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newsclips -- Newsclips for August 19, 2010.
Posted: 19 Aug 2010 12:23:25
California Air Resources Board News Clips for August 19, 2010. This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office of Communications. You may need to sign in or register with individual websites to view some of the following news articles. CLIMATE CHANGE/GHG’S Frustrated Scotts Valley Council Recommends Reining In Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Scotts Valley - City leaders on Wednesday expressed frustration with state-requested goals to rein in greenhouse gas emissions that council members say are baseless but fear could be used against them if not met. "This is nuts that we're even having this discussion," said Scotts Valley City Councilman Dene Bustichi. "We don't have any data. What we do if we don't make it?" Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_15820616 Democrats, After Opposing Climate Bill, Still Face GOP Attacks. A group of Democrats who defied their party to oppose a landmark climate bill last year is facing attacks by political challengers from an unexpected direction: Cap and trade is being used against them, despite the fact that they voted no. Forty-four Democrats broke ranks last summer on the muscular measure seeking to create a carbon limit for thousands of factories and power plants. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/1 Scientists: Blame Climate Change, Not Man, for Ancient Species Loss. Blame a vast reduction in grasslands and not hunting humans for the disappearance of the woolly mammoth and other animals from the Earth. That's the conclusion of a new study which likely will trigger a new debate within scientific circles. The study points to a sharp decline in the amount of habitat available for grazing after the last ice age. Posted. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20014091-501465.html Oxford Dictionary Adds Climate Change Terms To New Edition. Climate change vernacular is being officially recognized in the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English, which reflects how language is commonly used. Among the new additions are "carbon capture and storage," the process of trapping and storing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels; and "geo-engineering," the manipulation of environmental processes to counteract the effects of global warming. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/08/19/8 Caribbean Storm Damage Costs May Rise 505 With Global Warming. Climate change may add 50 percent to the storm damage costs incurred by some Caribbean nations over the next two decades, said Swiss Reinsurance Co., the world’s second-largest re-insurer. Wind, storm surges and inland flooding already cost some Caribbean nations up to 6 percent of their economic output each year, the Zurich-based company said today in a statement on its website. Global warming could add costs amounting to another 1 to 3 percent of output by 2030, it said. Posted. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-19/caribbean-storm-damage-costs-may-rise-505-with-global-warming.html AIR QUALITY Cooler Weather Means Cleaner Air For Bay Area. This summer's cool, clammy weather has undoubtedly thwarted many a day at the beach. But all that unwelcome fog and wind has had one major upside: better air. So far this summer the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has not issued one Spare the Air alert - days when ground-level smog reaches harmful concentrations. "We've been fortunate this year," said Kristine Roselius, spokeswoman for the air district. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/19/MNBG1EVCUE.DTL&type=printable EMISSIONS Communities Get Rolling on Developing Sustainable Transit, Land Use Plans. SBCAG's approach for meeting SB 375 standards to curb emissions and sprawl is raising red flags for one environmental group. Communities in Santa Barbara County and throughout California have been working to meet the state’s Senate Bill 375 obligations by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, curbing suburban sprawl and expanding public transit. SB 375, also known as the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, is designed to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions by revamping regional transportation and land use strategies for the next 25 years. Posted. http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/081810_sb_375/ Focus Back On Regional Emission Trading Programs For Analysts. Market analysts training their sights on regional trading schemes view the Western Climate Initiative as the "second coming" for carbon trading in the United States. A new analysis from British investment bank Barclays Capital finds that the seven-state, four-province WCI could actually see allowance prices rise in the later years of its cap-and-trade regime, which is slated to start in 2012 and end in 2020. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/3 A New EPRI Computer Model Makes The Case For Regional Climate Solutions. The utility industry's top research group is making the case that regional solutions to the nation's climate policy challenges offer the best deal for consumers. A new economic analysis being developed by the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., indicates that the ideal responses to future federal limits on carbon emissions -- from economic and technical standpoints -- would vary greatly across major regions of the country, as utilities replace conventional coal-fired power plants with different mixes of generation and efficiency programs. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/2 Researchers Find Carbon Offsets Aren't Justified For Removing Understory. Correction appended. Reducing forest fire risk by thinning thickets of understory can have many benefits for communities, but in the short term, providing carbon offsets for this does not appear to be justified, according to government-funded research to be published this fall. During the past four years, a team of researchers tried to quantify how removing smaller fuels from forests and conducting prescribed burns helps stave off intense wildfires and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/5 U.K. Companies Slow To Track Emissions For Mandatory Program. Only a quarter of British companies have begun measuring their greenhouse gas emissions for a mandatory government program that began in April, officials say. The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme, or CRC, requires the United Kingdom's biggest energy users to report emissions and trade carbon dioxide permits. Companies that reduce their footprints will be rewarded with program proceeds. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/7 Old Tugboats Slowly Make Way for Cleaner, Energy Efficient Hybrid Tugboats. Conventional diesel tugboats are significant sources of pollution in the world’s seaports, but that is on the verge of change. The Foss Maritime Company is adding a second energy efficient hybrid tugboat to its Southern California fleet. Its first hybrid vessel, the Carolyn Dorothy, was launched in 2009 and at the time it was believed to be the first and only tugboat of its kind in the world. Posted. http://cleantechnica.com/2010/08/19/old-tugboats-slowly-make-way-for-cleaner-energy-efficient-hybrid-tugboats/ ENERGY Full Steam Ahead For California Geothermal Plans? Right below your feet is enough potential clean energy to keep the whole country humming with electricity for 30,000 years, according to Department of Energy calculations. And this geothermal energy could play a big role in California as the state strives to reach an ambitious clean energy target by 2020. But there is a catch: We have to get to it. Running Out Of Steam. About two hours north of San Francisco, atop a ridge crisscrossed with pipes, is the world's biggest field for producing geothermal energy: Posted. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129282183 Can A Stiff Carbon Price And Generous Rebate Policy Change Energy Use? A report out this week is revisiting a basic question of climate policy: Can it be designed to benefit the poor rather than the wealthy? The cap-and-trade schemes that have led the debate haven't ignored the poor; they have tried to shelter the broad public from higher energy prices, and they've also targeted the least wealthy with programs. Nevertheless, some economists say these approaches still skew toward the well-off. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/4 Greenpeace Pushes For Renewable Energy In Safrica. Johannesburg -- South Africa has renewable resources that can provide solutions to the country's energy problems and create jobs - while fighting global warming, Greenpeace officials said Wednesday. Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081803443.html DIESELS EPA Agrees To Examine Truck Emissions Claims In Navistar Settlement. U.S. EPA has finalized a settlement with truck manufacturer Navistar International Corp., which agreed earlier this week to drop three lawsuits on the condition that EPA examine whether truckers can cheat the emissions control technology used by Navistar's competitors. In filings with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Navistar claimed EPA had failed to consider that selective catalytic reduction (SCR) might not reduce tailpipe emissions as intended. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/08/19/2 Rypos Provides Early CARB Compliance Coupon Program. Assisting transport refrigeration unit (TRU) owners and operators to comply early with the new TRU model year 2003 California Air Resources Board (CARB) advisory, Rypos is offering up to a $400 savings on its Rypos diesel particulate filter/low-emission TRU (DPF/LETRU) and Proventia flow-through filter (FTF) trailer-mount filter products. The deadline for the model year 2003 CARB Airborne Toxic Control Measure (ATCM) compliance is December 31, 2010. Posted. http://refrigeratedtrans.com/2010-emissions/rypos_provides_early_carb_compliance_coupon_program_0819/ BUSES Fresno Unified Rolls out 30 Clean-Air Buses. The Fresno Unified School District this week unveiled 30 new compressed-natural-gas buses thanks to more than $5 million in federal, state and local air quality grants. The buses replace 30 diesel-powered buses built in 1977. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District estimates that the new CNG buses will emit 98% less particulate pollution over their lifetimes. The old buses emitted over 330 tons of particulates in their lifetimes, while the new buses will emit less than seven tons. Posted. http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/transportation/5986-fresno-unified-rolls-out-30-clean-air-buses 'Straddling Bus' Could Clear Roads, Reduce Emissions In China. A company in southern China has designed a bus that can carry up to 1,200 passengers while taking up almost no road space and has the added benefit of partially running on solar power. The "straddling bus" is extra wide and extra tall and runs high above the road. The passenger compartment is the width of two traffic lanes and runs on a pair of wide stilts, leaving the road below free for cars to pass underneath. The bridge-bus hybrid runs along a fixed route and draws some of its power from solar panels on the roof of the vehicle. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/8 FUELS Air Resources Board Is Clinging To Old Science. This week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) convened a group of experts to discuss issues related to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) that was approved last year. The Expert Working Group has been working to examine the gaps in the original research produced by CARB staff which was used as the basis for fuel regulation, including the highly disputed indirect land use change (ILUC) theory which threatens the future of biofuels in California and across the country. Posted. http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=z2hzjlnvfipb86&xid=z2hzat2bm7l9z5&done=.z2hzjlnvfjeb86# Finding New Ways to Fill the Tank. Cambridge, Mass. — Most research on renewable energy has focused on replacing the electricity that now comes from burning coal and natural gas. But the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the reliance on Middle East imports and the threat of global warming are reminders that oil is also a pressing worry. A lot of problems could be solved with a renewable replacement for oil-based gasoline and diesel in the fuel tank — either a new liquid fuel or a much better battery. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/business/energy-environment/19fuel.html?_r=1&ref=science&pagewanted=print Whiskey Byproducts Used To Craft Fuel. Scientists in Scotland are using the byproducts of whiskey distillation to make a biofuel that could be used in conventional cars. Using spent grains and the liquid from copper stills, researchers at Edinburgh Napier University have created a method that produces butanol, which provides 30 percent more power than traditional ethanol. The fuel could be used in cars and jet planes and as the basis for acetone and other chemicals. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/19/9 VEHICLES Hybrids Running Out of Gas. Despite the region's eco-friendly image, the appetite for fuel-efficient hybrid cars in the Bay Area appears to be on the decline. According to R.L. Polk & Co., which analyzes the auto industry, new hybrid-car registrations in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area have steadily declined since peaking in 2007. That year in the region, there were new 27,292 registrations of hybrid cars, which are more fuel-efficient than cars that run only on gasoline. By 2009, that number had dropped 36%, to 17,575 registrations. Posted. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433491885339452.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_News_SanFranciscoBayArea68_4 Electric Car Stations Coming To Santa Cruz County. With new plug-in electric cars scheduled to arrive in Santa Cruz County soon, so too should a means to juice them. That's why a coalition of public and private stakeholders has secured tens of thousands of dollars to begin laying out a network of vehicle charging stations across the Monterey Bay Area. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_15820802 BLOGS EPA Decides To Take e-Waste (Sort of) Seriously. Finally. The Environmental Protection Agency has been frustratingly lax on e-waste issues, paying little attention to quality enforcement of policies, or even putting stringent policies in place at all. But finally, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said on Tuesday that e-waste is now one of the top five priorities for the agency. While vague in exactly what the EPA would do to improve the immense problem of e-waste, it was at least put down in writing that it is a major concern, and one that will get at least some attention. Posted. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/epa-decides-to-take-e-waste-sort-of-seriously-finally.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29 Could Going Green Mean Trashing Our Landscape? Environmentalists may spend a lot of time battling against the fossil fuel lobby, but the awkward truth is that there is plenty of fighting between "green" groups too—perhaps most notably when it comes to what constitutes 'sustainability', and how do we manage the sometimes competing demands of clean energy and conservation. From Earth First! protesting against wind turbines to concerns over luxury LEED condos and gentrification, one person's green panacea can easily be another person's worst nightmare. Posted. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/going-green-trashing-landscape.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29