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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for August 22, 2013.
Posted: 22 Aug 2013 16:06:29
ARB Newsclips for August 22, 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. CAP AND TRADE UPDATE 2-California carbon permits sell at auction for less than expected. California's largest greenhouse gas-emitting businesses paid $12.22 per metric tonne (1.1 tons) for the right to release carbon this year, lower than expected and down almost 13 percent from the previous sale in May, the state said on Wednesday. Oil refineries, utilities and market speculators were among those that purchased all 13.87 million current year permits…Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/21/california-carbon-idUSL2N0GM1N220130821 California Carbon Trading for 2016 Jumps After Sellout. Trading on California carbon allowances that companies can use beginning in 2016 surged after the state sold out of the permits for the first time. Futures contracts for a record 1.83 million 2016 allowances for December 2015 delivery cleared today on the IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE), settling at $12.50 each, Brookly McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the exchange in Atlanta, said by e-mail. The previous high was 960,000 allowances on May 21. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-21/california-carbon-allowances-sell-at-a-dollar-below-forecasts.html California auctions vintage 2013 GHG allowances for $12.22/mt. The California Air Resources Board sold vintage 2013 greenhouse gas allowances for $12.22/mt each during last week's auction, according to results released Wednesday. The clearing price marks a decrease compared with the previous auction held in May, which saw vintage 2013 GHG allowances sell for $14.00/mt. One GHG allowance covers 1 mt of emissions. Posted. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/washington/california-auctions-vintage-2013-ghg-allowances-21453971 It's Getting Cheaper to Pollute in California. The August auction, held by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on August 16, was part of California's greenhouse gas cap and trade program established by AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The auction included both emissions allowances for this year and advance sales of some allowances for 2016's "vintage." Posted. http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/climate-change/its-getting-cheaper-to-emit-greenhouse-gases-in-california.html Prices slide in Calif.'s 4th cap-and-trade auction. Prices slid slightly in California's fourth auction of greenhouse gas permits for its first-in-the-nation economywide trading system, reflecting the state's move to give more allowances to high-emitting industries for free, observers said. The Golden State's Aug. 16 sale of allowances to cover businesses' emissions for 2013 fetched $12.22 per ton, a 13 percent decline from the previous auction in May…Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059986316/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY AIR POLLUTION Haze Blankets Hong Kong as Pollution Hits Very High Level. Hong Kong’s air pollution index reached “very high” levels today as a tropical storm that passed through Taiwan trapped pollutants and blanketed the city in haze, triggering a government health warning. The index was 153 at roadside-monitoring stations in the Central business district, nearing the highest in more than four months, as of 3:00 p.m. The reading was 159 in the commercial district Causeway Bay and 152 in Mong Kok. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-22/haze-blankets-hong-kong-as-air-pollution-hits-very-high-level.html Air pollution monitoring stations face closure as government looks to cut costs. Campaigners accuse Defra of covering up pollution figures as it plans to close up to 600 stations in England to save money. Up to 600 stations for monitoring air pollution across England could be shut down under new government plans to save money by cutting regulations. Ministers want to remove obligations on local authorities to assess air quality in their areas, resulting in less monitoring. Posted. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2290375/air-pollution-monitoring-stations-face-closure-as-government-looks-to-cut-costs CLIMATE CHANGE State regulators call on EPA to keep greenhouse gas rules flexible. The National Association of Clean Air Agencies sent a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy yesterday with guidelines on how to draft regulations to limit greenhouse gases from power plants. NACAA, a group of state environmental regulators, said EPA should work closely with state and local air agencies, use flexible measures that encourage energy efficiency and renewables, and shift energy dispatch to cleaner-burning plants. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059986315/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY FUELS Fracking war: Sierra Club says bill not good enough. Environmental and liberal activist groups are split over a pending pioneering bill that would regulate the controversial oil-extraction technique known as fracking.Legislation by Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) would, for the first time in the nation, require oil companies to disclose details of the chemicals, locations and procedures involved with hydraulic fracturing and related "well-stimulation" activities. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-enviros-split-over-fracking-bill-20130821,0,3752625,print.story http://www.capradio.org/8976 http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=254890 http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059986265/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY 62 countries have policies to support renewable fuels -- advocacy group. Sixty-two countries now have policies in place to spur the use and development of biofuels, according to research and advocacy group Global Renewable Fuels Alliance. Most of the policies set a specific mandatory or voluntary percentage level of ethanol that must be blended into transportation fuel, such as in the European Union, where 10 percent of transportation fuel must be made from renewable sources. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059986344/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY VEHICLES Tesla CEO Weighs Europe, Asia Plants for Mass-Market Car. Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said the electric-car maker intends to add factories in Europe and Asia, anticipating volume gains from a planned mass-market battery car. The company this year plans to make at least 21,000 of its $70,000 Model S premium sedans at its Fremont, California, plant, and double that in 2014. While the factory has capacity to produce as many as 500,000 vehicles a year…Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-08-21/tesla-ceo-studies-europe-asia-plants-for-mass-market-car.html Big Science tools for clean transportation: neutron scattering at ORNL. This begins an occasional series on “big science” tools hosted at US national laboratories that are being applied to support the development of technology innovations for clean transportation. First up is a quick look at the two advanced neutron-scattering facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, which Green Car Congress recently had the opportunity to tour: …Posted. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/08/20130821-neutrons.html Land Rover launching diesel hybrids: Range Rover Hybrid and Range Rover Sport Hybrid. Land Rover is launching its first hybrid models—Range Rover Hybrid and Range Rover Sport Hybrid. The two all-aluminum diesel-electric hybrids are based on Land Rover’s Premium Lightweight Architecture and share an identical powertrain. First deliveries will be in early 2014. Posted. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/08/20130821-rover.html 100.000 EVs by 2020: electric cars in Norway. There are over 11.000 electric vehicles (EVs) on the Norwegian roads today and electric cars constitute 3% of new cars sold in Norway each month. Furthermore, six out of nine political parties have included electric vehicles in their political programmes. cars21.com decided to take a closer look at Norway to see why it is called the most-EV friendly country in the world. With four EVs registered per each 1.000 cars, Norway has the largest share of EVs in the world. Posted. http://www.cars21.com/news/view/5566 Electric roads to the Hyperloop: Our Jetsons future starts now. This was the rare week when an innovative transportation scheme captivated America’s imagination. After months of expectation, on Monday Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Hyperloop, a giant vacuum tube designed to whisk passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco at nearly 800 miles per hour, completing a 520-mile journey in a mere 40 minutes. By now, attentive readers have experienced all the dizzying spins of the Hyperloop news cycle: anticipation, excitement, backlash, rebound. Posted. http://www.salon.com/2013/08/17/electric_roads_to_the_hyperloop_our_jetsons_future_starts_now/ GREEN ENERGY Wind Farms Take Root Out at Sea. In a warehouse district on the outskirts of Bremen in northwestern Germany is a big, well-lighted work space dominated by the massive top section of a wind turbine called a nacelle. It is here that Siemens, the German power systems giant, trains new employees and gives refresher courses on how to work safely on modern windmills that can rise 90 meters, or about 300 feet, and weigh more than 100 tons. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/business/energy-environment/wind-farms-take-root-out-at-sea.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print San Francisco government infrastructure operating on 100% renewable energy. City departments collectively failed to reduce greenhouse gases by their 2012 target, yet the shortcoming had nothing to do with electricity usage. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is able to boast that it delivers zero-emissions electricity to government properties. That electricity comes from the hydropower production at the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite Valley. Posted. http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/san-francisco-government-infrastructure-operating-on-100-renewable-energy/Content?oid=2555351 Sacramento Valley Town to Buy Solar Power From Kern County. The 32-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant is scheduled for construction sometime next year on agricultural lands in northern Kern County, near the intersection of state routes 46 and 33. Though Kern County's Planning Department seems not to have made the full Draft Environmental Impact Report available online…Posted. http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/sacramento-valley-town-will-buy-solar-power-from-lost-hills.html Installations likely to increase as states move rapidly toward cleaner power – report. U.S. investment in clean energy was down in 2012 after breaking records all through 2011, but rapidly declining installment costs mean deployments are likely to continue to rise, according to new analysis from Ernst & Young LLP, a multinational accounting firm. The report ranked the renewable energy "attractiveness indices" for all 50 states, and those numbers remained similar …Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059986322/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY MISCELLANEOUS Eisenhut a good addition to air board. Congratulations to agribusinessman-farmer John Eisenhut of Turlock on his appointment to the California Air Resources Board, a powerful state board that makes critical decisions affecting business, industry and individuals. It deals with all types of air pollution issues, from promoting the use of alternative-fuel vehicles to making rules on implementing AB 32, the state's controversial law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Posed. http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/21/2877034/eisenhut-a-good-addition-to-air.html#storylink=cpy http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/21/2877351/brown-appoints-turlock-man-to.html County gets grant for needle containers. The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) has awarded a grant that provides containers for the collection of used sharps/needles to the Riverside County Waste Management Department to promote the proper disposal of home generated sharps/needles. Home-generated sharps waste includes hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles…Posted. http://www.paloverdevalleytimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=747&ArticleID=19094 OPINIONS COLUMN-Natural gas could be a bridge fuel to $1 solar: Wynn. Natural gas could be the dominant power source for the next two decades in the western United States, even under the most aggressive climate scenarios, before making way for solar, findings from the University of California Berkeley suggest. The Berkeley study examined the impact of cheap solar power, as envisaged by the so-called "sunshot" initiative launched two years ago by former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/22/column-wynn-solar-usa-idUSL6N0GM26A20130822 COLUMN-Biomass burners beware new EU oversight: Wynn. Utilities planning to invest in wood-fired power plants beware: the European Commission's draft green standards for burning biomass would regulate carbon emissions from burning wood for the first time. At present, EU laws favouring green energy have led countries to pay generous subsidies for burning biomass, but in the future developers would have to meet the new standards to get those incentives. (For draft copy, see Chart 1) Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/21/column-wynn-biomass-eu-idUSL6N0GL1LD20130821 Welcome to the Age of Denial. In 1989, when “climate change” had just entered the public lexicon, 63 percent of Americans understood it was a problem. Almost 25 years later, that proportion is actually a bit lower, at 58 percent. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/opinion/welcome-to-the-age-of-denial.html?_r=0 Researching Dirty Air’s Effect on Health: Are Some Texans Immune? For years now, Texas has tried to block Federal air pollution laws, contending they stifle economic growth. But just last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed another lawsuit to force power plants in northeast Texas to reduce toxic air emissions. As the battle continues over how clean the air in Texas should be and at what cost, It might be worth highlighting why any of this matters. One way to do that is ask researchers what they’re learning about how air pollution affects people. Posted. http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/08/22/researching-dirty-airs-effect-on-health-are-some-texans-immune/ BLOGS Hong Kong Air Pollution Spikes. Hong Kong air pollution reached extreme highs this week, turning Victoria Harbor a soupy gray and prompting government warnings for residents to stay indoors. On Thursday morning in the crowded shopping district of Causeway Bay, pollution levels hit a high of 187 on the local air-pollution index. When the city’s levels of air pollution are that high, the government recommends that children, the ill and the elderly try to stay inside. Posted. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/08/22/hong-kong-air-pollution-levels-spike/ By 2050, flooding could cost the world’s coastal cities over $60 billion a year. In 2005, flooding caused $6 billion worth of damage globally. By 2050, we could be hit with 10 times that much in losses — and that’s only if the world’s biggest coastal cities make significant investments to mitigate risk. If we do nothing, costs could soar to $1 trillion. These sobering statistics come from a new study in Nature Climate Change which identifies the 20 coastal metropolises that stand to lose the most when (not if) major flooding occurs in the future. Posted. http://grist.org/news/by-2050-flooding-could-cost-the-worlds-coastal-cities-over-60-billion-a-year/