How green is your new car? Stickers will say

  If you plan to go car-shopping in July -- for a hybrid perhaps? -- you might spot a new sticker on one of the windows.

A regulation signed this week by the California Secretary of State requires that, no later than Jan. 1, 2009, all new cars sold in the state carry a label that explains their impact on the environment. It will give each vehicle a Global Warming Score and a Smog Score, based on a state assessment. Dealers may start slapping them on sooner rather than later, according to a press release from the California Air Resources Board.

"This label will arm consumers with the information they need to choose a vehicle that saves gas, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps fight smog all at once," said Mary D. Nichols, board chairman. "Consumer choice is an especially powerful tool in our fight against climate change. We look forward to seeing these stickers on 2009 model cars as they start hitting the showrooms in the coming months."

Here's what to look for:

And here's how to read it:

In each category, the label will give a score on a scale of 1 to 10. "The average new car will score five on both scales," says the press release. "The higher the score, the less impact the car has on the environment."

The ARB also has a cool site, DriveClean, with a ton of information about the cleanest, most efficient cars on the market.

-- Bill Nottingham

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Talia G.]

The car companies should market biodiesel vehicles already!
Fields of Fuel
The dependence on foreign oil, especially in the recent Bush administration, hurts the U.S. economy with the roaring gas prices. That in turn affects food prices and many more. Why rely on oil? I found an amazing movie which explains all these issues very clearly, and I highly recommend watching it… and showing it at work, school, or anywhere there are large groups of people. It truly raises awareness of global warming, 9/11, and how we can turn to alternative fuel such as biofuel to save costs and moreover, combat the impeding destruction of the environment. Biofuel does not put C02 into the atmostphere like gasoline.. which causes global warming!
http://www.fieldsoffuel.com http://www.myspace.com/fuelthefilm

[stickers shmickers]

Stickers shmickers... don't worry about bogus global warming, bogus stickers make you SICKER! I reckon they're as certified (and useful) as these butterfly car stickers!!

http://www.auto-grafix.com.au/Car-Stickers/Fun-Stickers/Butterfly-Ulysses-184.htm

[Anonymous Coward]

This post directed at Hallett:

"On Jupiter, the sun's energy is only 4% of the level we receive on earth, nowhere near enough to fuel its turbulent, planet-sized storms. Jupiter radiates into space almost twice the heat it absorbs from the sun. This internal heat source, via moist convection, converts heat flow into the kinetic energy that fuels Jovian storms." (Ingersoll 2000, Gierasch 2000).

Global warming on Jupiter has nothing to do with global warming on earth, they are completely different mechanisms. So now you have the answer for question 2.

As far as us being unable to affect the climate on earth, I'd like you to remember that another species probably didn't think much of the gasses they were emitting long long ago, and this eventually led to their downfall. Single celled creatures once thrived in the CO2 rich primordial atmosphere, but then created enough molecular oxygen to allow a whole new spectrum of multicellular organisms to rise.

What is the ideal temperature on earth? Depends what species you belong to, but I can tell you a global rise of a few degrees centigrade will not be too good for mankind on as a whole.

[Alex]

What is big deal about this stickers? If someone is looking to buy an suv, the sticker will not make a difference. People do not care about how smog the vehicle produces. Instead, people care about quality of the vehicle, price of the vehicle and how much gas it gets. That is all that people care about.

[Hallett Newman]

How long will the bogas idea of man made global warning go on? I've asked a number of global warming proponants two questions and no one has be able to answer them. One, "What is the ideal tempature of our earth?" Two, How do you explain the global climate change that has been happening on some of the other planets in our solar system?" The idea that man can control the climate of the earth is ludicrous. If he could, he'd screw it up. I think the objective of Al Bore and Company is to screw up the economy of the United States and give the government more and more control of our daily lives.

[jsknow]

They need to put a sticker on the fuel too. I hope everyone has had enough of pollution and high fuel prices and will demand this renewable environment friendlier fuel that can remove our dependence on foreign fuel imports.

Email your representative in congress and push the issue: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Hemp can produce several different kinds of fuel. In the 1800's and 1900's hempseed oil was the primary source of fuel in the United States and was commonly used for lamps and other oil energy needs. The diesel engine was originally designed to run on hemp oil because Rudolf Diesel assumed that it would be the most common fuel. Hemp is also the most efficient plant for the production of methanol. It is estimated that, in one form or another, hemp grown in the United States could provide up to ninety percent of the nation's entire energy needs.
Source: Schaffer Library of Drug Policy

Hemp is 4 times more efficient than corn as biofuel. Hemp pellets can be used to produce clean electricity.

... so powerful it could replace every type of fossil fuel energy product (oil, coal, and natural gas).

... This plant is the earth's number one biomass resource or fastest growing annual plant for agriculture on a worldwide basis, producing up to 14 tons per acre. This is the only biomass source available that is capable of producing all the energy needs of the U.S. and the world...

Hemp will produce cleaner air and reduce greenhouse gases. When biomass fuel burns, it produces CO2 (the major cause of the greenhouse effect), the same as fossil fuel; but during the growth cycle of the plant, photosynthesis removes as much CO2 from the air as burning the biomass adds, so hemp actually cleans the atmosphere. After the first cycle there is no further loading to the atmosphere...
Source: USA Hemp Museum

JOIN THE EMAIL LIST, WATCH THE FUEL VIDEOS:
Internet Explorer: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home
Other Browsers: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html

[jsknow]

They need to put a sticker on the fuel too. I hope everyone has had enough of pollution and high fuel prices and will demand this renewable environment friendlier fuel that can remove our dependence on foreign fuel imports.

Email your representative in congress and push the issue: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Hemp can produce several different kinds of fuel. In the 1800's and 1900's hempseed oil was the primary source of fuel in the United States and was commonly used for lamps and other oil energy needs. The diesel engine was originally designed to run on hemp oil because Rudolf Diesel assumed that it would be the most common fuel. Hemp is also the most efficient plant for the production of methanol. It is estimated that, in one form or another, hemp grown in the United States could provide up to ninety percent of the nation's entire energy needs.
Source: Schaffer Library of Drug Policy

Hemp is 4 times more efficient than corn as biofuel. Hemp pellets can be used to produce clean electricity.

... so powerful it could replace every type of fossil fuel energy product (oil, coal, and natural gas).

... This plant is the earth's number one biomass resource or fastest growing annual plant for agriculture on a worldwide basis, producing up to 14 tons per acre. This is the only biomass source available that is capable of producing all the energy needs of the U.S. and the world...

Hemp will produce cleaner air and reduce greenhouse gases. When biomass fuel burns, it produces CO2 (the major cause of the greenhouse effect), the same as fossil fuel; but during the growth cycle of the plant, photosynthesis removes as much CO2 from the air as burning the biomass adds, so hemp actually cleans the atmosphere. After the first cycle there is no further loading to the atmosphere...
Source: USA Hemp Museum

JOIN THE EMAIL LIST, WATCH THE FUEL VIDEOS:
Internet Explorer: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home
Other Browsers: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html