A CARB Free Diet

Martin Zimmerman, writing for the Los Angeles Times, in "Up to Speed," explains how CARB nearly proposed and did withdraw a plan to outlaw dark colored vehicles as a way to reduce green house emission.

The purported black car ban was said to be part of the “cool cars” initiative being cooked up by the air board, which is looking for ways to follow the legislature’s mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California. Greenhouse gases are a cause of global warming, and automotive tailpipe emissions are a major source.

One solution: lower the temperature inside parked cars, thereby reducing the amount of air conditioning — and engine power and gasoline — needed to keep the occupants cool and comfortable.

CARB looked at two possible ways to achieve this: mandating the use of reflective paints that reduce the amount of solar heat absorbed by a vehicle, and requiring manufacturers to install glass with reflective coatings to achieve the same purpose.

When word got out that CARB couldn’t find a reflective version of deep black paint that suited its needs, auto enthusiast blogs and conservative commentators smelled another “kooky California” story — or “out-of-control government” expose, take your pick — and jumped in with relish.

Zimmerman offered two possible explanations for CARB's change of heart.  He notes that conservative radio hosts had latched onto another kooky California regulatory scheme, citing a transcript of Rush Limbaugh, “Tyrants Want to Ban Black Cars,” as an example of right wing outrage.  He also explained that CARB ultimately concluded that banning dark cars would not achieve the goal of carbon reduction.  Drew Winters writing for WardsAuto.com in "California ‘Cool’ Paints Initiative Ugly, Lazy," was not as kind as Zimmerman opining that,

Some California rules are problematic because they are utopian and unworkable. This legislation is flat-out lazy. It’s a cut-and-paste job from the state building code that ignores smarter, more-effective automotive solutions already in production or on the way, such as more efficient AC units and solar-powered ventilation fans that work automatically when a car is parked in the sun.

Zimmerman ends by letting the reader decide if CARB killed the proposal because of an outraged citizenry or technical infeasibility.  I hope that CARB is more interested in listening to a citizenry that is protecting its freedoms and fear that it is the technical infeasibility of the proposal.