CALIFORNIA AIMS CUT CARBON IN FUEL, GO MORE GREEN
01.10.07 - Leído 103 veces. Enviar esta notaLeonard Anderson
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday will call for California to reduce carbon levels in motor vehicle fuels, a global first move that could widen the use of alternative fuels in the trend-setting US state, energy officials said
SAN FRANCISCO, U.S.; January 10, 2007.- A plan to cut greenhouse gases in the state approved last year put California at the forefront of the national battle against climate change and prompted other states to strengthen “green” programs.
The Republican governor is scheduled to unveil an executive order for transportation fuels in his “State of the State” address to the state legislature later on Tuesday.
Schwarzenegger’s office called the proposal “the world’s first low carbon standard for transportation fuels.” The plan, outlined at a news conference in Sacramento, would set a standard to reduce the carbon content of transportation fuels by 10 percent by 2020.
That also would help to implement the global warming law that mandates state emissions caps to reduce greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2020.
Schwarzenegger teamed up with the state’s Democratic majority last summer to push through the first bill in the United States to cap man-made greenhouse gas emissions, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
A reduced carbon level in vehicle fuel could reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent, more than triple the size of California’s alternative-fuels market, and put more than 7 million alternative-fuel or hybrid vehicles on state roads, said Robert Sawyer, chairman of the California Air Resources Board.
Transportation accounts for 40 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions and the state, the most populous in the nation, relies on petroleum-based fuels for 96 percent of its transportation needs.
Alternative-fuel options include ethanol and gasoline blends, electricity, hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen, biomass and other plant feedstock, Dan Skopec, undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, said.
The governor’s order will direct the state’s Environmental Protection Agency to work with the California Energy Commission, the Air Resources Board and the University of California to work out the details to implement the program.
The regulatory process at the Air Resources Board to implement the new fuel standard is expected to be completed no later than December 2008, according to the governor’s office.
(Reuters)
