Sustainability
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Sustainability
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Colorado outpaces California in EV market share |
Colorado has surpassed California to become the U.S. state with the biggest electric vehicle (EV) market share, new data has revealed. |
© AP Photo/Martin Meissner |
In the third quarter of 2024, plug-in EVs made up 25.3 percent of light-duty vehicle sales in Colorado, according to a report from the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, a Boston-based clean air consortium.
“Coloradans are purchasing electric vehicles at a higher rate than any other state because they are affordable, quiet and a great ride,” Gov. Jared Polis (D) said in a statement.
California came in second place at 24.3 percent, followed by Washington State at 23.5 percent. Next in line was the District of Columbia at 19.4 percent, Nevada at 16.3 percent, Oregon at 15.7 percent and New Jersey at 14.4 percent. These top seven places have all adopted criteria for zero-emissions vehicles initiated by California, which can set stricter-than-federal emissions standards under the Clean Air Act. Other states can then follow suit.
But the ability of California — and its fellow tailpipe rule adopters — to maintain such standards remains uncertain, as the incoming Trump administration has repeatedly vowed to revoke such permissions.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has launched a wide-ranging campaign to “Trump-proof” his state from possible interventions, including from those related to clean vehicle policies.
For example, Newsom recently pledged to revive the Golden State’s EV rebate program if the incoming administration decides to scrap the existing $7,500 federal tax credit.
California’s rebate program was phased out in November 2023, after investing $1.49 billion in funding 594,000 vehicles.
Colorado, meanwhile, still offers a $5,000 state tax credit to those who purchase or lease a new EV by the end of 2024. That credit will then decrease to $3,500 in 2025.
Citing the clean air consortium’s data, Polis noted that the demand for electric cars continues to rise — a trend he attributed to “competitive state and federal rebates” that help people save money on these purchases. “EVs are helping us reach our bold climate goals and protect our clean air,” he added. |
Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I’m Sharon Udasin — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world. |
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Latest news impacting sustainability this week and beyond: |
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The planet’s northernmost ocean could experience its first day free of ice as early as 2027, a new study has found. While the three-year possibility remains extreme, the study authors determined that this first pivotal day could occur within nine to 20 years after 2023, regardless of how humans alter their greenhouse gas emissions. Such a time, defined as the first day on which nearly all of the Arctic’s sea ice … |
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California’s cities may only receive about 5 percent of the water deliveries they have requested this year, with dry and warm conditions expected to persist through the winter, state officials announced Monday. The California Department of Water Resources said its initial supply forecast is based on current reservoir storage levels and conservative precipitation projections for the months to come. “Based on long-range … |
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Supplementing the diets of grazing beef cows with seaweed in pellet form could cut their methane emissions by almost 40 percent, a new study has found. The seaweed pellets led to this plunge in emissions without affecting the health or weight of the cows, according to the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Livestock are responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, … |
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The tiny pollutants emitted by fossil fuel combustion and wildfires may be raising the risk of adverse birth outcomes, a study has found. Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) can cause higher inflammation levels in pregnant people, potentially causing negative impacts to their children, according to the study, published Friday in Science. Previous research had already identified associations between exposure to … |
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Scientists use AI to locate ‘lost’ oil and gas wells |
Researchers have been harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to relocate “lost” oil and gas wells, in hopes of permanently shutting down these dangerous artifacts. Hidden hazards: There are likely hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells across the country that have no formal records or owner documentation, according to the scientists. -
These so-called “orphan” wells are the relics of nearly 170 years of commercial drilling.
- But if they weren’t properly plugged after operations ceased, the wells could leak oil or chemicals into nearby water resources.
- They could also emit toxic benzene, hydrogen sulfide or the greenhouse gas methane into the air.
Merging the old and new: To predict where some of these undocumented wells might be, the researchers paired modern AI tools with historical topographic maps.
They published their findings Wednesday, in Environmental Science & Technology.
Sifting through scans: The scientists were able to access the topographic maps through the U.S. Geological Survey, which has uploaded 190,000 scans of such resources, created between 1884 and 2006. -
The maps were geotagged, meaning that each pixel corresponded to coordinates that could be easily accessed.
- Those issued between 1947 and 1992 also used a consistent, hollow black circle, to flag oil and gas wells.
Educating AI: The researchers, from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, were able to train AI to identify these circles. - AI needed to be able to do so amid a plethora of visual information and on maps with different terrains, colors and conditions.
- The scientists ended up using a digital tool to manually mark wells on nearly 100 maps in California, as part of the training regimen.
Even AI has a learning curve: “This problem is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack,” senior author Charuleka Varadharajan, a Berkeley Lab scientist, said in a statement.
“We are trying to find a few unknown wells that are scattered in the midst of many more documented wells,” Varadharajan added.
Screening and verification: But once AI was trained to find the circles and ignore false positives, such as cul-de-sacs, the algorithm could be applied to any of the maps, the scientists found.
When they set out to verify their findings — first via remote images and then out in the field — the researchers saw that the wells were located an average of 10 meters from AI’s predicted locations.
The past and future: Lead author Fabio Ciulla, a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Lab, stressed that although AI is a “rapidly evolving technology, it should not be exclusively associated with modern data sources.” “The more we go into the future, the more you can also use the past,” he added. |
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Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching: |
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After countries failed to reach a worldwide consensus on curbing plastic pollution earlier this week, the United Nations announced that negotiations would be postponed until next year. Global nations had gathered in Busan, South Korea, to agree upon a legally binding instrument for reducing plastic pollution. But with stakeholders still at odds, the talks are expected to resume at an unnamed venue, sometime in 2025.
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Branch out with different reads from The Hill: |
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The island nation of Vanuatu criticized representatives for major emitters like the U.S. and China for their remarks during International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceedings that will determine states’ international obligations to address climate change. |
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called on President Biden in a letter Wednesday to ensure climate-related Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds are disbursed before he leaves office in January. |
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Local and state headlines on sustainability issues: |
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A North Carolina town is suing utility Duke Energy over climate change (NPR)
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Wildfire risk is rising in NY due to climate change, but there are fewer firefighters (North Country Public Radio)
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Water woes boil over in New Jersey’s capital, with revelation of monitoring lapse (New Jersey Monitor)
- Goats hired to munch weeds, help reduce risk for wildfires in Colorado (CBS News)
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Sustainability news we’ve flagged from other outlets: |
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What Trump’s Cabinet Picks and Advisers Say About Climate Change (The New York Times)
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Will Climate Change Cost the 2026 FIFA World Cup US$800m? (Sustainability Magazine)
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China’s first atmospheric monitoring station in Antarctica begins operations (Reuters)
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Opinions related to sustainability submitted to The Hill: |
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You’re all caught up. See you next week! |
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