Ready or not – the California Air Resource Board (CARB) is proposing a number of measures that will “cut the state’s global warming emissions within the next 2 1/2 years,” according to the L.A. Times.
I have been on the CARB email list for years, since I worked in the refinery business and was in charge of obtaining CARB permits on equipment for a contractor. I received an email from them yesterday stating that “ARB Chairman Mary Nichols will make a major announcement at the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference at Stanford University on Friday, Sept. 7 regarding an Air Resources Board staff proposal to triple the set of early action measures as part of the state?s implementation of AB32. “
This is something you will all want to pay attention to, as the CARB measures are going to affect all of us. CARB has set up a web page dedicated to this issue. You can also sign up to receive climate change emails.
CARB is taking these measures in order to comply with A.B. 32, “California’s landmark global warming law requires that emissions be reduced to 1990 levels over the next 13 years, a challenge that will require massive changes in many industries, including automotive and electrical power.”
There were “three measures adopted by the board in June: a low-carbon fuel standard, improvements in auto air-conditioner maintenance and methane capture from landfills.”
The current “proposals include retrofitting trucks, reducing pollution in computer manufacturing and requiring car owners to keep their tires properly inflated. Altogether, they would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2.8 million metric tons a year, an early dent in the 174 million metric tons that must be slashed by the year 2020.”
CARB “said it also would act soon on an additional five measures that would make cement plants more energy efficient, require cement to be blended with other materials, prevent trucks from idling at rest stops, recover refrigerants — including hydrofluorocarbons — and study how to reduce fertilizer emissions. “
“So far, counting other agency initiatives — including a ban on utilities’ purchase of electricity from out-of-state coal-fired plants — the state is on track to reduce greenhouse gases by more than 36 tons a year by 2020, more than a fifth of the total required under the law.”
The State of California also has set up a new “Climate Change Portal.” This website acts as a clearing house for information about what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration is up to regarding climate change.
The Liberal OC put up a post this week about how the Arctic could be iceless by 2030. It is disturbing information. I don’t know if there is anything to the global warming concept, but why shouldn’t we take steps to clean the air?
Honestly, the best thing we could do would be to STOP buying China’s junk. China, moreso than ANY other country is utterly ruining the environment. They are opening coal fired power plants every single week. Their rivers are chock full of chemicals. Their deserts are expanding at an alarming rate. Their dust cloud is in the jet stream and is already affecting our climate here in North America.
I am so disgusted with what China is doing that I plan to ignore their 2008 Summer Olympics as my own personal protest. Even with all the measures that CARB is undertaking, we are essentially putting water in a bucket full of holes. The only way we will make a true impact will be to stop China from ruining our world…
Global warming looks as though it is very real. The weather jitters up and down a lot in the short term (tens and hundreds of years). Over the last few tens of thousands of years, the weather is most definitely warmer.
Humans are not the original cause of global warming. We might be a contributor to recent changes.
We seem to be getting a lot of bad/fad science lately – probably because the words “global warming” make it easier to get funding. How much human activity contributes is debatable.
Still, any human contribution to global warming is assumed mainly due to CO2 and CO2 emissions are largely due to burning fossil fuels. Anything that whittles down use of non-renewable resources is generally a good idea.
There are lots of long-term constructive things we could do to reduce our use of non-renewable resources. Instead with CARB and AB32 we get … an expensive and silly waste of time.
Just to hit the biggest item – the ban on electricity from coal is insane. If we had equivalent alternate sources of energy, this might be a good idea – but we do not! Burning other fossil fuels – already in short supply – in place of coal is much less than a brilliant idea.
By itself burning coal may generate more CO2, but add in the carbon cost of the war in Iraq (among other items), and we could very well be better off burning coal rather than other fossil fuels.
Banning electricity from coal is at least dubious, and probably foolish.
Shifting energy production from fossil fuels is a good idea for any sort of sustainable future. Outside niche applications, the only option is nuclear power. Like it or not, we lack viable alternatives.
In the long term, improvements in technology may make solar power a more viable contributor than at present. The tax credits for use of solar power can be viewed as a small side bet that might someday pay off big. In the short term, solar power will not solve our current needs for energy.
Doubtless the politicians drafting AB32 lacked both the guts and the insight to address the real problem.
We need less noise, and more constructive change.
Coal and nuclear power seem Barbarian.
Let’s remember wind generated power can be partnered with solar power. Also research is being conducted on harnessing power from the movement in the sea.
And don’t eat meat. Methane produced from cows are a big culprit to ozone depletion.
I read that China is doing one great thing — banning personal vehicles for a day.
Mexico City allows the residents to drive their car only 6 days a week in hopes they will choose public transportation on the 7th.
We have “the great american smoke-out” (stop smoking)– I think we could have the great American black-out or stop-your-motor day to help save our world. –Earth Day is too generic.