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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for November 19, 2015
Posted: 19 Nov 2015 14:56:47
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. UN CLIMATE TALKS China expects consensus to be reached at Paris talks. China expects world leaders at upcoming climate talks in Paris to be able to reach consensus, the country's climate change special representative Xie Zhenhua said on Thursday, adding Beijing wants a legally binding treaty. http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL3N13E1NU20151119 Other related articles: http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NY1R8T6JTSEE01-23AA0ICKH88DVMOTJ5HGD0OSVI Courting business, Obama presses for climate action in Asia. Aggressive action to fight climate change will be a boon for businesses in Asia and beyond, President Barack Obama is asserting as he reaches for a global climate change agreement he hopes will burnish his environmental legacy. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_OBAMA_CLIMATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Britain Calls for Closing of Coal-Fired Power Plants by 2025. The British government on Wednesday called for the closing of all coal-fired power plants in the country by 2025, and proposed that use of the plants be restricted two years before that. The move, announced in advance of the United Nations conference on climate change set to open in Paris on Nov. 30, appeared aimed at showing Britain as a leader in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/business/energy-environment/britain-to-close-coal-fired-power-stations-by-2025.html France, UN: Climate finance must ramp up. French president Francois Hollande met UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon yesterday to discuss ways to ensure an ambitious outcome of the Cop 21 climate change conference in Paris in December. Talks on the deal will resume at the end of this month, with only 10 official negotiating days before the Paris meeting begins, and amid concerns that too many issues remain undecided. http://www.argusmedia.com/News/Article?id=1093526 CLIMATE CHANGE Brazil carbon emissions dip overall, but most sectors show increases. Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions fell 0.9 percent in 2014, according to a network of local environmental organizations, which expressed concern that only one sector, though a large one, showed a decline. The drop last year to 1.558 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) resulted solely because Brazil managed to reduce deforestation after a spike in 2013, the Climate Observatory said in a report released on Thursday. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N13E36W20151119 Senators Revive Financing Tactic From ’70s for Carbon Emissions. For years, power companies, manufacturers and entrepreneurs have tried to make capturing and storing carbon emissions from industrial operations like burning coal into a business, to little avail. Despite decades of promising research, demonstration projects and government investment, large-scale developments have often proved too difficult and costly to get off the ground. But now two senators think they have hit on a way to move the industry forward. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/business/energy-environment/senators-revive-financing-tactic-from-70s-for-carbon-emissions.html?_r=0 Runaway global warming becomes a concern as permafrost melts. Northwest Territories -- In a fragile landscape where footsteps leave an imprint for years, Jennifer Baltzer stood and surveyed the surrounding bog of green sphagnum moss. Black spruce trees tilted here and there like drunkards. Using a metal rod, Baltzer, an ecologist with Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, pierced the ground near a spruce. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060028256 Bad Credit is Making Global Warming Worse. Bad credit now threatens the international effort to limit carbon emissions. At the Paris climate conference next month, policymakers will pledge massive rollouts of wind and solar. But the issue of financing is mostly addressed as an afterthought. You can’t end global warming by decree; you need money, lots of it. If renewable energy is to grow on a scale anywhere close to what’s required, rich countries need to guarantee solar and wind bonds in the developing world. It is in the developing world where most of the additional carbon released into the atmosphere will come from. http://fortune.com/2015/11/19/global-climtate-sumit-paris-climate-change/ The Forgotten U.N. Climate Goal: 1.5°C. While much of the attention on a historic Paris climate meeting in the coming weeks will focus on the confounding task of trying to keep global warming below 2°C, or 3.6°F, a battle over another goal — one that has been forgotten by many — will be playing out in the negotiating halls. Delegates representing island states and others whose homelands are most threatened by rising seas will be pushing for the formal adoption of a long-overlooked goal, one that limits warming to less than 1.5°C, or 2.7°F. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/the-forgotten-un-climate-goal-19701?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed VOLKWAGEN Volkswagen Says 120,000 U.S. Diesel Owners Will Get Gift Cards, Repairs. Volkswagen of America said on Wednesday that 120,000 owners of diesel cars that have violated U.S. emission standards will receive $500 gift cards and $500 toward vehicle repairs. Last week, Volkswagen said it was offering a $500 prepaid Visa gift card, a separate card good for $500 toward services at a VW dealerships and free 24-hour roadside assistance for three years. In total, that could mean at least $120 million in benefits to the participating owners. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/11/19/business/19reuters-volkswagen-usa.html FUELS DOE to issue funding opportunity for up to $35M for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies RD&D. The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Research, Development, and Demonstrations” (No. DE-FOA-0001412). This FOA will provide funding to meet the DOE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office’s (FCTO’s) goals for hydrogen production and delivery, hydrogen storage, fuel cell technologies, technology validation, manufacturing, and analysis programs. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/11/20151118-doe.html Gasoline Most Expensive Over Oil as Refinery Profit Increases. Gasoline at the pump hasn’t been so expensive against its raw material, crude oil, since at least 2004. Regular gasoline in the U.S. has averaged $1.13 a gallon more than Brent crude, the global benchmark, so far in 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on AAA prices and Brent futures. That’s almost 20 cents a gallon higher than the average in the past 10 years. http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NXCTQS6KLVRJ01-1QJOMIB6RACC9CN647OFDK2AVL Proof-of-principle of cost-effective methane cracking technology for H2 production without CO2; 50% cleaner than SMR, comparable to electrolysis. Researchers of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have achieved the proof-of-principle for a innovative technique to extract hydrogen (H2) from methane (CH4) without the formation of CO2 as a byproduct. At this stage, cost estimates are uncertain, since methane cracking is not yet a fully mature technology. However, preliminary calculations show that it could achieve costs of €1.9 to €3.3 per kilogram of hydrogen at German natural gas prices—without taking the market value of the solid black carbon byproduct of the process into consideration. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/11/20151119-iass.html VEHICLES Geely Auto Seeks 90% Sales From New-Energy Vehicles by 2020. About two-thirds of Geely’s new-energy vehicle sales will come from plug-in hybrids and gasoline-electric hybrids by the end of the decade, with the remaining from battery-electric vehicles, the company said on Wednesday. China has a deadline requiring automakers to lower average fuel consumption across their models from 6.9 liters per 100 kilometers this year to no more than 5 liters/100 km by 2020. http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NXY8026JIJUQ01-4FB1UFFRPSJFN21M35PP4D5ONH Army tests fuel cell Chevy Colorado. Can a pickup truck powered by a fuel cell endure the rigors of military missions? Over the next 12 months, General Motors and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC) will deploy a Chevrolet Colorado, equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system where is will be exposed to daily military use. http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2015/11/19/army-tests-fuel-cell-chevy-colorado/76013596/ GM, TARDEC to modify Chevy Colorado to run on hydrogen. General Motors Co. said Thursday that the automaker and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC) are altering a Chevy Colorado pickup to run on hydrogen fuel cells and will test the vehicle in extreme military use for a year. GM said it would announce more details on the vehicle and timing later. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2015/11/19/gm-tardec-modify-chevy-colorado-run-hydrogen/76038668/ Free Electric-Car Charging For Ford C-Max Energi Owners (For 3 Years). Charging an electric car is already much cheaper than paying for gasoline, but free charging can be even more attractive. Tesla offers its free network of Supercharger DC fast-charging stations and Level 2 AC stations, and Nissan has offered free charging as a promotion to drive showroom traffic. Now, Ford is jumping on the free-charging bandwagon with its EV 1-2-3 Charge card. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101050_free-electric-car-charging-for-ford-c-max-energi-owners-for-3-years ROEV Association forms to promote public EV charging interoperability. Automakers, electric vehicle charging networks and other stakeholders have joined together to create the ROEV Association (ROEV), a neutral collaboration of industry stakeholders designed to support EV adoption by facilitating public charging network interoperability. Initial automaker members include BMW of North America, Nissan, Honda and Audi; the three largest charging networks in the US—CarCharging/Blink, ChargePoint, and NRG EVgo—are also participating. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/11/roev-association-forms-to-promote-public-ev-charging-interoperability.html GREEN ENERGY Europe sees 2 major moves toward reliance on renewable energy. Enel SpA, the biggest utility in Italy and among the biggest in Europe, is buying out the minority shareholders of its renewable energy business, Enel Green Power. The company called the consolidation "beneficial," predicting it will reduce the volatility of producing electricity, smooth out grid connections and take advantage of the "acceleration in the pace of growth in the renewable business." The firm announced that it had approved the purchase in a statement yesterday as part of its corporate plan for the next four years. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060028272 Why many states are panicked by the federal clean power plan. The four huge power plants that stand smoking in Colstrip, Mont., don't just employ hundreds of workers. They pay property taxes that allow the city of some 2,000 people to afford services other remote, rural communities lack, such as a parks and recreation department. The electricity-generating plants consume almost all the coal mined at the Rosebud Mine, the second-largest coal mine in Montana. When the mine removes - or "severs" - coal from the earth, the mining company pays the state a severance tax on the value of the coal. http://www.sacbee.com/news/news-services/article45355305.html MISCELLANEOUS One of 10 Things: New generation hybrid. Where's a hydrogen fueling station when you need one? Granted, we're enjoying the (relatively) low gasoline prices of late. But we can't help anticipating the day when we "gas up" on hydrogen, one of the few alternate energy sources packing enough punch to compete with fossil fuels as a vehicle fuel. http://www.bakersfield.com/News/2015/11/18/One-of-15.html OPINION Joel Fox: Imaging California without oil – two different perspectives. A week ago, Zocalo Public Square published an article, Imagining California Without Oil Refineries, by one of its editors, Lisa Margonelli, suggesting that Californians are embracing new technology that will lead to an oil free future. Meanwhile, the California Resources Corporation (CRC), a publicly traded oil and natural gas exploration and production company, produced a website also asking Californians to imagine the state without oil. The two imaginings could not have been more apart. http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2015/11/imagining-california-without-oil-two-different-perspectives/ California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.