What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for January 3, 2014. 

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.


CAP AND TRADE

Quebec-California partnership blazes trail for carbon trading. 
The province of Quebec formally linked its cap-and-trade system
with California’s market on Thursday, as the two jurisdictions
plow ahead with ambitious plans to put an escalating price on
carbon in order to reduce emissions.  Quebec and California are
the only members moving forward with cap-and-trade programs in
what was once a promising alliance of 11 states and provinces
comprising the Western Climate Initiative that envisaged a North
American market for carbon trading.  Posted. 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/quebec-and-california-press-ahead-with-carbon-trading-plan/article16176708/


AIR POLLUTION

Lingering Dry Weather Prompts Another Spare The Air Day Friday. 
The Bay Area is experiencing a winter with some of the worst air
quality in years as a fourth consecutive “Winter Spare the Air”
day was announced for Friday.  Friday will be the 26th day this
season that an alert has been issued by the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District, which is banning wood burning in the region
because of poor air quality.  A dry, stagnant weather pattern
with little wind continues to linger in the Bay Area and does not
appear to be leaving any time soon, air district officials said. 
Posted. 
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/01/03/lingering-dry-weather-prompts-another-spare-the-air-day-friday/


Bay Area Experiencing Worst Air Quality Since 2006.  The Bay Area
is experiencing a winter with some of the worst air quality in
years as a fourth consecutive “Winter Spare the Air” day was
announced for Friday.  Friday will be the 26th day this season
that an alert has been issued by the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District, which is banning wood burning in the region
because of poor air quality.  A dry, stagnant weather pattern
with little wind continues to linger in the Bay Area and does not
appear to be leaving any time soon, air district officials said. 
Posted. 
http://sfappeal.com/2014/01/bay-area-experiencing-worst-air-quality-since-2006/


EPA moves to regulate new wood stoves.  The Environmental
Protection Agency moved Friday to curb emissions of particles and
other pollutants from residential wood stoves and other
wood-fired appliances built after 2015 in an effort to curb a
form of pollution that can present a significant health problem
in parts of the country.  The proposed new rules would require
manufacturers of wood stoves, wood pellet stoves, forced-air wood
furnaces, hydronic heaters and masonry heaters to build a
generation of appliances that burn 80 percent more cleanly than
current models.  Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epa-moves-to-regulate-new-wood-stoves/2014/01/03/b08cb232-7484-11e3-8b3f-b1666705ca3b_story.html
 

Air district offering money for clean fireplaces.  The San
Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is accepting
applications for its Burn Clean Program in an effort to encourage
more clean burning fireplaces.  As part of the program, Valley
residents can get incentive money when they replace their old
wood or pellet burning device with new, cleaner hearth options
such as a natural gas insert or an EPA Phase II certified wood
insert.  Incentives are limited to $500 for the purchase of a
freestanding natural gas stove or insert, $250 for a certified
pellet stove or insert and $100 for a certified wood stove or
insert.  Posted. 
http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/news/energy-and-environment/10208-air-district-offering-money-for-clean-fireplaces


Wood smoke is a health concern.  With the arrival of cooler
temperatures, the American Lung Association in California is
urging the public to avoid using wood-burning heating devices in
favor of cleaner burning alternatives such as electric, natural
gas, propane and pellet stoves.  Burning wood emits harmful
toxins and fine particles into the air that can worsen asthma and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  “Breathing particle
pollution or soot can shorten life and send those most at risk to
the emergency room,” said Dr. Kari Nadeau, a researcher and
volunteer physician for the ALA in California.  Posted. 
http://www.thecamarilloacorn.com/news/2014-01-03/Health_%28and%29_Wellness/Wood_smoke_is_a_health_concern.html


FUELS

Firms investing to fuel demand for natural gas vehicles.  Texas
billionaire T. Boone Pickens thinks his long bet on natural gas
is finally paying off.  The legendary oilman has long declared it
his mission to wean America off its addiction to foreign oil. He
co-founded an Orange County company that builds natural gas
stations around the country and sank billions into wind turbines.
 Pickens' gambles have not always paid off. He lost an estimated
$150 million of his personal fortune in wind farming, and admits
that he was a couple of decades early into natural gas.  Posted. 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-natural-gas-stations-20140103,0,5424680.story#axzz2pMUK2kaa


BLOGS

With a bit of luck, the U.S. could actually hit its 2020 climate
change goals.  This week, the U.S. State Department released its
2014 Climate Action Report, explaining how the Obama
administration plans to meet its official goal of cutting U.S.
greenhouse-gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
That's considered a first step toward building a new
international treaty to address global warming.  Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/03/with-a-bit-of-luck-the-u-s-could-actually-hit-its-2020-climate-change-goals/


As Battery Cost Falls, Fast-Charging Becomes Key Electric-Car
Issue.  It's a given that the costs of batteries for electric
cars will fall in the coming years.  The industry hotly debates
how much and how fast--after interviewing numerous auto and
battery engineers, our figure is around 7 percent a year--but by
2020 or so, costs may be as low as half what they were in 2011
when the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt launched.  The large-volume
makers--BMW, GM, Nissan, and Tesla today--will benefit most from
these economies of scale, but even lower-volume and
compliance-car makers will find their costs falling.  Posted. 
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1089401_as-battery-cost-falls-fast-charging-becomes-key-electric-car-issue


Cloud shortage will push temperatures higher as climate warms. 
Climate scientists have looked to the heavens for help with their
latest decades-long weather forecast. Their conclusion? “Oh, my
god.”  Science has long struggled to forecast how global
temperatures will be affected by a doubling of carbon dioxide
levels in the atmosphere compared with pre-industrial times,
which looks likely to occur this century. Recent consensus
suggests that temperatures will rise by between 1.5 and 5 degrees
Celsius (2.7 to 5.4 F). With a rise in CO2 levels to 400 parts
per million, up from 280 in the 19th Century, the world has
warmed by nearly 1 C so far.  Posted. 
http://grist.org/news/cloud-shortage-will-push-temperatures-higher-as-climate-warms/


Honda Accord Hybrid: A Long, Strange Trip It Can Be.  VISUALIZE
50 MILES, any 50 overland miles: Los Angeles to Irvine, Rochester
to Seneca Falls, from somewhere in the Carolina lowlands to
nowhere in particular, all stud pines and little houses. Fifty
miles. You wouldn't want to walk it.  Now turn, with gratitude,
to a gallon of gasoline. Go ahead, pick it up. It weighs just 6
pounds, fills a container about the size of a shoebox, yet it
represents about 114,000 BTUs of potential heat energy, depending
on the seasonal blend at the pump. Anybody who has spent time
around cars has marveled at the disproportion of it.  Posted. 
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303870704579296424164040790?KEYWORDS=green+energy