Key Quotes:

 “A new 2015 agreement on climate change, that will harness action by all nations, took a further important step forward in Lima following two weeks of negotiations by over 190 countries. Nations concluded by elaborating the elements of the new agreement, scheduled to be agreed in Paris in late 2015, while also agreeing the ground rules on how all countries can submit contributions to the new agreement during the first quarter of next year.”

“Although a number of northern European countries such as Norway, Ireland …and Sweden have instituted carbon taxes, the BC carbon tax is unique as the first carbon tax to be implemented across all economic sectors in North America”

 “The consumption of refined petroleum products between 2008-2011 decreased by 15.1% in BC and increased by 1.3% in the rest of Canada, and the consumption of motor gasoline in the same period decreased by 4.0% in BC and increased by 3.3% in the rest of Canada.”

“In 2010, Ireland began to levy a carbon tax on fossil fuels, including kerosene, diesel fuel, liquid petroleum, fuel oil, and natural gas, and the tax was expanded to include solid fuels such as peat and coal in 2012….The tax is estimated to generate €500 million in revenue in 2013, and can potentially offset approximately 3.5% of the Irish income tax”

“The Oregon Legislature allocated $200,000 to the study, which was designed to look at how a carbon tax will affect the state and business”

 “A separate 2013 report from the Northwest Economic Research Center calculates that levying a $60 tax for every ton emitted would raise more than $2.1 billion for state coffers. It notes that it would take a tax of $100 per ton to reduce Oregon emissions to 1990 levels by 2030.”

 “putting a price on carbon in Oregon can result in reductions in harmful emissions and have positive impacts on the economy.. Carbon emissions impose negative externalities on society, such as damage to property and critical infrastructure, increased health costs, losses of natural resources including drinking water supplies and other potential effects of climate change, leading to serious global market failures. Thus, the social costs of climate change need to be incorporated into the decision-making processes of energy suppliers, consumers and policy makers to reduce potential economic inefficiencies and major economic losses”

“A carbon tax is efficient when its rate is set at a level that is equivalent to the full marginal social cost of carbon (SCC), and it is also effective when it achieves its intended policy objectives. “

“As a general rule of thumb, a carbon price of $1 per mTCO2 corresponds to a $0.01 increase in the price of a gallon of gas. For natural gas, we expect a carbon price of $10 per mTCO2 to lead to a 3% increase in price and a carbon price of $100 per mTCO2 to increase prices by 31%.”

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Modelling Emissions from Stop-and-Start Traffic Congestion

A congestion sensitive approach to modelling road networks for air quality management (Abstract, James O'Brien; Anil Namdeo; Margaret Bell; Paul Goodman, Int. J. of Environment and Pollution, Dec. 2014)

Also discussed here: Stop-start driving in city centres creates higher pollution levels (Phys Org, Dec. 12, 2014)

And here: New regional traffic model to combat urban road congestion (Phys Org, Jan. 9, 2014)

And here: Verkeersvoorspellingen met modellen: een voorspelling over modellen (in Dutch language) (3 page pdf, Victor L. Knoop and Serge P. Hoogendoorn, Nationaal verkeerskundecongres, 6 Nov. 2013)

 Today we review research into improved modelling of emissions from congested traffic which takes into account instantaneous starts and stops instead of assuming a constant speed of vehicles. The results indicate that previous mobile transportation pollution models may underestimate emissions by as much as 60%.and this has large potential consequences for environmental impact assessments of large transportation projects, as well as for regulating or reducing emissions from currently congested cities.

 

 Key Quotes:

 “Traditional methods of modelling traffic pollution could be under-estimating emissions by as much as 60%”

“Previously, traffic emissions models have only looked at the average speed of traffic as a whole and assumed traffic was travelling at the same speed at the same time, ignoring the stop-start related vehicle emissions often associated with congestion.”

“The new technique, called PITHEM (Platform for Integrated Traffic, Health and Environmental Modelling), looks at congestion emissions based on individual vehicle type, its speed and acceleration and, crucially, takes into account meteorology and local terrain”

“Findings from microscale modelling have revealed that the use of an IEM [instantaneous emissions model ]to calculate emissions as an input for air quality dispersion modelling significantly improved the performance of the dispersion modelling when measured against monitored data. Findings from microscale modelling have revealed that the use of an IEM to calculate emissions as an input for air quality dispersion modelling significantly improved the performance of the dispersion modelling when measured against monitored data.”

"Whereas previous models looked at 'steady state' traffic conditions, in reality, during peak hours congestion vehicles often decelerate and accelerate and move at different speeds, especially when the road goes up or down hills.”

 "By gaining a better understanding of how road networks are influencing emissions, councils can make more effective decisions about how to deal with congestion in our city centres and help reduce the 50,000 premature deaths in the UK each year that are associated with traffic emissions."

 “The model currently only works with cars, but Knoop and his colleagues hope to be able to integrate pedestrians and cyclists into it in the future. He is also hoping to expand the tool in order to calculate emissions.”          

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Detecting Gases Cheaply Without the Need for Electrical Power

Wireless gas detection with a smartphone via rf communication (Abstract, Joseph M. Azzarelli, Katherine A. Mirica, Jens B. Ravnsbæk, and Timothy M. Swager, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Dec.8, 2014

Also discussed here: Detecting gases wirelessly, cheaply (ScienceDaily, Dec.8, 2014)  

Today we review a paper that describes the adaptation of a device or “chemiresistors” that had been used to detect chemicals in order to track the progress of new cars and pharmaceutical products during manufacture or provide an alert for explosives . The adaptation means that, without the need for electric power, it can detect gases, such as hydrogen peroxide and ammonia, if they are present within 6 cm and then wirelessly alert a receiver such as a smartphone where the data can be captured an analysed. It makes use of the properties of the sensing metallic surface whose electrical resistance changes with exposure to specific gases. The potential of expanding their use to sensing other gases needs to be examined.


 

Key Quotes:

“gas-detecting sensors based on devices known as chemiresistors, which consist of simple electrical circuits modified so that their resistance changes when exposed to a particular chemical. Measuring that change in resistance reveals whether the target gas is present…they can detect gaseous ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, and cyclohexanone, among other gases”

“The new sensors are made from modified near-field communication (NFC) tags. These tags, which receive the little power they need from the device reading them, function as wirelessly addressable barcodes and are mainly used for tracking products such as cars or pharmaceuticals as they move through a supply chain, such as in a manufacturing plant or warehouse.”

 “the MIT team first disrupted the electronic circuit by punching a hole in it. Then, they reconnected the circuit with a linker made of carbon nanotubes that are specialized to detect a particular gas”

“NFC tags can be read by any smartphone that has near-field communication capability, which is included in many newer smartphone models. These phones can send out short pulses of magnetic fields at radio frequency (13.56 megahertz), inducing an electric current in the circuit on the tag, which relays information to the phone.”

“Current versions of the CARDs [chemically actuated resonant devices] can each detect only one type of gas, but a phone can read multiple CARDs to get input on many different gases, down to concentrations of parts per million.”

"The beauty of these sensors is that they are really cheap. You put them up, they sit there, and then you come around and read them. There's no wiring involved. There's no power,"    

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UK calls for Action to Reduce Air Pollution and Its Health Impacts

Action on Air Quality - HC 212 - Sixth Report of Session 2014–15 (51 page pdf, Environmental Audit Committee, House of Commons, UK, Nov. 26, 2014) Also discussed here: Air pollution 'causing deadly public health crisis' (James Gallagher, Health editor, BBC News, Dec. 7, 2014)

Today we review a report from a Committee of the British House of Commons calling for action both in the short and long term (2030) to improve air quality – its 3^rd report on this issue in the last 5 years. In 92% of the Air Quality Management Areas, road transport is the main cause of that pollution, so that recommendations call for more efficient vehicles and fewer diesel powered ones and more Low Emission Zones. The Committee recognizes the powerful lobbies (such as automobile associations and oil/gas industry) against progress – as it is, if not more so in Canada and the USA - but pleads that the UK government should not wait to be ordered by the EU parliament to act.  

Key Quotes:

“The UK Government has been found guilty of failing to meet EU air quality targets in our cities, some of which will not meet the required limits until 2030”

“Public Health England calculated the local impact of particulate matter pollution on premature mortality, ranging from 2.5% in some local authorities in rural Scotland and Northern Ireland to over 8% in some London boroughs.”

“pollution from road transport, which is the main cause of pollution in 92% of Air Quality Management Areas…is recognized as the biggest single contributor to two of the most harmful and widespread sources of air pollution—nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). Road transport is responsible for 42% of carbon monoxide, 46% of nitrogen oxides and 26% particulate matter in England”

“Diesel vehicles have increasingly been identified as the most significant driver of air pollution in our cities, exacerbated by the growth in their number as a result of favourable fiscal incentives compared with the taxes applied to petrol and petrol vehicles.”

 “It is unacceptable that a whole generation of people living in our towns and cities could have their health seriously impaired by air pollution above EU limits before the Government brings this public health problem under control. It should not need a European court case to focus Government attention on air pollution.” “New schools, care homes and hospitals should be built far away from major roads because of the dangers of air pollution” “

"There is a public health crisis in terms of poor air quality….There are nearly as many deaths now caused by air pollution as there are from smoking, so the main thing is we stop a new generation of children being exposed."

Key Recommendations:

• “Introduce a national framework for low emission zones to help local authorities reduce air pollution

• Institute a national public awareness campaign to increase understanding, publicising the UK-AIR forecast website and encourage measures to reduce air pollution."

 

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Do Cholesterol Pills Reduce the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease from Exposure to Particulate Matter?

Statins: Widely used drugs may protect people from air pollution (Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News, Nov. 24, 2014)  

 Also discussed here: Chronic PM2.5 exposure and inflammation: determining sensitive subgroups in mid-life women.(Abstract, Ostro B, Malig B, Broadwin R, Basu R, Gold EB, Bromberger JT, Derby C, Feinstein S, Greendale GA, Jackson EA, Kravitz HM, Matthews KA, Sternfeld B, Tomey K, Green RR, Green R, Wnviron Res., May 8, 2014)  

Today we review research into the ways that the drugs taken to reduce cholesterol interact with C-reactive protein to reduce the inflammation that normally is caused by exposure to fine particulate matter. This is important since 1 in 4 adults over 45 take statins (including Lipitor, Zocor and other brand names) and over 800,000 deaths world-wide are caused by fine particles.  

Key Quotes:

“Health impacts from spikes in particulates in the air are substantial. Statins seem to protect not only lungs from these impacts but the heart, too,”

 “a 10 µg/m(3) increase in annual PM2.5 more than doubled the risk of CRP [C-reactive protein ] greater than 3mg/l in older diabetics, smokers and the unmarried.”

 “people who take statins have fewer proteins in their blood that indicate inflammation of tissues… This inflammation may aggravate respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.”

“There are some specific groups [such as diabetics] that seem to have higher levels of inflammation after long-term exposure….On the converse side, we found that people on statins seem to be protected from the inflammatory effects of PM2.5.”

“Health impacts from spikes in particulates in the air are substantial. Statins seem to protect not only lungs from these impacts but the heart, too.”

“The older thinking was that plaque in coronary arteries caused heart attacks….Now the thinking is that it’s also due to some living tissue under plague that gets inflamed and that disrupts the plaque. We already knew statins ameliorate heart disease, and always thought it was through lipids, but here’s a new pathway.”

“Larger effects were also observed among those with low income, high blood pressure, or who were using hormone therapy, with indications of a protective effects for those using statins or consuming moderate amounts of alcohol.”

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