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Scoop.it!
The biggest news and trends in energy, business and politics by Ben Geman, with Amy Harder. Weekday mornings 
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Scoop.it!
Imagine a California future where fossil fuels are never used to generate electricity. That's a proposal lawmakers are considering now. What would it take to hit that goal?
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An explosion and fire at an oil refinery in Torrance, California, on Saturday forced the partial shutdown of the plant, leading oil traders to expect a spike
PIRatE Lab's insight:
These complex chemical engineering plants are always a potential accident waiting to happen. This same plant in Torrance Los Angeles had a huge problem about two years ago that drove a several month reduction in capacity and associated gasoline supply disruption for much of southern California.
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A bill that would temporarily ban the oil and gas drilling procedure known as fracking in California was approved at its first state legislative committee hearing on Tuesday.
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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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Hear from the kids of Wilmington, California, who grow up in the shadow of oil wells. This video, second in the series of Stop Fooling California, tells the story of urban oil extraction in Los Angeles. Via pdeppisch
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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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