Utah Valley’s air is clean much of the year, but pollutants regularly exceed healthy air standards during winter months and also at times during the summer. Utah County residents view this air pollution as a threat to their health and their family’s health. They also find that poor air quality constrains their freedom to enjoy Utah’s beautiful outdoors and affects the state economy by discouraging businesses and employees from locating in Utah.
The sources of Utah’s air pollution are changing. Today, most emissions come from vehicle exhaust, but homes, commercial buildings, offices, and other structures will become the dominant sources of pollution by 2050. Utah County residents are willing to make significant changes to achieve cleaner air. Among other steps, residents are willing to buy and drive cleaner cars, switch to cleaner fuel, drive less, build significantly more energy-efficient homes and other buildings, and avoid wood burning during winter inversions.
In 2014, Provo was awarded a grant by Utah Clean Air (UCAIR) to pursue a “Clean Air Toolkit”. The toolkit’s goal was to present local residents and businesses with a centralized list of strategies they could use to achieve cleaner air in Utah County, and to make clean air the common goal of Provo City’s strategic planning and operations. Provo worked with Envision Utah and Alta Planning to develop this list. This website provides specific tools that you can implement depending on your role in our community, and even in your own homes.