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Not the Onion

March 27, 2009, 11:39 am

A reader sent me this, and I was just floored.  The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is asking for legislation to ban black cars in California

The California legislature is considering regulating the color of cars and reflectivity of paint to reduce the energy requirements to cool them. A presentation on the proposed legislation by the California Air Resources Board is below.

The problem isn't the color per se, but the reflectivity of the paint overall. And dark colors just don't reflect well, so they are likely out. "Jet black remains an issue," says the report.

Anyone who's ever entered a very hot car knows that it can be cooled down immediately by driving a few feet with the windows open, effectively neutralizing any color-caused heat issues before engaging the air conditioner. But whatever, black is evil.

Un-freaking-believable.  This is what happens when you satisfy an emissions reduction goal (in this case CO2) via complex command-and-control legislation rather than simpler price mechanisms.   Earlier, I told the story of how California adopted an increasingly sprawling CARB micro-management of their economy to reduce CO2 rather than implementing earlier proposals for a simple carbon tax.

Tags: , ,
Category: Climate, Regulation
  • http://www.floridalotteryresult.org FloridaLotteryResult

    Very good, I'm with your opinion.

  • http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/ Ironman

    Let's not forget the damage to the environment that would be caused by people who might seek to bring their cars into compliance with such a law or regulation by having their cars repainted in "government-approved" color schemes. How many additional volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the solvents in both the paint remover and the new paint will be permanently injected into California's air, water and land as a result?

    Does the California Air Resources Board care about the environment? Even a little?

  • Fred Z

    Sumptuary laws come and go. This is a time of Roundheads and soon the Cavaliers will once again be ascendant.

    We are a race of mad monkeys, slaves to fad and whim.

  • John O'Hara

    California is moving to make cars sold in that state even more expensive than they already are with their California Editions. In addition of regulating the color and reflectivity of the paint, but the slideshow on the link also has a section dealing with the need for Windshields be required to filter 30% of the Sun's spectrum, while at the same time also being required to be transparent to 70% of the visible spectrum.

    I do know one group of people not complaining, the engineers who will have to be employed to develop these "better" windshields.

    Oh while we are at it, WHAT ABOUT THE WINTER TIME WHERE A WHITE OR LIGHT COLORED CAR TAKES FOREVER TO WARM UP IN THE COLD AS IT REFLECTS MOST OF THE SUN's ENERGY AWAY?! I just solved another problem for the automakers, everybody who lives in climates that has warm summers and cold winters will need two cars for each season and operating the wrong car at the wrong time of the year will let the Climate Police write up lots of tickets for "excessive CO2 emissions without a licence". I just created another revenue stream. The State of California should hire me as a consultant because I keep creating new solutions to new problems.

    When will it end?

    -- John O.

  • Bob Smith

    CO2 regs aren't pollution regulations, they're fuel economy regulations.

  • Rick Sharp

    I live in So Cal. All I can do is sit back and watch as the asylum is taken over. The state is economically upside down. They are doing everything possible to run the remaining businesses to neighboring states. Unemployment is passing 12% in L.A. county. Maybe when it reaches 20% statewide a few will come to their senses. Hopefully other states and the nation will learn from our bloody sacrifice. I should be investing in pitchfork and torch futures.

  • rxc

    It is all about control. Once they have the ability to control the details of the vehicles you drive, they will start to control when and how you drive. Then they will move (maybe they have, already) towards the house you live in, and then eventually on to all other aspects of your live that "they" do not like, for whatever reason. With the latest EPA finding on CO2, they will be able to control how much you breathe...

  • feeblemind

    Good illustration of what Hayak said in his book Road to Serfdom. The planners/regulators can't stop. There must always be more to be done or they will be out of a job. They won't stop planning/regulating until every aspect of our lives is controlled.

  • tmitsss

    The is a 21st Century analog to witch hunting, both of which were born of ignorance.

  • Escort

    Odd objection coming from an urban heat island effect advocate. Although the inside color (and glass characteristics) is what drives interior temperatures, there is no doubt a black car heats up the area around it more than a white car. It's a silly effect to legislate, though, they should concentrate on the black tarmac if they really want to make a different in head island effect.

    The windshields work, too, but they are expensive. We have one car with an IR blocking windshield, and it makes a huge difference in sunny climes. Unfortunately, it also blocks your toll transponder, GPS, and radar detector antennas.

  • tomw

    Just watched as much of the Discovery Channel Tom Brokaw 'climate' special as I could stomach. He touted Arnold and California being on the leading edge of creating the "solution to Climate Change."
    I immediately thought: Hmmm, isn't California the state with the decreasing legal population, the state with an upside down economy, the state that can't balance its budget, the state where the unions own the legislature? This is the example we all should be shooting for?
    Insanity. On stilts.

    CARB has too much power and is infested with imbeciles too ignorant to even know of their own ignorance. I am so glad I left.
    tom