Electric Cars: Charge Points Could be Requirement in New Build Homes

New homes in suburban England would need to be fitted with electric car charging points under a government proposal to cut emissions.

Ministers also want new street lights to come with charge points wherever there's on-street parking.

Details of a sales ban on new conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2040 are also expected to be set out.

California PUC Approves Massive Transportation Electrification Program

California is at the forefront of US states when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. Nearly 40% of those emissions come from the state’s transportation sector. Not only has California always been ground zero for car culture, it also is home to several of the largest ports in America whose operations depend on heavy duty trucks powered by diesel engines.

Norway Says All Cars in the Country Will Be 100% Electric

• Norway has been incentivizing the use of zero emission vehicles since the 1990s.
• Towards the end of 2016, the country already had 100,000 zero-emission cars on the road.

100 PERCENT ELECTRIC

By 2025, all of the cars on Norway’s roads could be electric. That’s just eight years away—and if the target seems a little ambitious, it should be noted that the country is already well on its way toward this goal. Electric vehicle (EV) sales already comprise 37 percent of Norway’s car market.

Senate passes transportation bill, votes down big oil, but also renewable energy PTC

The Senate passed the $109 billion Transportation Bill today in a bipartisan 74-22 vote. When it's passed by the House, it will fund road and transit projects for the next two years.

The current bill expires at the end of this month, putting pressure on the House.

"This is a jobs bill; 2.8 million jobs hang in the balance," says Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

Yesterday, the Senate voted on several important amendments to the Transportation bill.

All the amendments failed: the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) was not extended; the bid to open oil and oil shale drilling everywhere was defeated, as was the attempt to eliminate ALL energy tax breaks and retroactively rescind renewable energy tax breaks that have already been granted.

Pakistan: National energy policy

Reportedly, recommendations have been made to PM to increase gas prices by 34 percent from January 2012, impose levy for next 15-20 years to build Rs100bn gas pipeline, keep existing fuel surcharges, transfer increase of gas prices on commercial sector to consumers, and use tax money to pay for subsidy to make imported gas affordable (Increase in gas tariff for all sectors proposed, local news, Dec. 29, 2011). The increase in gas prices and giving subsidy to energy mafia shows that PPP government has failed to devise a comprehensive energy policy. Due to government’s pro-energy mafia policies, the sector is profiteering at the cost of public and national interests. Pakistan therefore needs to adopt alternate energy to provide relief to public, sustain economy, generate jobs, reduce energy prices, end fuel subsidies, cut dependence on energy imports, decrease inflation, and control trade imbalances.