GoCleaner - Electric Vehicles - Clean Fuels: A Solution to Air Pollution? Anatomy of Action Challenge by Sofonie Dala - Angola. Day 9

GoCleaner 

Swap to options like electric vehicles, cleaner fuels and fewer kilometers to reduce your transport footprint. Grow your own food! 

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, 

We are already on the ninth day of our global challenge!

Did you know? Toxic emissions from tailpipes of diesel and petrol cars have caused tens of thousands of premature deaths each year. 

A major cause of air pollution in the city is the high number of traditional motor vehicles. Such vehicles run on diesel or gasoline. As a result, they emit substances such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. It is these substances that cause air pollution. Air pollution then leads to health problems like asthma, lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and death.

T'Leva bets on electric cars to solve mobility problems in Angola

T'Leva, an Angolan urban mobility company, has just presented an electric mobility solution to the market, through the introduction of 1000 electric cars in Angola, becoming the first company in Africa to offer an urban electric mobility fleet of this size.

A major investment

22 million USD, is the investment that T'Leva received, which allows to project the entrance in other African countries,

The electric cars used by T'Leva, a solution with zero emissions of of CO2, results from a partnership with Ledo Holding, one of the main electric vehicle manufacturers in China.

Launched in April 2019, the T'leva now offers both options: cars with combustion engines and electric cars. Electric cars are already circulating in the city of Luanda and, soon, electric motorcycles will be added to the fleet of that company.

                                

A growing number of governments are addressing air pollution by promoting the use of electric vehicles. Unlike traditional motor vehicles, electric vehicles do not run on diesel or gasoline. Electric vehicles, therefore, do not emit air pollutants. Furthermore, electric vehicles are very economical—they help motorists reduce fuel consumption.

The President of the Republic of Angola, João Lourenço, expressed the desire to see as soon as possible the conditions created for the use of electric vehicles in the country and, for that purpose, ordered the creation of a multi-sectorial commission, coordinated by the Minister of Transport, which will deal with of all legal and administrative regulations.

Electric Vehicles - A Solution to Air Pollution. What are the benefits on Environment?

EVs reduce pollution from brake and tyres

On brake pollution, conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars mainly use disc brakes to slow the car down, which emits particle pollution. In contrast, EVs use “regenerative braking” as it restores braking energy back to the car’s battery to power the car. This process reduces the need to use the brakes and therefore reduces particle emissions.

Electric vehicles eliminate all toxic emissions from engines

Switching from an ICE to an EV car eliminates all toxic tailpipe pollution, e.g. NOx, HC and carbon monoxide (CO). A harmful pollutant, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), is responsible for over 50,000 premature deaths per year in Europe. It causes respiratory and cardiovascular disease and can be a death sentence for those suffering from asthma.

ICE cars also emit other pollutants, less known but toxic and cancer causing chemicals including benzene (C6H6) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).

The Importance of Consumer Support

Electric vehicles can be an effective solution to air pollution. But their potential to reduce air pollution in the city will not be fully realized if consumers will not support them. City governments must encourage people to use electric vehicles by making them affordable, easily accessible, and reliable. If city governments were to succeed in doing this, then electric vehicles will be able to help address air pollution in the city and contribute to the transition towards fully replacing fossil fuel-based vehicles in the future

Emissions from brakes and tyres must be regulated

 Expected improvements to air quality due to switching to EVs do not mean that non-exhaust pollution should be ignored. Particle pollution from brakes and tyres should be reduced from all vehicles as quickly as possible. Health and environmental NGOs now recommend that the Commission bans the sale of the most polluting and least durable tyres from the EU market, since these have a disproportionately negative effect on air quality. It will beyond doubt improve air quality across Europe.

In conclusion, EVs do not produce more pollution than fossil fuelled cars. On the contrary, they eliminate emissions from engine exhaust and significantly reduce emissions from brakes. The evidence on tyres is more mixed. However, claims that EVs create more particle pollution due to tyres are misleading as they ignore their overall air quality benefits. Particle emissions should not be used as an excuse to slow down the transition to zero emission mobility. Instead, regulations should address pollution from brakes and tyres to ensure that emissions from these sources are reduced for all road vehicles.

GoGreen

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

As the demand for low-carbon energy sources grows, the use of alternative fuels such as refuse, biomass, wood pellets and wood chips is becoming more widespread. Their sourcing generates the same needs for quality, reliability and sustainability as exist in traditional energy markets.

Ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is a renewable fuel that can be made from various plant materials, collectively known as “biomass.”

Clean fuels can reduce up to 100 percent of “lifecycle” carbon emissions, and both renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel can reduce harmful particulate pollution by 30 to 70 percent. 

Why clean fuels?

1.    Waste products can be turned into clean power, gas, and liquid fuels.

Clean fuels and renewable fuels can be generated from many surprising sources, including: 

Municipal solid waste in landfills, a.k.a. garbage

Forest residuals — the material left over after foresting like brush, small trees, branches, and treetops that would otherwise not be used

Livestock manure

Fats, oils, and grease (FOGs) like butter, animal fats, and used cooking oil 

Using these cleaner-burning fuels can reduce dependence upon fossil fuels and help reduce air pollution. Use of clean fuels can reduce toxic diesel particulate pollution by 34 to 70 percent. Similarly, renewable fuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 to 80 percent on a lifecycle basis.

2. Poor air quality has a disproportionate impact on communities of color

Communities of color and those with higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and lower levels of education experience

Studies show that cleaner, renewable fuels, like biodiesel, renewable diesel, and electricity reduce toxic diesel particulate pollution by 34 to 70 percent.

Increasing access to sustainably produced, cleaner fuels will reduce the environmental impact of trade and travel on our health, environment, and climate.

 

Our everyday motto is: "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

One of the biggest benefits of cutting out meat in favor of fish is the effect it can have on your health. For starters, seafood and fish are naturally low in saturated fats. High consumption of saturated fats has been linked to cardiovascular disease and certain forms of cancer, and meat is one of the biggest sources of saturated fats in many of our diets.

Spotlight on Luisa´s daily routine

Hi! my name is luisa and i prefer to eat fish than meat.

Meat consumption is one of the worst culprits when it comes to our individual carbon footprints, changing your diet doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing affair. In general, seafood tends to be on the lower end of the carbon scale, on par with more carbon-friendly types of meat such as chicken.

Luisa is grilling fish and chicken for consumption.

There is a lot of information shared on social media about the health and environmental benefits of going vegan or vegetarian. 'Grain is good red meat is bad'. Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet for our sustainable lifestyles.

"The health food business Its purpose is to supply the people with food which will take the place of flesh meat, and also milk and butter which, on account of the diseases of cattle, are becoming more and more objectionable."

The New Nutrition Science implicates meat eating as not just harming people, but harming the planet, too!

Luisa is preparing her food in the kitchen.

 Family farming is in harmony with natural ecosystems. 

Eating a plant-based diet is a great way to live more sustainability. In fact, basing your meals around plants for just one day can reduce your individual water intake by 1,500 litres; the equivalent of two weeks’ worth of showers. Not only that, plant-based eating can reduce your carbon footprint by 2kg a day – the energy required to drive 7.5 miles in a car.

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