Don’t burn wood, drive less, car pool, don’t idle your car. These actions will cut down air pollution in the Salt Lake valley, but for a long-term solution, these actions aren’t going to change much.

A recent study shows that 48 percent of air pollution comes from vehicles and another 30 percent from buildings. We can take a clue from China that has cities with worse smog and pollution than Salt Lake valley. China is transitioning to Natural Energy Vehicles (electric, hybrid, natural gas) by funding subsidies for these vehicles.

Utah should increase the subsidies to transition to low-emission vehicles, even though more NEVs on the road means a reduction of gas taxes to fund roads. A solution should be a broad-based tax away from a user tax.

Google Earth did a study and concluded that 46,000 buildings in Salt Lake City could benefit from solar panels on rooftops. Google estimates that it would be equivalent to taking 86,000 cars off the road for a year. Utah would be wise to invest in incentives for solar as part of a long-term plan to clear the air.