Posted by
Average Voter on Sunday, July 27, 2008 11:48:07 AM
This
article from SFGate explains how California's global warming legislation passed in 2006 works and some examples of it working.
-- New vehicles sold in the state to emit 30 percent less greenhouse gas on average by 2016 and implementation of the governor's Low Carbon Fuel Standard to reduce carbon intensity of fuels by at least 10 percent.
Plug-in hybrids, running mostly on electricity and a little bit of gasoline, clean fuels and zero-emission electric vehicles offer us the near-term opportunity to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions and chronic air pollution. Two dozen Silicon Valley CEOs and residents will own plug-in hybrids by the end of the year, through a program led by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
Tesla Motors, a leading maker of electric cars that just announced a production facility for the Bay Area, has already sold out its entire first year of production. And Amyris, a Bay Area leader in clean-fuel technology, recently joined with a leading Brazilian sugar producer to produce a renewable diesel that reduces emissions by 80 percent.
-- The average energy efficiency of the state's buildings to improve by 25 percent through stricter rules on new construction and through new efforts to retrofit existing structures.
Lighting is a major energy consumer. LED lights, which use one-sixth the energy of incandescent bulbs, are leading the lighting technologies that have attracted at least $100 million in venture capital.
-- A cap-and-trade market, beginning in 2012, that would assign a price on the right to produce greenhouse gases. The right could be sold, allowing the market to find the most cost-efficient reductions in emission.
The goals of the global warming act and an executive order from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are clear: By 2020, we must reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels. By 2050, we must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels, a goal that will require a per capita reduction closer to 90 percent and the virtual removal of carbon emissions from sectors such as transportation.
People in California bought hybrids because, besides a tax incentive, the first 85,000 got stickers to travel free in the express lanes. The consequences if that drove the price of a hybrid well above the list price to the point that only the well to do could afford one.
And yes,
Tesla Motors is a company that makes electric cars. But this simply not a car for
the average consumer. It's a sports car that will cost you $10,000 just to prove your interested in purchasing one. The final price on a 2009 model is $109,000! Guess what...only the wealthy can afford that.
Next we have
low carbon fuel standards. Basically, California is requiring oil companies, refineries, etc. that all fuel produced must meet a new lower standard of carbon emmisions produced by the burning of fossil fuel. Ethanol seems to be the product of choice. And as we are now experiencing, food prices have sky-rocketed becuase of the heavy subsidies the government is giving farmers to grow corn instead of anything else (never mind the nutty farm bill that passed last month). Ethanol based fuel also burns less effecient, while E85 flex fuel has been
proven too burns 29% less effecient then regular gasoline. Flex fuel costs less per gallon, but if you have to by 30% more of it, how is that helping?
LED lighting is actually the one good idea in the article, the only problem being is the funny color of the light it emits. Engineering will eventually fix that problem.
So, what does all of this mean? The average citizen in California will be forced to buy cars that cost more to purchase and fill up. Solar and wind energy are not yet cost effecient, but the citizens of California will have to pay for that energy.
Then of course there is cap and trade. We already know
it doesn't work. The EU has been at it for years and it has only breed corruptiion, made the trading companies wealthy, and done nothing for the environment.
These are ambitious goals - yet achievable with the right policies. Through technology, visionary public policy and human commitment, California can lead the way in a carbon-constrained world.
The human commitment is high, that is for sure, at least for the citizens of California.