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California Air Resources Board News Clips for February 22, 2011.
California Air Resources Board News Clips for February 22, 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

As Congress Debates EPA Regulation, New Report Shows Biggest
One-Year Increase in C02 Pollution From U.S. Power Plants in 2010
Share.  A new report from the Environmental Integrity Project
shows that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants in
the U.S. rose 5.56 percent in 2010 over the year before, the
biggest annual increase since the EPA began tracking emissions in
1995.  Posted. 
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/18/3413511/as-congress-debates-epa-regulation.html#ixzz1Ehxgn9UK


Groups sue over air pollution at national parks.  FLAGSTAFF,
Ariz.—A group of environmentalists has sued the federal
government in an effort to force a declaration on the source of
air pollution over national parks and wilderness areas in the
West.  Posted. 
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17160195?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com


CLIMATE CHANGE

UN sees rising risks from climate, toxic chemicals.  GENEVA --
Climate change is a major obstacle to a 2004 global treaty aimed
at cutting exposure to 21 highly dangerous chemicals, says a new
U.N.-commissioned report.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/02/21/1566281/un-sees-rising-risks-from-climate.html

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/21/3418871/un-sees-rising-risks-from-climate.html#ixzz1EhzafR00
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/02/21/2280609/un-sees-rising-risks-from-climate.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/21/un-sees-rising-risks-from-climate-toxic-chemicals/


US has modest goals for S. Africa climate talks.  JOHANNESBURG --
The U.S. does not expect this year's climate change conference in
South Africa to yield a binding international agreement to stop
global warming, the top U.S. negotiator said Monday.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/02/21/1566064/us-has-modest-goals-for-s-africa.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022100894.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/02/21/2280368/us-has-modest-goals-for-s-africa.html#storylink=misearch


Climate change said threat to food safety.  EAST LANSING, Mich.,
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The safety of the world's food supply is under
threat from climate change and the damage is going to get worse
unless action is taken, a U.S. researcher says.  Posted. 
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/02/21/Climate-change-said-threat-to-food-safety/UPI-16751298328966/#ixzz1Ei0dxIXj


What are the main man-made greenhouse gases?  The strength of the
Earth's greenhouse effect is determined by the concentration in
the atmosphere of a handful of greenhouse gases.  Posted. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/04/man-made-greenhouse-gases


Scott's Antarctic creatures may give climate clue.  (Reuters) -
Tiny Antarctic marine creatures first collected by British
explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1901 may help scientists
understand future climate change, a study showed on Tuesday. 
Posted. 
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/22/us-climate-antarctica-idUSTRE71L3BE20110222
 

DIESEL EMISSIONS

CARB announces second year of grants for hybrid trucks and buses.
 SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has
initiated its second year of grants totaling $19 million for
hybrid vehicle technology that significantly reduces smog-forming
and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  Posted. 
http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2011/2/22/CARBannouncessecondyearofgrantsforhybridtrucksandbuses.aspx


FUELS

In Europe, the Promise and Fears of a New Fuel.  LONDON — Energy
companies across Europe are probing the ground for natural gas
trapped in shale rock, hoping to replicate an American boom that
has given consumers in the United States a major new supply of
affordable fuel.  Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/business/energy-environment/21iht-renoshale21.html?_r=1&scp=9&sq=climate%20change&st=cse


9 Easy Ways To Increase Your Gas Mileage.  Improving fuel economy
not only saves drivers money, it also benefits the environment by
releasing fewer emissions into the air and reduces a nation's
dependence on oil and oil imports.  Posted. 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/02/21/investopedia50889.DTL#ixzz1Ei90tRaA


Is Natural Gas Good, or Just Less Bad?  LONDON — Natural gas is
billed by its supporters, including President Barack Obama, as a
clean fuel that could play a big role in a low-carbon future. 
Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/business/energy-environment/21iht-renogas21.html?scp=9&sq=green%20energy&st=cse


GREEN ENERGY

Green energy no 'gimmick,' London says.
Unconventional gas resources and renewable energy will help the
British economy meet its ambitions for a sustainable future, a
British diplomat said in Japan.  Posted. 
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/02/22/Green-energy-no-gimmick-London-says/UPI-22441298385065/#ixzz1Ei2UH4vu


Climate and Clean Energy Funds Could Be Casualties in Broader
Budget War Ahead.  Tea party fervor drove the House spending bill
through a week of debate that finished with its pre-dawn passage
on Saturday. But now that the bill moves to the Democratic-led
Senate, it looms as a warm-up to more intense partisan bargaining
to come.   Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/02/22/22climatewire-climate-and-clean-energy-funds-could-be-casu-64378.html


Scientific groups call for new sources of rare earths. 
WASHINGTON -- Technologies for green or renewable-energy
batteries, solar cells and advanced electric motors are dependent
on critical chemical elements that are threatened by major supply
shortages, two influential American scientific groups said in a
report Friday.  Posted. 
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_17445119?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com&nclick_check=1


Eye on the environment: County honors 12 companies for
environmental efforts.  In his book "The Truth About Green
Business," author and business consultant Gil Friend explains why
some businesses go beyond mere compliance with environmental
mandates and implement exemplary programs benefitting the
environment.  Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/feb/19/county-honors-12-companies-for-environmental/


VEHICLES

New BMW brand for line of electric vehicles.  BMW is creating a
new sub-brand -- "BMW i" -- for its coming upscale electric
vehicles, or as BMW puts it: "premium sustainable mobility." The
company also announced BMW i's first two production vehicles,
both due in 2013.  Posted. 
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/02/new-bmw-brand-for-line-of-electric-vehicles/1


Nissan Unable to Meet Leaf Demand; Delays to Continue.  The
Nissan Leaf is the first mass-market electric vehicle available
for purchase. The only problem is that so far, delivery is taking
a lot longer than expected, and it isn't expected to get better
any time soon.  Posted. 
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/22/idUS9649962320110222 

California will see surge in electric vehicles, report says. 
California metropolitan areas, including Sacramento, will see
significant increases in the number of plug-in electric vehicles
on their roadways through 2017, according to a new report by Pike
Research.  Posted. 
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/18/v-print/3414000/california-will-see-surge-in-electric.html

 
US opens investigation into Toyota hybrid SUVs.  The government
has opened a preliminary investigation into reports of stalling
engines in more than 40,000 Toyota Highlander hybrids.  Posted. 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/02/22/national/w071006S22.DTL#ixzz1Ei8HrfrH


MISCELLANEOUS

NASA to launch newest Earth-observation satellite.  LOS ANGELES
-- NASA is set to launch its latest Earth-orbiting satellite on a
$424 million mission to analyze airborne grit spewed by
volcanoes, forest fires, smokestacks and tailpipes.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/02/21/1566485/nasa-to-launch-newest-earth-observation.html
 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/02/21/2280816/nasa-to-launch-newest-earth-observation.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.keyt.com/news/local/NASA-Climate-Change-Satellite-to-Launch-from-VAFB-116618728.html


OPINION

DAN MORAIN: Green firm finds gold in capital.  In the world of
alter-native power generation, Bloom Energy is golden. It
certainly has figured out how to get some the public's green. 
Time magazine declared the Silicon Valley company's fuel cell
technology, called Bloom Boxes, to be one of the top inventions
of 2010.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/02/21/1566742/green-firm-finds-gold-in-capital.html

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/22/3421150/commentary-green-energy-firm-bloom.html#ixzz1Ei1wZmqm


The Dirty Energy Party.  President Obama has decided that the
failure of last year’s comprehensive climate bill does not have
to mean the death of climate policy.  Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/opinion/22tue1.html?scp=7&sq=green%20energy&st=cse


Bottom-up energy innovation takes off in Marin.  Most folks are
gung-ho on the amazing power of wireless communications
technology. Yet in my Marin County town, citizens are up in arms,
blockading trucks and opposing the mandatory installation of
SmartMeters - pulsing wireless signals about real-time energy
usage so Pacific Gas and Electric Co. knows exactly how much
power I consume, and when.  Posted. 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/21/EDUS1HQ736.DTL#ixzz1Ei7efWDM


BLOGS

‘Dirty’ Energy Dwarfs Clean in China and India.  Many experts
agree that for the world to rein in rising greenhouse gas
emissions, the galloping economies of China and India would have
to figure out how to base their future economic expansion on
technologies and fuels that are “cleaner” than the fossil fuels
the United States and Europe used in their own industrial
revolutions long ago.  Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/dirty-energy-dwarfs-clean-in-china-and-india/


A Stopgap for Global Warming.  There are many signs that the
world is heading into a period of warming -– one that could melt
glaciers, flood small islands and coastal cities, threaten some
animal species and make crops difficult to grow in previously
productive agricultural regions.  Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/a-stopgap-for-global-warming/


U.P.S. Finds a Substitute for Diesel: Natural Gas, at 260 Degrees
Below Zero.  The final frontier for alternative motor fuels,
powering big tractor-trailers, has been crossed.  The alternative
is natural gas, but not in the now-familiar form of compressed
gas. Instead, a growing number of the biggest trucks are running
on liquefied natural gas.  Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/u-p-s-finds-a-substitute-for-diesel-natural-gas-at-260-degrees-below-zero/


Why it’s a good idea to put sugar water in your gas tank. 
Wouldn't it be awesome if we could solve our waste problem and
our fuel problem simultaneously, by turning one into the other?
Okay, we're nowhere near the stage where you can just scrape your
plate into your car, but there are an increasing number of
procedures for turning useless crap into fuel. Most recently,
students at Oklahoma State University devised a way to turn waste
soda into ethanol.  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-22-why-its-a-good-idea-to-put-sugar-water-in-your-gas-tank


A Green Makeover for Planters Nutmobile.  The Nutmobile, the
peanut-shaped traveling ambassador for the Planters brand, is
going green. Its newest iteration runs on biodiesel and sports a
wind turbine, solar panels, LED interior lighting, recycled parts
and wood floors reclaimed from a 19th century Pennsylvania barn. 
Posted. 
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/a-green-makeover-for-planters-nutmobile/?scp=1&sq=green%20vehicles&st=cse


Get Out the Kleenex—Climate Change Lengthens Allergy Season.  A
new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
shows a link between warming temperatures and a longer ragweed
pollen season.  Posted. 
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/02/22/get-out-the-kleenex%e2%80%94climate-change-lengthens-allergy-season/#ixzz1Ei002wTx