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The company benefited from a jump in sales of electric cars in China and Europe, but its fourth quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. 
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California, joined by 22 other states, is suing the Trump administration over its decision to weaken regulations limiting auto emissions.
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Several other countries have linked their fuel economy standards to the United States, so a rollback by the E.P.A. could affect rules across the globe.
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Carl Icahn, who resigned Friday from as President Donald Trump's adviser on deregulation efforts, stepped down ahead of a lengthy article detailing his potential conflicts of interest.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Power = influence.
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There's a lot of ideas out there for changing the cap-and-trade program. Here are the highlights.
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Federal and California environmental regulators have accused Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV of installing software that is allowing diesel trucks and SUVs to secretly emit excessive and illegal level
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Millions of Californians live in places with dirty air, according to an annual report card issued Wednesday that ranks two major urban areas in the state as the
PIRatE Lab's insight:
We're #1! We're #1! We'er #1!...wait...I think I was channeling a Presidential candidate or something there for a minute.
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Nowhere do automakers sell more hybrid vehicles than California, with its unique combination of environmental consciousness, high gas prices and traffic-choked highways. But new hybrid models will be in short supply at this week's Los Angeles Auto Show — one sign that the technology is still struggling to break out of its green-car niche, experts say.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
There is nothing new about this analyses, but it is an updating of older efforts with the most recent numbers out there. It is true that using coal-fired power to juice your your car is problematic, but for most of the county (e.g. coastal areas) most of us would be better off switching to electric transportation systems. Also, the best possible solution is to power our vehicles with locally-generated power, such as roof top or garage-top solar panels.
The trick is getting this into everyone's hands in an easy, turn-key manner. I think the tone of this piece misses that key point. This is an evolving conversation and new technology. It also needs to be one part of a broad spectrum of approaches to de-carbonizing our energy markets. Falling back onto the old mantra of "it doesn't work everywhere all the time" is a bit ho-hum and overly simplistic. Kind of the way some folks feel it is necessary to write an op-ed about their research to get increased attention for it.
For those interested in the actual study, you can find it here:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~mansur/papers/GraffZivin_Kotchen_Mansur_MargEmit.pdf
There is also an interesting story, in a similar vein, from the LA Times about faltering gas-electric hybrid vehicles at this week's LA Auto show:
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-la-auto-show-no-hybrids-20141121-story.html
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Bio-bean, a new London based company, is taking waste coffee grounds and turning them into biofuels. Tim Smedley reports Via Acquisti & Sostenibilità not-for-profit
PIRatE Lab's insight:
I tried a coffee-ground based "wooden" log for the fireplace last year. It burned quite nicely and cleanly. And it smelled like a coffee shop.
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Low wages in places like China once attracted U.S. companies. But those wages are going up.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
A true price on carbon emissions would further this trend.
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When most small boats are at a dock, they typically make an electrical connection to shore power, obtaining 120-VAC from the marina or dock facility. Some larger boats may connect to 240-VAC shore power. Big boats typically can't access electricity that would be needed and so run their own power generation plants when connected to a dock during loading or unloading for a day or two. They just continue to run on electrical power they generate themselves, running their often dirty, diesel engines in port. These emissions are historically not well regulated by local emissions laws as they are considered an itinerant emitter.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
The North Star is one of the first of this new breed of "plugable" cargo ships which can plug into special sockets when in port and so depower the entirety of its onboard generators.
There is an interesting episode airing on the Smithsonian Channel’s Mighty Ships series about this ship, but I can't find a full episode. I only was able to find a few snippets (like this one), none of which show the electrical coupling aspects. If you can find it, only the first 10 minutes are worth the watch (the rest is a typcial fake reality drama when no drama actually exists thing).
The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach is moving full bore with adopting such requirements for long haul freighters/terminals amongst a host of approaches to minimize emissions (known as the Clean Air Action Plan) generally. Lastly you might be interested in both a nice example of a Life Cycle Analysis for the goings on at the Port of Los Angeles and a guide for how entities can improve their emissions.
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Using portable emissions equipment, a wide sampling of cars and bikes from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and with the help of Dr. Kent Johnson of UC
PIRatE Lab's insight:
In the midst of yet another holiday party, what to my wandering eyes should appear but an excellent episode of Mythbusters (absent reindeer).
Here they test whether motocycles or cars are better on the environment. They test vehicles from the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and current models. Long story short is that things have been improving over time and current lightweight motocycles perform pretty well in terms of MPG. But when you factor in actual emissions (VOCx, unburned hydrocarbons, etc.), motorcycles perform much worse than a typical car.
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Top climate strategists see clear benefit to U.S. slashing CO2 emissions no matter what China does.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This and the following story are great examples of "why should we even try?" when it comes to dealing with global impacts of global problems. In this case, why should we even try with our California-based policies?
Several of my former colleagues are interviewed. Make sure to pair this with the follow-on (see below) with correspondents in other polluting countries.
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The European Commission, in a strategy due next week, will lay out measures to tackle EU greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. Reports speak of 30 million electric vehicles by 2030 and related infrastructure. Via EcoVadis
KYLE J PATTON's curator insight,
March 14, 2021 8:54 PM
For electric vehicles to make the change on the world that they are capable of, there must be a collective mindset to transition people to them. Having the European Union on board to make EVs a priority is a major benefit. They account for a large portion of the world population and the United States and China are also big into EVs so those 3 combined will be imperative for the global change in transportation.
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President Trump faces pressure to resolve a dispute between two GOP constituencies—the oil industry and the Farm Belt—over an ethanol mandate.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
For years, the EPA regularly rejected requests from refiners seeking waivers from ethanol requirements. Then this March, the agency agreed to waive millions in obligations for Philadelphia Energy Solutions, a major East Coast refiner that filed for bankruptcy after its costs to comply with the program rose to $231 million in 2016. The EPA then began granting a number of waivers to the small refineries able to demonstrate economic harm, including one owned by Andeavor Corp. , one of the country’s largest independent refiners and a company big enough to be part of the S&P 500.
The agency has rejected just one of about 30 applicants so far this year, encouraging more refiners to consider applying for the first time. It has received applications from oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. Many now see an EPA waiver as a given. Some are even asking for waivers that would allow them recoup costs from years past. “If you can show economic harm—which is pretty easy to do—you have to consider it,” according to one oil-industry lobbyist who has been pushing the Trump administration for a waiver for a client. “People never imagined they would be eligible.” One factor behind the change at EPA is a federal appeals-court decision last year that found the agency had been too restrictive in doling out waivers. Mr. Pruitt has since decided to accept every recommendation on a waiver from the Energy Department—which is responsible for calculations evaluating a refinery’s claim of economic harm—and grant full waivers even when the Energy Department recommended only partial waivers. This is opening the floodgates for applications and approvals, analysts and refiners say.
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In one of its most aggressive moves yet against Obama-era climate action, the Trump administration announced it is tearing up landmark fuel economy rules pushing automakers to manufacture cleaner burning cars and SUVs. The move invites a major battle with California and a dozen other states.
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The iconic VW van is coming back. Volkswagen will build new versions, starting soon. But this time around, they're all electric.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Best way to distract from the act you illegally used computer controls to emit a gazillion tons of pollutants: unveil and electric vehicle!
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Automotive News coverage of the European market, focusing on vehicle development, production, marketing and sales.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Now it is Renault's turn
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Unlike in America, climate change skepticism in China is largely a left-wing notion.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
US President-elect Donald Trump sees climate change, according to his incoming chief of staff, as a "bunch of bunk." But China — the biggest carbon dioxide emitter on Earth — takes the topic very seriously. And state-run papers in the country are already crowing that the US under Trump will “betray its words” on climate change, while "China will unswervingly keep its promise.”
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Volkswagen will be removed from the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) as of October 6. Via Acquisti & Sostenibilità not-for-profit
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From
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The court's 7-2 decision gave the EPA the right to regulate greenhouse gases. But in a separate 5-4 vote, the justices curbed the agency's attempt to rework one section of the Clean Air Act.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
I suppose the best that can be said of this decision is that the anti-science/anti-climate-change-is-a-reality-crew couldn't sway even the conservative court that is the current U.S. Supreme Court.
It seems clear that (at least in a general sense) the notion of possibly partially limiting CO2 emissions is no longer a Sisyphean task. I suppose that is progress.
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Facing criticism and legal trouble, companies working in the Bakken shale field said they would try to recapture more of the natural gas now burned as waste.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
A price on carbon would ensure that this pollution is at least generated for useful work/engines.
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When it comes to carbon emissions, don’t blame big cities -- blame the suburbs, says a new study from the University of California, Berkeley. The study, released Monday, found that population-dense cities contribute less greenhouse-gas emissions per person than other areas of the United States. However, these cities’ suburbs are so damaging to the environment that they effectively wipe out any climate benefits. The study will be published in science journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Using dozens of variables, researchers found that greenhouse-gas emissions -- largely from cars, trucks and other vehicles -- in the suburbs account for about 50 percent of all household emissions in the nation, even though less than 50 percent of the population lives in these areas. Via Lauren Moss
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The digital-first release has compromised CD sales.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Wow! Beyonce and I (for this year's annual Christmas Mix) had the same idea this year: digital rather than a physical CD.
A small change perhaps, but this will nonethless be another incremental step forward.
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By Lewis Lehe and Matthew Green Who doesn't love sitting in traffic? Especially when there's no apparent reason for it: no crashes, no tolls, no flaming
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Why congested freeways are not that efficient and cause the freakish "eveybody stops, but there is no accident" situation that drives everyone insane.
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