Good reads & charts - April 3, 2024

In this edition: The confusing world of emissions and how different generations view America's role in the world. Plus, social media, cherry blossoms and cursive!

Good reads & charts provides an assortment of interesting articles and data that I have come across recently that do not warrant a full article and might not be related to something I have previously discussed, but I feel are worth larger consumption.

---

Trucks too!

Last week I talked about Biden’s plan to cut emissions (and reduce air pollution) for passenger vehicles by limiting emissions across an automakers fleet - NOT by mandating the sale of EVs or banning internal-combustion engine cars.

A few days later the EPA released a similar rule, this time for trucks!

The Environmental Protection Agency projects the new rule could mean that 25 percent of new long-haul trucks, the heaviest on the road, and 40 percent of medium-size trucks, like box trucks and landscaping vehicles, could be nonpolluting by 2032. Today, fewer than 2 percent of new heavy trucks sold in the United States fit that bill.

The rule does not mandate the sales of electric trucks or any other type of zero or low-emission truck. Rather, it increasingly limits the amount of pollution allowed from trucks across a manufacturer's product line over time, starting in model year 2027. It would be up to the manufacturer to decide how to comply. Options could include using technologies like hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells or sharply increasing the fuel efficiency of the conventional trucks.

Source: New Pollution Rules Aim to Lift Sales of Electric Trucks (NYT)

Obviously, the same issues about charging infrastructure and court challenges apply for trucks, but this rule represents another sign of progress.

---

New oil and gas drilling