The Whole Foods Plastic Problem
Whole Foods can do more and do better to reduce single-use plastic packaging.
Report
Wasting our Waterways
Polluters poured nearly 200 million pounds of toxic substances into U.S. waterways in 2020. We must strengthen Clean Water Act protections and reduce toxics use.
Methane Gas Leaks
Methane gas (often known as natural gas) has heated the homes of many Americans for over a century — and for over a century, it has been prone to leaks, putting communities and the environment in danger.
In the market for a new stove? Consider Induction
A guide with everything you need to know when considering switching from gas cooking to induction.
Shining Cities 2022
Solar power continues to expand rapidly. The United States now has 121.4 gigawatts (GW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, producing enough solar energy to power more than 23 million homes. Millions of Americans have invested in solar energy and millions more are ready to join them. America’s major cities have played a key role in the clean energy revolution and stand to reap tremendous benefits from solar energy. As population centers, they are major sources of electricity demand and, with millions of solar rooftops, they can be major sources of clean energy production as well. Our eighth survey of solar energy in America’s biggest cities finds that the amount of solar power installed in just nine U.S. cities exceeds the amount installed in the entire United States 10 years ago.
Shining Cities 2022
Get the Lead Out
New report outlines how electric school buses could speed North Carolina’s transition to clean electric grid
As early as next month, billions of new federal dollars will start to become available for school districts across the country to transition to clean, electric school buses. Today, most of the nation’s nearly half a million school buses run on diesel fuel, producing harmful emissions that children are forced to breathe.
Electric School Buses and the Grid
School buses are the largest form of public transportation in the United States. Every day, 480,000 of them carry up to half of America’s children to school and back.
Currently, fewer than 1% of the nation’s school buses are powered by electricity, but with advances in electric bus technology, growing understanding of the benefits of electrification, and now a fresh influx of federal money through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, electric school buses are becoming an increasingly viable option for school districts. Electric school bus models are now available to meet every use case, and the number of districts that have committed to electric school bus adoption, or have drawn up plans to do so, is growing.
Transitioning to electric school buses would provide numerous benefits to communities and the environment, including improving children’s health and reducing air and noise pollution, as well as reducing the disproportionate burden that this pollution places on underserved communities.
Electric school buses have the potential to bring even greater benefits if they are equipped with technology that allows them to deliver power to buildings and back to the grid.