What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for August 7, 2013. 

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

Long Beach hopes mulch wall will make Hudson Park a healthier
place. City of Long Beach is testing a 12-foot-high,
600-foot-long mulch wall as a sound and pollution barrier along a
busy truck route. Long Beach has erected a new fortification in
the battle against freeway noise and air pollution, and it's
decidedly low-tech. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mulch-wall-20130807,0,2781152.story


Heavy smoke in Lode may pose health risks.  Mother Lode fitness
buffs may want to reconsider their morning workouts for the next
few days. Mornings are when unhealthy levels of smoke are likely
to be the worst in communities such as Angels Camp and Murphys
thanks to a fire in Tuolumne County. The Power Fire, burning in
the Stanislaus National Forest northeast of Beardsley Reservoir,
was at 500 acres and growing Tuesday afternoon, according to
National Forest representatives. Posted.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130807/A_NEWS/308070320&cid=sitesearch


Manage Your Environment with Air Pollution Control Equipment.
Pollutants are an inescapable side effect of doing business in
nearly every industry. With the environment serving as a constant
issue in the news, minimizing your company’s impact is a
necessity. But managing these products at an industrial grade is
different from how we handle these issues at an individual level
and requires a greater scale of machinery. Posted.
http://www.examiner.com/article/manage-your-environment-with-air-pollution-control-equipment


CLIMATE CHANGE

Investors See Climate Change as Risk That Influences Decisions:
Report. Climate change remains a material risk for a majority of
investors and, in many cases, it is increasingly influencing
their investment activities, according to a report released Aug.
5 by a coalition of global investor groups.  About 81 percent of
asset owners and 68 percent of asset managers said they view
climate change as a material risk across their entire investment
portfolio in the third annual Global Investor Survey on Climate
Change. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-06/investors-see-climate-change-as-risk-that-influences-decisions-report.html


2012 one of 10 warmest years on record, report says. Arctic sea
ice reaches record lows and greenhouse gas emissions continue to
rise, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
reports. Last year was one of the 10 hottest since global average
temperatures have been recorded, according to an assessment of
worldwide climate trends by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.  Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-noaa-heat-20130807,0,2695081.story


Noaa finds heat is on as earth continues to warm.  A new massive
federal study says the world in 2012 sweltered with continued
signs of climate change. Rising sea levels, snow melt, heat
buildup in the oceans, and melting Arctic sea ice and Greenland
ice sheets, all broke or nearly broke records, but temperatures
only sneaked into the top 10. Posted.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/aug/07/tp-noaa-finds-heat-is-on-as-earth-continues-to/


Earth Scientists Pin Climate Change Squarely On 'Humanity'. The
weather is one of those topics that is fairly easy for people to
agree on. Climate, however, is something else. Most of the
scientists who study the Earth say our climate is changing and
humans are part of what's making that happen. But to a lot of
nonscientists it's still murky. This week, two of the nation's
most venerable scientific institutions tried to explain it
better. Posted.
http://www.npr.org/2013/08/06/209462713/earth-scientists-pin-climate-change-squarely-on-humanity


International climate talks could fail without more national
actions – report. There will be no new climate change treaty in
2015 unless more nations develop domestic legislation to address
rising greenhouse gas levels, a new study concludes. In reviewing
countries' laws to reduce carbon emissions, researchers with the
Global Legislators Organization (GLOBE) argue that domestic goals
must come before, not after, an international deal. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059985701/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

FUELS

New Tools Pinpoint Natural Gas Leaks, Maximizing a Fuel’s Green
Qualities.  Natural gas is hailed as green and safe, but its
environmental benefits and ability to temper climate change are
reduced by its tendency to leak into the air undetected. Now,
laser technology, some of it borrowed from the telecommunications
industry, is giving engineers and scientists crucial new tools to
measure leaks and track them to their source. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/business/energy-environment/new-tools-pinpoint-natural-gas-leaks-maximizing-a-fuels-green-qualities.html?pagewanted=all
 

Goals Collide in Drilling Protests. On Aug. 1, six friends drove
a 1970s-era fire engine to the village of Balcombe, south of
London, and used it to block the entrance of a site where
Cuadrilla Holdings, a leader in the fledgling British shale gas
industry, was about to commence drilling. Eventually, the police
arrested the group and impounded the vehicle, which some of the
protesters had bought for the occasion. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/business/energy-environment/08iht-green08.html
 

EPA relaxes biofuel standards through 2014. Environmental
Protection Agency on Tuesday extended the deadline for meeting
biofuel goals this year and will lower renewable fuel targets for
2014, a move designed to give oil refineries more flexibility.
The 2013 rules, months late in coming, mandates that 16.55
billion gallons of renewable fuels be blended into the U.S. gas
and diesel supply, up from 15.2 billion gallons last year.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-epa-renewable-fuel-20130806,0,6599658.story

 
In a Utah gas field, potent quantities of a greenhouse gas rise
into the atmosphere – study. Methane is being emitted from a
natural gas field in Utah at a rate of 6.2 to 11.7 percent of
production, according to research accepted for publication in the
journal Geophysical Research Letters. The research adds one
important data point to the ongoing question of how much methane,
a greenhouse gas with a warming potential 25 times that of carbon
dioxide, is emitted in the life cycle of natural gas production,
transport and use. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059985703/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Prospect of ethanol hitting 'blend wall' could shake up EPA's RFS
in 2014. U.S. EPA lowered the required gallons for cellulosic
biofuels for this year yesterday, but it also gave clues on how
the agency might use its flexibility to conform with changing
realities since the federal renewable fuel standard was approved
by Congress six years ago. Yesterday, EPA cut the volume for
cellulosic biofuels -- fuels made from grasses, wood, corncobs,
trash and other low-impact sources…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059985704/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Billions stand to be made in coal plant decommissioning. Winding
down coal plants could account for a multibillion-dollar global
business by the end of the decade, according to new research.
Analysts at Navigant Research, a division of the consulting firm
by the same name, believe the coming wave of coal plant
retirements creates a market opportunity for cleanup firms.
Between now and 2020, they said in a report released yesterday,
companies that smash buildings, haul away debris and salvage
polluted land could rake in more than $5 billion. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059985699/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Texas researchers release more detail on Barnett Shale
production. University of Texas researchers released more detail
yesterday on their study of the Barnett Shale play in north
Texas, which they estimate holds 45 trillion cubic feet of
"economically recoverable" natural gas, making it a major
contributor to the nation's gas supplies through 2030, they said.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059985707/print
BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

ConocoPhillips spends $600M to get out of gas export terminal.
Oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips Co. will pay $600 million to
unwind its involvement in a Freeport, Texas, liquefied natural
gas import terminal, it said last week. The agreement, which
hinges on the facility's redevelopment for export use, would end
ConocoPhillips' contract as a customer of Freeport LNG and turn
over its 50 percent ownership share in a management company,
Freeport LNG-GP Inc., that runs the facility's operations.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059985700/print
BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Green Price War Breaks Out to Spark Interest in Electrics.  As
the auto industry struggled to recover from the recession, it
swore off the deep discounting that destroyed profits and led to
disaster. Now, a price war has erupted in the industry’s smallest
segment: electric cars. General Motors Co. (GM)’s $5,000 price
cut yesterday on its Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric vehicle came
in response to rapid-fire discounting on battery-powered models
this year. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-07/green-price-war-breaks-out-to-spark-interest-in-electrics.html
 

BAE Systems Sees Demand Rise for Hybrid-Electric Combat Vehicle. 
BAE Systems Plc (BA/), Europe’s largest defense company, may
upgrade its CV90 armored vehicle with a hybrid-electric
propulsion system as armies look to cut expenses for fuel that
can be many times the price paid at a civil gas station. “A
requirement we are seeing more and more often is environmental
issues in terms of fuel economy,” Dan Lindell, CV90 platform
manager, told reporters yesterday at a briefing in London.
Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-07/bae-systems-sees-demand-rise-for-hybird-electric-combat-vehicle.html


Range Resources purchases 180 natural gas vehicles.  Range
Resources Corp. has purchased 180 natural gas powered vehicles to
serve operations in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and other states. The
Fort Worth, Texas-based gas drilling company says in a Wednesday
release that it purchased Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and Ram 2500
pickup trucks from the manufacturers. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/07/2849957/range-resources-purchases-180.html#storylink=cpy


Hybrid, EV car sales ramping up — slowly.  Herlica Garcia can
still remember her daily commute from Downey to Rancho Cucamonga.
In her Nissan Murano, the 90-mile roundtrip was costing her $70 a
week. But that was before she bought her 2010 Toyota Prius III,
which whittled that down to about $10 to $15 a week. The
31-year-old Downey resident, who now works in Torrance, said her
hybrid has made all the difference. Posted.
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_23807227#ixzz2bIlbceYn 

New survey tells you what a new car costs to drive. Every new car
window sticker shows the estimated cost of fuel for a year, but
that figure may not reflect the miles you drive. A new survey
does that math for you. GasBuddy.com, a website that uses data
from volunteers, gas stations and other sources to keep track of
gas prices nationwide, ranked more than 750 vehicles from the
2013 model year based on the cost of fuel per mile driven.
Posted.
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_23813952/new-survey-tells-you-what-new-car-costs?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com


SMUD to install fast electric car chargers. The Sacramento
Municipal Utility District will be deploying four or five fast
electric car chargers that can recharge the most modern electric
vehicles in 30 minutes. There will be one installed at SMUD’s
headquarters and at locations at the edges of the county, such as
off Interstate 80 near Citrus Heights, off Interstate 5 in Elk
Grove, off Highway 50 in Folsom and up north on Interstate 5.
Posted.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2013/08/06/smud-to-install-fast-electric-car-charge.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_sacramento+%28Sacramento+Business+Journal%29
 

Exclusive interview with Bryan Batista, EU sales director, Tesla
Motors. Bryan Batista: The car is shipped in parts: the chassis,
the body interior, wheels, the battery and the drive train. The
parts have already been arriving in Europe since early July. They
are delivered in Tilburg, in the south of the Netherlands, where
our assembly facility is. European customers will start to
receive their Model S in August. cars21.com: In terms of volume,
can we already know how many cars in Europe you expect to deliver
for this year? Posted. http://www.cars21.com/news/view/5553 
 
GREEN ENERGY

Leasing solar a cost-saving option for homeowners.  Ben Kunz
wanted to do "the green thing" and save on his electric bill
without paying a lot of money up front. So instead of buying a
solar system for his house in Cheshire, Conn., he leased one. "I
thought it was a pretty good deal," he said. "I lean a little
environmentalist so I'm concerned about global warming."
Increasing numbers of U.S. homeowners are relying on the sun to
meet much of their hot water and electricity needs. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/Leasing-solar-a-cost-saving-option-for-homeowners-4709210.php


What are the greenest airlines in the world?  Want to fly with a
green conscience? Fly United Airlines, airberlin, Qantas or Air
Canada. Because according to the 2013 Eco-Aviation Awards hosted
by Air Transport World, these are the greenest airlines in the
world, whether it be for building a fuel-efficient fleet, making
concerted efforts to reduce fuel burn or exploring sustainable
fuels. Posted. 
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_23805800/what-are-greenest-airlines-world#ixzz2bIlxPNLl


Google pushes ahead with renewable energy. Google stops short of
bold proclamations about a grand vision for its sustainability
strategy, but on one critical metric, at least, Google is leagues
ahead: greening the energy it uses to power its way to
billion-dollar revenues. "We ask, what can we do to get us to a
place where clean energy is an option for everyone?" said Rick
Needham, director of energy and sustainability. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059985694/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

MISCELLANEOUS

Poor preparation before hurricanes leads to pollution afterward –
report. Petroleum refineries along the Gulf Coast are not
prepared to handle hurricanes, and the operators use weather as
an excuse for polluting air and water, according to a new report.
Hurricane Isaac, a Category 1 storm, made landfall on Aug. 28,
2012, on a coast crowded with petrochemical, oil, gas and coal
facilities. The facilities later released 12.9 million gallons of
oil, chemicals and untreated wastewater, and 192 tons of gases
and other materials. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059985690/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

BLOGS

Volkswagen Reveals Cleaner, More Powerful Diesel Engine. In the
United States, Volkswagen has been one of the few automakers to
consistently offer diesel-powered passenger cars over the past
several decades. But with more manufacturers – even American ones
– stepping up to the diesel plate, VW is ratcheting up its game
with a new line of diesel engines. Posted.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/volkswagen-reveals-cleaner-more-powerful-diesel-engines/?_r=0
 

SOLAR HOMES: Pardee VP a judge in China’s 1st solar decathlon. 
Joyce Mason, vice president of marketing for Pardee Homes, is one
of 15 judges in China’s inaugural Solar Decathlon. The event,
organized by Peking University in the Shanxi Province, is a first
on the Asian continent. Twenty homes, created by college and
university student teams from nations in six continents will be
showcased in the Aug. 2-13 decathlon event. Posted.
http://blog.pe.com/2013/08/06/solar-power-pardee-homes-vp-a-judge-in-chinas-1st-solar-decathlon/


SoCal Edison says electric vehicle surge has not overtaxed its
grid —yet. Southern California Edison on Tuesday issued its first
report on how the growth in the use of electric vehicles in its
territory has affected its grid, and the news — at least
according to the investor-owned utility — is good. Despite
initial fears that the popularity of the plug-in vehicles might
overtax the utility's grid that has not yet happened. Posted.
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2013/08/06/14446/so-cal-edison-says-electric-vehicle-surge-has-not/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+893KpccSouthernCaliforniaNews+%28KPCC%3A+News%29


Feds Report Record Growth In Wind Industry, Some Surprising
Results. According to new reports from the U.S. Department of
Energy, the nation's wind power sector is growing faster than
ever before. Wind power was the United States' single largest
source of new electrical generating capacity installed in 2012,
and nearly three quarters of wind turbine parts installed that
year were made domestically. That's a tripling of domestic
production over figures from 2006. And some of the growth comes
in a sector that surprised us. Posted.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/wind/feds-report-record-growth-in-wind-industry.html