What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for May 23, 2012. 

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

EU appeals to China to join global emissions talks. A European
envoy held out a possible compromise in a fight with China over
carbon emissions charges on airlines, saying Wednesday that
Europe might alter its system if Beijing helps negotiate global
regulations. China, India, the United States and Russia oppose
the European Union charges that took effect Jan. 1. Beijing has
barred its carriers from cooperating and has suspended purchases
of European aircraft. Talks on a global system have begun in the
International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. body, said
Matthew Baldwin, director of aviation for the 27-nation EU.
Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/may/23/eu-appeals-to-china-to-join-global-emissions/#ixzz1vi0zcU4Y
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_20687596/eu-appeals-china-join-global-emissions-talks?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_20687596/eu-appeals-china-join-global-emissions-talks?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

FUELS

BLM announces its intent to regulate mine methane releases. The
Bureau of Land Management has notified the White House of its
intention to regulate methane emissions from coal mines on public
land. A pre-rule notice to the White House Office of Management
and Budget said BLM is considering proposing rules "concerning
the capture, sale or destruction of waste mine methane." The
agency said its goal is to comply with executive and secretarial
orders requiring the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/05/23/4  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

INDUSTRY: Low-emission vehicles in use at landfill. Houston-based
Waste Management Inc. has introduced eight natural gas-fueled
transfer trailers at its El Sobrante Landfill in Corona. Transfer
trailers are used to move trash from surrounding communities to
the landfill. The trailers are the first of their kind at the
landfill, with better fuel efficiency and near-zero emissions,
according to a news release. The trucks and trailers are part of
the company’s goal of reducing fleet emissions by 15 percent by
2020. Earlier this year the Corona landfill invested in a
diesel-and-electric hybrid bulldozer. About 80 percent of Waste
Management collection trucks serving Western Riverside County run
on compressed or liquid natural gas, the company said. Posted. 
http://www.pe.com/business/business-headlines/20120521-industry-low-emission-vehicles-in-use-at-landfill.ece

GREEN ENERGY

Britain Says It Will Add Reactors for Energy. Britain announced
plans Tuesday to finance a new generation of nuclear power plants
and renewable energy facilities, in a move that illustrates the
differences in energy policies among European Union countries as
the bloc grapples with the challenge of reconciling economic and
environmental objectives. While Germany intends to phase out
nuclear power, and France’s new president, François Hollande,
says he hopes to reduce his country’s reliance on it, the British
government appears to be moving in the opposite direction with
its proposals, which are intended to attract $175 billion in
investment to build new reactors and renewable energy plants.
Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/world/europe/british-energy-plan-would-add-nuclear-plants.html

After 2 years, SF's solar projects still on hold. Critics
question city's commitment to renewable energy. Despite promising
to install solar panels on as many municipal buildings as
possible, including City Hall and Davies Symphony Hall, San
Francisco has not awarded contracts for solar projects in nearly
three years. The city has attributed much of the delay to a labor
issue that has taken two years to resolve. But some critics argue
that the city has allowed bids for such projects to languish, at
the expense of both green jobs and climate change initiatives.
Posted.
http://www.baycitizen.org/energy/story/sfs-solar-projects-still-hold/

MISCELLANEOUS

Group that backed downtown stadium criticizes environmental
report. The Natural Resources Defense Council says the document
on the proposed football stadium failed to fully analyze
traffic-related health risks. An environmental group that has
supported a proposed downtown Los Angeles football stadium and
helped the developer secure special treatment in the courts
issued a sharply worded critique Tuesday of environmental
documents prepared for the project. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0523-me-nfl-stadium-20120523,0,3843572.story

Stiffer pavement can drive up fuel efficiency – study. Getting
better fuel economy isn't just about the type of car and how it's
driven; it's also about what the car is driven on, according to a
new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research
produced by MIT's Concrete Sustainability Hub found that using
stiffer pavement on roads across the United States could reduce
fuel consumption by up to 3 percent. Those savings could amount
to using 273 million fewer barrels of crude oil per year, valued
at $15.6 billion at today's oil prices, and decrease carbon
dioxide emissions by 46.5 million metric tons. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/05/23/9 BY
SUBCRIPTION ONLY

OPINIONS

Has blazing a trail in solar energy cost California too much?
California leads the nation in solar power, but the proliferation
of home installations has been fueled by electric rate
incentives. A battle over how much longer they will be available
is being waged. That ray of light you see peeking through all the
clouds darkening California's future? That's the sun. More
specifically, solar power, in which California is the hands-down
national leader. The state's installed solar generating capacity
of about 1.2 gigawatts…Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120523,0,1359952.column?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fbusiness+%28L.A.+Times+-+Business%29

Hydroelectric definition as non-renewable is just fine. Re
"Exclusion of hydro is foolish" (Dan Walters, May 21): The
Renewable Portfolio Standard is not "foolish" because it excludes
large hydroelectric facilities. This definition of renewables has
been used since passage of the Private Power Producers Act in
1976 where large hydroelectric is defined as "conventional
generation." Since then, California's policy has been to
encourage a diverse portfolio of renewable energy resources.
Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/22/4506570/hydroelectric-definition-is-just.html

Keep clean energy accounting clean, minus hydropower. Re
"Shouldn't hydro count against the carbon reduction mandate?"
(Dan Walters, May 21): Excluding large hydroelectric dams from
California’s renewable energy goals is good public policy. For
example, allowing Hoover Dam, which was built in the 1930s, to
count toward the renewable energy goals of the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power would prevent hundreds of new jobs
from being created and it would dilute the overall effectiveness
of a policy that is designed to spur the development of
technologies, like solar and wind, that have a real future in our
state. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/22/4506096/keep-clean-energy-clean.html

Cap-and-trade will encourage move to clean energy.  It is
discouraging to see our state's landmark law on climate and clean
energy, the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32), under
attack again. The investment and innovation unleashed by AB32 is
creating jobs and is spurring transformation of our buildings,
vehicles, lighting and energy generation systems to run cleaner,
smarter and more efficiently.  While the law continues to enjoy
broad public support, you would not know that if you listened to
those who would keep our state addicted to the dirty ways of the
past. Posted. 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/22/ED2N1OKERH.DTL

BLOGS

Green Roofs in Big Cities Bring Relief From Above. It’s spring —
time to plant your roof. Roofs, like coffee, used to be black
tar. Now both have gone gourmet:  for roofs, the choices are
white, green, blue and solar-panel black. All are green in one
sense.  In different ways, each helps to solve serious
environmental problems.  One issue is air pollution, which needs
no introduction. The second is the urban heat island. Because
cities have lots of dark surfaces that absorb heat and relatively
little green cover, they tend to be hotter than surrounding areas
— the average summer temperature in NewYork City is more than 7
degrees hotter than in the Westchester suburbs. Posted. 
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/in-urban-jungles-green-roofs-bring-relief-from-above/

Trendspotting: Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of the Cloud. Did
the Greenpeace “Clean our Cloud” campaign nudge Apple toward a
stronger environmental stance? Since April, the environmental
organization Greenpeace has had a bull’s-eye on Apple in its
campaign to clean up the Internet “Cloud” that stores our music,
apps, and photos. It’s accused Apple of using high-carbon “dirty
fuels” like coal to power its new data center in North Carolina
and has used dramatic pranks and slick videos to get consumers
involved. Posted.
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2012/05/22/trendspotting-a-greener-apple-vows-to-clean-up-the-icloud/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FClimateWatchBlog+%28KQED%27s+Climate+Watch+Blog%29

Obama administration rethinking support for hydrogen fuel-cell
vehicles. This is one political flip-flop scenario that could
actually please some constituents. The Obama Administration might
reverse its policy of cutting support for hydrogen fuel-cell
electric vehicle development (FCEV) in favor of battery-electric
vehicles by putting more resources towards FCEV advancement,
Slate reports. U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu
recently spoke at a private event and supported expansion of
hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, Slate said, citing ex-Shell USA
President John Hofmeister. Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/05/22/obama-administration-rethinking-support-for-hydrogen-fuel-cell-v/

Toyota sells over four million hybrids worldwide. A million here,
a million there. Sooner or later, those numbers add up. Toyota
announced today it has sold over four million hybrids around the
world since introducing the first Prius in Japan all the way back
in 1997. Sales were slow, at first, but the pace is now picking
up. For example, it was around 14 months ago that Toyota
announced it had sold three million hybrids around the world.
With the sales success of the newly introduced V, C and Plug-In
models and Toyota looking for hybrid production capacity in the
U.S…Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/05/22/toyota-sells-over-four-million-hybrids-worldwide/#continued