What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for July 21, 2015. 

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.

CAP AND TRADE

As cap and trade gets into big money, groups develop a tool to
follow it. This year, more than $830 million in cap-and-trade
funds will be poured back into communities across California as a
way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the number of
residents who realize this is happening is likely few and far
between.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/21/stories/1060022031 

AIR POLLUTION

Wearable Technology Takes On Air Pollution And Smog With Personal
Air Quality Monitors. When Hamish Stewart bikes the streets of
London, he clips a tiny digital device to his shirt collar or
pants pocket. The wearable technology isn’t tracking the distance
he travels or the calories he burns: Instead, it measures how
many toxic pollutants from cars, buses and factories are sullying
Stewart’s commute.
http://www.ibtimes.com/wearable-technology-takes-air-pollution-smog-personal-air-quality-monitors-2018324
 

Increasing atmospheric carbon will make dating historic items
more difficult – study. A T-shirt made in 2050 could look exactly
like one worn by William the Conqueror a thousand years earlier
to someone using radiocarbon dating if emissions continue under a
business-as-usual scenario. By 2100, a dead plant could be almost
identical to the Dead Sea scrolls, which are more than 2,000
years old.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/21/stories/1060022128 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Another month, another global heat record broken _ by far. Earth
dialed the heat up in June, smashing warm temperature records for
both the month and the first half of the year. Off-the-charts
heat is "getting to be a monthly thing," said Jessica Blunden, a
climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. June was the fourth month of 2015 that set a
record, she said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_RECORD_HEAT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NRTVG56JIJUQ01-6EO3JIHI306F90DMIT5Q3GL1AU
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2015/07/20/june-global-heat/30412987/
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/world/article28002025.html


World mayors at Vatican seek 'bold climate agreement' Dozens of
mayors from around the world demanded Tuesday that their national
leaders take bold steps at the Paris climate talks this year,
saying that could be the last chance to keep the Earth's warming
to levels still safe for humanity. One by one, some of the 60
mayors invited to a two-day Vatican conference lined up to sign a
final declaration stating that "human-induced climate change…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_CLIMATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL5N1011M920150721
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/world/europe/mayors-at-vatican-pledge-efforts-against-climate-change.html
 
http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/APNewsBreak-Mayors-at-Vatican-seek-bold-climate-6396239.php
 
http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/apgeneral/india-mayor-climate-change-dungeon-of-slavery-related/article_30c1b2db-a8c1-5380-ad0e-1a72aaacd687.html

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/world/2015/07/21/vatican-climate/30452855/


Record-Beating Pacific Ocean Heat Seen Strengthening El Nino.  
The El Nino in the Pacific Ocean is building strength unabated,
with sea surface temperatures exceeding the 1997 record,
indicating the weather pattern will continue into next year. All
key El Nino ocean-monitoring areas have had temperatures more
than 1 degree Celsius above average for 10 weeks…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-21/record-beating-pacific-ocean-heat-seen-strengthening-el-nino


Gov. Brown blasts climate change 'deniers' during Vatican
conference. Gov. Jerry Brown, speaking at a conference hosted by
Pope Francis, on Tuesday denounced climate change skeptics as
well-financed “troglodytes” determined to “bamboozle” local
leaders. Brown said he has no faith in Congress to act on global
warming, and urged the 60 mayors from around the world attending
the event to take action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-gov-brown-blasts-climate-change-critics-during-vatican-conference-20150721-story.html


Jerry Brown’s climate warning: ‘We are talking about extinction’.
Gov. Jerry Brown, in an ominous appeal on climate change, said
Tuesday that the world may already have “gone over the edge” on
global warming and that humanity must reverse course or face
extinction. “We don’t even know how far we’ve gone, or if we’ve
gone over the edge,” Brown said at a climate summit at the
Vatican. 
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article27998554.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/brown-672743-climate-change.html


French president pushes for an ambitious global climate deal.
French President Francois Hollande is calling for an ambitious
accord on the climate to address the threat of global warming.
Hollande isn't at the Vatican climate conference, but he made the
call at a Paris conference of religious and political leaders.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/French-president-pushes-for-an-ambitious-global-6396646.php
http://www.usnews.com/news/science/news/articles/2015/07/21/french-president-pushes-for-an-ambitious-global-climate-deal


Hansen: 2C warming will raise sea level several metres.
Scientists warn feedback effects will melt polar ice faster than
thought, causing “highly dangerous” impacts this century. UN
climate talks aim to limit global warming to 2C, a level that
will require significantly deeper greenhouse gas emissions cuts
than currently planned.
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/07/20/hansen-2c-warming-will-raise-sea-level-several-metres/#sthash.m0XLzJOE.dpuf


Arctic Sea Ice Volume Rebounds, But Not Recovering. Over the last
few decades, and particularly in recent years, the area of the
Arctic Ocean covered by a skin of sea ice has steadily shrunk.
But it’s not just this extent that matters — the volume of sea
ice, which takes into account its thickness, is also important,
but traditionally much more difficult to measure.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/arctic-ice-volume-rebounds-19262?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20climatecentral/djOO%20Climate%20Central%20-%20Full%20Feed


Solar activity levels may have a profound effect on temperatures
in Greenland – study.  Greenland is a place of abiding mysteries;
one has to wonder why a chunk of the Earth that is so strikingly
white, owing to more than 80 percent of its landmass being
covered by ice, would be called Greenland. But the presence of
one of the planet's largest ice sheets also makes Greenland an
area of special interest for climate change…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/21/stories/1060022132 

DROUGHT

California irrigator faces record $1.5 mln fine for drought
violation. State regulators on Monday proposed a record $1.5
million fine against a northern California irrigation district
accused of defying emergency drought restrictions by continuing
to draw surface water placed off-limits for such diversions. The
penalty, if approved by the state Water Resources Control Board,
would be largest ever levied against a water user…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/usa-drought-california-idUSL1N10101J20150721
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drought-enforcement-20150720-story.html
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article27933571.html
 

El Niño likely coming, but will it make a difference? The El Niño
weather pattern often brings deluges to California, quickly
dropping inches of rain in what climatologists liken to turning
on a fire hose. Except when it doesn’t. Except when it brings no
extra rain. El Niño is a hot topic today among water agency
managers, farmers and others sick of California’s historic
drought.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article27953974.html#storylink=cpy


Amid statewide water cuts, one huge new user: Great Wolf Resort
in Garden Grove. With California in a yearslong drought, Garden
Grove has to cut its water usage by 28 percent but, at the same
time, is allowing a 121,000-square-foot water park to be built on
Harbor Boulevard. Some in the community view the park as a waste
of resources.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-672596-park-use.html 
 
DIESEL ACTIVITIES

Two California cities ordering Proterra electric buses. The
California cities of Stockton and Porterville have each placed
orders with Proterra for its new Catalyst battery-electric bus
with funding from the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution
Control District. Four new Proterra buses will replace diesel
buses in a concerted effort from the Valley to enable the
proliferation of clean-air fleets…
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/07/20150721-proterra.html 
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=28721 

FUELS

UPDATE 2-U.S. miles traveled rise to record on low prices. U.S.
drivers took advantage of low gasoline prices because of a drop
in oil prices, traveling a record number of miles in the first
five months of the year, according to government data. Travel on
streets and roads rose in May by 2.7 percent from a year ago to
275.1 billion vehicle miles, according to the Federal Highway
Administration.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/usa-roads-travel-idUSL1N1010YZ20150721?feedType=RSS&feedName=cyclicalConsumerGoodsSector


As CA keeps pumping oil, Gov. Brown says world must cut back. One
third of the world’s oil must stay in the ground if humanity
hopes to avoid the worst effects of global warming, Gov. Jerry
Brown told a climate conference at the Vatican Tuesday. “We are
going to have to set a clear goal,” Brown told a crowd of mayors
and public officials from around the world. “And that goal is
almost unimaginable.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/As-CA-keeps-pumping-oil-Gov-Brown-says-world-6397560.php


RedRock Biofuels to supply 3M gallons/year of renewable jet fuel
to FedEx through 2024. Red Rock Biofuels LLC will produce
approximately three million gallons of low-carbon, renewable jet
fuel per year for FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx
Corporation. The agreement runs through 2024, with first delivery
expected in 2017.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/07/20150721-redrock.html
 
NREL examines potential of blending ethanol with condensate for
flex-fuels and high-octane mid-level blends. A team at the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with a colleague at
EcoEngineering, has explored the potential of blending ethanol
with natural gasoline (condensate) to produce flex-fuels (ASTM
D5798-13a) and high-octane, mid-level ethanol blends (MLEBs). A
paper on their work is published in the ACS journal Energy &
Fuels. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/07/20150721-nrel.html


VEHICLES

Next Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid To Have 30 To 35 Miles Of Range:
Source. Cars with plugs have been on sale since December 2010,
and a second generation will start arriving next year. But while
long-range battery-electric cars--the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV and
an all-new 2017 Nissan Leaf--grab attention, another vehicle on
the way could be equally important.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099222_next-toyota-prius-plug-in-hybrid-to-have-30-to-35-miles-of-range-source


Canadian Plug-in Electric Vehicle Study: 1 Percent To 30 Percent
Is The Challenge. Even two years ago, about a third of Canadian
car buyers were open to buying a plug-in electric car--but they
need a lot more practical and real-world information about the
options than they're getting. And without sustained and
coordinated policy support…
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099194_canadian-plug-in-electric-vehicle-study-1-percent-to-30-percent-is-the-challenge

GREEN ENERGY

Distributed Solar Power Revenues May More Than Triple in Decade.
Global revenues from distributed solar photovoltaic power are
expected to more than triple in a decade as the technology
becomes viable without subsidies, according to the industry
analyst Navigant Research. Revenue from the installations, which
are typically small- scale and deliver power to areas near the
point of generation…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NRU0EI6KLVR601-2RNF78CMTERQ8UCOVV46NP7DI4


Hanwha Joins ReNew Power to Build First Solar Plant in India.
Hanwha Q Cells Co., the South Korean solar panel manufacturer,
will form a venture to build large-scale solar power plants in
India, marking the cell maker’s first move into the fast-growing
market. The producer will join with India’s ReNew Power Ventures
Pvt., an independent power producer backed by Goldman Sachs Group
Inc., to develop 149 megawatts of solar power plants…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NRTQVT6S972A01-46IIGSK48KB8BK42ROTDL7T98F


New York wants to lead the renewable energy revolution. Here’s
how. Brooklyn’s trendy hipster hangouts may soon offer more than
craft beers, artisanal cheese and organic produce: They’ll brag
of being powered by locally sourced electricity, from their own
solar panels or maybe from batteries down the street. Instead of
a microbrewery tour – how about a tour of local micro power
grids?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/21/new-york-wants-to-lead-the-renewable-energy-revolution-heres-how/


Duke Energy Buys Solar Power Project in North Carolina. Duke
Energy Corp., the largest U.S. utility owner by market value,
bought a 20-megawatt solar project in eastern North Carolina. No
terms were disclosed. Duke’s clean-energy arm acquired the
facility in Shawboro from Ecoplexus Inc., the San Luis Obispo,
California-based unit said Tuesday in a statement.
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NRUFKZ6JTSEI01-7QB9TT7G98HTNA1HNPN852QLF3


The Wind and Sun Are Bringing the Shine Back to Buffalo. Along a
bend in the Buffalo River here, an enormous steel and concrete
structure is rising, soon to house one of the country’s largest
solar panel factories. Just to the south, in the rotting guts of
the old Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, where a dozen wind
turbines already harness the energy blowing off Lake Erie,
workers are preparing to install a big new solar array.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/business/energy-environment/the-wind-and-sun-are-bringing-the-shine-back-to-buffalo.html?_r=0


MISCELLANEOUS

Continuing slump in oil prices will slow electric vehicle market
and biofuel use, experts say. Sinking oil prices will affect
climate change policies in different ways in different countries,
a new Council on Foreign Relations report finds. The report is
based on the findings of a closed-door discussion the nonprofit
think tank held during the spring with leading economists, oil
market experts, climate policy analysts and others.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/21/stories/1060022129 

OPINIONS

COLUMN-California drivers pay dearly for refinery problems: Kemp.
California motorists are paying $1 per gallon more for gasoline
than drivers in the rest of the country as problems at state
refineries leave the state fuel market unusually tight. The
average price of gasoline sold in the state was $3.95 per gallon
on Monday, compared with a nationwide average of $2.89…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/usa-california-gasoline-kemp-idUSL5N10135V20150721?feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssEnergyNews


The climate alarm clock will be seawater sloshing against your
cheeks. Oh! What the…? Hey! We didn’t realize we could get WET!
The latest forecast is that we may be looking at a sea level rise
of TEN FEET. In THIS CENTURY. Once again, though, we will turn
over and go back to sleep. We’ll just move to the higher bunk.
The bunk, as always, is that ‘we don’t need to worry about
climate.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2015/07/21/the-climate-alarm-clock-will-be-seawater-sloshing-against-your-cheeks/


Dispelling the deadly air pollution myth. The Supreme Court isn’t
impressed by the fancy dance of the EPA. The Supreme Court’s
recent rejection of the Environmental Protection Agency’s mercury
emissions rule for coal-fired power plants sets up a much-needed
showdown over a key health claim underpinning the agency’s
so-called “war on coal,” and global warming and ozone
initiatives.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/20/steve-milloy-dispelling-the-deadly-air-pollution-m/#ixzz3gYYTu8l


Water for farms — and fish and fowl. I n an absurd twist, the
villain of the California drought — once the almond farmer — is
now the natural world, with some water districts and politicians
regularly claiming that we set aside too much water for
environmental purposes. Last week, the House passed and moved to
the Senate a bill that would divert water from Central Valley
wildlife refuges…
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mccormack-environment-drought-audubon-20150721-story.html


BLOGS

The science and morality of climate change. "The absence of
certainty is not an excuse to do nothing," Christine Todd
Whitman, President George W. Bush's Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) administrator, once cautioned. For decades, we have
ignored Whitman's advice and done just that when faced with
critical, lifesaving decisions about how the U.S. should respond
to climate change.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/248596-the-science-and-morality-of-climate-change


Here’s Where to Buy a House In the U.S. That Will Be Resilient to
Climate Change. You should probably avoid Miami and New Orleans.
Want to keep the worst impacts of climate change from unfolding
in your backyard? You’ll have to be strategic about where you
live—which is why we asked climate change experts to name the
most geographically resilient places in the country.
http://time.com/3964807/climate-change-resilience/ 

Blight Threatens Sikkim Cardamom Crop. Large cardamom yields are
falling dramatically across the northeast Himalayas, where a
fungal infection caused by climate change threatens one of the
world's most expensive spices.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/india-climate-dialogue/blight-threatens-sikkim-cardamom-crop_b_7840932.html


Three electric vehicles have joined Europe's biggest loser's
list. Alternative fuel vehicle sales are sluggish, despite market
increases. It’s sad fact of buying a mass market car. Once you’ve
driven it off the lot, depreciation begins—some faster than
others. In Europe, three electric vehicles have joined a
less-than-desirable list: the worst first-year depreciators.
http://fortune.com/2015/07/21/european-electric-car-losers/ 

One Cause Of Global Warming That Gets Overlooked: Food Waste.
What are the biggest threats posed by the amount of food we
waste? Decreasing landfill space? Hunger? Water and energy waste?
Yes, all of these are important considerations. But another one
we tend to overlook: food waste is a cause of global warming. The
40% of food that gets wasted from farm to plate creates 3.3
billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gases… and much of that is
methane…
http://sustainablog.org/2015/07/one-cause-of-global-warming-that-gets-overlooked-food-waste/


Are Consumers Being Manipulated By Anti-Electric Car Propaganda?
Nobody has proven electric cars less environmentally friendly
overall than conventional cars but that does not stop people from
throwing what they can on the wall to see what sticks. It’s
effectively propaganda, and you the general public are the
target.
http://www.hybridcars.com/are-consumers-being-manipulated-by-anti-electric-car-propaganda/




California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.