Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
LCFS, I am a lot clearer on just how complicated it will be
to implement, but no clearer on the justi
cation for the
program. Cleaning up emissions from the transportation
sector is a very big job. We should focus
first on the things
that can have the largest effects with the fewest compli-
cations, and the recent study by the American Physical
Society shows just how big the impact of improved effi-
-
ciency can be.
California, for many years, has been a leader in energy
ef
ciency and emissions control, but I hope that the other
states that look to California for a lead will pass this one
by. We should focus on the result we want and that is
reduced emission per vehicle mile traveled, not what is in
the fuel. Reduced emissions can be better done with
better cars like hybrids or plug-in hybrids, or with further
improvements in CAFE standards. The LCFS only makes
it harder to get to where we want to be. After we get the
big and easy things done it may be worthwhile to come
back to the fuel.
.
Good Things
Crossing the Valley of Death
Basic research is often said to be the foundation of innov-
ation, but there is a long road from the laboratory to the
market place, and that road has become more dif
cult to
traverse in the past several decades. The great industrial
research laboratories like the fabled Bell Labs that pro-
duced the transistor and a number of Nobel Prizes no
longer do much long-term research and development.
Industry and the
financial markets have changed and the
