On March 25, 2010 the California Air Resources Board (ARB) announced that all rulemaking on the Cool Cars regulation has ceased. The Cool Cars regulation, approved by the Board in June 2009, would have required new cars sold in California (starting in 2012) to have windows that reflect or absorb heat from the sun. By helping to keep cars cooler, less air conditioning would need to be used, increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle exhaust.
However, due to perceived problems with metallic glazing and the operation of cell phones sand GPS ankle bracelets, it was determined that insufficient time remained to achieve consensus on the rule in the timeframe required. As a result, Cool Cars regulation will not become law.
According to an email sent to the ARB listserv:
In its place staff will work to incorporate a performance-based approach to cooling vehicle interiors into the next iteration of the light-duty motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations for 2017 and later model years. This next phase of the motor vehicle greenhouse gas emission regulations will be linked with the formerly separate standards setting specific toxic and criteria tailpipe emissions limits (Low Emission Vehicle or LEV standards) into a single regulatory framework for advanced clean cars.
During a hearing later this year, the regulation for advanced clean cars (LEVIII) is expected to be presented to the Board. Cool Cars performance option workgroups will cease, but the public may participate in the development of the performance metric for cooling vehicle interiors as part of the regulatory development for advanced clean cars.
For More Information
If you are interested in being notified of upcoming workshops for the greenhouse gas portion of this regulation, including the vehicle-interior cooling performance metric, please join theJoin the Low-Emission Vehicle Program (levprog) listserv at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/levprog/leviii/leviii.htm
For further questions regarding the cessation of the Cool Cars regulation or the incorporation of the vehicle-interior cooling performance option into the development of a regulation for advanced cleaner cars:
Contact
Marijke Bekken
mbekken@arb.ca.gov
775-762-1771
Leela Rao
lrao@arb.ca.gov
626-350-6469
Source
Cool Cars Additional Information, released by the California Air Resources Board on March 25, 2010
