vii
vii
Preface
This book is for all readers who want to know more about not only air quality
and greenhouse gas emissions, key factors contributing to climate change,
but also the rapidly changing technologies and social factors that are being
used to address these issues. These technologies include the electrification of
transportation, renewable energy sources, battery storage of electricity, and
the development and management of a smart grid. The social factors include
government policies towards these technologies and how they are used, economic considerations, and human decision making about how air quality
and emissions are managed. Finally, there are some specific illustrations of
contexts (agriculture) and locations that are of particular interest.
Our interest in all of this began expanding in 2009, in the context of a
National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Research Experience for
Undergraduates program: ‘Earth, Wind, and Fire: Sustainable Energy for
the 21st Century’. Some of the research within that program started looking
at adding solar panels to parking lots in order both to generate electricity
and to have shaded parking. Many of the undergraduate students were also
interested in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable energy, and climate change – it was clear that there were many directions we could go with
this work. Renewable energy has also been a popular research area because of
its importance to society. Common Sustainable Development Goals include
a transition to renewable energy, the generation of electricity without carbon
emissions, and the electrification of transportation in order to have cities
with zero- emission vehicles.
Since 2009, there has been great progress in the development of solar
panels, batteries, and electric vehicles. Our earlier book, Solar Powered Charging
Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles: A Sustainable Development (Erickson et al.,
2017a), provided information on developments related to the generation of
electricity with solar photovoltaics (PV), electric vehicle charging infrastructure, batteries, and electric vehicles. One of the very interesting aspects of
these developments is that they can interact when they are combined to provide benefits even greater than one might expect from just the individual
innovations.
Our earlier book includes a chapter on urban air quality because of the
health benefits of the transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Because of our subsequent work on a US Environmental Protection Agency
project (RD83618201), in which we worked with four intercity communities
in Chicago on measuring air quality, we became immersed in the literature on
air quality and health (Erickson, 2017; Erickson and Jennings, 2017; Erickson
et al., 2017b). This work resulted in a better understanding of air quality and
health; actions to improve air quality in the pursuit of improving health can
have great value with respect to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
vii
Preface
This book is for all readers who want to know more about not only air quality
and greenhouse gas emissions, key factors contributing to climate change,
but also the rapidly changing technologies and social factors that are being
used to address these issues. These technologies include the electrification of
transportation, renewable energy sources, battery storage of electricity, and
the development and management of a smart grid. The social factors include
government policies towards these technologies and how they are used, economic considerations, and human decision making about how air quality
and emissions are managed. Finally, there are some specific illustrations of
contexts (agriculture) and locations that are of particular interest.
Our interest in all of this began expanding in 2009, in the context of a
National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Research Experience for
Undergraduates program: ‘Earth, Wind, and Fire: Sustainable Energy for
the 21st Century’. Some of the research within that program started looking
at adding solar panels to parking lots in order both to generate electricity
and to have shaded parking. Many of the undergraduate students were also
interested in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable energy, and climate change – it was clear that there were many directions we could go with
this work. Renewable energy has also been a popular research area because of
its importance to society. Common Sustainable Development Goals include
a transition to renewable energy, the generation of electricity without carbon
emissions, and the electrification of transportation in order to have cities
with zero- emission vehicles.
Since 2009, there has been great progress in the development of solar
panels, batteries, and electric vehicles. Our earlier book, Solar Powered Charging
Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles: A Sustainable Development (Erickson et al.,
2017a), provided information on developments related to the generation of
electricity with solar photovoltaics (PV), electric vehicle charging infrastructure, batteries, and electric vehicles. One of the very interesting aspects of
these developments is that they can interact when they are combined to provide benefits even greater than one might expect from just the individual
innovations.
Our earlier book includes a chapter on urban air quality because of the
health benefits of the transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Because of our subsequent work on a US Environmental Protection Agency
project (RD83618201), in which we worked with four intercity communities
in Chicago on measuring air quality, we became immersed in the literature on
air quality and health (Erickson, 2017; Erickson and Jennings, 2017; Erickson
et al., 2017b). This work resulted in a better understanding of air quality and
health; actions to improve air quality in the pursuit of improving health can
have great value with respect to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.