California climate change laws: More electric cars, solar power expected under tough new rules

[Source: The Mercury News] California is already a world leader in developing environmental policies that address climate change. But under a landmark bill sent to Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday requiring far steeper reductions in greenhouse gas emissions than anything the state has ever attempted, the next 15 years will likely see big changes for Read More…

Manufacturers fear impact of new emissions target

[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The passage this week of Senate Bill 32 to implement stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards creates uncertainty for businesses and may lead to more businesses leaving California, said Dorothy Rothrock, president of the California Manufacturers & Technology Association. That organization, along with other business groups and the oil industry, has Read More…

The head of California’s ISO is on a mission to regionalize and decarbonize

[Source: Utility Dive] California’s system operator is moving ahead with its plans to organize 38 independent power providing systems into a western region grid and market. Nobody is more passionate about this history-making plan than California Independent System Operator (CAISO) President and CEO Steve Berberich. Just-released preliminary assessments of the regionalization plan to integrate the separate balancing authority areas (BAAs) Read More…

California’s cap-and-trade carbon emission system may be failing

[Source: Sacramento Bee] California’s much-vaunted cap-and-trade system of reducing greenhouse gas emissions may be collapsing. This month’s quarterly auction of carbon dioxide emission allowances, which was supposed to generate more than a half-billion dollars for politicians to spend, brought in a paltry $10 million as the Air Resources Board sold a tiny fraction of the Read More…

Is California a climate model?

[Source: The Sacramento Bee] Tom Steyer was on stage at the United Nations climate summit one recent afternoon, grinning at a small crowd. Many people in the audience had already heard the billionaire environmentalist “promoting California as an example” of leadership on climate change, the event’s moderator said. Still, Steyer came to dish some more. Read More…