What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for May 21, 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.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Extreme global warming seen further away than previously thought.
Extreme global warming is less likely in coming decades after a
slowdown in the pace of temperature rises so far this century, an
international team of scientists said on Sunday. 
Warming is still on track, however, to breach a goal set by
governments around the world of limiting the increase in
temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above
pre-industrial times, unless tough action is taken to limit
rising greenhouse gas emissions. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/19/us-climate-temperatures-idUSBRE94I0DJ20130519


Jerry Brown, on script, urges Berkeley graduates to combat
climate change. Of all the speeches politicians give, one of the
most difficult may be the commencement address, given as it is to
an audience that is often hot and tired and preoccupied with its
own excitement – or anxiety – about the future. Leaving the
podium on Monday at UC Berkeley, Gov. Jerry Brown said he thought
he might have given a commencement speech in Santa Clara when he
was governor before, from 1975 to 1983…Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/21/v-print/5435478/jerry-brown-on-script-urges-berkeley.html


More tornadoes from global warming? Nobody knows. A deadly
tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday. A quick look at
some basic facts: Q. Is global warming to blame? A. You can't
blame a single weather event on global warming. In any case,
scientists just don't know whether there will be more or fewer
twisters as global warming increases. Tornadoes arise from very
local conditions, and so they're not as influenced. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/medical/article/More-tornadoes-from-global-warming-Nobody-knows-4534619.php#ixzz2TwfnAjf3
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/may/21/more-tornadoes-from-global-warming-nobody-knows/

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie: No proof Superstorm Sandy was caused by
climate change. ‘I don’t think there’s been any proof thus far
that Sandy was caused by climate change,’ Christie said Monday at
a ceremony honoring the rebuilding of the boardwalk in
Lavallette, N.J. New Jersey Gov. Christie said Monday that
climate change does not contribute to superstorms like Hurricane
Sandy. Posted.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/chris-christie-reverses-stance-climate-change-article-1.1350260#ixzz2Twgpjy9x


FUELS

Shale gas, energy costs vex EU leaders. European leaders will
discuss plans to exploit shale gas in summit talks on Wednesday
as part of a decades-long quest to develop more secure and
competitive energy supplies. The 27-nation bloc finds itself
looking on with envy as its biggest economic rival, the United
States, exploits vast reserves of shale gas, delivering
drastically reduced fuel costs. While Europe has shale plans of
its own, there is as yet no unified EU policy. Posted.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/eu-summit-energy-idUKL6N0E135420130521


James Hansen says mining oil sands will make climate change
'unsolvable'.  While visiting London, climate scientist James
Hansen continued his efforts against the exploitation of
Alberta's oil sands, saying that "oil from tar sands makes sense
only for a small number of people who are making a lot of money
from that product." Last month, Hansen left his position at NASA
to concentrate on raising awareness about climate change. In an
interview with the London Guardian, the scientist said, "We are
getting close to the dangerous level of carbon in the
atmosphere…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059981501/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Assembly OKs clean vehicle carpool-lane access to 2020; Senate
next. A bill to extend carpool-lane access for electric cars and
other zero-emission vehicles passed the California Assembly by a
wide margin Monday. The legislation, AB 266 written by Robert
Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills), also gives such vehicles access
to carpool lanes converted to toll roads. The bill passed on a
49-22 vote and now moves on to the state Senate. Under
Blumenfield’s legislation, cars with white clean-air vehicle
stickers…Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-carpool-lane-access-ab266-20130521,0,2422361.story?track=rss


GREEN ENERGY

Trash Burning, With a Clean-Energy Twist. The Hague — After this
newspaper has been read, it may be used to line a birdcage,
recycled, burned, stuffed into a landfill or converted into
something even more powerful than the press: electricity. “There
is a cleaner way of dealing with things that people cast away,”
said Andy Harris, vice president of Waste to Energy Canada, which
is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. “We shouldn’t see it as
waste, we should see it as a source of energy.” Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/business/energy-environment/trash-burning-with-a-clean-energy-twist.html?_r=0
   

Romania Changes Course on Renewable Energy. With more wind
turbines already built than any of its neighbors, Romania has
gained a reputation as a prime location for green energy
investors. Yet proposals now to cut subsidies for clean energy
producers have deeply alarmed foreign companies drawn to its
market. In recent years, the country has been host to a boom in
renewable projects. Wind farm generating capacity in particular
soared to 1,794 megawatts last year…Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/business/energy-environment/romania-changes-course-on-renewable-energy.html?pagewanted=all
 

U.S. and Europe Prepare to Settle Chinese Solar Panel Cases.  The
Obama administration and the European Union have each decided to
negotiate settlements with China in the world’s largest
antidumping and antisubsidy trade cases involving China’s roughly
$30 billion a year in solar panel shipments to the West,
officials and trade advisers in Beijing, Brussels and Washington
said. The plan that is starting to take shape would essentially
carve up the global solar panel market into a series of regional
markets. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/business/global/us-and-european-union-set-to-negotiate-settlements-in-chinese-solar-panel-cases.html?pagewanted=all


Rebound effects from energy efficiency gains are minimal, experts
say. A car that gets better mileage or a more tightly sealed home
may tempt you to drive farther or crank the air conditioning up
higher, but fears of these efficiency rebounds are largely
overblown, at least in the United States, according to experts.
Though some people may take an efficiency gain as a license to
use more energy, the increases are often trivial compared with
the savings. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059981510/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

OPINIONS

Cutting Carbon Emissions. To the Editor: “A Carbon Trading System
Worth Saving” (editorial, May 7) is correct that Europe’s carbon
market is an important mechanism to reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions that cause climate change. In fact, this conclusion is
reinforced closer to home, by the success of New York and eight
other states that have operated a carbon reduction program known
as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, since 2008.
Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/opinion/cutting-carbon-emissions.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print


Congestion pricing could curb pollution. Weekday-evening outbound
congestion pricing is needed not just to decrease the delays to
transit providers such as Muni and AC Transit and to make
pedestrians safer, but it is also needed to help mitigate air
pollution, which is proven to be just as deadly as secondhand
cigarette smoke to children.  Posted.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/letters-editor/2013/05/congestion-pricing-could-curb-pollution#ixzz2TwfTbsnF


Needed: smarter debate on climate, energy. Climate change is an
issue that needs to be discussed thoughtfully and objectively.
Unfortunately, claims that distort the facts hinder the
legitimate evaluation of policy options. The rhetoric has driven
some policymakers toward costly regulations and policies that
will harm hardworking American families and do little to decrease
global carbon emissions. The Obama administration’s decision to
delay, and possibly deny, the Keystone XL pipeline is a prime
example. Posted.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/may/21/tp-needed-smarter-debate-on-climate-energy/
 

GUEST OPINION: The keys for success for Sonoma Clean Power. 
Sonoma Clean Power can be a huge boost to the county's economy, a
path to steadily declining energy costs and the route off of
fossil fuels -- but only if we move past the century-old thinking
of the fossil-fuel-based, traditional utility model. Clean power,
created locally in an open market, is cheaper than fossil power.
There is no fuel cost. Posted.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130520/OPINION/305201006/0/SEARCH


BLOGS

Who’s Escaping Climate Change ‘Mire and Muck’? On This American
Life this weekend, Ira Glass tried to jog the climate
conversation out of the “mire and muck” with an hourlong
discussion of impacts and options related to human-driven global
warming. Below you can offer examples of people or institutions
you see avoiding the pitfalls and paralysis surrounding this
“super wicked” issue.  Posted.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/whos-escaping-climate-change-mire-and-muck/?ref=earth

A Plan to Bring Sun-Powered Irrigation to Poor Farmers. One of
the finest applications of solar photovoltaic panels is in
powering drip irrigation systems for farmers in hot, sunny, poor
parts of the world. You don’t even need to store the electricity.
The pumping is mainly needed when the sun is shining. To gauge
the remarkable benefits of such systems, start with this
peer-reviewed study of solar irrigation projects…Posted.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/a-plan-to-bring-sun-powered-irrigation-to-poor-farmers/
  

MOWING DOWN POLLUTION: A story of family and invention. Last week
I blogged about how a group of UC Riverside students found a way
to greatly reduce air pollution from lawn mowers. My colleague
Mark Muckenfuss dug deeper and reported a compelling story about
family, invention, hard work and reward. I won’t be surprised if
someday I see the smog-cutting device these students invented
available at home improvement stores. Posted.
http://blog.pe.com/environment/2013/05/20/mowing-down-pollution-a-story-of-family-and-invention/