After some delays back in 2008, it's finally happening! BikePortland reports that the city of Portland has released Request for Proposals (RFP) to try to find an operator for its bike share program.
Sometimes the most basic things are also the most important. Here are some safety rules for motorists and cyclists.
A letter signed by 101 public figures in the UK – including Sir Richard Branson – has been sent to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to promote the benefits of renewable energy in the budget due to be announced this Wednesday, the Guardian reported.
The letter is widely seen as a rebuff to another letter signed by 101 Members o
by Rebecca Friendly
California, a state that’s historically been at the cutting edge of environmental and climate policies, continues to take bold steps in order to address climate change.
Climate studies and projections indicate that California will be hit hard by climate change, losing a great deal of its snow pack (a vital source of freshwater), and experiencing at least one meter of sea level rise by 2100. With the most advanced climate plan of any state, California is taking these threats very seriously (see “Study Confirms Optimal Climate Strategy: Deploy, Deploy, Deploy, Research and Develop, Deploy, Deploy, Deploy“).
What if the rest of the country were as motivated as California? The answer: we’d definitely be one of the leading countries in leading the fight against climate change.
California-based author Mark Hertsgaard recently wrote an eye-opening piece for Yale Environment 360 asking that question. He highlights the various mechanisms California has implemented, including aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals, vehicle emission standards, and renewable energy targets.
In fact, if the rest of the United States had done what California has over the past 40 years, the world might be well on the way to slowing climate change. For in that case, the U.S. today, like California, might be consuming the same amount of energy as it did 40 years ago…. What’s more, the international community might have had a better chance of reaching a deal at the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, because the U.S. might have embraced rather than shunned the goal of 80 percent emissions reductions by 2050.
As we move through this vapid period in America’s national clean energy strategy, it’s important to remember what California has done in recent years.
Through bold and innovative policies, California state officials are working to reduce pollution, protect the health of residents, and stabilize climate change — all while attempting to transition to an economy where sustainability is profitable. Hertsgaard’s column shows that such an economy is already taking shape due to the bipartisan Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the continuity of climate policy under Gov. Brown.
The passage of AB 32 in 2006 signaled the state’s commitment to green policies and long-term progressive thinking over partisanship. It established the first-ever mandatory reporting guidelines for global warming pollution, and set a limit for carbon, requiring the state to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020 and cut them by 80 percent by 2050. To accomplish these goals, the state was to establish a price for carbon, a low-carbon fuel standard, create energy efficiency standards, and create a statewide renewable electricity standard of 33% by 2020.
This January, the California Air Resources Board approved a sweeping package of progressive automobile standards known as the California clean car rules. These policies are an important first step in the larger goal of bringing state emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. This package will increase the number of low-pollution and zero emission vehicles available to consumers by 15% by 2025. Half a million of these cars are expected to be fuel cell or electric powered. This new package is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 52 million tons a year by 2025.
California utilities are also pushing forward to meet the statewide renewable electricity standard. While there are still a number of integration challenges that need to be dealt with, the state has maintained its leadership in solar deployment thanks to the Million Solar Roofs program and the installation of large-scale concentrating solar power plants.
In August of this year, California will also follow up on its AB 32 mandates by holding its first auction of emission allowances under its carbon cap-and-trade program. Under this program the allowable emissions for each individual sector will be capped at 90 percent of the previous year’s emissions. Corporations that don’t utilize all of their allotted emission allowances will be able to auction their remaining allowance to companies that go over their limit. Governor Jerry Brown projects that these auctions will earn over $500 million in extra revenue each year.
So what drives this holistic, unprecedented range of investments? Hertsgaard writes about the culture that contributes to such aggressive action in the state:
Matt Rodriquez, the state’s Secretary for Environmental Protection, said he believed it is partly because many Californians, including policymakers, came to the state in the first place “because of its natural beauty and resources” and thus want them protected. The continuity between the climate policies of governors Brown and Schwarzenegger illustrates how the environment is less of a partisan issue in California; Republican and Democratic politicians alike understand that voters value green policies more than party labels. “Even though there may be a variety of political viewpoints, we share the goal of preserving our agricultural land, our forest lands, maintaining a good quality of water, and preserving the California way of life,” explained Rodriquez.
Of course, climate change isn’t just a California issue. Even if the state continues on this path, the lack of action elsewhere will continue to make the problem worse. If we want to truly combat the problem, we need to follow California’s lead on a broader scale.
Rebecca Friendly is a special assistant in the California office of the Center for American Progress.
Obama can't control gas prices, but you can, by never worrying about them again after you've bought an e-bike for the majority of your transport.
The increase in utility scale wind development across North America has and continues to change the energy supply mix in many jurisdictions. Driven primarily by state-level renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements and clean air regulation, state and provincial supply mixes once dominated by coal, hydro nuclear and natural gas are now becoming more diverse. Intermittent generation sources – once a small component of total capacity – are becoming substantial. And, as a result, system operators have had to periodically curtail these intermittent generators in order to maintain system balance and reliability.
Business leaders have warned the chancellor George Osborne it is “critical” that the budget drives the UK’s transition towards a low carbon and resource efficient economy.
The letter, sent today (March 19) and signed by well-known brands such as M&S, IKEA, Phillips, BT, Microsoft and PepsiCo, leads with a call for the Government to implement a “credible” green growth strategy that accelerates investment in renewables and energy efficiency.
This, it argues will “not only help to safeguard the environment but, critically, lead the way to a more competitive and resilient economy”, adding that resource scarcity and price volatility is having a damaging effect on the economy.
The group also criticises comments made by the chancellor during last year’s Autumn Statement that if businesses are burdened with “endless social and environmental goals – however worthy in their own right – then not only will we not achieve those goals, but the businesses will fail, jobs will be lost, and our country will be poorer”.
Rather, signatories, which also includes Aviva, Cisco, Diageo, National Grid, RWE, Npower, Siemens, Worchester Bosch, Reed Elsevier, Anglian Water and Grant Thornton among others, say this is “quite the reverse”, arguing that “well designed, smart regulation can reduce business costs and drive innovation and growth”.
The signatories have called on the Government to deliver on its pledge to be the “greenest government ever” by putting “credible, consistent and bankable polices” in place to “accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy”.
It argues that “strong and consistent” communication will be key to the success of green growth and that government must develop a decision making framework which integrates environmental, social and economic goals.
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