Every winter it happens, and every winter we whine and moan about it, but do nothing. It’s depressing, dreary, and it’s entirely our fault. The inversion. Temperature inversions are a natural occurrence in valleys like the Salt Lake Valley and are generally not a problem. However, inversions do create a “lid” which traps pollution such as that produced by vehicles.
We all know too well what happens next.
Advisories warning against outdoor activities and driving. Depression. Finding any excuse to venture up to Park City, above the muck.
However, for those who actually believe that humans affect climate change, there is one major thing we in Salt Lake City can do to reduce the severity of the inversion8212;promote and encourage the use of electric cars.
Although battery technology is limiting the use of electric cars, other factors also hinder their progress. U professor of urban planning Keith Bartholomew said “If everyone switched to electric cars overnight, we would have enough unused electricity in the grid to recharge 70 percent of those vehicles.” Lack of energy isn’t the problem, so what is?
Supporting infrastructure is paramount in encouraging the use of electric cars. Bartholomew proposed a number of ideas which would be simple to implement and would be extremely beneficial to electric car owners. The easiest would be to amend city building codes on parking structures to include outlets. Also, Salt Lake City is in the process of installing electronic parking meters which would accept credit cards. It would be relatively simple to also include a power outlet on these meters. Bartholomew said the city could simply charge your credit card for how long you parked your car. Obviously, these changes are only easy to implement assuming there is a new infrastructure, but it still needs to be done.
Electric cars aren’t going to sweep the nation in the near future, and they’re certainly not going to fix all of our problems. In fact, they could even further our dependence on coal-burning for energy, which is the obvious downside. However, they would help the air quality in Utah during January, February and throughout the year.
“Is simply switching to electric cars enough to get us to climate stability? The answer is no.” Bartholomew said. However, it is a definite step in the right direction.
Jonathan Deesing