Less Smog in California, despite more people and cars.

This is great news coming out of California. Californian environment is reaping the dividend of having strict environmental regulations. As you all know it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get environmental permits to build new fossil fuel power plant or industries in California.  In as much as I do not agree with all environmental regulation in California, I still believe it’s paying off now. The LA Times on June 5, 2013 published a report titled “Despite more people and more cars, California’s smog is in retreat”.

According to the report, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado led the research, which analyzed decades of data and collected air samples from over flights in 2010. The study found that Southern California’s air chemistry has changed for the better. The amount of organic nitrates in the atmosphere which causes smog has drastically reduced. Ozone and other pollutants have been monitored in the state since the 1960s. Since then, the population in Southern California has tripled, as has the number of cars on the road. Nevertheless, tailpipe emissions have decreased.

The state of California’s stringent emission standard has been credited for this pollution reduction. But I need to remind you that this progress comes with a price. Residences of California are paying for this environment progress with their hard-earned income. And energy productions to the state are offshore from neighboring states to supplement supplies from the few power plants in the state.

Happy father’s day to all the fathers.

 

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Electric cars are the way-forward to reduce pollution.

Sir Isaac Newton is often credited for saying; “If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giant.”  In this post, I will be standing on the shoulders of giants to look into of the future transportation in the world. I strongly believe that electric cars will be of immense benefit to the world in order to reduce environmental pollution from the use of cars with fossil fuel. Supporters of this idea says electric vehicles help the environment through reduced carbon emissions, while opponents claim that obstacles such as low battery life and prohibitively high prices cannot be overcome so the project is doomed to failure. I am not going to be talking about the cost of purchasing these vehicles in this post but I’ll be focusing on the environmental benefits.  Although the costs of the vehicles are exorbitantly high but mass production from future increased demand will definitely lower the price and reduce production cost.

Over the weekend,  as I was watching CNN’s Ali Velshi take Nissan’s electric Leaf car for a spin with Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn, I began to think about how awesome the future will be if all cars run on electric. According to Mr. Ghosn prediction in the video, he believes over 10 percent of the world cars by 2020 will run on electric. This sounds like it’s a long way to come because I can’t wait to see fossil fuel cars reduced from our roads.  About two weeks ago, I posted a blog about president Obama’s willingness to invest about two billion dollars into clean energy research.  I do not know how the president plans to distribute this funds and which technology will be a priority to him, but I think researching into electric cars production will be of immense benefit because it will help to drastically reduce GHGs production and also reduce the US reliance on foreign oil.

The US EPA is extensively regulating the power production plants to the extents that most of the major coal plants are shutting down due to the strict EPA regulation which I do not personally like. I hope the coal power industries can find a way to adequately control emission from these plants so that the US can still benefit from the abundance coal reserve that the county is blessed with.   Also the abundant natural gases that the country has will also be used for power generation because there will be an increased demand for energy which will need to be supplied.  Having these electric cars will free the regulator from worrying with the emission from on-road vehicles which is still very difficult to keep up with despite advancements in emission monitoring technologies.

After reading this post, you need to get yourself a good drink and start strategizing on how to purchase an electric car in the nearest future.

Thanks.

Obama pumps 2 billion dollars into clean energy research

I was excited to hear president Obama speaking today at the Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois, that the government will be investing around two billion dollars over the next decade to fund clean energy research. The initiative, which the president is calling the Energy Security Trust, would be funded through proceeds from oil-and-gas drilling in U.S. coastal waters.

As we all know, private investors are always reluctant to invest into such an expensive and risky ventures, therefore I think it’s a great move for the government to lead the way. I can remember that most of the great research achievements were started by the government. Obama said the trust would provide a public pipeline for research and also provide the basic idea that will be built on by the private sector in future. He said the idea for the Energy Security Trust is based on a proposal put forward by “a non-partisan coalition that includes retired generals, admirals and leading CEOs to take some of the oil and gas revenues from public lands and put it towards research that will benefit the public.”The proposal also includes a series of new national goals, outlined in a White House brief  . These include a doubling of renewable electricity generation by 2020, a halving of oil imports by the end of the decade, a halving of energy waste by 2030, and a series of new incentives aimed at ramping up energy efficiency. It also includes focus on strengthened use of natural gas, additional oil-and-gas drilling on public lands, and increased support for U.S. nuclear exports

I think this is a great idea. As developed countries around the world are looking for ways to reduce reliance on fossil fuel and develop highly sustainable renewable energy technology that will power our world, it’s equally important for the US to join in this quest in order to remain one of the world’s economic power in the future. The flashpoint in the energy trust fund is the fact that the government will use it to increase leases for fossil fuel exploration, therefore we need to be careful in implementing this proposal so that we will not be destroying the future we want to preserve.

I believe it important that the oil and gas industry be adequately regulated and industry should use their good sense of citizenships by protecting the environment in all there exploration activates. Remember to pray for the world today as we continue to look for ways to combat climate change.

Thanks