Posted by Josh Loposer at Mar 31st, 2009 in Green News Feeds
Filed under: Cars and Transportation, Local, Polit-eco
CARB, or the California Air Resources Board to the layperson, has been on somewhat of a regulation rampage so far this month. A couple of weeks ago, CARB started batting aroudn the idea of banning of all dark colored paint jobs in order to lighten the load on your car’s A/C, and therefore improve air quality (supossedly).
After scrapping that horribly misguided proposal, they went ahead and adopted a measure to require that all of California’s auto maintainence businesses to ensure that your tire pressure is at factory reccomended levels. This, according to CARB would save the average Californian $12 per year on gas which will probably be offset by rising mechanic prices. As weird and draconian as regulating tire pressure may sound, at least it would almost certainly result in greater fuel economy across the board. That can’t be said for the nonsense about outlawing cars with black paintjobs.
California’s tire industry argues that the regulation — which requires pressure readings and times listed on all invoices — will be burdensome and expose mechanic shops to new forms of litigation from trial lawyers.
[via AutoblogGreen]
California Regulates Tire Pressure originally appeared on Green Daily on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Read Full Post
Posted by Josh Loposer at Mar 23rd, 2009 in Green News Feeds
Filed under: Home, Local, Alternative Energy
Sure, homeowner’s associations can be a good vehicle for enforcing neatness and keeping property values up — in theory anyway. You won’t find me paying a group of amateur lawn police a monthly fee to tell me what color solar panels I can put up on my own house. No thanks.
That’s what happened to three homeowners in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, when the HOA’s illustrious Art Jury (no joke) denied their plans to put up photovoltaic solar panels based on their appearance. The US-made panels cost 30% less than the dark black panels preferred by the HOA, but they have a dreadful blue tint. Oh no! How will they possible match the neighborhood’s uniform appearance?
Fighting back against the HOA, residents went to City Hall, to see if any of its occupants had a lick of common sense. Surprisingly enough, they did. Citing California’s 1978 Solar Rights Act, the City of Palos Verdes declared a city override of the Art Jury’s ruling. Oddly enough, it was the same Solar Rights Act that allowed one neighbor to force another to chop down his 10 year old redwoods because they were blocking his rays.
[via Treehugger]
California HOA vs. Cheap Blue Panels – Solar Snobbery originally appeared on Green Daily on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Read Full Post
