Working Together for a Healthy Future
Clean Air for the Salt Lake Region
Help us chart the course for a
cleaner, greener region.
The Greater Salt Lake Clean Energy and Air Roadmap (SL-CLEAR) initiative is bringing together local governments, regional agencies, experts, and stakeholders from across Salt Lake and Tooele counties to identify shared priorities for reducing air pollution.
This work is supported by a federal grant that is focused on reducing emissions. But as we work to clear our air, we can also achieve many other benefits!
This website provides an overview of the initiative as well as priority issues we are evaluating, and how to get involved. The site will be updated as the draft plan is developed, identifying things each of us can do to secure a better future for all.
Who We Are: SL-CLEAR is led by Salt Lake City’s Department of Sustainability and funded by a federal grant. It will create a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan and blueprints for key priorities. A similar effort is underway at the state level to identify priority actions that can benefit all Utahns.
What We're Doing
We are working together to make a plan to reduce pollution, save money, create jobs, and make our communities healthier.
This includes learning from each other about what works and evaluating options related to transportation, energy use in buildings, waste, and more. We identified key areas of opportunity in 2024 and are now focused on developing workable strategies that can take us from idea to action.
Priority Climate Action Plan
Sector Work Groups
Community Engagement
Comprehensive Climate Action Plan
Blueprints for Action
Why This Matters
The Salt Lake region is a great place to live.
But as we attract more residents, things like traffic, the cost of living, and air pollution are getting worse. And our warming climate is creating new problems.
By working together, we can develop workable strategies to address these issues across our region, each of us doing our part to create a cleaner, healthier future.
Did you know
During wintertime inversions (when air pollution gets trapped at lower elevations), the Salt Lake region has some of the worst air quality in the US.
- Vehicles, natural gas use, and wood burning stoves are all significant sources of emissions.
- While we are getting better at managing wintertime inversions, our summertime ozone pollution is getting worse.
Fortunately, there are things we can do to create a better today, and a better tomorrow. We are looking at solutions to ensure:
Homes and offices that are more comfortable, use less energy, and produce less pollution.
Clean, convenient, safe, and affordable transportation to get around.
New opportunities for clean, affordable, renewable energy.
More trees and green spaces that can use less water while keeping us cool.
… and more!
Key Topics
Click the topics below to learn about the opportunities for action we are exploring.
Healthy Kids
Air pollution has a big impact on the health of our kids.
Air pollution can be harmful to everyone’s health, but is especially bad for children. When children breathe in polluted air, it can hurt their lungs and make it harder to breathe, causing asthma attacks, coughing, and wheezing. The pollution can travel deep into the lungs and even into the bloodstream, causing problems like headaches or feeling tired.
Children’s bodies are still growing, so they are more sensitive to pollution than adults. It can also make them more likely to get sick or have long-term health problems like trouble breathing as they get older. Being outside in polluted air for a long time can make it harder for kids to play and exercise, and they might feel sick more often. Indoor air pollution is also a critical concern, sometimes representing a bigger impact than outdoor air quality.
Keeping the air clean is important to help everyone, especially kids, stay healthy and strong.
Did you know
Air pollution can have impacts beyond children’s health.
Research published in 2020 showed that school absences increase when air pollution increases, especially in lower income neighborhoods with higher levels of air pollution.
Cleaner Air
Our region faces clean air challenges throughout the year, from wintertime inversions to summertime ozone to periodic dust storms and wildfire smoke.
These periods of elevated air pollution can contribute to respiratory issues, worsen asthma, and increase the risk of heart problems. Children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing conditions are especially vulnerable. The use of natural gas in buildings, particularly for cooking, heating, and water heating, is also a significant concern for indoor air quality, especially when ventilation is inadequate.
As our climate gets warmer, our ozone issues are getting worse, wildfires are increasing, and the Great Salt Lake is shrinking. By reducing the emissions that contribute to local air pollution we can also reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Did you know
Air quality along the Wasatch Front has improved over the past two decades.
This is primarily due to newer vehicles that substantially reduced emissions and increasing options for residents to walk, bike, or use transit.
Learn more and check out the interactive map with real-time air pollution data
More Jobs
Making energy efficiency improvements to our homes and to commercial buildings not only lowers utility bills, but also creates more jobs per dollar invested compared to fossil fuels.
In the U.S., energy efficiency activities and investments (weatherproofing, insulating, improving, and replacing HVAC systems) support over 2 million jobs, outpacing fossil fuel employment. And this does not include the dramatic growth in jobs related to rooftop solar installations, which create jobs for engineers, installers, and electricians.
And as families save money through lower utility bills, they have more money to spend locally on goods and services, helping local businesses, too.
Did you know
For every $1 million invested in renewable energy, about 7.5 full-time jobs are created, compared to only 2.7 jobs for the same investment in fossil fuels.
Source: World Resource Institute, 2021
Lower Utility Bills
Making our homes and businesses more energy efficient can significantly reduce utility bills and support more affordable living and overall business vitality.
The least expensive energy is the energy we don’t use. Proven, low cost strategies like weatherization, adding insulation and changing lightbulbs can usually reduce energy use by 20 to 30 percent, paying for themselves quickly through cost savings and then providing more savings for years to come. Other changes–like shifting to electric heat pumps for heating and cooling, can save even more.
For homes and businesses that get lots of sun exposure, even more significant savings can be achieved through the installation of rooftop solar panels, transforming that sunlight into free electricity. While the installation of panels requires up-front investment, they can cover 50 to 100 percent of a building’s electricity needs for many years after.
By doing efficiency improvements and solar panel installation together (using less energy overall and meeting the remaining electric needs through solar), households can enjoy substantial utility bill savings while contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.
Did you know
Switching just one incandescent light bulb to an LED can save you about $50 over the bulb’s lifetime. Imagine the savings if you swapped out all the bulbs in your home!
Greener Neighborhoods
Making our neighborhoods greener not only makes them more pleasant to be in, but provides health and economic benefits, including:
- Acting as natural air filters by taking in carbon dioxide and, when planted in the right places and using the right kinds of plants, helping to catch pollution like nitrogen dioxide and tiny particles in the air.
- Providing shade
- Improving mental well-being by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. People living near green space tend to feel happier and more connected to nature.
- Reducing energy use for adjacent buildings by providing shade in the summer and acting as windbreaks in the winter.
- Increasing property values, typically raising property values by 7 to 20 percent for properties on tree-lined streets.
- Absorbing rainwater, thereby reducing the need for expensive stormwater infrastructure, helping to prevent flooding, and filtering pollutants before they reach waterways.
Did you know
Studies show that kids who grow up near green spaces tend to have better memory and attention spans. Plus, adults report feeling less stressed and more positive when surrounded by trees and greenery!
Want to learn more?
Learn more about ideas that emerged from work that was done over the past year, which is the foundation for our current effort. Read SL-CLEAR’s “Priority Climate Action Plan.”
Explore the great resources from other groups and related efforts in our region, including:
- Browse Utah Clean Air Partnership’s website for more information about our air quality challenges and what you can do to make a difference.
- Check out Utah Clean Energy’s website for great tools that can help you save energy and reduce pollution.
Volunteer with one of the many great local organizations working to make our communities cleaner and healthier!
Get Involved
We want to hear from you!
Creating the future we want will require working together on things that matter most. As we develop our clean air and energy blueprints, we want your input and feedback to make sure they are addressing your needs and priorities.
Get on our email list
Sign up to receive periodic updates about this effort and learn more about opportunities to be involved as well as actions you can take.
Questions?
Email the project team directly at SLCgreen@slc.gov.
Send us your ideas
Use the questions below as prompts or write your message in the last field. All questions are optional!