California Governor Set Low Carbon Standard

California Governor Set Low Carbon Standard

    
 
January 2007  - Electric, 
hybrid and hydrogen vehicles got a power boost today as 
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an Executive 
Order establishing the world's first greenhouse gas standard 
for transportation fuels - the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. 
Because greenhouse gas emissions "pose a serious threat to the 
health of California's citizens and the quality of the 
environment," the Executive Order states, a statewide goal 
shall be established to reduce the carbon intensity of 
California's transportation fuels by at least 10 percent by 
2020. 
California is the world’s 12th largest source of carbon 
dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas that blankets the 
Earth, trapping the Sun's heat close to the planet and raising 
the global temperature. 
"Like the rest of the nation, California relies excessively on 
oil to meet its transportation needs," Governor Schwarzenegger 
said today. "In fact, 96 percent of our transportation fuel is 
oil. And that means our transportation fuels are responsible 
for more than 40 percent of California's greenhouse gas 
emissions." 
With alternative fuel vehicles as a backdrop, California 
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announces his Low Carbon Fuel 
Standard. (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor) 
"Being dependent on one source of fuel leaves our economy and 
our national security vulnerable to price shocks and global 
events beyond our control," he said. 
"Reducing the carbon content of transportation fuels sold in 
California by just 10 percent means we will replace 20 percent 
of our gasoline consumption with lower-carbon fuels, more than 
triple the size of the state's renewable fuels market, and add 
seven million alternative fuel vehicles to our roads," the 
governor said. 
The Low Carbon Fuel Standard applies to all refiners, 
blenders, producers or importers of transportation fuels in 
California. It may be met through market-based methods by 
which providers exceeding the performance required by the 
standard will receive credits that may be applied to future 
obligations or traded to providers not meeting the standard. 
To meet the standard, fuel providers may purchase and blend 
more low-carbon ethanol into gasoline products, they can 
purchase credits from electric utilities supplying power to 
electric passenger vehicles, diversify into low carbon 
hydrogen as a product, or use new strategies yet to be 
developed. 
"Right now, entrepreneurs from around the world are investing 
billions of dollars in clean technologies and alternative 
fuels. With this initiative, we are saying invest in 
California," invited Schwarzenegger. 
California environmentalists support the Low Carbon Fuel 
Standard. “There is nothing more important than taking 
immediate action to begin cutting global warming pollution 
from our state’s biggest polluters, said Environment 
California Global Warming Advocate Jason Barbose. 
Toyota's Camry hybrid runs on both a gasoline engine and an 
electric motor that can put energy into the batteries as well 
as draw energy from them. (Photo courtesy Toyota) 
"As a result of today’s order," said Barbose, "Californians 
can expect to see more renewable fuels like ethanol and 
biodiesel at their local gas station and, in time, can look 
forward to driving a new a plug-in hybrid or hydrogen fuel 
cell vehicle." 
The new policy was well received by the energy industry. 
Thomas King, CEO of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 
said, "By signing the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Executive 
Order, Governor Schwarzenegger is taking a key step in leading 
the nation's fight against climate change." 
"Any policy aimed at avoiding the potential environmental 
disasters associated with global warming must find ways to 
reduce our reliance on petroleum-based fuels," said King. "We 
are committed to doing our part and have seen first hand the 
significant benefits of alternative fuels on reducing carbon 
intensity." 
At the signing ceremony in Sacramento, Clean Energy President 
and CEO Andrew Littlefair said the new standard will be good 
for his business as a provider of vehicular natural gas to the 
refuse, transit, shuttle, taxi, trucking, airport and 
municipal fleet markets. 
"Natural gas vehicles are available today - they are both 
reliable and proven," Littlefair said. "In fact, the Ports of 
Los Angeles and Long Beach intend to deploy over 5,300 clean 
natural gas trucks over the next five years to help mitigate 
port pollution impacts." 
Natural gas vehicles provide near-zero emission benefits for 
smog and soot pollution and can provide a clear bridge to a 
renewable hydrogen future, Littlefair said, adding, "Most 
importantly, natural gas is low in carbons, reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions as much as 20 percent vis a vis a 
comparable gasoline or diesel vehicle. In fact, biomethane 
from landfills, agricultural operations, and other natural 
sources can deliver even greater climate change benefits." 
From his office in Wilmington, Delaware, DuPont Executive Vice 
President and Chief Innovation Officer Thomas Connelly said 
his company sees the new standard as providing opportunities 
for new technologies it is developing. 
"We are actively researching and developing a suite of 
advanced, high-performance fuels and other bio-based energy 
alternatives," Connelly said. "These alternatives will expand 
the fuel options for drivers by introducing new technologies 
that include advanced biofuels such as biobutanol and ethanol 
from cellulosic feedstocks. 
Ford Focus hydrogen fuel cell demonstration car powered by 
Ballard fuel cells. (Photo courtesy Ballard) 
The Executive Order directs the Secretary for Environmental 
Protection to coordinate the actions of the California Energy 
Commission, the University of California and other state 
agencies to develop a draft compliance schedule to meet the 
2020 goals for carbon intensity reductions in transportation 
fuels. 
This analysis will become part of the State Implementation 
Plan for alternative fuels and will be submitted to the 
California Air Resources Board for consideration as an early 
action item under AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. 
This law, enacted last September, requires that the state’s 
global warming emissions be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020. 
The reduction will be accomplished through an enforceable 
statewide cap on global warming emissions that will be phased 
in starting in 2012. 
The Air Resources Board, ARB, is directed to complete its 
review of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard protocols for adoption 
as an early action no later than June. 
The ARB will also begin a regulatory process in the summer of 
2007 to implement the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to be completed 
no later than December 2008. 
In 2005, there were more than 24 million vehicles registered 
in California - more than one per licensed driver. 
Statewide gasoline consumption was almost 16 billion gallons 
in 2005 which is second only to the entire United States and 
slightly more than that of Japan, a country with four times 
the population of California. 
Currently, there are 80,000 hybrids and 240,000 flex-fuel 
vehicles on California roads, together accounting for only 1.3 
percent of all cars in California. 
Some industry experts would like to see a national cap and 
trade market for carbon dioxide emissions, an idea the Bush 
administration has resisted. 
In a keynote address at the Inaugural U.S. Point Carbon 
Conference in Washington, DC Wednesday, Paul Hanrahan, 
President and CEO of the AES Corporation, one of the world's 
largest power companies, said that any U.S. greenhouse gas 
emissions legislation adopted to address climate change should 
be structured as a nationwide cap and trade program rather 
than a series of state or regional programs. 
“National cap and trade domestic regulation will be more 
effective than a set of regional programs with different rules 
and set-ups that are not interlinked or interoperable,” 
Hanrahan said. He emphasized that U.S. carbon policy should be 
"expansive, efficient, equitable and equivalent." 
Hanrahan said AES would support a national cap and trade 
program that applies to all economic sectors that produce 
greenhouse gas so that each source contributing to the problem 
of global warming bears part of the cost of the solution.