What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for October 31, 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.

AIR POLLUTION

High school students make presentations on the negative impact of
air quality in the Imperial Valley.  Local high school students
who are part of Health Occupation Students of America made
presentations on the negative impact of air quality in the
Imperial Valley on Wednesday evening for the Stop and Listen
Asthma Forum 2013.  Their studies were based on “Health Impacts
of Border Crossing Emissions” written by Penelope Quintana of San
Diego State University, which describes the findings of a
scientific study showing how traffic from U.S.-Mexico ports of
entry affects health and air quality in the region.  Posted. 
http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/local/high-school-students-make-presentations-on-the-negative-impact-of/article_e2ad6044-41f9-11e3-9c58-001a4bcf6878.html


Children experience a ‘cooking pot for asthma’ in the Central
Valley. The students filing into Bret Harte Elementary School
every morning barely notice the flags fluttering by the school’s
main entrance. There is the American flag, the California state
flag and the color-coded asthma flag – green when the air is
clear, red when it is a respiratory nightmare, as it so often is
here. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2013/10/30/3002573/kids-face-a-cooking-pot-for-asthma.html#storylink=cpy


CLIMATE CHANGE

Warming will disturb balance of soil nutrients in drylands.  An
increase in aridity due to global warming will disturb the
balance of nutrients in the soil and reduce productivity of the
world's drylands, which support millions of people, a landmark
study predicts. The research was conducted by a global
collaboration of scientists who carried out the same studies of
224 dryland sites in 16 countries on every continent except
Antarctica. In Australia, woodland sites near Mildura in NSW were
studied by UNSW's Adjunct Professor David Eldridge, of the School
of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, who is a member
of the international research team. Posted.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/uons-wwd102813.php


FUELS

Shale gas fracking a low risk to public health.  The risks to
public health from emissions caused by fracking for shale oil and
gas are low as long as operations are properly run and regulated,
the British government's health agency said on Thursday. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/31/us-britain-health-fracking-idUSBRE99U0KX20131031


VEHICLES

Advancing electric mobility through electric car-sharing – Part
I.  Mobility experts think that through electric vehicle (EV)
sharing and rental schemes, EVs could become an integral part of
the urban environment. By renting an electric car customers can
get the EV experience without the risks usually associated with
buying one. cars21.com takes a closer look at the electric
car-sharing schemes in different cities and the price plans
offered. UPDATED: To expand the availability of EVs for local
businesses and communities, the UK’s first all-electric car
sharing club was launched at the end of October.  Access to
electric cars has been seen as a key for advancing electric
mobility in the urban environment.  Posted. 
http://cars21.com/news/view/5572 

Tesla to debut ‘superchargers’ linking San Diego to Canada. 
Electric-vehicle pioneer Tesla Motors today will inaugurate a
network of “superchargers” that allows drivers of its luxury
sedans to get from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C., with few
delays.
A small caravan of Model S sedans is scheduled to depart at 9
a.m. from the Tesla store at University Towne Centre shopping
mall to promote the West Coast charging network. Four new
stations in Northern California and Oregon will close the last
gap in a 1,500-mile route. Posted.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/oct/30/tp-tesla-to-debut-superchargers-linking-san-diego/


GREEN ENERGY

Solar Rebound Beating Dot-Com Recovery as Demand Surges.  
Solar industry manufacturers are rebounding from a two-year slump
faster than technology companies recovered from the dot-com
bubble of the late 1990s. The benchmark BI Global Large Solar
Energy Index of 15 manufacturers, which slumped 87 percent from a
February 2011 peak through November 2012, has regained 55 percent
of its value in the past year. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-31/solar-rebound-beating-dot-com-recovery-as-demand-surges.html


BLOGS

State-by-state EV support often comes down to party lines.  Last
week, eight governors "joined hands" in support of zero emissions
vehicles (ZEVs) in California's state capital. That's a good
start, but there are seven governors of states that have worked
with California on tough emissions rules in the past who were
missing. It appeared the split was mostly along party lines. 
Governors from Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York,
Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont met with California Gov. Jerry
Brown in Sacramento October 24. Collectively, they agreed to
bring 3.3 million ZEVs – battery electric vehicles, plug-in
hybrids and fuel cell electric vehicles – to their roads by 2025.
Their meeting was coordinated with a review of the California Air
Resources Board's ZEV mandates. All of the eight governors are
members of the Democratic party.  Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/10/30/state-by-state-ev-support-often-comes-down-to-party-lines/


Port of Oakland truckers promise to keep working through
negotiations.  After forcing a one-day closure of the Port of
Oakland over regulatory and wait-time complaints last week,
independent truckers say they are pursuing negotiations with the
California Air Resources Board, and have promised no further work
stoppages through at least Monday, Nov. 4.  The drivers say the
truce comes after Oakland Mayor Jean Quan agreed to broker talks
between them and the state air quality agency. Truckers have been
trying for months to negotiate an extension on potentially costly
environmental regulations due to be implemented on the first of
the year, protest organizers say.  Posted. 
http://blog.sfgate.com/inoakland/2013/10/30/port-of-oakland-truckers-promise-to-keep-working-through-negotiations/


Have we hit a “permanent slowdown” in the growth of global CO2
emissions?  The world keeps making climate change worse, pumping
out more greenhouse gases every year than the year before. But in
an encouraging sign, the rate at which emissions are growing
appears to be slowing down.  Global emissions hit 38 billion tons
of carbon dioxide last year — up 1.1 percent from 2011. That’s
bleak, but the glimmer of hope here is that emissions increased
during the last decade by much more than that — by an average of
2.9 percent every year.  Posted. 
http://grist.org/news/have-we-hit-a-permanent-slowdown-in-the-growth-of-global-co2-emissions/


Utah State University raises $9M for wireless electric buses. 
Utah may be best known among motor enthusiasts for the high speed
runs across the Bonneville Salt Flats, but there's another
development within the state that's just as intriguing, albeit
substantially slower. Utah State University, which last year
unveiled an electric bus that could be recharged wirelessly, has
hatched a company that's raised more than $9 million and is
looking to commercialize the technology, Wired says. Posted.
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/10/31/utah-state-university-raises-9m-for-wireless-electric-buses/