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newsclips -- Newsclips for November 24, 2010
Posted: 24 Nov 2010 11:38:32
California Air Resources Board News Clips for November 24, 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 California Dreaming? The Golden State Takes the Lead in U.S. Efforts to Combat Climate Change. Only two weeks after California voters turned back an effort to suspend the state's program to combat climate change, a cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gas emissions saw its first trade, a swap of a climate-change pollution permit for 2012. "While our federal government is sitting on its hands, California is moving full speed ahead to a clean-energy future," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his weekly address on November 19. Posted. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=california-leads-us-efforts-to-combat-climate-change Emissions Exchanges Gear Up For California 'Green Rush'. California will become the next test site for emissions trading in the U.S. as exchanges line up new climate-related markets in the state, following the shelving of a national cap-and-trade plan to cut greenhouse gases. Three exchange groups are lining up product launches for California after voters endorsed its 2006 climate law in a referendum earlier this month. Supporters believe California will breath new life into a U.S. carbon-trading market that has fallen dormant after a federal scheme was shelved this summer and interest cooled in other regional initiatives. Posted. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730304575632961052313910.html?mod=googlenews_wsj U.N. Seeks Climate Progress; Deal May Be Years Off. Most nations have few hopes for the meeting of environment ministers from November 29 to December 10 in the Caribbean resort of Cancun after U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders failed to agree a treaty at last year's U.N. Copenhagen summit. Sights are lower for Cancun, which will test the ability of the United Nations to reconcile the interests of China and the United States, the top greenhouse gas emitters, and those of 192 other nations in a 21st century world order. All have a veto. Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AN3HP20101124 UCSD Students to Join Global Climate Talk. Four graduate students from UCSD will join Scripps oceanography researchers next week at a climate-change summit hosted by the United Nations. The purpose of sending international-relations students -- a first for the school -- is to enhance the dialogue about global warming and its effects, said Erica Jue, one of the students attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, in Cancun. Posted. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/24/ucsd-students-join-scripps-scientists-global-clima/ Greenhouse Gases Increased to Record in Atmosphere Last Year, UN Reports. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, the main man-made greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, increased to record post-industrial concentrations last year, the United Nations said. Carbon dioxide, the most important heat-trapping gas, last year rose to 386.8 parts per million molecules of air, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said today in an e-mailed statement. That’s 1.6 ppm higher than in 2008. The methane concentration increased by 6 parts per billion while nitrous oxide rose by 0.7 parts per billion. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-24/greenhouse-gases-increased-to-record-in-atmosphere-last-year-un-reports.html What's Next for Clean Energy and Climate Policies. There is no doubt that we have our work cut out for us. The current Senate has failed to act on comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation and we now know that the 112th Congress will be a very different landscape with an incoming class of members that is among the most anti-science to date. Yet the outcome of the elections does not change the facts: the U.S. is dangerously dependent on oil, China and other countries are making huge gains in clean energy technologies, and we continue to spew dangerous carbon pollution into the atmosphere. Posted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gene-karpinski/whats-next-for-clean-ener_b_786878.html AIR POLLUTION Socal Ports Officials Seek More Cuts in Pollution. Officials from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have approved a new plan that calls for aggressive cuts in pollution from ships and trains. The plan approved Monday by the ports' harbor commissions seeks to clean up the air around the nation's busiest port complex. Posted. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9JLTUEG0.htm http://www.progressiverailroading.com/news/article/LA-Long-Beach-ports-update-clean-air-action-plan--25125 Sacramento in Top 10 for Worst Air Quality. Welcome to California, the coughing-tearing-wheezing state. The Golden State boasts brilliant sandy beaches and breathtaking snow-capped mountains — and seven cities among the top 10 with the worst air quality in the nation, according to the American Lung Association. Posted. http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2010/11/23/sacramento-in-top-10-for-worst-air.html Chicoans Asked To Forgo Wood Stoves. A forecast of air quality unhealthy for some people has prompted air quality officials to ask Chicoans to refrain from lighting wood fires today and tonight in open fireplaces and wood stoves. The "Check Before You Light" program is voluntary, but people complying with it have been credited as contributing to recent improvement of winter air quality conditions in Chico. The advisory by the Butte County Air Quality Management District only applies to the Chico urban area. Posted. http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_16698122 FUELS Can Easing California Regulations Boost Corn Ethanol? Considering a proposal from the staff of the state Air Resources Board, California regulators have announced that they could change their view on the environmental impact of ethanol, a decision that might keep the corn-based fuel competitive with other bio fuels. The analysis calculates that the emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to climate change from the production and use of ethanol is required as part of regulations being put in place to meet a state law requiring a cut in greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Posted. http://seekingalpha.com/article/238310-can-easing-california-regulations-boost-corn-ethanol California Move Could Make Corn Ethanol an Emissions Boon. The National Corn Growers Association welcomed a decision by California regulators which will begin to reflect ethanol's emissions profile compared to gasoline. However, NCGA remained critical of the timing and the process which allowed immature science to penalize this critically needed fuel. "There are inherent risks in using a computer model to guide regulation or establish policy and this dramatic revision makes that very clear," said NCGA President Bart Schott, a corn grower from Kulm, N.D. Ethanol's reputation has been harmed by the California Air Resources Board's highly publicized effort to implement its low carbon fuel standard, but this is a step in the right direction." Posted. http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-national.php?Id=2357&yr=2010 GREEN ENERGY SDG&E Proposes Piping Methane Gas From Waste. San Diego Gas & Electric is proposing putting methane from landfill waste, sewage plants or farms in its pipelines, a move that would take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, trash out of landfills and make money. The proposal comes after the company recently approved a first-of-its kind move to use its pipelines to move surplus methane produced at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment plant to the University of California San Diego and a sewage pumping station in Otay Mesa. Posted. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/23/sdge-proposes-using-landfill-sewer-gas/ ENERGY: Utilities Planning Biogas Projects. San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co. plan to purify waste gas from garbage dumps, farm waste and sewage treatment and pump it into utility-owned pipelines, executives from the utilities said Tuesday. Bacteria that break down organic waste in low-oxygen conditions produce methane, which is a key component in natural gas, but also a producer of smog and a cause of global warming. Posted. http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_9bd3ebe9-3cf9-5aaf-ad91-ab7bb1fc3ded.html UC Davis Begins Smart Lighting Initiative. The University of California Davis aims to greatly reduce the amount of electricity it uses for its buildings and grounds with a newly launched Smart Lighting Initiative. UC Davis is the first large institution in the state to commit to achieving a September state mandate to reduce lighting energy use by 60 percent or more by 2020, and the university intends to reach that goal by 2015. Posted. http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2010/11/24/uc-davis-begins-smart-lighting.html Los Angeles County Rejects Defense Contractor's Objections to Solar Plant. The battle pitted Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., a giant defense contractor that operates a sensitive radar testing center in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles, against a proposed solar power plant project widely supported by local residents and business groups. Solar won. Posted. http://solarhbj.com/news/los-angeles-county-rejects-defense-contractors-objections-to-solar-pv-plant-01145 VEHICLES Nissan Leaf: Electric Car Runs Equivalent of 99 Miles per Gallon. The Nissan Leaf, an electric car aimed at attracting environmentally conscious motorists, will get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, based on government testing. Nissan Motor said Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel efficiency window sticker, which provides information about the car's energy use, would estimate the electric car will achieve the equivalent of 106 mpg in city driving and 92 mpg on the highway. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/green-energy/ci_16682494 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/11/epa-gives-nissan-leaf-a-rating-equivalent-to-99-mpg.html OPINION Saving at the Pump during that Thanksgiving Drive. The long drive to grandma's house for Thanksgiving is invaluable for family bonds but tough on the pocketbook in these recessionary times. What if your car got 60 miles to the gallon instead of the current 22.4 miles per gallon? The Obama administration is developing new fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks for the 2017-2025 model years with the goal of curbing pollution and saving your pocketbook. California has been a leader in energy efficiency. Since California passed its California Clean Cars law in 2002, 14 other states have passed stronger laws limiting tailpipe emissions. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=77597#ixzz16DkY48jC Let's Really Clear the Air. Valley motorists will be hit with a new $12 fee on each car they register. That's the result of a $29 million penalty imposed because the Valley air district, which covers San Joaquin County south to Kern County, violated allowed ozone levels in August. The violation came in the middle of a heat wave and just as back-to-school traffic pushed ozone pollution over the top. Posted. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101124/A_OPINION01/11240306/-1/A_OPINION BLOGS World Faces A Greenhouse Gas Emissions Gap, U.N. Says. The emissions reduction pledges made by countries around the world fall well short of what is needed to keep global temperatures from rising by 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, according to a new United Nations report. The findings of the U.N. Environment Programme's report, released Tuesday, show nations could deliver almost 60 percent of the carbon cuts needed over the next decade to meet the target climate negotiators embraced in Copenhagen a year ago. Posted. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2010/11/world_faces_a_greenhouse_gas_e.html Climate: Be Afraid of Global Warming. But Not Too Afraid. Over on the mainpage, I have a Going Green column on a forthcoming psychology study that found that news articles and other messages that emphasize the scariest, most catastrophic possible impacts of global warming actually increase climate change skepticism, not the other way around. You can read about it here, and for more detail check out a post by Andrew Revkin on the same subject at Dot Earth. here. Posted. http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/11/22/climate-be-afraid-of-global-warming-but-not-too-afraid/#ixzz16E1rmtAB Report: Cleaner Cars Could Put More Pumpkin Pies on Americans Tables. Environment California has been leading the charge for a cleaner automobile fleet for California and the rest of the country for years. Earlier today, they released a new report, Gobbling Less Gas for Thanksgiving, promoting a “sixty miles per gallon” fuel efficiency mandate for American cars to be in place by 2025. If that goal seems unrealistic considering that the average miles per gallon for the American fleet is only 26.4 miles per gallon today, consider that recent studies show that American cars are 99% cleaner today than they were fifty years ago. Posted. http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/11/23/report-cleaner-cars-could-put-more-pumpkin-pies-on-americans-tables/