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11/18/03 <link>
China shames U.S. and moves towards more stringent fuel economy standards
Keith Bradsher of the New York Times is reporting that 

...The Chinese government is preparing to impose minimum fuel economy standards on new cars for the first time, and the rules will be significantly more stringent than those in the United States, according to Chinese experts involved in drafting them...

It turns out that unlike the Bush administration the Chinese actually care about energy security. More from the article.

...The new standards are intended both to save energy and to force automakers to introduce the latest hybrid engines and other technology in China, in hopes of easing the nation's swiftly rising dependence on oil imports from volatile countries in the Middle East.
They are the latest and most ambitious in a series of steps to regulate China's rapidly growing auto industry, after moves earlier this year to require that air bags be provided for both front-seat occupants in most new vehicles and that new family vehicles sold in major cities meet air pollution standards nearly as strict as those in Western Europe and the United States.
Some popular vehicles now built in China by Western automakers, including the Chevrolet Blazer, do not measure up to the standards the government has drafted, and may have to be modified to get better gas mileage before the first phase of the new rules becomes effective in July 2005.
The Chinese initiative comes at a time when Congress is close to completing work on a major energy bill that would make no significant changes in America's fuel economy rules for vehicles. The Chinese standards, in general, call for new cars, vans and sport utility vehicles to get as much as two miles a gallon of fuel more in 2005 than the average required in the United States, and about five miles more in 2008.
This country's economy is booming, and a growing upper class in big cities like this one is rapidly buying all the accouterments of a prosperous Western life, including cars. As China burns more fossil fuels, both in factories and in a rapidly growing fleet of motor vehicles, its contribution to global warming is also rising faster than any other country's.
But Zhang Jianwei, the vice president and top technical official of the Chinese agency that writes vehicle standards, said in a telephone interview on Monday that energy security was the paramount concern in drafting the new automotive fuel economy rules, and that global warming had received little attention...

It is heartening that China is nevertheless taking this step and it even more heartening that the Chinese are likely to have greater market power over the years to influence automobile manufacturers (especially those in the U.S.). For example, the article points out:

...Various Chinese government agencies still have three months to review the legal language in the fuel economy rules, giving automakers some time to lobby against them; as yet, there has been no mention of the approval of the new rules in the government-controlled Chinese media.
But Mr. Zhang said that the rules in draft form were the product of a very strong consensus among government agencies and that "the technical content won't be changed."
Two executives at Volkswagen, the largest foreign automaker in China, said that representatives of their company and of domestic Chinese automakers attended what they described as the final interagency meeting to approve the rules. Under pressure from the government, these auto industry representatives agreed to the new rules despite misgivings, the executives said. "They had no choice but to agree," one of the Volkswagen executives added...

The Chinese regulations will also force SUVs and minivans to comply with regular automobile standards!

...The new standards are based on a vehicle's weight — lighter vehicles must go the farthest on a gallon — and on the type of transmission, with manual-shift cars required to go farther than those with less efficient automatic transmissions....
In a major departure from American practice, all new sport utility vehicles and minivans in China would be required to meet the same standards as automatic-shift cars of the same weight. In the United States, standards for sport utilities and minivans are much lower than for cars...

I did not realize the European Union also has more stringent regulations than the U.S. Good for them.

...Automakers in Europe have accepted European Union demands to increase fuel economy under different rules that could prove at least as stringent as China's minimums...

There are other interesting features to the planned Chinese regulations:

...The Chinese standards would require the greatest increases for full-size S.U.V.'s like the Ford Expedition, which would have to go as much as 29 percent farther on a gallon of fuel in 2008 than they do now in the United States, Mr. An calculated. Sport utility sales in China have more than doubled so far this year, but are still a much smaller part of the overall market than they are in the United States.
Because the American standards are fleet averages while the Chinese standards are minimums for each vehicle, the effect of the Chinese rules could be considerably more stringent...

Once again, a Japanese car manufacturer is the leader already.

...According to people who have seen the new standards, many Jeep models sold in China do not now comply with them; neither do the Chevrolet Blazer sport utilities built by a General Motors joint venture in Shenyang. Some of Volkswagen's car models also fall slightly short, these people said. By contrast, Honda's cars, built at a sprawling factory complex here in Guangzhou, the commercial hub of southern China, would comply easily because they use advanced engine technology, these people said...

The only piece of fine print from the manufacturers that is somewhat worrisome is this:

...The fastest way to improve fuel efficiency is to switch from gasoline to diesel engines, as Volkswagen is starting to do in China. The latest diesel engines are much cleaner than those of a decade ago, but are still more polluting than gasoline engines of similar power...

All in all, my hope is they pass the regulations as is described here.

2/25/03 <link>
British P.M. Tony Blair proposes "ambitious" plan to combat global warming
We applaud Mr. Blair for his vision and thank him for making it clear that tackling global warming does not have to come at a significant economic price (bold text is our emphasis).
"...Prime Minister Tony Blair announced ambitious plans Monday to combat global warming, saying the Kyoto treaty to reduce greenhouse gases did not go far enough and criticizing the United States for failing to back it. Blair vowed Britain would seek to reduce its emissions of harmful carbon dioxide by 60 percent by 2050 and said President Bush was wrong to claim fighting warming will slow economic growth...THE PRIME MINISTER, Bush’s closest overseas ally since the Sept. 11 attacks, said world leaders must not let the crisis in Iraq and the fight against terrorism distract them from long-term but equally important environmental problems like global warming. “The only answer is to construct a common agenda that recognizes both sets of issues have to be confronted for the world’s security and prosperity to be guaranteed,” Blair said. “There will be no genuine security if the planet is ravaged by climate change.” “We will continue to make the case to the U.S. and to others that climate change is a serious threat that we must address together as an international community,” he said. “We in Britain have shown that it is possible to break the relationship between economic growth and ever-rising pollution.” Environmentalists praised Blair’s new initiative — which includes a planned shift away from reliance on nuclear power — but said they would be watching to see if the lofty words were followed with concrete steps. The government promised hundreds of millions of dollars to boost energy efficiency and the use of renewable power sources like wind and waves. It said it would tighten energy efficiency standards for new homes and appliances and encourage energy companies to help consumers make homes more efficient. .."

12/17/02 <link>
2002 second hottest year since 1860 (see our link on "Facts about Global Warming" for more)
Some disturbing statistics in this most recent report, technically show the globe is warming up.
"...This year has been the second warmest since 1860, extending a quarter-century pattern of accelerated global warming (news - web sites) linked to greenhouse gas emissions, United Nations (news - web sites) scientists said Tuesday. The World Meteorological Organization (news - web sites) (WMO), a United Nations agency, said that 1998 remained the hottest year on record, with 2002 surpassing last year as the next warmest. The 10 warmest years had all occurred since 1987, nine since 1990. [our emphasis] 'Clearly for the past 25 or 26 years, the warming is accelerating ... The rate of increase is unprecedented in the last 1,000 years [our emphasis],'..."
As the Bush administration continues its abject and morally bankrupt denial on one of the most serious problems confronting not just America, but mankind as a whole, we continue to place the lives of our children and future generations at great risk. What can we say? 

10/21/02 <link>
World carbon-based emissions trading to grow rapidly
As the U.S. stands uninvolved, Europe has gotten started. Hopefully California's recent emissions law will withstand legal challenges and force the U.S. to join the fray. 

10/8/02 <link>
U. N. Report on potential costs of uncontrolled global climate change: $150 billion/year
The report also highlights possible market-based strategies to combat global climate instabilities such as emissions trading and lower insurance costs for cleaner companies. What is striking is the note that insurance companies around the globe that will directly get impacted by global climate crises are not taking any concerted steps towards including such risks in managing their policies. In other words, while it is to their benefit to globally support efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and raise the premiums for the worst violators (whether businesses or countries), they are not yet doing so. 

9/30/02 <link>
Ozone hole splits in two and smallest since 1988
Attributed to warmer temperatures near polar vertex.

9/24/02 <link>
Seasonal filling-in of Antarctic ozone hole faster than usual this year
Goes to show how much more we have to learn about global warming

9/18/02 <link>
Ozone layer depletion slowing down and may even start reversing in 5 years.
We'll take every piece of good news we get, even if it's only in theory!

9/3/02 <link>
Small consolation for the Kyoto Protocol
Russia announces plan to ratify it. At least this will allow the global agreement to come formally into effect. Given the general failure of the recent Summit to achieve anything substantial, this is a consolation.