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California Air Resources Board News Clips for August 9, 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.

AIR POLLUTION

Feds to Help on Pollution. People in Mira Loma and San Bernardino
have been fighting for years to reduce air pollution that
disproportionately affects children and poor neighborhoods in the
Inland area. Both communities are hot zones for microscopic
diesel emissions that penetrate deep into the lungs, dramatically
increasing the risk of cancer and respiratory problems. Posted. 
http://www.pe.com/columns/cassiemacduff/stories/PE_News_Local_D_cass09.3f83dc2.html

CLIMTE CHANGE

EPA set to miss deadline on ozone rules.  The Obama
administration, facing withering criticism from industry that
environmental rules are behind the stalled economy, appears
poised to miss another key deadline for new standards to clean up
smog, lobbyists and environmentalists contend.  After agreeing to
work with environmentalists who had sued over the standards, the
Environmental Protection Agency has delayed issuing rules on
low-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, four times since
2010.  Posted. 
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-ozone-20110809,0,6836518.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fscience%2Fenvironment+%28L.A.+Times+-+Environment%29&utm_content=Google+Reader


GREEN ENERGY

Schools of fish help squeeze more power from wind farms.  A new
wind farm design mimics a school of fish to exploit wind
turbulence, and could dramatically improve power output. 
Familiar propeller-style wind turbines with large sweeping blades
have almost reached their limit of efficiency.  But in a wind
farm, they must be spaced widely apart to avoid turbulence from
the other turbines.  This has limited wind farm power output to
around two watts per square metre of land at favourable sites. 
Posted.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14452133 

Huge San Benito County solar farm proposal has its day in court. 
A proposal to build one of the world's largest solar farms south
of Silicon Valley had its day in court Monday as a long-simmering
battle between the Bay Area investors supporting the project and
environmentalists who say it will harm wildlife finally came
before a judge.  At the center of the debate is a $1.8 billion,
399-megawatt solar farm proposed for Panoche Valley, an arid
expanse of rangeland and barbed wire 50 miles southeast of
Hollister.  Posted. 
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_18641569?source=rss
http://www.contracostatimes.com/science/ci_18641569 

FERC pulls plug on Northern Calif. wave power project. Wave
power's prospects in California suffered another setback last
week when federal regulators quietly yanked a permit for a pilot
project that was to operate off the coast of Sonoma County in the
northern part of the state. The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission told the Sonoma County Water Agency that it will
cancel a permit issued in 2009 for a "hydrokinetic" project off
the coast because of a lack of funds.  Posted.  BY SUBSCRIPTION
ONLY.  http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2011/08/09/8/

Innovations create major gains in wind energy. While many wind
turbines built 30 years ago, when high oil prices boosted
interest in the industry, have experienced serious issues, the
technology has vastly improved and wind farm operators have
learned ways to run the turbines more efficiently. In recent
years, operators have discovered the importance of turning off
the machines in high winds and finding the most effective
locations for the farms at the outset. Turbines have also
increased in size and capacity. Posted.  BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2011/08/09/9/ 

VEHICLES

Obama calling for fuel standards for big vehicles.  Fire trucks
and concrete mixers, semis, heavy-duty pickups and all trucks in
between will, for the first time, have to trim fuel consumption
and emissions of heat-trapping gases under new efficiency
standards being announced Tuesday by President Barack Obama.  The
White House says the standards the president was announcing will
save businesses billions of dollars in fuel costs, help reduce
oil consumption and cut air pollution. The standards apply to
vehicle model years 2014 to 2018.  Posted. 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=TXBEA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


AP Newsbreak:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/obama-to-announce-first-ever-fuel-standards-for-work-trucks-buses-other-heavy-duty-vehicles/2011/08/09/gIQAtgsu3I_story.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/9/obama-calling-fuel-standards-big-vehicles/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/09/national/w000631D16.DTL

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/aug/09/obama-to-announce-fuel-standards-for-big/
http://www.nctimes.com/news/science/article_9702b650-6bdb-538e-92cd-a11b6330dd55.html
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18643948?nclick_check=1 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18643932 
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18643941 

Truck Makers Face Fuel-Efficiency Rules. The Obama administration
will require truck manufacturers to meet new fuel-efficiency
standards lowering carbon-dioxide emissions for large trucks and
buses by as much as 20% by 2018. The rules, which President
Barack Obama will unveil Tuesday, are the first-ever for the
commercial-truck industry and will apply to large vehicles such
as 18-wheelers, garbage trucks and delivery trucks. The
administration will require manufacturers to begin offering more
fuel-efficient vehicles as early as 2014 with the biggest
reductions coming by 2018. Posted.  BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904140604576496712022208854.html?KEYWORDS=vehicles

Liquid flow battery could slash electric car charge times.  If
we've said it once, we've said it roughly two or three dozen
times: electric cars are a long way from mainstream adoption.
Their limited range, long recharge times and prohibitive pricing
all mean they're more suited to Dharma H Ippie than Joe P Ublic. 
That could soon be about to change, however, if scientists at 24M
Technologies and MIT get their way. They're working on a
super-affordable semi-solid flow battery, dubbed Cambridge Crude,
that could allow an electric car to be recharged in minutes using
infrastructure already in place at petrol stations.  Posted. 
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/cartech/liquid-flow-battery-could-slash-electric-car-charge-times-50004657/


OPINION

No clean air without clean cars.  WITH summer holidays upon us,
Marinites are making travel plans. This year, more than last,
many must factor in the high cost of gas.  Average Californians
now spend 7.19 percent of their income on gas; a 2.54 percent
increase from 2010. The price of oil has increased by 25 percent
since Jan.1.  This increase, in addition to limiting travel, also
impacts summer bank accounts.  Californians will likely spend
more than $15 billion on gas this summer, making it a lot harder
for them to enjoy holiday weekends while increasing our
dependence on oil.  Posted. 
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_18641276 

BLOGS

Study: Researchers At Ford, U Of M Say Enough Lithium Exists To
Power Electric Vehicles Til 2100.  A team of researchers from the
University of Michigan and Ford has assessed the global
availability of lithium and compared it to the potential demand
from widespread use of electric vehicles. The result? Don't you
worry your pretty little head about it. The researchers concluded
that sufficient lithium exist to power electric vehicles through
until 2100 or beyond. Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/08/09/researchers-at-ford-u-of-m-say-enough-lithium-exists-to-power-e/

Yosemite Installs Largest National Park Solar Array.  Yosemite
National Park is known for El Capitan and the breathtaking views
captured by Ansel Adams, but visitors may soon remember another
sight from their trip.  Yosemite has installed the largest solar
power array of all the national parks with a 672 kW system that
will provide 12 percent of the park's power needs. Posted. 
http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3572

New Study Shows That Bike Sharing Programs Actually Save Lives. 
We have long touted the benefits and general awesomeness of bike
sharing. Not only is it a cheap and easy way to zip around
cities, but swapping a pedal-powered two wheeler for a
gas-guzzling car is one of the easiest ways to curb carbon
emissions and make our world a greener place. But now we have an
even better reason to promote bike sharing: they actually save
lives. Posted. 
http://inhabitat.com/new-study-shows-that-bike-sharing-programs-save-lives/

UK Opens Free Solar-Powered Highway EV Charging Network from
Ecotricity.  The first three of many free EV charging points have
just opened in the UK in Hertfordshire, Reading, and
Gloucestershire. The Ecotricity charging points will be part of a
network of free, 100% green energy powered charging stations
expected to be completely installed by September that are juiced
up with energy from Ecotricity’s solar or wind energy parks
across the UK. Posted. 
http://inhabitat.com/uk-opens-free-solar-powered-highway-ev-charging-network-from-ecotricit/