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How About CO2 Emissions Labels for New Cars and Light Trucks?

As of September 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) newly designed window sticker has appeared on new cars, light trucks and SUVs. It includes the estimated annual cost of fueling the vehicle, the expected city and highway driving range, and how the fuel economy of a particular vehicle compares to others within its class, and a website link where consumers can go to for more information.While most changes are mostly cosmetic, adding the combined fuel economy and displaying the estimated annual fuel cost more prominently, the numbers used in the sticker have changed significantly. After years of criticism for inaccurate estimates of fuel economy, the EPA is using new methods which account for today’s faster highway speeds, people’s tendency to accelerate faster, and the effects of using air conditioning or operating the vehicle in cold weather. But there’s a very significant indicator that’s still missing from the label: a vehicle’s annual global warming emissions. Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about climate change but still don’t connect it with their purchasing decisions and everyday behaviors. Including this information on the label would clearly inform potential vehicle buyers about their contribution to climate change. For every gallon of gas burned, a […]

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Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:September 19, 2007

News and EventsNational Governors Association Launches Clean Energy Initiative DOE to Assist China in Industrial Energy Saving Assessments DOE to Provide up to $2 Million for Tribal Renewable Energy Projects Frankfurt Auto Show Features Hybrids, Fuel Cells, and Minis California Partnership to Examine Transmission for Renewable Energy California Credits Conservation for Weathering Heat Wave Energy ConnectionsReport Documents Massive Flaring of Natural Gas Worldwide News and EventsNational Governors Association Launches Clean Energy InitiativeThe National Governors Association (NGA) committed last week to promoting clean energy policies across the country. The NGA’s new “Securing a Clean Energy Future” initiative will enlist the efforts of all governors to enact meaningful clean energy policies at the state level. Specifically, the initiative will promote state policies that encourage energy efficiency and conservation; promote non-petroleum fuels; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and accelerate the research and development of advanced clean energy technologies.The initiative’s efforts will be guided by a task force composed of eight governors that represent a cross-section of the country and that share a common desire to advance clean energy. The task force is chaired by the governors of Kansas and Minnesota and also includes the governors of Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Washington. See […]

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California 2, Automakers 1

After two significant legal defeats within the last six months, automakers celebrated a victory Monday when a federal judge in San Francisco dismissed a suit brought by the State of California against six car manufacturers. Judge Martin J. Jenkins decided the court does not have the authority or expertise to enter the “global warming thicket” at this time, choosing instead to defer policy making to political branches of the government. California sought billions of dollars in damages from General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, the US arm of Germany’s DaimlerChrysler AG and the North American units of Japan’s Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co Ltd. The suit claimed cars made by the six companies were responsible for 30 percent of the human-generated carbon dioxide emissions in the state and 20 percent of those nationwide. According to the suit, California spends millions of dollars dealing with the environmental impact of these emissions, including reduced snow pack, beach erosion, ozone pollution and the impact on endangered animals and fish. Jenkins wrote he was unwilling to impose damages on automakers, utility companies and other industries “for doing nothing more than lawfully engaging in their respective spheres of commerce within […]

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California Initiative Addresses Major Obstacle to Renewable Energy

One of the biggest obstacles to increasing the use of renewable energy nationwide is transmitting it from the regions where it is available to the urban centers where it is most needed. California is blessed with some of the country’s best wind, solar and geothermal resources, but in many instances these are located far from the electric transmission grid. To solve this challenge, California has formed a public-private partnership called the Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI) to consider the feasibility of building new transmission lines to access renewable generation. The goal is to bring green electricity to the grid as it is generated from isolated areas of the state or possibly adjoining states. RETI is a means to rapidly develop green energy to meet the state’s mandate of producing 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and goal of 33 percent by 2020. The California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission, the California Independent System Operator (California ISO) and representatives of publicly owned utilities, including Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), and the Northern California Power Authority (NCPA) are spearheading the initiative. RETI will serve to identify major renewable zones to […]

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California Regulators Propose Energy Self-Sufficiency in New Housing Developments

All new housing developments in California should be so energy-efficient by the year 2020 that they could produce all the power they need on their own, state regulators proposed Monday. The California Public Utilities Commission suggested sweeping changes to the way the state deals with efficiency, the effort to squeeze the most use possible out of every electron and drop of fuel. The commission wants California’s electric utilities to collaborate on creating one grand plan for improving energy efficiency throughout the state, rather than pursuing their own separate programs the way they do today. The commission’s most eye-catching proposal calls for radically increasing the efficiency of new buildings, even though the commission doesn’t regulate the housing industry. New housing developments would need to be “zero net energy” by 2020. They would require far less power to run than existing homes, so little that each development could generate all the power it needed, either with solar panels, windmills or small generators. New commercial buildings would have to meet the same standard by 2030. Commissioner Dian Grueneich said the goals are ambitious but attainable. “I wouldn’t have put this out there if I didn’t think it was possible,” she said. “A lot […]

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