Bunch of hot air? California isn't banning black cars
Would California really ban black cars to fight global warming?
A rumor to that effect raised hackles on the blogosphere last week. Even conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh weighed in, urging listeners to rush out and buy a black car before they were pulled from the market.
But while a state agency was indeed mulling the relationship between automobile color and greenhouse gases, the rumored ban on black wasn't actually true.
"It's completely fallacious," said Stanley Young, a spokesman for the state's Air Resources Board, the agency supposedly behind the ban. "At no time was it mentioned, contemplated or proposed that we would ban or restrict any color."
The rumor arose as the board considered requiring reflective car paints and windshields. The premise was that a cooler car would require a driver to use less air conditioning, which would require less gasoline, which would mean fewer greenhouse-gas emissions.
Several groups, including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which lobbies for the big automakers, complained that a draft proposal to change the car-painting process to make vehicles more reflective would "eliminate a significant number of vehicle colors" because darker colors absorb more heat. Even the ARB itself, in a PowerPoint presentation on the paint proposal, stated, "Jet black remains an issue," though it never said the color should be banned.
But eventually, the ARB staff decided that the technology required to make car paint more reflective "is not cost-effective" today, and won't be part of the new regulations, Young said.
The board will vote at its June meeting on making car windshields and other glass surfaces more reflective. The new regulations would add up to $50 to the price of new car.
The non-news about banning black cars would no doubt please Henry Ford. He famously said he would sell his Model T in any color, as long as it was black.
And black is popular with new car buyers. According to DuPont Automotive, it's the second-most-popular car color, showing up on 17 percent of new vehicles in 2008. White, which is popular with fleet and commercial buyers, remains the most widely used color.
The supposed ban on black was widely, and mostly incorrectly, reported. The Washington Post ran an item from TechCrunch on its Web site under the headline, "California May Ban Black Cars." Autoline Daily, a Detroit-based podcast, told listeners, "You're not going to believe this story" and "You just can't make this stuff up."
The news even crossed the ocean, where a blogger from the Telegraph in London detailed the brouhaha, concluding that the rumor was bogus.
Still, AB 32, state's landmark climate-change legislation, is certain to impact how and what Californians drive. Last week, the air board passed a measure requiring tuneup and
oil-change technicians to inflate tires to the proper pressure as a way to boost fuel mileage. The mandate, due to start in July 2010, could save 75 million gallons of gas a year and 700,000 tires in California.
"Transportation accounts for 38 percent of emissions in the state," Young said. The ARB is developing "a range of approaches" that evaluate engines, fuels and other components.
http://tinyurl.com/d44234
Doug,
Ahh-h-h-h- yess-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s.......
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