March 10, 2010
St. Louis, MO - The US EPA will regulate truck emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) and those regulations will likely be linked with emerging fuel efficiency standards for trucks, according to presentations made at the CALSTART-NTEA Green Truck Summit in St. Louis. While no specific timing or rules were announced, they are coming said the EPA's Byron Bunker. He said the agency has the authority under the Clean Air Act and will develop emissions rules for GHGs. He gave a sense of how such rules may roll out by referring to past air quality rules, which laid out steady reduction "steps" over time. The agency intends to collaborate with industry to develop the rules and did lay out its principles for the regulations: 1) to build off the SmartWay program; 2) to get reductions as soon as possible, perhaps starting by 2014; 3) to get reductions from the whole vehicle, not just the engine: 4) to make a straight-forward, clear regulation; and 5) to keep flexibility to design trucks that can do the work fleets need. Bunker also said that just like with passenger car rules, where GHG and fuel efficiency standards have been aligned, the rules for trucks will also align efficiency and GHG standards so truck makers do not face two different sets of rules.
March 04, 2010
The funding focuses on three areas: “Grid Scale Rampable Intermittent Dispatchable Storage,” cost effective storage that can manipulate the variable, short-duration generating capacity; “Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology,” which involves high-performance power converters; and “Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEET-IT) seeking high efficiency heating and cooling technologies, with an emphasis on technologies that perform in warm, humid, and hot climates...
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February 25, 2010
The regulation adopted today allows cars that comply with the federal greenhouse gas standards for model years 2012 to 2016 to also comply with California’s standards for each of those years...
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February 17, 2010
The program continues to drive early introduction of clean air technologies that reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and reactive organic gases (ROG) caused by the combustion of diesel fuel in heavy-duty engines...
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February 11, 2010
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) recently launched the California Hybrid Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) which provides $20 million in funding assistance to spur the purchase of hybrid trucks and buses. The program, administered by CALSTART, is the first of its kind in the nation. “HVIP was designed to reduce the up-front cost of hybrid vehicles and has already processed well over $7 million in voucher requests for nearly 300 hybrid trucks in the first week.” said John Boesel, president and CEO of CALSTART.
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February 04, 2010
Mary D. Nichols, chairwoman of the state's Air Resources Board, called the lawsuit "shameful," adding that the carbon standard will "help us break our dependence on fossil fuels. It will protect us from volatile oil prices. . . . Instead of fighting us in court, they should be working to provide consumers with the next generation of cleaner fuels..."
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February 04, 2010
The release of the final regulations follows a fierce campaign by ethanol companies that alleged 2009 draft rules unfairly found that large volumes of ethanol production would not meet targets in the statute for reducing greenhouse gases...
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February 04, 2010
In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a rule to implement the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress...
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February 02, 2010
Governor Schwarzenegger participated in a tour of Quallion's state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and conducted a press conference that addressed the Governor's California Jobs Initiative, a legislative package designed to create or retain at least 100,000 California jobs...
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January 26, 2010
With moderate lawmakers holding sway on climate policy, the economy lagging and Republicans picking up political steam, many argue that the president needs to frame cutting emissions more as an opportunity for lasting job creation...
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January 13, 2010
A large segment of the energy business, in conversations with EPA workers and in comments filed on EPA's notice of its proposed tailoring rule, is arguing that regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act will create havoc...
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January 12, 2010
CALSTART President and CEO John Boesel was with the Governor as well, lending support on behalf of CALSTART’s membership to eliminate sales taxes on green tech manufacturing equipment. To achieve this proposal, the Governor is co-sponsoring legislation ( Assembly Bill 1111) to exempt zero emission vehicle manufacturers from sales tax on the purchase of new manufacturing equipment. The legislation will also extend the exemption to all green technology manufacturing…
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January 07, 2010
But the American Petroleum Institute quickly attacked the proposal, alleging that it lacks scientific justification and that there is “no basis” for scrapping the standard the Bush administration set in 2008...
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January 06, 2010
The additional Proposition 1B funding will provide $5,000 per truck for 1,216 additional trucks to install particulate matter filters on their rigs, and provide $50,000 for owners of 103 old trucks to purchase newer models...
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January 05, 2010
A key driver for the alternative fuel — the high cost of oil — disappeared as diesel prices dropped 18 percent since the beginning of the recession. Then in March the European Union placed import-killing tariffs on biodiesel and other biofuels...
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January 05, 2010
The agreement involves settling certain aspects of the port’s clean trucks program, aimed at reducing diesel emissions...
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December 22, 2009
Advocates of stalled Senate climate legislation have been hopeful that a deal in Copenhagen that commits China and other countries to action would increase traction for mandatory emissions curbs in the U.S...
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December 21, 2009
The state previously granted Ford tax credits to develop power systems for all-electric vehicles. But the tax advantage for hybrid batteries is more significant because hybrids will comprise a much larger share of the electric vehicle market...
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December 21, 2009
"The tax extenders package will likely not be considered until after the New Year," said a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). That means tax credits for biofuels, research and development and heavy-duty hybrid trucks may expire in two weeks, creating investment uncertainty and possible job loss in those sectors...
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December 21, 2009
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made the case in Copenhagen that climate summit cities and other sub-national units of government will play a critical role in implementing the kind of innovative solutions necessary to clean up transportation infrastructure in a carbon-constrained world...
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