It happened in Japan earlier this year when Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 suddenly became hard to find. A popular new game called “Monster Hunter: World” led to a surge of demand for the videogame machine. Engineers at Sony say the company couldn’t quickly make more because components ran short, especially the part called a multilayer […]
State regulators proposed sweeping changes in the allocation of California’s water Friday, leaving more water in Northern California’s major rivers to help ailing fish populations — and giving less to farming and human consumption. By limiting water sent to cities and farms and keeping more for fish, the proposal by the State Water Resources Control […]
The digital revolution relentlessly enables consumer products to become better, faster and cheaper. But environmental regulation has for decades been making household tasks more difficult, time-consuming and expensive. A new effort to rewrite some old rules suggests a consumer backlash may be brewing. “Make dishwashers great again. It should not take 2-3 hours to clean […]
The electric-vehicle (EV) revolution is ushering in a golden age for battery raw materials, best reflected by a dramatic increase in price for two key battery commodities, lithium and cobalt, over the past 24 months. In addition, the growing need for energy storage, e-bikes, electrification of tools, and other battery-intense applications is increasing the interest […]
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has even more bad news for climate alarmists: a recent report reveals global carbon dioxide emissions surged to record levels in 2017. According to IEA, energy-related emissions climbed 1.4 percent in 2017, equivalent to adding 170 million cars to the roads. Worldwide demand for energy increased 2.1 percent in 2017, […]
The Oakland Athletics are asking California lawmakers to pass a bill that would effectively shield the organization from potential environmental lawsuits over construction of a new stadium. While the A’s would still be required to complete a full environmental impact report under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the bill provides an exemption that allows […]
The Clippers are asking the Legislature for special treatment on environmental regulations so they can build a new basketball arena faster. They’ll get it. And they probably should. Why not? Special regulatory deals for major league sports teams are being handed out in Sacramento like free bobbleheads. The Oakland A’s also are seeking legislation to […]
For more than a decade, California has won high praise from environmentalists for its stringent greenhouse gas restrictions. But a new report shows that despite the enormous costs of this effort, the state is doing a worse job at cutting CO2 emissions than the rest of the country, while badly hurting its working families. . […]
The news of Ontario’s impending withdrawal from the bi-national cap-and-trade program, after less than a year of partnership, has landed with a thud. The retreat of California’s largest emissions trading partner is a function of politics as much as policy, but the sting to the state’s ambitions is no less felt. The incoming premier of […]
This paper examines California’s GHG reductions between 2007 (when the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) took effect), to 2017, when the California Air Resources Board adopted the most recent “Scoping Plan” prescribing existing and proposed new GHG reduction mandates (Scoping Plan) that CARB deems required to achieve the state’s legislated mandate of reducing […]
Within days the U.S. Supreme Court is going to issue its ruling on the case Janus vs AFSCME. This case, if the ruling goes as expected, is going to overturn current law that requires public employees to pay union dues. Here in California, however, the real story is how laughable is the notion that this […]
An industrial process for large-scale capture of atmospheric CO2 (DAC) serves two roles. First, as a source of CO2 for making carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels, enabling carbon-free energy to be converted into high-energy-density fuels. Solar fuels, for example, may be produced at high-insolation low-cost locations from DAC-CO2 and electrolytic hydrogen using gas-to-liquids technology enabling decarbonization of […]
[Deregulation] opened the door to market manipulation by Enron and some other big energy players, drove one major utility (Pacific Gas and Electric) into bankruptcy, almost sent another (Southern California Edison) into insolvency, caused blackouts and wound up costing California consumers many billions of dollars. This brief excursion into not-so-distant history is important because the […]
The behemoth of a clean energy bill could reshape Massachusetts utility policy, if it survives the legislative process. The measure also asks the state to consider adding 5 GW of offshore wind energy, directs electric vehicle charging station distributors to create time-of-use rate plans for infrastructure and increases the state’s renewable portfolio standard. While the […]
The legislation, now known as Assembly Bill 813, will be considered by the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications committee, the influential panel chaired by Hueso. It was also referred to the Senate Judiciary committee because the bill rewrites terms of the state-controlled nonprofit that now governs most of the state power grid. Supporters say the […]