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  • Our ability to get to faraway places fast ismarvel. Transportation allows us to share ideas,  

  • see loved ones, seek out all the  cool cat cafes and glacier museums,  

  • even swap our best inventions. So let’s say I’m on an expedition

  • to my favorite glacier in Iceland, and  I forget my favorite jacket.

  • In just a few days, I can have it shipped to  me, and I’ll finally feel complete again.  

  • But for as magical as that istransportation is also one of  

  • the most visible and personal ways were  transforming the Earth’s climate.

  • Cars, ships, and planes release  heat-trapping greenhouse gases into  

  • the atmosphere every day. Which means thatto decarbonize transportation,

  • well have to take to the road, the air, and the sea.

  • Hi hi! I'm M Jackson and this is Crash Course Climate and Energy.

  • [INTRO]

  • When it comes to climate change, it’s easy  to point fingers at transportation.

  • If you have a car, say your beat-up Camry, hotrodor a hotrod Camry it’s probably the most  

  • visible source of emissions in your life. And transportation is an important piece of the  

  • emissions puzzle. Planes, cars, cruise ships  — the whole industrytransportation spews  

  • 8.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases  into the atmosphere every year.

  • That’s 16% of the around 51 billion tons we  release annuallyand the fourth-largest  

  • fossil fuel emitting industry. And that’s just the  fuel required to power vehicles. That’s not even  

  • including the fossil fuel emissions required  to refine the oil before it gets to the pump,  

  • or to produce the steel the cars are  made of in the first place.

  • So, it’s not an insignificant slice of the gassy  pie! Which, gross, by the way. Who wrote this?

  • Almost half of the emissions from  transportation comes from personal vehicles

  • the cars, vans, motorcycles, and SUVs  we drive in our daily lives.

  • The other half comes from all the other vehiclescargo ships, semi-trucks, planes, buses, and more,  

  • transporting lots of stuff or people. Decarbonizing both realms will mean 

  • fewer greenhouse emissions and less  pollution for the entire planet.

  • But decarbonizing transportation  also has a second major benefit:  

  • Beyond helping slow the global effects of climate  change, it could also be a step towards correcting  

  • environmental inequitiesthings like airwater, and noise pollution that disproportionately  

  • affect some more than others. For example, many highways in the  

  • U.S. have intentionally been built right  through low-income communities.

  • That means the people who live there —  often, people of colorhave had to bear  

  • the brunt of transportation’s air and water  pollution, and experience unjust physical and  

  • mental health outcomes as a result. So, decarbonizing the vehicles that drive  

  • by every day would have dual benefitsIt would lower carbon levels globally,  

  • but could also be one step towards improving  specific living environments that, in many cases,  

  • the residents didn’t ask for. Wherever you live, there is good news!

  • The first step to tackling  decarbonization is clear and underway.

  • To decarbonize our rides, we must first  electrify them. And what we can’t electrify,  

  • well have to make as efficient as possible  and supply with alternative fuels.

  • When it comes to personal transportationyouve probably seen electric vehicles

  • in the wild by this point. Instead of having to fuel up at a gas station

  • they can plug in at homes or grocery storesor cat cafes, and zoom from point A to point B

  • on rechargeable batteries. Because they run on electricity,  

  • these vehicles release fewer emissions  and air pollutants than gas-powered cars

  • no matter where theyre driven. But: an electric car is only as sustainable 

  • as the electricity it’s plugged into. That means a car charged on renewable electricity

  • comes closer to zero emissions than  one driven off of a coal-burning power plant.

  • This is why carbon-free  electricity is such a big deal

  • It’s involved in decarbonizing all of our other  industries, including how we get places.

  • But carbon-free electricity isn’t the main barrier  to electric vehicles. There are bunches of reasons 

  • theyre still not everywhere. One is charging station access.

  • Most electric cars can be plugged in at  home, with similar outlets in the garage 

  • to what your power tools use. But if you drive long distances 

  • without a predictable place to  plug in, that’s a problem.

  • Globally, more charging stations are being built  every year, especially in large cities.

  • But for electric vehicles to really take offthere’s a need for more charging infrastructure 

  • in more placesespecially rural areas. Governments and private entities have a role  

  • to play in promoting this, by offering  incentives, even updating building codes  

  • on places like parking garages so that  more spaces have electricity access.

  • Another challenge, though, is the  pesky specter of the Green Premium

  • the cost difference between low-carbon tech and  the conventional, carbon-emitting choice.

  • For instance, people in Europe and China have been  quicker to adopt electric vehicles than people  

  • in the U.S. In parts of Europe, sky-high gas  prices already match the cost of electric cars

  • which means the Green Premium there is lower. But in the U.S., this hasn’t always been the case

  • In 2021, almost two-thirds of Americans  thought electric cars were better for  

  • the environmentbut more expensive. And only  40% said they would consider buying one.

  • But, the cost to build electric cars  has dropped, as government subsidies 

  • and cheaper batteries drive prices down. And the closer an electric car’s upfront cost  

  • gets to its gas-powered equivalentthe easier it should be to afford  

  • plugging in over gassing up. That said, manufacturers have tended 

  • to focus on making luxury electric vehicles  instead of affordable ones. And the metals  

  • in batteries aren’t always easy to come by  — not to mention the environmental impacts  

  • of mining those rare Earth metals. So, although electrifying our rides is  

  • the end goal, the journey there  is probably not going to be one  

  • seamless electric slide into the sunset. I mean, we hope it would be. We’d love for that  

  • to be a big part of the choreography, if not at  least the grand finale. But well probably need  

  • to learn some other dance moves along the way. And one potential dance partner is… 

  • government policy. Trust me, theyve got some movesEven if they step on your toes sometimes.

  • Some countries are banning the sale of  petroleum-powered vehicles. France plans  

  • to ban them by 2040, and the UK by 2030. And some countries offer cash rebates or tax  

  • incentives to electric car buyers. But as we transition away from gas-powered  

  • cars, well likely still be  sharing the road with them.  

  • So another policy move is adjusting  fuel economy standardsbasically,  

  • requiring manufacturers to build more  efficient cars, which emit less carbon.

  • There’s also congestion pricingor charging drivers a fee on 

  • high-trafficked roads. The olddiscourage  driving, reduce emissionstrick.

  • But congestion pricing is most equitable  when people have alternative ways of  

  • getting where they need to go. If we want to encourage people to drive less

  • and reduce the half of transportation  emissions that come from personal vehicles —  

  • we also have to design cities friendly  to that, with sidewalks, bike lanes

  • and robust public transit systems. Some surveys suggest that having good public  

  • transport and ride-sharing services can lead  to as much as a 35% drop in car ownership —  

  • and the emissions that come with it. But designing cities that are truly  

  • friendly for everyone means leveraging the most  powerful tool weve got: people themselves.

  • Let’s head to the Thought Bubble.

  • Tulsa, Oklahoma is a sprawling area of suburbs,  

  • rural fringes, and an urban core. And it can  be tough to get around without a car.

  • But it helps if youve got a 12-meter bus. That’s what the Indian Nations Council of Governments

  • enlisted when tasked with  bettering Tulsa’s public transportation.

  • Also known as INCOG, theyre a mix  of tribal and local governments.

  • And instead of holding your traditional city  meeting to try and improve public transport,  

  • they took to the streets, and turnedbus into a mobile outreach center.

  • Outfitted with interactive screens and  displays, the bus spent four months driving  

  • all over the city. And anyone on-board  could talk to transportation planners,  

  • learn about public transit possibilitiesand weigh in on what should happen next.

  • No one had to come downtown forformal meeting on a busy weeknight

  • The conversation came to them. By the end of the tour, the bus had reached  

  • 2,000 citizens, most of whom had never hadvoice in transportation planning before.

  • And as a result, INCOG was able to identify 16  places in Tulsa where bus routes were most needed

  • And a couple years later, a separate project also  had locals identify places that weren’t inviting  

  • on foot, like busy roads without sidewalks. When citizens get left out of these conversations,  

  • you can end up with public transportation that…  doesn’t serve the whole public. Or a city full  

  • of people in their personal vehicles. By taking to the streets, INCOG helped Tulsa  

  • more than just reduce future carbon emissionsThey helped the city make a plan that will create  

  • a cleaner, more equitable community.

  • Thanks, Thought Bubble.

  • Designing more walkable cities with more public  transit would help reduce the way transportation 

  • affects us and the planet, especially while  we work on decarbonizing personal vehicles

  • It’s a win for both environmental  justice and global carbon levels.

  • But then, there’s the other half  of transportation’s emissions —  

  • the cogs in the rest of the global machine. There’s the bus I take to buy mac and cheese, yes.  

  • But there’s also the fleet of semi-trucks  carrying mac and cheese around the country

  • and the recycling truck hauling  the box away when I’m done.

  • Then, there’s also the heavyweights. The ships  and airplanes that carry the powdered cheese

  • and the noodles, and the cardboard. And me once  I’m properly fueled with mac and cheese when I’m  

  • off to Antarctica to check out a glacier. The heavier the vehicle, the harder it is to  

  • replace liquid fuels with electricity. Liquid petroleum packs a lot of energy into  

  • not much space, to the point where the average  lithium-ion battery carries anywhere from 50 to  

  • 100 times less energy than an equivalent amount of  gasoline. And even the best batteries still have  

  • 35 times less energy per unit of weight. What that actually tells us is to supply  

  • an already very heavy vehicle with  enough power to drive a long time on  

  • a single chargeyou sacrifice cargo  space. And not a little space.

  • For example, a diesel-fueled truck can go  over 1,600 kilometers on a single tank.

  • But for an electric truck to go the  same distance on a single charge

  • that truck would have to be mostly batteries, with  barely any room in the back for mac and cheese.  

  • And a plane wouldn’t even  be able to get in the air  

  • The good news is, batteries can still work for  the lighter of these big vehicles, like buses and 

  • garbage trucks that make short trips and have  a consistent spot to charge every night.

  • Now, if youre interested in becoming a scientist  or an engineer, there are all kinds of opportunities  

  • to work on the next generation of batteries  — tech that could help extend the range of  

  • electric vehicles, lower the Green Premiums on  them, and help more consumers go electric.

  • Or, you could explore working on even newer  technologies to help the biggest vehicles!  

  • For instance, instead of diesel, cargo ships could  be fueled with ammoniayeah, the stuff in cat pee

  • a colorless, renewable fuel that packs ten  times more energy than the best batteries.

  • And for planes, lithium-air batteries  — which carry double the energy in the  

  • same amount of spacecould make some  electric-powered flights possible.

  • But for any of these technologies to  get transportation off the ground,  

  • were gonna need a lot more research funding. So, another route is to invest in research that  

  • lowers the Green Premium of drop-in fuels. Like we mentioned in Episode 5, these  

  • lower-carbon alternatives can be substituted –  ordropped in” – to our current engines.

  • For example, second-generation biofuels can  be made from non-edible farming byproducts,  

  • such as cornstalks. And electrofuels can be made  

  • by mixing hydrogen with carbon dioxide  captured from industrial plants, in a  

  • process powered by carbon-free electricity. Right now, a big barrier is the cost difference  

  • between these newer drop-in fuels and the fossil  fuels most vehicles were built to run on.

  • But investing in these substitutes is a good  step in the lower-emission direction.

  • We wouldn’t need to modify heavy engines  or build entirely new vehicles. Plus,  

  • these fuels can be moved using tanks  and pipelines we already have.

  • Sodecarbonizing transportation  is complicated! If it wasn’t,  

  • it likely would have already been done. After all, it’s one thing to change how you move around.

  • It’s another thing to change how lots  of people or lots of stuff moves around.

  • So, our best step is to electrify as many vehicles  as possible. And where that isn’t possible,  

  • we need to explore alternatives to the  energy-dense fuels currently powering them.  

  • Itll also be important to  capture the carbon they emit,  

  • to offset those emissions we can’t yet avoid.

  • Well dive more into those  solutions in our next episode.

  • Special thanks to Kyle and Amanda Fredricksonthe dance choreographers for this episode

  • Thanks for keeping our moves funky and freshand teaching  us that nobody saysfunky and freshanymore —  

  • and thanks for supporting us on Patreon. Crash Course Climate and Energy is produced  

  • by Complexly with support provided by Breakthrough  Energy and Gates Ventures. This episode was filmed  

  • at Castle Geraghty Studio and was made with  the help of all these nice people. If you want  

  • to help keep Crash Course free for everyoneforever, you can join our community on Patreon.

Our ability to get to faraway places fast ismarvel. Transportation allows us to share ideas,  

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Crash Course 氣候與能源的第六堂課(Can We Gas Up... Without Gas?: Crash Course Climate & Energy #6)

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    弦笮樂 發佈於 2023 年 02 月 23 日
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