2Sustain

Last week, California regulators approved a new standard that would require one-third of the electricity sold in the state in 2020 come from clean, green sources of energy.

Adopted unanimously by the California Air Resources Board (ARB), this groundbreaking Renewable Electricity Standard is now the most ambitious standard in the US. According to the ARB, it will help to:

• promote green jobs to construct and run renewable facilities in California,

• reduce hundreds of tons of harmful air pollution,

• reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about the equivalent of 12 to 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year in 2020,

• insulate California’s economy from the shock of volatile natural gas prices,

• and help establish the state as a global leader in the research, development and manufacturing of clean, renewable energy sources.

The new standard: (more…)

Union Pacific Railroad announced last week that its entire fleet of 4,950 refrigerated rail cars is now compliant with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) standards that take effect July 17. The company has invested approximately $18 million in its environmentally-friendly refrigerated boxcars over the past two years. That investment includes installing new Tier IVi diesel refrigeration units on more than 700 boxcars, and Union Pacific estimates that these new units will reduce diesel particulate emissions by 50% over  previous refrigerated boxcars.

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