Monday, July 5, 2010

Reducing GHG Emissions in California

See excerpt from OC Green Blog

Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32, 2006) mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Since cars and light-duty trucks represent 46% of total greenhouse gas emissions, all we have to do is tell the automakers what emissions goals they need to reach, and that should solve the problem, right? Well, no. There’s a smarter way to go about it.

If we continue to assume that people will keep driving cars, and that the population is expected to increase, the carmakers alone are not going to be able to solve the problem. What about changing the existing assumptions? What if people didn’t have to drive as far? What if they more of them took public transportation? Could thinking like that, combined with lower emissions from the biggest polluters, enable us to reduce greenhouse gasses (ghg’s) in spite of an increase in population?

Enter Senate Bill 375 (SB 375, 2008), which requires a reduction of ghg’s to 1990 levels from new land development or redevelopment projects. It also called for the creation of a technical advisory committee to advise the California Air Resource Board (CARB) on how to reach the 2020 goal.

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