What's New List Serve Post Display

California Air Resources Board News Clips for June 2, 2011.  

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

World Bank, cities pledge greenhouse gas reduction.  SAO PAULO --
The World Bank and 40 cities from around the world joined forces
Wednesday with a pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The
bank reached the agreement with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership
Group, a coalition founded in 2005 with the aim of reducing
carbon emissions. Its chairman is New York City Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg.  Bloomberg, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and
former President Bill Clinton announced the new partnership
during the opening session of the C40 Large Cities Climate
Summit.  Posted.  
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/06/01/financial/f105659D95.DTL
http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/01/1713606/world-bank-cities-pledge-greenhouse.html

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18183399 
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18183399

World Bank Approves Carbon-Trade Plan Grants for Eight Nations. 
June 2 (Bloomberg News) -- The World Bank approved grants for
eight countries to help them analyze and design greenhouse- gas
trading programs.  Chile, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Indonesia,
Mexico, Thailand and Turkey each received an initial grant of
$350,000, the bank said today in a statement. The grants are the
first under the Partnership for Market Readiness, a World Bank
initiative started at the last United Nations climate summit in
Cancun, Mexico.  Posted. 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/06/02/bloomberg1376-LM5R1Q1A1I4H01-75QM6VJUAHBFVP5AODT3UTPCR2.DTL


After explosive growth, global carbon markets stall and begin to
shrink.  UNITED NATIONS -- After five years of rapid growth, the
global carbon market has stalled.  From an estimated market value
of about $15 billion in 2005, the practice of trading in
greenhouse gas emissions allowances and carbon emission offsets
credits has enjoyed rapid growth, exploding tenfold to reach a
record value of close to $144 billion in 2009. Emissions trading
doubled in 2008 alone.  Posted. 
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2011/06/02/2/ 

FUELS

Biofuel businesses protest new protections for kitchen grease. 
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Yellow kitchen grease has become as good as gold
as gasoline prices soar and biodiesel fuel becomes more
appealing.  Just as one industry's waste becomes a hot commodity
for another, a slippery underworld of fry crooks - kitchen-oil
rustlers who strike stealthily with siphon and hose - has
emerged.  North Carolina state Rep. John Torbett, a Republican,
has proposed a bill aimed at reining in the banditry. But the
proposal has kicked up a fuss among small businesses that see
more than a hint of green in the alternate fuel source.  Posted. 
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/02/3671367/biofuel-businesses-protest-new.html#storylink=misearch


Cleaner fuels may eventually 'cap' fossil fuel prices – analyst. 
Alternative and zero-carbon sources of energy will put a cap on
prices for oil, coal and natural gas, the CEO of Bloomberg New
Energy Finance said yesterday.  "Those who think there's going to
be an oil price of $200 because of the rise of China or the rise
of India, they're just wrong," said Michael Liebreich at a forum
in Washington sponsored by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies.  Posted. 
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2011/06/02/7/ 

VEHICLES

Automakers, Obama on collision course.  Two years after a federal
bailout saved Detroit from a complete collapse, U.S. automakers
are trying to put the brakes on President Barack Obama’s hopes of
raising fuel economy standards for cars and light-duty trucks to
as high as 62 miles per gallon by 2025.  Auto industry officials
are pressing everyone from White House chief of staff Bill Daley
to House Speaker John Boehner and California Gov. Jerry Brown in
a late lobbying blitz to make sure they don't get the short end
of the stick.  Posted BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 
https://www.politicopro.com/go/?id=3711 

Electric car fast-chargers coming to I-5 in Ore.  GRANTS PASS,
Ore. -- A series of fast-charging stations for electric cars will
be installed this year along Interstate 5 in Southern Oregon to
become one of the first links in a Green Highway stretching down
the West Coast from Canada to Mexico.  The Oregon Department of
Transportation announced Wednesday that AeroVironment has been
chosen to build eight level-3 DC fast-charging stations between
Eugene and the California border under a $700,000 federal
stimulus grant. The Monrovia, Calif.-based company manufactures
unmanned aircraft and industrial charging stations for electric
forklifts and aircraft tenders.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/01/1713258/electric-car-fast-chargers-coming.html

http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/06/01/2410062/electric-car-fast-chargers-coming.html#storylink=misearch


China launches pure electric vehicle production hub.  The company
will produce 3,000 vehicles annually along with 10,000 core
components on a 300,000 square meter complex in Wuhan, China,
expecting revenues amounting to 11 billion yuan per year.  Yuanda
Ruihua’s models combine lithium-ion batteries and super
capacitors.The super capacitor stores energy statically and
discharges the energy when a circuit breaker is removed. Super
capacitors operate with batteries to ensure faster discharge,
greater acceleration and consistency in energy transmission to
the drivetrain.  Posted. 
http://www.cars21.com/content/articles/59420110602.php?AlertDate=2011-06-01


Plug-in and Hybrid Locomotives; Another Sweet Spot for Axion
Power.  I'm a cynic and a heretic when it comes to plug-in
vehicle schemes because most defy the laws of economic gravity
and violate a cardinal rule that Ford engineers developed for the
EcoStar light delivery vehicle program in the early '90s: – The
unloaded weight of a plug-in vehicle should never exceed 70% of
its loaded weight. Investors who pay attention to this simple
rule can easily distinguish between pipe-dream vehicle
electrification schemes that are nothing more than feel-good
eco-bling and realistic vehicle electrification projects that
make economic sense.  Posted. 
http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2011/06/ 

Feds follow Calif. on fuel economy labels for cars.  The nation's
lead environmental agency is again following in California's
footsteps – or tire tracks – when it comes to cars. The
Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation
unveiled new fuel economy labels for vehicles last week that
resemble those used in the Golden State.  This is another step
toward more closely aligning federal policies with California's
strict pollution standards for cars and trucks.  Posted. 
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/feds-follow-calif-fuel-economy-labels-cars-10543


Shortages drive up costs; fewer cars drive off lots. U.S. auto
sales cooled off in May as dealers started running short on some
popular, fuel-efficient models and buyers were turned off by
sharply lower incentives. Deals aren't likely to come back until
the end of this summer. Some experts are advising people to delay
their purchases if they can. Posted. 
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011106020303

BLOGS

If we need taxes, why not pollution taxes?  Let's start with the
obvious: Most Democrats (and, for that matter, most of the
bipartisan deficit panels that are churning out endless white
papers right now) agree that we can't tackle our long-term debt
issues through spending cuts alone. Some sort of tax reform that
raises revenue will have to get thrown into the ring. So why not
do that through a tax on carbon pollution or other assorted
environmental unpleasantries? After all, if we have to raise
revenue, we may as well slap higher taxes on behavior we'd like
to discourage (like pollution and congestion) rather than, say,
labor, no?  Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/if-we-need-taxes-why-not-pollution-taxes/2011/06/01/AGRH9UGH_blog.html


Despite Lawsuit, California Business Leaders Support a State
Cap-and-Trade System. California CEOs and business leaders sent a
letter to Governor Jerry Brown urging him to not revise
California’s cap-and-trade system. The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) is developing the details of the system, which has
come under fire from environmental justice groups. The groups
went as far as filing a lawsuit to stop CARB from implementing
the system, claiming that CARB didn’t explore alternatives to cap
and trade and that the systems allows the worst polluters to keep
polluting, which can have a serious impact on local air quality.
Posted.  http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/06/ca-cap-and-trade/

Cities Reach Climate Pact with World Bank. In Thursday’s Times,
Alexei Barrionuevo reports from Brazil on an agreement signed by
the World Bank and mayors of the world’s biggest cities to
finance projects aimed at limiting the impact of climate change.
(Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, attending the mayors’ climate
conference in Săo Paulo, is among the signatories.) Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/cities-reach-climate-pact-with-world-bank/?scp=10&sq=climate%20change&st=cse

Costs Impede City’s Switch to Clean Boiler Fuel. This year New
York City took a big step toward improving air quality by
requiring that buildings phase out use of the most polluting
grades of heating oil. But a report released on Wednesday by the
Manhattan borough president’s office notes that the conversions
could be slowed by challenges related to costs, especially from
rent-controlled buildings with low operating incomes. Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/costs-impede-citys-switch-to-clean-boiler-fuel/?scp=3&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

Where’s the carbon? NASA maps it.  Half of it is held in the
forests of Latin America. Brazil alone has nearly as much as all
of sub-Saharan Africa.  For the first time, NASA scientists have
mapped precisely how much carbon is locked in the world’s
tropical forests — a key to understanding climate change. 
Posted. 
http://sciencedude.ocregister.com/2011/06/01/wheres-the-carbon-nasa-maps-it/129169/