Source: Transit Center

Excerpt:

By expanding renewable power, phasing out fossil fuels, electrifying as much of the economy as possible, and deploying other technologies, the U.S. can achieve its climate goals by 2050—and a new report from UCS shows how.

Transportation is the largest contributor to US global warming emissions, and we have choices around how we transform it. Electrifying cars and trucks is essential to solving the challenge. But vehicles are energy-intensive. By expanding public transportation and rail, and by planning our communities in ways that let people meet their needs with biking, walking, and shorter driving trips we can make the clean energy transition more achievable and affordable. UCS analysis suggests that these types of changes to the transportation system would give people more choices for getting around, while reducing power generation needs in 2050 by 357 terawatt-hours—the equivalent of building 39,000 wind turbines.

Read more: Walkable Neighborhoods and Public Transit are Part Of the Clean Energy Transition