Takes on the News

Two major Bay Area refineries, owned and operated by Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum, announced in 2020 that they were planning to convert from producing petroleum to biofuels – specifically, the renewable diesel (RD) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The Justice Department has filed a legal complaint against Uber for violations of the American Disabilities Act. Disability activists claim that not only Uber, but various rideshare companies, often overcharge and offer little support to disabled riders.

On October 20th, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-19-21 to address infrastructure shortcomings resulting in supply chain bottlenecks.

The 2021 Legislative session produced several notable sustainable transportation bills, some signed and some vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom. As the summer recedes into memory, it’s a good time to look at bills that came close to becoming law this year, and may return in 2022, perhaps in modified form. 

Google recently announced that their Google Flights platform will show the amount of carbon emissions each flight produces, allowing users to compare the environmental impact of their flight options. Many consumers choosing lower-carbon flights could push airlines to invest in more efficient aircraft and sustainable aviation fuels.

California’s Governor Newsom is deliberating hundreds of bills, including several key policies to advance sustainable land use, bike safety, vehicle electrification, and accessibility.

New research shows a promising method for tackling worldwide plastic pollution through fuel production. Researchers have found a new approach to convert a common plastic, polyethylene, into jet fuel in about an hour. Plastic pollution is a major environmental and public health concern, and technological innovation will be critical to solving this seemingly intractable problem.

Jay Inslee vetoed a bill from the Washington State Legislature that would have phased out gasoline powered vehicles requiring all light-duty vehicles sold, bought, or registered in the state to be electric by 2030.

Biden’s climate pledge demonstrates the type of ambitious climate leadership that can encourage real policy change. However, on its own, this commitment is insufficient. The real action happens in the policymaking that will help meet these commitments.

The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC) is a recently formed advocacy group made up of various oil, gas, and utility companies. The CHFC’s stated goal is to lower the costs of hydrogen production while utilizing existing fossil fuels. Many environmental advocacy groups disagree with the CHFC, stating that its proposed hydrogen techniques would not alleviate — and would in some cases exacerbate — environmental and social harms.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently released a report suggesting that worldwide gasoline demand may never return to pre-pandemic levels. The IEA may be correctly capturing a declining trend in gasoline use due to lower future growth in car travel, ongoing improvements in fuel economy, and shifts to electric vehicles. But this is still highly uncertain, as we emerge from a pandemic where there may be considerable pent-up demand and there is the possibility of returning to previous global growth trends.

This year’s offering of Super Bowl electric vehicle advertising was a retreat from last year, offering fewer ads from fewer brands. Advertising is necessary (though it needs to be sustained and pervasive) but it is far from sufficient to encourage people to transition to EVs. Advertising is not going to solve the problem of where to charge or address the range “anxiety” that people have been told they will have if they buy an EV.

Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing a $4.5 billion economic recovery plan to kick off the 2021-2022 budget. Alongside helping Californians and small businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic, the proposed recovery plan will dedicate a third of the budget to the transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035.

As part of the commonwealth’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the Governor of Massachusetts has released a plan to dramatically reduce carbon emissions over the next decade. A crucial component of that plan includes a requirement that by 2035, all new light-duty vehicle sales must be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation creates an agenda including incentives, job programs, and investments in infrastructure to accelerate the electrification of the transportation sector in the US. This coincides with the California Public Utilities Commission pushing the Automated Vehicles (AVs) Program from the pilot to deployment phase.