US policy shifts to electric vehicles, renewable energy could save $1.2 trillion in medical costs
According to the latest periodic report from the American Lung Association (ALA), the rapid shift of new car sales to all-electricity will have huge health and climate benefits.
The report, called Zeroing on Healthy Air, makes electric vehicles and renewable sources more urgent than ever — and the need for supportive policy. It found that the national transition to 100% zero-emission passenger vehicles – such as new car sales – by 2035 and medium and heavy-duty trucks by 2040 will generate more than 1.2 trillion dollars in public health benefits from 2020 to 2050. That adds up to projected annual health benefits from $27.8 billion in 2030 to $62.4 billion in 2050.
Furthermore, cleaner air would prevent 110,000 premature deaths, nearly 3 million asthma attacks and more than 13 million lost workdays.
That is only for the United States. The report also predicts that such a change would avert more than $1.7 trillion in global climate damage.
ALA called for more EV for over a decade. This report, built on previous people from the organization while updating “engineering models, assumptions, and methods,” highlighting that there are large disparities in exposure to traffic pollution, with communities of color, low-income families low and those who live near tourist centers are at higher risk.
American Lung Association report – Healthy air regulation – 2022
The policy change will start paying dividends in the public health sector even in 2030, with 6% and 8% reductions for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds, respectively. volatile (VOC). 2030 will also reduce PM2.5 fine particle emissions by 8%, sulfur dioxide by 16% and greenhouse gas emissions by 14%.
The ALA argues that the electrification of heavy vehicles is particularly important. This fleet represents approximately 6% of the nation’s road fleet (as of 2020) but generates 59% of particulate NOx and ozone emissions and 55% of particulate pollution, when brake sources and tire.
The organization has a list of policy recommendations, based on the bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in November 2021. Among them, it wants fleets of public vehicles to transition to a zero-emissions model immediately. news, incentive and funding programs for the purchase of such vehicles, and updates from the United States. Ambient air quality standards.
President Joe Biden with a GMC Hummer EV 2022
It also pushes for increasingly robust rules beyond the 2023-2026 model year rules finalized by the EPA — to deliver on President Biden’s announced goal of half of all vehicles in the US sold are EVs by 2030. And it wants to approve stricter EPA heavy truck emissions standards — which, in their proposed form, environmental groups have stated, not going far enough to encourage the development of electric trucks.
The organization argues that policy on electricity generation also needs to be coordinated – reaching 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. With a modest amount coal recovery in 2021It is also increasingly urgent.
