Spurring the Building Industry Ahead in the Green Movement
Greener Buildings — ... (GAT).  The CAT is focused on reducing GHG emissions and coordinates the efforts of more than a dozen other key state agencies. The GAT focuses on developing low emission state buildings (new and remodeled) and encourages the private sector to build low emission buildings. Additional government organizations striving to reduce the environmental impacts of new and existing buildings on our Golden State include the California Air Resources Board , ...

California Passes Landmark Climate Plan, Adopts Cap-and-Trade
Earth2Tech — ... The California Air Resources Board has unanimously approved a sweeping plan for reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels — an average cut of four tons of annual emissions per person — by 2020. Outlining rules for nearly every sector of California’s economy, the plan represents the country’s most comprehensive strategy for curbing climate change and fostering a low-carbon (read: cleantech) economy. ...

California Passes New Rules For Eco-Friendly Trucks
Modern Eco Homes — ... The California Air Resources Board estimated the regulations would cost about $5.5 billion. It put the health benefits of cleaner air at $48 to $69 billion over the next couple of decades. ...

California dreaming
Grist - the Latest from Grist — By Kate Sheppard Top California officials are already lobbying the Obama administration to approve the state's aggressive emissions program, a lobbying effort that began even as the president's pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency has yet to receive Senate confirmation. California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols today sent a letter to EPA Administrator-designate Lisa Jackson pleading the state's case to move forward with its tailpipe emissions rules. The Bush administration in December 2007 turned down the request, and ever ...

United States: With Bush gone, Schwarzenegger leads new car emissions push
Ecoearth.info Blog — California is first in line to push the new Obama administration to undo some of the environmental harm caused by the president's predecessor. Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board , has already written to the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency requesting that last year's decision to stop the state enacting stricter motor vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards is overturned. To score some publicity points, that official request was backed up by a personal letter from California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to president Barack Obama ...

'No Holds Barred' in California Climate Negotiations?
Green Inc. — ... . The prospect of having the economic and technical specialists of the California Air Resources Board second-guessed by the economists at the business, transportation and housing agency conjures up nightmare scenarios in the minds of environmentalists. The worst, which few think is possible, is that the federal E.P.A. could grant California its waiver, allowing curbs on the greenhouse-gas emissions of cars and trucks. Then, with the long-delayed measure set to take effect, the business, transportation and housing economists would claim the retroactive right to analyze the ...

Calif. regulators target tech industry emissions
Ecoearth.info Blog — SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California air regulators on Thursday broadened their reach into Silicon Valley, implementing rules intended to cut greenhouse gas emissions from semiconductor plants. The state Air Resources Board voted unanimously to regulate some of the most potent gases produced by the semiconductor industry, which makes chips for cell phones, computers and cars. By Jan. 1, 2012, more than a dozen California chip manufacturers must reduce their use of fluorinated gases. Scientists say such emissions trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere at a rate 23,000 times higher than carbon dioxide . "The chemicals are ...

Corn Ethanol Industry Attacks California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard
Ecoearth.info Blog — ... , California has set its sights on a new target: climate change pollution generated by transportation fuels. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released proposed regulations for a Low Carbon Fuel Standard last week to reduce transportation fuel emissions 10 percent by 2020. By requiring fuel providers to sell cleaner fuels, regulators expect about 20 percent of fuel used in the state will be supplanted with alternatives, such as biofuels, hydrogen and electricity. The public has 45 days to comment on the proposal but the new rules are already facing stiff resistance ...

Is California planning to ban black cars?
Ecoearth.info Blog — Legislators in California are considering proposals that could result in black cars being banned as part of efforts to curb air conditioning use and improve fuel efficiency. The California Air Resources Board (Carb) has set out proposals for consultation that would require all car paints and coatings to achieve 20 per cent solar reflectivity. In ...

Capstone demonstrates turbine compliant with 2010 EPA and CARB diesel standards
Autoblog Green — ... and CARB standards that will come into effect in 2010. Makers of some internal combustion diesel engines have been having some difficulty meeting the criterion without the implementation of lots of expensive add-ons, usually exhaust treatment systems. These additions will add to running costs even as the price of ...

Are you listening, Dr. Chu?
Fuel Cell Insider — ... Recently, California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols asked Energy Secretary Chu for his “continued support for the development and early commercial deployment of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure as part of a comprehensive strategy to address our shared climate and energy goals.” ...

CARB Petitions DOE for Continued FCV and Hydrogen Support
Fuel Cell Insider — ... Recently, California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols asked Energy Secretary Chu for his “continued support for the development and early commercial deployment of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure as part of a comprehensive strategy to address our shared climate and energy goals.” ...

California to ethanol: You're not helping
Super Eco News Feed — The California Air Resources Board (CARB), a governmental agency and part of the California EPA, is about to announce that the corn ethanol math just doesn't make sense. Months (and years in some cases) after mainstream media outlets have declared that it might actually take more than one gallon of petroleum to produce one gallon of supposedly environmentally-friendly ethanol fuel; and in the best-case scenario, roughly 1.34 BTUs of energy are produced using 1.00 BTUs of input (and all of the corn America grows, if converted to ethanol, would ...

California Adopts Low Carbon Fuel Standard
Greentech Media: All Content — The California Air Resources Board on Thursday adopted a controversial low carbon fuel standard that, while well received by environmental groups, has upset the oil industry and biofuel companies alike. That's because the standard includes rules for adding the greenhouse gas emissions that could come from land use changes driven by increasing the cultivation of crops to make biofuel. Scientists who support measuring such land use changes - such as emissions that come from cutting down Amazon rainforest to grow crops to replace those that will be made into biofuel in the United ...

California Pushes Through Low-Carbon Fuels
Environmental Leader — April 24, 2009 California Pushes Through Low-Carbon Fuels biofuels-field2 California’s Air Resources Board voted to adopt a regulation that will put in place Governor Schwarzenegger’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which mandates a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s transportation fuels by 10 percent by 2020. The regulations should increase the market for alternative-fuel vehicles and achieve 16 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2020, according to a press ...

California Adopts Low-Carbon Fuel Standard
Ecoearth.info Blog — ... from transportation fuels after making concessions aimed at placating the biofuels industry and expressing concerns about the rule's impact on the state's battered economy. The Air Resources Board 's 9-1 decision is aimed at achieving a 10 percent reduction in motor vehicles' emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 and spurring commercial development of low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and ...

Business Women Come Together to Promote Sustainability
Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit — ... ), is a non-profit organization fostering businesswomen's advocacy in social responsibility and sustainable development. The organization will hold its first West Coast Summit on Thursday, May 21, 2009 at Intel Headquarters in Santa Clara, CA. The WNSF forum focuses on Clean Tech and high-tech efforts to reduce carbon footprint. Mary Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board, will be the keynote speaker at the forum, which is designed to increase understanding of clean technology and the potential contributions that the technology industry can make to advancing ...

CA's Low Carbon Fuel Standard Regulation Is Approved
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network — "California's Air Resources Board on Thursday approved (9-1) a first-in-the-world regulation to minimize the amount of carbon in fuel, putting California on the cutting edge of promoting alternative fuels in a bid to combat global warming. The ...

Behind the Orange Curtain, Facts about Climate Change Can be Hard to Find
DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science — The Orange County Register managed to take their complaints about the California Air Resources Board (ARB) doing their job and twist it into a piece denying the realities of climate change and spouting one of the most absurd denier claims; that global warming is benign, even good for us. ...

An Important Book That’s Not Anti-Car, but Anti-Inefficiency
Switchboard, from NRDC — ... What makes this book stand out is the authors' real-world experience. I have spent time with Daniel Sperling at the World Economic Forum in Davos where he chairs the Future of Mobility Council. He is a professor turned policy guy who is deeply committed to making American transportation system better. You can see it in Dan's work on the California Air Resources Board, which is in charge of designing and implementing critical transit-related policies. ...

Dealership earns $175,000 fine for adding aftermarket "Fuel Maximizer"
Autoblog Green — ... as it mixes with the gasoline before combustion, though we suspect that it is likely as effective as a dimple wrap. It wasn't mentioned in the press release how much Sunrise Ford was charging for the device and its installation or whether they were offering customers a full refund and removal. Seeing as though the dealership's motto is "Where integrity has meaning!", we hope its management is at least considering it. Press release after the break. [Source: California Air Resources Board via Green Car Congress] Continue reading ...

H2 Road Tour 2009
Fuel Cell Insider — ... ?  Well, they’re at it again, and this year it’s an even bigger affair.  The California Air Resources Board (ARB) just ...

California Mandates Reflective Car Windows
Environmental Leader — June 25, 2009 California Mandates Reflective Car Windows reflectionwindow The California Air Resources Board has adopted a regulation that will require new cars sold in California, starting in 2012, to have reflective windows. The board says this will help keep cars cooler and, because air conditioners will be used less, increase fuel efficiency. The move follows an idea floated earlier this year by the board to ban black cars. After ...

California Delays Carbon Fee Decision
Environmental Leader — ... (via AP). If approved, the fee would raise $51.2 million annually for the next three years, dropping to $36.2 million by the fifth year, to fund the regulatory bureaucracy needed to implement California’s 2006 global warming law, reports the news agency. Industry groups say the proposal by the California Air Resources Board unfairly singles them out to pay for the law. About 250 businesses in California starting in 2010 that make, sell, distribute or import gasoline, diesel, natural gas and coal as well as cement manufacturers would be ...

California Mandates Reflective Car Windows
Environmental Leader — June 26, 2009 California Mandates Reflective Car Windows reflectionwindow The California Air Resources Board has adopted a regulation that will require new cars sold in California, starting in 2012, to have reflective windows. The board says this will help keep cars cooler and, because air conditioners will be used less, increase fuel efficiency. The move follows an idea floated earlier this year by the board to ban black cars. After ...

California Requires Windshield 'Sun Block' To Cool Cars
Matter Network - Clean Technology, Green News and Sustainable Business News — ... In an effort to keep Californians cool and indirectly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars, the state Air Resources Board (CARB) has mandated that vehicle windows must block out more sunlight. ...

Pacific NW landowners team up to market forest offsets
Grist - the Latest from Grist — ... “We found that the 100-year contract is more acceptable to private landowners who don’t want to necessarily bind their great, great grandchildren to this requirement,” explains Gary Gero, president of CAR. The California Air Resources Board will vote on the new draft in September. ...

CARB Giving Fleet Managers Headaches
Environmental Leader — August 27, 2009 CARB Giving Fleet Managers Headaches diesel3 Many of California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles may cause headaches for  small commercial fleet owners whose older trucks are difficult to retrofit in a cost effective manner. According to the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. EPA, diesel engine emissions contribute to some 3,500 premature respiratory and cardiovascular deaths and thousands of hospital admissions annually in California. The complex mix of pollutants emitted by diesel engines include visible carbon ...

Schwarzenegger Orders Renewables Goal
Green Inc. — ... with a provision in that bill that would require much of the energy to be generated in California. Mr. Schwarzenegger called it “protectionism,” at Tuesday’s press conference, adding: “I am totally against protectionist policies.” The governor has indicated that he would veto the bill. The governor’s executive order states that California’s Air Resources Board : shall establish the highest priority for those resources that provide the greatest environmental benefits with the least environmental costs and impacts on public health that can be developed most quickly and that ...

Electric Car Roadtrip! Courtesy of SolarCity
Earth2Tech — ... , the California subsidiary of the Dutch banking group, in Salinas, Atascadero, Santa Maria and Goleta. The project was built using funds from the California Air Resources Board as well as grid electricity and space donated by Rabobank. ...

At Governator’s climate party, EPA chief aims to calm small business worries
Grist - the Latest from Grist — ... The Obama administration is facing “a very delicate balance” between taking steps to curb emissions, and “not scaring the hell out of people,” said California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols. “They’re trying to not create panic in the streets ... although people may still end up going into freak out mode.” ...

Lumber Firm Enters Carbon Market
Green Inc. — ... . Sierra Pacific’s announcement comes just a few days after the California Air Resources Board adopted updated rules for measuring greenhouse gas benefits associated with forest projects. A key change was the removal of a provision requiring conservation easements. “That’s what we were waiting for,” said Mark Pawlicki, S.P.I.’s director of government affairs. “The easement encumbers your land forever.” The protocol requires that a baseline volume of living trees — or “live carbon stocks” — be maintained in the project area for 100 years, according to Mr. Pawlicki. “We can ...

Betting the farm
Ecoearth.info Blog — ... real carbon footprint is about the same as gasoline's or even worse. The ag lobby's response was simple and direct: They insisted that Waxman-Markey be changed to forbid federal agencies from considering indirect land-use changes when assessing the greenhouse gas footprint of ethanol. End of discussion. The experts were agog. "This is not a close scientific call," wrote Michael O'Hare, a public policy professor at UC-Berkeley who's studied land-use issues extensively for the California Air Resources Board . "If we are willing to make stuff up and stifle the science with ...

LA Preview: CMT-380 plug-in diesel hybrid supercar uses microturbine, li-ion batteries
Autoblog Green — ... specs bear this out: 0-60 is taken care of in a quick 3.9 seconds and the top speed is 150 mph. The hybrid powertrain uses li-ion batteries along with the C30 microturbines to reach a range of 500 miles per tank (the size of the tank and an estimated MPG figure were not given), with 80 or those miles available in pure-electric mode. The microturbine is a 30 kW device that can burn either diesel or biodiesel and doesn't need any aftertreatments to meet the 2010 EPA and CARB diesel engine emission regulations, as Capstone announced back in March. While ...