Weekly Clean Energy Roundup: January 28, 2009
President Obama Issues Orders on Fuel Economy & GHG Regulations 75 Nations Join New International Renewable Energy Agency New American Home Demonstrates Energy-Saving Technologies Surging Utility Investment in Smart Grid Technologies Energy Star Labels for Energy-Wasting Set-Top Boxes Wind Power Provided the Majority of Added Capacity in 2007 President Obama Issues Orders on Fuel Economy & GHG Regulations President Barack Obama issued a pair of memoranda on Monday to address the fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions of our nation’s automobiles. The president directed the Secretary of Transportation to publish higher fuel economy standards for model year 2011 cars and light trucks by the end of March and to reevaluate the proposed standards for future model years. Automakers will generally begin selling model year 2011 vehicles in the fall of 2010. President Obama also directed the U.S. EPA to revisit the California waiver request that would allow that state to implement its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rules for vehicles. The federal Clean Air Act only allows California to set emission standards that deviate from federal rules, and any California standards require a waiver from the EPA. But once California enacts its own standards, the act allows other states to […]