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California Air Resources Board News Clips for February 1, 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

Smog-Eating Tile Roofs Being Offered By KB Homes. It is a green
home-building feature that is particularly fitting for Southern
California: a concrete tile roof that neutralizes the
smog-forming nitrogen oxides spewed into the air by automobiles.
Hoping to attract environmentally concerned homebuyers, KB Home,
based in Los Angeles, has joined forces with Boral Roofing, the
Irvine-based manufacturer of what is being called "smog-eating
tile." Posted.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_smogeating01.208048e.html
 
CLIMATE CHANGE

Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyo., Introduces Bill To Keep EPA From
Regulating Carbon Emissions. The Daily Caller reports on
Barrasso's legislation, which aims to stop the EPA from from
becoming the de facto regulators of the American economy:The
Defending America’s Affordable Energy and Jobs Act seeks to stop
bureaucracies from unilaterally passing economically unsound
regulations for the sole purpose of addressing climate change. It
has seven co-sponsors, including Republican Sens. Mike Enzi of
Wyoming, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and John Thune of South Dakota.
Posted.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/sen-john-barasso-r-wyo-introduces-bill-keep-epa-regulating-carbon

Natural Gas, Electronics Groups Sue EPA Over Emission-Reporting
Rules. New federal regulations that require companies to disclose
their greenhouse gas emissions have drawn several new lawsuits
from electronics companies and the natural gas industry, which
argue that there are flaws in the way U.S. EPA designed the
program. Trade groups such as the American Gas Association and
the Semiconductor Industry Association, as well as the
manufacturing giant 3M Co. and natural gas producer Chesapeake
Energy Corp., want the agency to rethink various elements of the
reporting rules that were finalized at the beginning of December.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/02/01/2

U.S. Chamber Supports Some Admin Energy Plans But Not Emission
Regs. The U.S. business community can make common cause with the
Obama administration on the promotion of new energy technologies
and expanded siting for electricity transmission at the same time
it urges Congress to bar U.S. EPA's plans to curb greenhouse gas
emissions, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said today.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/02/01/5

U.S. Should Let States Regulate CO2 Pipelines -- DOE-Backed
Report. The federal government should avoid taking over the
regulation of carbon dioxide pipelines, leaving future
infrastructure build-out to the private sector with primarily
state oversight, according to a new Department of Energy-backed
report. That framework, the report says, would allow future
networks of CO2 pipes developed for carbon capture and
sequestration (CCS) to follow the successful model that has
created a more limited pipeline network to transport CO2 for use
in oil and natural gas production. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/02/01/9

$46M Spent On Failed Calif. Global Warming Measure. Sacramento,
Calif. -- More than $46 million was spent for and against a
failed November ballot measure that would have suspended
California's landmark global warming law, according to campaign
finance reports filed Monday. Out-of-state oil companies and
their supporters spent $10.5 million promoting Proposition 23,
while opponents spent more than $36 million. 
The initiative would have suspended the state's 2006 greenhouse
gas reduction goals until California's unemployment rate, now
12.5 percent, drops to 5.5 percent and holds there for a year.
Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/31/AR2011013106274_pf.html
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/02/01/10

Global CO2 Output Slightly Lower In 2009. Although the United
States, Europe, Canada, Russia and South Africa all saw lower
carbon emissions in 2009, China had an increase of more than 13
percent from the previous year. In 2009, U.S. emissions fell to
levels not seen since 1995-1996 because of lower industrial
output related to the recession. China's increase was the
equivalent of adding the annual emissions of Germany, Greece and
Peru combined. India saw strong growth in its carbon output from
an increase in coal burning. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/02/01/6

GREEN ENERGY

Energy Panel Leader Expects Push For Production Of More U.S. Oil.
The chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
said Monday that the crisis in oil markets sparked by Egypt’s
political unrest should not divert Congress from pursuing
long-term strategies to develop more clean and renewable energy
resources. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico Democrat, predicted
that the latest Middle East crisis will amplify calls on Capitol
Hill to expand U.S. oil production as a way to ease dependence on
unstable foreign suppliers. Posted.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/31/energy-panel-leader-expects-push-for-production-of/print/

Obama's Energy Plan and Your Energy Bill. Electricity prices will
increase, but your bill could actually come down. A national
energy plan proposed last week by President Obama could have a
paradoxical impact on the nation's energy bills. It is likely to
raise electricity prices by forcing utilities to use certain
sources of energy, but it could lower energy bills by offering
people incentives to reduce the amount of electricity they
consume. According to an outline supplied by the White House, the
energy plan would include a clean energy standards that would
require that the United States get 80 percent of its energy from
"clean" sources by 2035.  Posted.
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/32247/?ref=

VEHICLES

Are Consumers Really Ready For Plug-Ins? While many potential
consumers are getting their first glimpse of plug-in electric
vehicles at the auto shows across the country, it may be a while
before they actually start buying the cars. More EVs are on
display than ever before, and the press coverage is heating up.
At the Washington Auto Show, the Ford Focus Electric, slated to
hit the market later this year, received the 2011 Green Car
Vision Award. Ford also recently unveiled its C-Max Energi, the
first plug-in SUV of its kind. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/02/01/3

BLOGS

Filling in the Blanks on Himalayan Glaciers. Last year the United
Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ended up with a
bit of mud on its face, when it had to retract an alarming claim
in its landmark 2007 assessment: that the probability of
Himalayan glaciers “disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps
sooner is very high.” Climate skeptics pilloried the panel for
including what proved to be an unsubstantiated and, glaciologists
said, unlikely figure. Rajendra K. Pachauri, the head of the
panel, called the inclusion of the statistic a “regrettable
error.” 
Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/filling-in-the-blanks-on-himalayan-glaciers/?pagemode=print

In a Warm Room, the Globe Feels Hotter. As any climate scientist
will attest, proof of global warming is found not in the warmth
or cold of any given day or even a particular year, but in
long-term trends in temperature averaged across the entire
planet. Yet research has shown that local weather does play a
role in people’s judgment about climate change: one recent
national study found that for each 3.5 degree Fahrenheit rise in
temperature above a local average, Americans became 1 percent
more likely to agree that “solid evidence” exists that the earth
is getting warmer. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/in-a-warm-room-the-globe-feels-hotter/?pagemode=print

Natural Gas: It’s Not Easy Being Green. Bloomberg Tapping natural
gas in Texas. The green bona fides of the energy source are
coming under increased scrutiny. Natural gas has long enjoyed a
clean-and-green reputation — at least in comparison with coal,
its brethren fossil fuel and most immediate substitute in the
electricity-generation game. And of course, T. Boone Pickens and
others would like to see natural gas replace oil as the chief
source for the nation’s transportation fuels. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/natural-gas-its-not-easy-being-green/?pagemode=print

Energy Crises Don’t Necessarily Lead to Energy Legislation.
Political instability in Egypt is sending the price of oil
higher. But could it be the catalyst for an overhaul of the
nation's energy policy? Though Egypt is not a large producer of
oil, it does serve as a critical link in the supply chain. About
600,000 barrels of crude oil and roughly 1.2 million barrels of
refined oil products travel through Egypt's Suez Canal each day.
To date, the vital shipping lane remains open for business, but
if it stops running the public could be in for some major pain at
the pump and elsewhere. Posted.
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/01/31/energy-crises-don-t-necessarily-lead-energy-legislation