Fortune: California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Program Is Stuck in Neutral
Toyota’s zero-emission vehicle sales in California this year amount to a drop of hydrogen in an ocean of gasoline.
The world’s largest automaker has so far sold about 270 hydrogen fuel cell cars in the state, where it delivered nearly 400,000 gas-powered vehicles last year, according to an Edmunds.com analysis of IHS Markit data. Toyota does not currently sell an electric vehicle.
And yet the automaker will have no trouble meeting California’s zero-emission vehicle mandates -- because it can satisfy those obligations with state-awarded environmental credits instead of current zero-emission vehicle sales.
ETEnergyworld: Government Revokes India's Coal Target
The government's plan to push Coal India Ltd. to produce 1 billion tons of coal by 2020 has taken a back seat as officials now think the Indian economy is not yet equipped to consume the quantity -- and huge unsold stocks are testimony to it. Now the company has been asked to produce to match demand.
This is likely to mean that Coal India will have to be content with producing less than the initial targets set for each year, leading to less than 1 billion tons of production by 2020. "Coal India has now been asked to produce as much as the market can consume. It has also been asked to devise ways so that more coal is sold, including import substitution, as well as to devise new types of e-auctions that can lead to more coal sales," a coal sector official said.
Toronto Star: Toronto Electric-Car Owner Stuck Trying to Charge on Street
The province is offering citizens big rebates to upgrade to an electric car -- but for the thousands of people in Toronto without a garage, it’s not money that’s stopping them from reducing carbon emissions -- it’s parking.
After buying a shiny new Chevy Volt in April 2016, Todd Anderson was ready to start saving on gas and the environment with the help of a $12,500 provincial rebate.
But without a garage or driveway, Anderson says he’s stuck trying to charge his car on the street, and city bylaws and red tape don’t make it easy.
Reuters: In China's Electric-Car Boom, Global Automakers Select a Different Gear
As China's electrified vehicle production booms, some international industry officials warn in private that the ambitious electric goals of domestic firms could prove too costly, too risky, too far from what consumers actually want -- and not a good fit with their operations elsewhere. Still, China doled out $4.5 billion last year alone in green-car subsidies.
"In 2020, most cars we will sell will be combustion engines, so to fulfill [fuel consumption targets] you have to improve the consumption of each and every car of the Audi model range," Audi China chief Joachim Wedler said at the opening of the new plant. Wedler didn't comment on Chinese peers' electric-car plans.
Automakers globally have struggled to agree on what a greener future will hold for the industry. In China, Beijing and state-linked automakers have thrown their weight behind electric vehicles -- despite the fact that the electricity they need may be generated from burning coal.
Vox: What the Media Misses in Doomsday Stories About the West
For a journalist, few things make better headlines than a good resource crisis. Which is why reporters writing about water issues in the American West are often attracted to the prospect of apocalypse -- the notion that the region is going to run out of water someday.
It’s a sexy story. But it’s not always an entirely accurate story. As longtime water reporter John Fleck argues in his thought-provoking new book, Water Is for Fighting Over, the constant doom and gloom about water in the West misses something extremely important that’s been going on in recent years. Even in the face of scarce water and apocalyptic fears, communities have managed to adapt and thrive in surprising ways.