[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
[Barack Obama | Green Business]
Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON
Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:11pm EDT
EPA phases in permits for greenhouse pollution
｛ＥＰＡ、大気汚染物質を段階的に許可｝
(Reuters) - U.S. power plants, industrial facilities and other stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming will not be required to have Clean Air Act permits until January 2011, giving industry more time to prepare for the regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday.
Agency head Lisa Jackson had signaled to Congress in February that the EPA would delay the permit requirements for this year, following concerns from U.S. lawmakers and state officials that more time was needed to ease burdens on industry and state environmental departments that would help enforce the regulations.
The EPA has said it will require big sources of greenhouse gas emissions, like power plants that run on coal or natural gas, and plants that make cement, steel and glass, to get permits proving they are using the best available technology to cut pollution.
"This is a common sense plan for phasing in the protections of the Clean Air Act. It gives large facilities the time they need to innovate, governments the time to prepare to cut greenhouse gases," Jackson said in a statement.
The EPA has not yet determined the amount of emissions that could be emitted by facilities before permits would be required. That so-called "tailoring" decision will come later this spring, the EPA said.
The EPA is also expected to issue final greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks this week.
The rules cutting emissions for stationary sources will not take effect until next January, which is the earliest that model year 2012 vehicles meeting the standards can be sold.
"This gives EPA a legal argument for why it's not immediately regulating stationary source emissions of greenhouse gases," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch.
The government must notify automakers by April 1 of the higher fuel efficiency for the 2012 model year vehicles that would be needed to cut emissions.
State environmental agencies welcomed the EPA decision to phase in the permits.
"Providing nine additional months for states to revise their clean air laws and regulations will enable these agencies to closely align their programs with the federal permitting rules," said William Becker, executive director, National Association of Clean Air Agencies.
Even with the delay, the American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for big oil and gas companies, said it remained strongly opposed to regulating the emissions under the Clean Air Act.
"New regulations could prove to be intrusive, inefficient and excessively costly," said API spokeswoman Cathy Landry. "They could slow or stop permits needed to operate or expand businesses, which could chill job growth and delay expansion."
Lawmakers have criticized the EPA for trying to circumvent stalled Congressional deliberations over how to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has backed legislation to block EPA from moving ahead, said on Monday the agency continues to fail to provide information on the impact of its plans.
"The agency has refused to answer even the most basic questions about how many stationary sources will be regulated, when those sources will be regulated, what technologies will be mandated for compliance, and how much the regulations will cost," Murkowski said in a statement.
(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Jim Marshall)
[Green Business]
Chang-Ran Kim, Asia autos correspondent
TOKYO
Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:15am EDT
Toyota to supply hybrid technology to Mazda
｛トヨタ、マツダにハイブリッド技術を供与提携｝
(Reuters) - Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor announced a deal under which Japan's top automaker will supply its hybrid technology under license to Mazda, in the latest link-up within the fast-changing auto industry.
Japan's No.1 and No.5 carmakers have been discussing the possibility behind the scenes since last spring as the popularity of gasoline-electric cars surged in Japan with the help of generous government subsidies.
Hybrid cars, which improve fuel efficiency by twinning internal combustion engines with electric motors, are seen as crucial for automakers to boost sales in the coming years as governments introduce stricter environmental regulations.
Gasoline-electric cars have enjoyed a burst of demand especially in Japan over the past year as the government introduced an exemption from certain taxes for gasoline-electric and other next-generation vehicles for a three-year period.
"Hybrids are spreading fast in Japan, and launching a model in the domestic market has become an urgent task," Mazda Executive Vice President Masaharu Yamaki told a joint news conference in Tokyo.
"That is one of the reasons why we decided to seek this agreement with Toyota," he said.
Mazda said it aimed to begin selling a vehicle that combines Toyota's hybrid system with its own next-generation gasoline engine in Japan by 2013. Key components such as battery packs, controls units, inverters and regenerative braking units will be procured from Toyota suppliers.
The agreement underscores a growing need for smaller carmakers to find partners to fill the technology gap without draining their limited resources. Among others, archrivals Daimler AG and BMW AG are also working together on hybrid development.
DISTANCING FORD
A Toyota-Mazda pairing also highlights a distancing of Mazda from top shareholder Ford Motor Co, which is among the few automakers today with a proprietary hybrid system after it initially licensed technology from Toyota.
Ford and Mazda continue to share some vehicle platforms and operate joint factories, but insiders say relations have cooled to match the U.S. automaker's diminished stake in the Hiroshima-based automaker, from a controlling 33.4 percent.
In late 2008, Ford sold all but 13 percent of its Mazda stake, which was further diluted to 11 percent when the latter issued $1 billion in new shares to raise money to invest in hybrid and other technologies.
"Our relationship with Ford remains solid," Yamaki said, adding that Mazda had judged that procuring hybrid parts from Toyota's suppliers in Japan was more efficient than working with Ford.
Toyota, a pioneer in hybrid technology with at least a 12-year lead on most rivals, currently supplies its hybrid system to Nissan Motor Co, which uses it in its Altima sedan for the U.S. market to clear regulations there. Nissan plans to switch to its own hybrid system with a new model later this year.
Toyota Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada said the deal with Mazda could indirectly help to lower procurement costs as more hybrid vehicles enter the market.
The deal will likely be a boon for Toyota's key hybrid suppliers such as affiliates Denso Corp and Aisin Seiki Co, as well as Panasonic Corp, which operates a battery joint venture with Toyota.
Mazda, the maker of the Mazda6/Atenza and other sporty cars, has a goal of raising its fleet's fuel economy by 30 percent mainly by improving its internal combustion engines by 2015 compared with 2008 levels. It has said it would gradually add electric components such as hybrid systems mainly beyond 2015.
Yamaki declined to disclose Mazda's plans for hybrid launches outside Japan.
(Editing by Chris Gallagher and Michael Watson)
[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Tue Mar 30, 2010 1:01am EDT
Electric carmaker Coda's battery JV raises capital
｛電気自動車メーカー、コーダ電池共同事業、資本強化｝
(Reuters) - California electric start-up Coda Automotive said on Tuesday that its battery joint venture has secured $394 million in equity capital and loan commitments, and is looking at setting up a U.S. battery facility.
Coda said that it, together with its Chinese joint venture partner Lishen Power Battery, has added $100 million in equity capital and has secured a line of credit for $294 million from Bank of Tianjin Joint-Stock Co, a Chinese bank.
The privately held company is planning to sell a fully electric car with a range of up to 120 miles, priced in the low $30,000s, Coda Automotive President and CEO Kevin Czinger told Reuters in an interview.
The company plans to deliver 14,000 of the electric cars in the California market by the end of 2011.
For U.S. production, Coda's battery joint venture is considering sites in California, Ohio and North Carolina, Czinger said.
"We are looking at sites and DOE funding as well."
The U.S. department of Energy has various funding programs aimed at encouraging the development and commercialization of fuel-efficient vehicles.
(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Richard Chang)
[Green Business]
[Barack Obama | Green Business]
Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON
Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:11pm EDT
EPA phases in permits for greenhouse pollution
｛ＥＰＡ、大気汚染物質を段階的に許可｝
(Reuters) - U.S. power plants, industrial facilities and other stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming will not be required to have Clean Air Act permits until January 2011, giving industry more time to prepare for the regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday.
Agency head Lisa Jackson had signaled to Congress in February that the EPA would delay the permit requirements for this year, following concerns from U.S. lawmakers and state officials that more time was needed to ease burdens on industry and state environmental departments that would help enforce the regulations.
The EPA has said it will require big sources of greenhouse gas emissions, like power plants that run on coal or natural gas, and plants that make cement, steel and glass, to get permits proving they are using the best available technology to cut pollution.
"This is a common sense plan for phasing in the protections of the Clean Air Act. It gives large facilities the time they need to innovate, governments the time to prepare to cut greenhouse gases," Jackson said in a statement.
The EPA has not yet determined the amount of emissions that could be emitted by facilities before permits would be required. That so-called "tailoring" decision will come later this spring, the EPA said.
The EPA is also expected to issue final greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks this week.
The rules cutting emissions for stationary sources will not take effect until next January, which is the earliest that model year 2012 vehicles meeting the standards can be sold.
"This gives EPA a legal argument for why it's not immediately regulating stationary source emissions of greenhouse gases," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch.
The government must notify automakers by April 1 of the higher fuel efficiency for the 2012 model year vehicles that would be needed to cut emissions.
State environmental agencies welcomed the EPA decision to phase in the permits.
"Providing nine additional months for states to revise their clean air laws and regulations will enable these agencies to closely align their programs with the federal permitting rules," said William Becker, executive director, National Association of Clean Air Agencies.
Even with the delay, the American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for big oil and gas companies, said it remained strongly opposed to regulating the emissions under the Clean Air Act.
"New regulations could prove to be intrusive, inefficient and excessively costly," said API spokeswoman Cathy Landry. "They could slow or stop permits needed to operate or expand businesses, which could chill job growth and delay expansion."
Lawmakers have criticized the EPA for trying to circumvent stalled Congressional deliberations over how to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has backed legislation to block EPA from moving ahead, said on Monday the agency continues to fail to provide information on the impact of its plans.
"The agency has refused to answer even the most basic questions about how many stationary sources will be regulated, when those sources will be regulated, what technologies will be mandated for compliance, and how much the regulations will cost," Murkowski said in a statement.
(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Jim Marshall)
[Green Business]
Chang-Ran Kim, Asia autos correspondent
TOKYO
Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:15am EDT
Toyota to supply hybrid technology to Mazda
｛トヨタ、マツダにハイブリッド技術を供与提携｝
(Reuters) - Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor announced a deal under which Japan's top automaker will supply its hybrid technology under license to Mazda, in the latest link-up within the fast-changing auto industry.
Japan's No.1 and No.5 carmakers have been discussing the possibility behind the scenes since last spring as the popularity of gasoline-electric cars surged in Japan with the help of generous government subsidies.
Hybrid cars, which improve fuel efficiency by twinning internal combustion engines with electric motors, are seen as crucial for automakers to boost sales in the coming years as governments introduce stricter environmental regulations.
Gasoline-electric cars have enjoyed a burst of demand especially in Japan over the past year as the government introduced an exemption from certain taxes for gasoline-electric and other next-generation vehicles for a three-year period.
"Hybrids are spreading fast in Japan, and launching a model in the domestic market has become an urgent task," Mazda Executive Vice President Masaharu Yamaki told a joint news conference in Tokyo.
"That is one of the reasons why we decided to seek this agreement with Toyota," he said.
Mazda said it aimed to begin selling a vehicle that combines Toyota's hybrid system with its own next-generation gasoline engine in Japan by 2013. Key components such as battery packs, controls units, inverters and regenerative braking units will be procured from Toyota suppliers.
The agreement underscores a growing need for smaller carmakers to find partners to fill the technology gap without draining their limited resources. Among others, archrivals Daimler AG and BMW AG are also working together on hybrid development.
DISTANCING FORD
A Toyota-Mazda pairing also highlights a distancing of Mazda from top shareholder Ford Motor Co, which is among the few automakers today with a proprietary hybrid system after it initially licensed technology from Toyota.
Ford and Mazda continue to share some vehicle platforms and operate joint factories, but insiders say relations have cooled to match the U.S. automaker's diminished stake in the Hiroshima-based automaker, from a controlling 33.4 percent.
In late 2008, Ford sold all but 13 percent of its Mazda stake, which was further diluted to 11 percent when the latter issued $1 billion in new shares to raise money to invest in hybrid and other technologies.
"Our relationship with Ford remains solid," Yamaki said, adding that Mazda had judged that procuring hybrid parts from Toyota's suppliers in Japan was more efficient than working with Ford.
Toyota, a pioneer in hybrid technology with at least a 12-year lead on most rivals, currently supplies its hybrid system to Nissan Motor Co, which uses it in its Altima sedan for the U.S. market to clear regulations there. Nissan plans to switch to its own hybrid system with a new model later this year.
Toyota Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada said the deal with Mazda could indirectly help to lower procurement costs as more hybrid vehicles enter the market.
The deal will likely be a boon for Toyota's key hybrid suppliers such as affiliates Denso Corp and Aisin Seiki Co, as well as Panasonic Corp, which operates a battery joint venture with Toyota.
Mazda, the maker of the Mazda6/Atenza and other sporty cars, has a goal of raising its fleet's fuel economy by 30 percent mainly by improving its internal combustion engines by 2015 compared with 2008 levels. It has said it would gradually add electric components such as hybrid systems mainly beyond 2015.
Yamaki declined to disclose Mazda's plans for hybrid launches outside Japan.
(Editing by Chris Gallagher and Michael Watson)
[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Tue Mar 30, 2010 1:01am EDT
Electric carmaker Coda's battery JV raises capital
｛電気自動車メーカー、コーダ電池共同事業、資本強化｝
(Reuters) - California electric start-up Coda Automotive said on Tuesday that its battery joint venture has secured $394 million in equity capital and loan commitments, and is looking at setting up a U.S. battery facility.
Coda said that it, together with its Chinese joint venture partner Lishen Power Battery, has added $100 million in equity capital and has secured a line of credit for $294 million from Bank of Tianjin Joint-Stock Co, a Chinese bank.
The privately held company is planning to sell a fully electric car with a range of up to 120 miles, priced in the low $30,000s, Coda Automotive President and CEO Kevin Czinger told Reuters in an interview.
The company plans to deliver 14,000 of the electric cars in the California market by the end of 2011.
For U.S. production, Coda's battery joint venture is considering sites in California, Ohio and North Carolina, Czinger said.
"We are looking at sites and DOE funding as well."
The U.S. department of Energy has various funding programs aimed at encouraging the development and commercialization of fuel-efficient vehicles.
(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Richard Chang)
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