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California Air Resources Board News Clips for December 13, 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.

CLIMATE CHANGE

UN Climate Deal Should Boost Confidence in CO2 Cuts, IETA Says.
The climate package approved by more than 190 countries last week
should boost investor confidence in the governments’
determination to cut greenhouse gases, the International
Emissions Trading Association said. Negotiators at the United
Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, agreed on Dec. 11
that nations will adopt by 2015 a pollution-curbing deal with a
legal force to be enacted by 2020. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-13/un-climate-deal-should-boost-confidence-in-co2-cuts-ieta-says.html

Canada Announces Exit From Kyoto Climate Treaty. Canada said on
Monday that it would withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997
treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Under that accord,
major industrialized nations agreed to meet targets for reducing
emissions, but mandates were not imposed on developing countries
like Brazil, China, India and South Africa. The United States
never ratified the treaty. Canada did commit to the treaty, but
the agreement has been fraying. Participants at a United Nations
conference in Durban, South Africa, renewed it on Sunday but
could not agree on a new accord to replace it. Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/earth/canada-leaving-kyoto-protocol-on-climate-change.html?scp=3&sq=climate%20change&st=cse
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-12-12/canada-climate-change/51842930/1
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/dec/12/canada-pulls-out-of-kyoto/#ixzz1gRDBOCgI
http://www.nctimes.com/news/world/canada-pulls-out-of-kyoto-protocol/article_1f7ee8ab-cf67-56e7-b138-5cef2fbf9cac.htm
http://www.modbee.com/2011/12/12/1984714/canada-pulls-out-of-kyoto.html

Some benefits seen for US in climate talk results. The U.S.
government and some major business groups say the climate talks
that just wrapped up in Durban, South Africa, were a success for
the United States, though some environmentalists voiced
disappointment. The talks ended Sunday without pledges to speed
pollution reductions as fast as economists and scientists say
will be necessary to improve the odds of avoiding dangerous
climate changes. Instead, negotiators agreed to work toward a
global emissions-reduction agreement that would involve all
nations beginning in 2020. Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/12/12/1984762/some-benefits-seen-for-us-in-climate.html

FUELS

China Natural Gas Demand to Surge as Cleaner Fuel Prized: Energy
Markets. China’s ranking as the biggest energy consumer and the
least reliant on natural gas for power generation among the
world’s leading economies is raising the prospect of an import
boom as it seeks to cut pollution. Demand in China may more than
triple this decade, with consumption for electricity generation
increasing more than fourfold, according to the International
Energy Agency. Posted.
http://webfarm.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-13/china-natural-gas-demand-to-surge-as-cleaner-fuel-prized-energy-markets.html

VEHICLES

New law requires smog check of cars exported to Mexico. Recently
implemented smog-check requirements by Mexico’s federal
government have caused some area smog-check businesses to be
swamped during the past couple of weeks. “As a business owner,
it’s a good problem to have, but a problem you’re not used to,”
JR Smog N Tune Owner Armando Real said. “I never thought I’d have
to turn down work, especially in this economy.” The Mexican
federal law that took effect Nov. 22 requires all vehicles being
imported to Mexico to have a smog check in the United States.
Posted.
http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-new-law-requires-smog-check-of-cars-exported-to-mexico-20111213,0,2472717.story

Six Fleets to Test Wireless Charging System for EVs.  Evatran, a
developer of wireless charging systems for electric vehicles,
announced it has signed contracts with six high-profile
commercial participants to outfit their Chevrolet Volt and Nissan
Leaf models with pre-production Plugless Power wireless charging
systems.  The product trial, dubbed the Apollo Launch Program,
will launch a charging system for electric vehicles that removes
the traditional hassles of plug-in cars. Posted. 
http://www.greenfleetmagazine.com/news/50833/six-fleets-to-test-wireless-charging-system-for-evs?ref=Enews-GreenFleet-20111207&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Enewsletter
   
GREEN ENERGY

Market forces, not EPA standards, killing new coal plants.  As
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepares the first-ever
national standards for carbon pollution from new fossil-fuel
power plants, the coal industry is embarking, predictably, on its
latest disinformation campaign to try to block these desperately
needed public health and climate safeguards. New coal plants are
dirty, risky, and expensive. No wonder the smart money won't
touch them.  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/coal/2011-12-12-what-new-coal-plants

OPINIONS

ROBINSON: A mild victory in Durban. I’m inclined to believe that
the apparent result of the climate change summit in Durban, South
Africa, might turn out to be a very big deal. Someday. Maybe.
That's my view, but it’s hardly universal. After the meeting
ended Sunday, initial reaction basically ranged from “Historic
Breakthrough: The Planet Is Saved” to “Tragic Failure: The Planet
Is Doomed.” Such radically different assessments came from
officials and activists who have the same general view of climate
change — that it’s real and something must be done about it — and
who fully understand the agreement that the delegates in Durban
reached. Posted. 
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20111213/WIRE/111219901

Warning: more air board regulation ahead.  Forgive me for saying
I told you so, but I did.  I've been plaguing you with stories
about a California-specific air pollution study by Michael
Jerrett of U.C. Berkeley on the supposedly deadly effects of
PM2.5 since May 2010.  Some of you are probably sick of hearing
about this obscure, egghead study. But this is where regulations
that affect your daily lives are conceived. So pay attention! 
Posted. 
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/columnist/henry/x500357278/LOIS-HENRY-Warning-more-air-board-regulation-ahead

Global Warming conference ends in success, uh, failure, uh,
kicking the can down the road. Take your pick.  The first reason
to be suspect about the “success” of the just-concluded
U.N.-sponsored pep rally for global warming alarmists is that
they have proclaimed it to be a success.  Not that they aren’t
trustworthy… Oh, OK, well, maybe they aren’t so trustworthy.
After all, they are the ones who said temperatures should rise
very high, which they haven’t for about 15 years, when CO2
emissions go way up, which they have for the same period of time.
 Posted. 
http://orangepunch.ocregister.com/2011/12/12/global-warming-conference-ends-in-success-uh-failure-uh-kicking-the-can-down-the-road-take-your-pick/65779/

The top five takeaways from the Durban climate talks.  After
running 36 hours into overtime, the climate talks in Durban,
South Africa, finally wrapped up this weekend. As usual, all the
dramatic stuff happened in the last 12 hours, after everyone had
been beaten into submission by sheer exhaustion. I do not envy my
brothers and sisters in the media who attend these things.  So
what came out of it? Does it matter at all?  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/climate-change/2011-12-12-the-top-five-takeaways-from-the-durban-climate-talks

This Is An Odd Renewable Fuel. This puzzles me intensely, this
renewable fuel being produced by a firm called Carbon Recycling
International. I don’t get why their process is this complex. You
take CO2 emissions from some industrial process, OK, that’s good.
You then take electricity from some renewable source (geothermal,
solar, wind, whatever) and use that to electrolyse water. OK,
that’s fine too, you then use the CO2 and the H2 you’ve now got
to produce methanol. This methanol can now be added to standard
diesel and gasoline, just as ethanol is, and used in standard
vehicles. At which point the CO2 is emitted again. Posted.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/12/13/this-is-an-odd-renewable-fuel/

BLOGS

A Post-Pollution Path to Global Climate and Energy Progress. Some
hard realities are being acknowledged as diplomats, scientists,
scholars and others ponder next steps following the indeterminate
Durban climate negotiations — the latest failed attempt to limit
climate risk using pollution-style restrictions on carbon dioxide
under a global treaty. The real-time demand for energy and
economic vigor continues to trump long-term climate concerns, as
has been clear in the climate talks for years.* So a focus on
finding ways to boost energy access in places that lack it, while
working to cut energy waste and the costs of non-polluting energy
choices, is spreading. Posted. 
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/a-post-pollution-path-to-global-climate-and-energy-progress/?scp=5&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

DOE to award more than $7M to four projects to advance hydrogen
storage.  The US Department of Energy is awarding more than $7
million to fund four 3-year projects in California, Washington
and Oregon to advance hydrogen storage technologies to be used in
fuel-cell-electric vehicles. The selected organizations will
provide close to $2 million in cost share.  The projects focus on
lowering the cost of compressed hydrogen storage systems and on
developing advanced materials for hydrogen storage. Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/12/doeh2-20111212.html

5 Lessons from Warren Buffett’s $2 Billion Solar Farm Purchase.
Last week the solar industry finally generated good news. Warren
Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings agreed to buy First Solar’s
Topaz solar farm, a 550-megawatt photovoltaic solar farm
currently being built in Southern California (construction began
last month and is set to finish by early 2015). The financial
details of the purchase of the plant were not publicly disclosed,
but estimates are that Buffett is paying First Solar $2 billion
for the solar farm. Posted. 
http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/12/five-lessons-warren-buffetts-2-billion-solar-farm-purchase/