Tag Archives: air quality

I ❤ Clean Air 

By SLCgreen Staff Jude Westwood

Two weeks ago, I flew from Salt Lake City to Columbus, Ohio, to visit my family. I left during the peak of our first wintertime inversion; smog settled so thickly in the valley that I hadn’t been able to see the Wasatch Range in several days. The inversion was top of mind as I nursed a sore throat, feeling envious of my Midwestern family and friends who can take good air quality for granted.  

As I sat down for breakfast at my brother’s house on my first morning in Columbus, my 11-year-old nephew focused in on the “I ❤ Clean Air” sticker on my Nalgene.  

“Isn’t that kind of obvious?” he asked, eyes squinted with skepticism.  

“You would think,” I said, grimacing. I took a moment to think of how to explain to him, and glancing around at our breakfast dishes, I had an idea.  

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Mayor Mendenhall Answers Your Questions on Air Quality in SLC

This week, Mayor Mendenhall and SLCgreen hosted an “AMA” or Ask Me Anything on Instagram and Twitter, taking your air quality questions.  

Salt Lake City continues to lead communities in the state when it comes to air quality policies and programs – both with our internal operations, as well as community-facing efforts.   

Still, we collectively have much work to do. Air pollution will not disappear overnight in a valley growing as ours is and faced with the challenges of our geography and climate.  The good news is that, according to the Utah Department of Air Quality, per capita pollution has decreased over the last decade, even as our population along the Wasatch Front boomed. There are also technologies available now that can drastically reduce the manmade emissions in our valley over the coming years, and historic funding opportunities to help us adopt them. Paired with solid urban planning and transportation design, we’re hopeful for the future when it comes to air quality, and that comes from working every day to realize solutions. 

So what causes our poor air quality? And what is the City doing?  

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Fall Into Clean Air: We Can All Be Idle Free

by SLCgreen Staff Brijette Williams

It’s that time of year again! The temperatures are starting to drop, leaves are showing hints of change, and that crisp scent of incoming autumn is the air. The changing seasons also mean it’s time to think about fall and winter air quality season. 

September also marks Idle-free Awareness Month and the annual Governor’s Idle-free Declaration for the month and for Utah’s upcoming winter season. The initiative began in 2006 by Utah Clean Cities and was a statewide effort by 2010 – spurring statewide idle-free policies and action at school districts, cities, towns, counties, and even within Zion National Park.  

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Walking Works!

By SLCgreen Intern Emma Johnson

Walking is undoubtedly the most straightforward way to move around; humans have been doing it forever! Studies show that people are happiest and healthiest when they live in walkable communities. Walking is also beneficial to the environment and the economy. Despite these findings, in 2021 the average American commute reached an all-time high of 27.6 driving minutes each way. In the United States, only about 3-4% of commuters walk to work, which is sadly unsurprising based on the car-centric construction of many U.S. cities.

During the month of July, Salt Lake City is encouraging people to drive less in favor of walking, biking, and public transit as part of the Clear the Air Challenge. In 2022, this challenge was responsible for a reduction in over 53,000 trips and prevention of over 392 tons of CO2. This year, Salt Lake City employees and other residents will join teams and log their trips to compete and work towards a collective goal of saving 100,000 trips this year.

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Clear the Air, Ride Your Bike

By SLCgreen Staff Judith Westwood

Woman riding her bike home from work.

Public Lands Planner, Kira Johnson, rides her bike five miles to and from work daily. She started bike commuting out of necessity but quickly fell in love with it. She explains, “I didn’t have a car in college, but I had a bike. Thankfully, I had a friend in the same situation, and we got into bike commuting at the same time. We found a lot of childlike thrill doing it.” Several years later, when Kira got her first car, she found she still preferred to bike.   

Bike commuting has a lot of great benefits. You stay more active, you interact with your community differently, and you can save a lot of money. Bike commuting is also a great way to reduce your emissions and air pollution impact, and to participate in this month’s Clear the Air Challenge.  

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It’s Time To Clear The Air! 

by SLCgreen intern Charlie Bonkowsky 

Graphic reads: Take the Clear The Air Challenge July 2023 with a graphic of a mountain range and a clear blue sky

It’s almost time for The Clear The Air Challenge—an annual event encouraging Utahns to reduce their vehicle emissions and help keep Utah’s air clean! The competition starts on July 1st and runs throughout the month, with a goal this year of eliminating 100,000 single-car trips and keeping 375 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere. 

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Salt Lake City Approves Ordinance Update to Expand Electric Vehicle Charging at New Multi-Family Properties

One of the many ways Salt Lake City works to improve air quality is by making it easier to own an electric vehicle, which doesn’t emit any tailpipe pollution.

On that topic, we’re excited to report that theSalt Lake City Council enacted our proposed electric vehicle readiness standards on April 4!

This will enable more residents to charge their vehicles at home if they live in a new multi-family building.

The electric vehicle readiness standards were adopted as part of the Off-Street Parking ordinance (21A.44) and will require multi-family new-construction properties to include electric vehicle ready (EV-ready) infrastructure at 20% of installed parking spaces. It does not require that the EV stations themselves be installed; only the electric capacity and conduit to make it that much easier to put in a station as demand increases.

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2022 Year in Review

We are officially well into 2023 and ready to share our full 2022 Year in Review with you! You might’ve caught our teasers on social media of what we’ve accomplished this past year but in case you missed it or want to read the full review, we’ve got you covered.

This past year we worked hard to provide sustainability in Salt Lake City, at both the city and local levels. Keep scrolling to catch a few highlights, and be sure to check out the full Year in Review for all the incredible work we did in 2022!

WASTE + RECYCLING

2022 Accomplishments

  • Emptied 4.3 million containers and provided weekly waste collection for approximately 42,000 residential customers.
  • Provide waste and recycling services for City parks and facilities, special events throughout the City, and curbside recycling for qualified small businesses and multi-family properties
  • Partnered with three local artists to create new wraps on our newest refuse trucks.

AIR QUALITY

2022 Accomplishments

  • Hosted an Indoor Air Quality Summit and launched a new public campaign to share best practices around keeping our homes, buildings, schools, and other spaces healthy.
  • Submitted a grant application for an EV car share pilot program at affordable housing properties
  • Expanded the City’s Comprehensive Sustainability Policy so that all new construction and major renovations of large City buildings will, when practicable, be constructed to use all-electric, combustion-free technologies.
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Salt Lake City BIPOC-owned Westside businesses to receive funding to go solar

PRESS RELEASE: November 17, 2022

A year-long effort to create solutions for Black-, Indigenous-, and People of Color- (BIPOC) owned businesses on the Westside of Salt Lake City to pursue rooftop solar and battery storage has received a significant boost thanks to a commitment from American Express.

American Express recently announced a $5 million global commitment to help cities build resiliency and fight climate change ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference which took place in Egypt last week. The Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) has been awarded $1.2 million to work with three cities, including Salt Lake City, to install solar energy systems in our community.

American Express will provide $325,000 in philanthropic support to complement other incentives and financial strategies to help install solar with optional battery systems for small businesses on the Westside. These systems can lower energy costs for residents and businesses, can be more resilient than standard electric sources during extreme weather, support local clean energy jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

View of the Utah State Capital Building from 500 North.

“I’m thrilled with American Express’ generosity, which will build off the hard work our City team and partners have done to advance solar on our Westside,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. “We have the tools to reduce climate emissions, strengthen community resiliency, and save our businesses and residents money through clean energy, and this collaboration is a perfect demonstration of that.”

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Inversion season is here! What can we do?

November 1 is the official start of inversion season along the Wasatch Front and it certainly feels like  winter is settling in around us!

But what exactly is an inversion? This natural phenomenon occurs when a high-pressure system is setting up, trapping cold air on the valley floors with warmer air above it. This warm air also traps all our pollution with the cold air, keeping it contained in the valley until the inversion breaks. 

What causes an inversion? 

Meteorologists on the news and the Utah Division of Air Quality will  warn you in advance before an inversion happens. Here are some signs that you can keep a look out for: 

  • Calm winds: this reduces the natural mixing of air temperatures. 
  • Clear skies: this increases the rate of cooling for air close to the ground. 
  • Long nights allow the cooling of the ground to continue over a longer period of time, resulting in a greater decrease in temperature near the surface. 
  • The sun is lower on the horizon during the winter, so it supplies less warmth to the earth’s surface and more to the atmosphere. 

In Utah, our inversions often occur right after snowstorms due to the increase in cold air near the ground and the clear skies warming up the upper atmosphere and acting as a lid to the cooler air below. 

Inversions are meteorological events that are common in mountain/valley geographies with our weather patterns.  When you pair inversions with human activity, you often wind up with pollution that sticks around.  Here along the Wasatch Front, a significant source of pollution comes from transportation(roughly 50%), as well as our homes and buildings (roughly 35%). That means each of us can make a difference to our air quality. 

What can you do? 

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