The Golden State en Route to Being a Green State

Hi this is Malia, one of the new media interns for the summer...enjoy!

Yesterday, the California Air Resources Control Board voted in favor of several green regulations.  

Among the most effective of these regulations requires all new cars sold in the state of California to have energy efficient windshields by 2012.  These windshields will prevent 45% of the sun’s total heat producing rays from entering the car meaning a reduction in the use of the air conditioner, an increase in fuel efficiency and an overall reduction of greenhouse emissions.  Moreover, by 2016, car manufacturers will be mandated to install windows in new cars that prevent over 60% of heat producing rays from entering the car.

Experts calculate that these two new measures will be the equivalent to taking nearly 140,000 cars off the road.  Of course, we could just ask people to stop using their air conditioning to eliminate even more greenhouse gasses, but this is just one small step in making California comfortable and even more ahead of the curve.

On top of the new car regulations, the board also voted to require methane controls in 14 city landfills by 2012 and is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 million metric tons!  This is great news, but why not require methane controls on all landfills? 14 sounds like a pretty slim number.

Although more can always be done, all of these new regulations are small steps to making California the fleeting example of how green the USA can be. One last question, why wasn’t this done earlier?