A study by the Keck School of Medicine finds more electric cars lead to better air quality, which lowers the risk of asthma attacks and other health concerns.It seems axiomatic that breathing clean air is better for the human body than breathing polluted air, just as drinking clean water is better than drinking polluted water and eating good food is better than eating garbage.
“The average increased from 1.4 per 1000 population in 2013 to 14.7 per 1000 in 2019. ZEV adoption was considerably slower in zip codes with lower educational attainment. A within zip code increase of 20 ZEVs per 1000 was associated with a − 0.41 parts per billion change in annual average NO2 in an adjusted model. A within zip code increase of 20 ZEVs per 1000 population was associated with a 3.2 % decrease in annual age adjusted rate of asthma related emergency room visits.
The researchers also found that while total ZEVs increased over time, adoption was considerably slower in low resource zip codes — what the researchers refer to as the “adoption gap.” That disparity points to an opportunity to restore environmental justice in communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution and related health problems.
Finally, the researchers calculated the percentage of adults in each zip code who held bachelor’s degrees. Educational attainment levels are frequently used as an indicator of a neighborhood’s socioeconomic status. “Should continuing research support our findings, we want to make sure that those communities that are overburdened with the traffic-related air pollution are truly benefiting from this climate mitigation effort,” Garcia said.While climate change is a massive health threat, mitigating it offers a significant public health opportunity, Eckel said.