California to require sun-blocking car windows
July 6, 2009 By Pat BrennanNew cars sold in California must include windshields that block or absorb the sun's rays beginning in 2012, the state's Air Resources Board recently ruled.
The new regulation is meant to keep cars cooler, cutting the need for air conditioning, saving energy and reducing emissions that contribute to global warming, the agency says.
To meet the new rules, car windows will have to block 33 percent more of the sun's heat-producing rays than cars windows do today. Because the rays being blocked are in the infrared part of the spectrum, the windows would not require tinting, and will look no different from present-day car windows, said air board spokesman Stanley Young.
"It uses a very microscopic sputtering of metal particles that act as tiny invisible mirrors," Young said.
With more of the sun's heat blocked, cars interiors should be about 14 degrees cooler, SUV or pickup interiors about 12 degrees.
The reduction in use of air conditioning is expected to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 700,000 metric tons by 2020 -- the equivalent of taking 140,000 vehicles off the road for a year, the agency says.
The two-step regulation requires cars sold for the first three years to block 45 percent of the sun's heat-producing energy, windshields at least 50 percent; in 2016, car windows must block 60 percent.
The agency says it will cost an average of $70 for the first three years to comply, and $250 after 2016.
It's one of several measures adopted by the agency to cut greenhouse gas emissions, including a low-carbon fuel standard and a requirement that smog-check and other maintenance facilities check tire pressure.
___
(c) 2009, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).
Visit the Register on the World Wide Web at http://www.ocregister.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
-
Q&A on new auto emissions standards
May 19, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
California agrees to new, tougher national emissions standards
May 19, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
For some, it's comfort vs. global warming
Jul 05, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Calif. preparing to sue EPA
Oct 22, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Air conditioning in cars cuts down microbes, particles: study
May 17, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Discrepancy between oxygen and carbon-dioxide levels
19 hours ago
-
where gems are found in the world
22 hours ago
-
Wind Waves in Reservoir ~ Wind run-up and Wind set-up
Feb 08, 2012
-
Balance of oxygen in the atmosphere
Feb 01, 2012
-
The case for a methanol-based economy
Jan 30, 2012
-
Weather in a rotating cylinder
Jan 25, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Earth
More news stories
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...
Could Venus be shifting gear?
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESAs Venus Express spacecraft has discovered that our cloud-covered neighbour spins a little slower than previously measured. Peering through the dense atmosphere in the infrared, the ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
7 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
7
|
Mars Science Laboratory computer issue resolved
(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
8 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
3
|
Clam fields found at deep, low-temperature Mariana vents
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have marveled at the unusual life forms thriving at high temperature hydrothermal vents of the deep ocean.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
8 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
NASA budget will axe Mars deal with Europe: scientists
US President Barack Obama's budget proposal to be submitted next week for 2013 will cut NASA's budget by 20 percent and eliminate a major partnership with Europe on Mars exploration, scientists said Thursday.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
10 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
15
CIA website offline, Anonymous takes credit
The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was unresponsive on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline.
Q&A: Obama and the birth control controversy
(AP) -- What birth control debate? A half-century after the introduction of the pill, acceptance of birth control by American women is virtually universal.
Complex wiring of the nervous system may rely on a just a handful of genes and proteins
Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a startling feature of early brain development that helps to explain how complex neuron wiring patterns are programmed using just a handful of critical genes. ...
The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...
New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission
Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. Theyre a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel such as an optical fiber o ...
Curry spice component may help slow prostate tumor growth
Curcumin, an active component of the Indian curry spice turmeric, may help slow down tumor growth in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a study from researchers ...
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
But California? Texas? Florida? Heck yes. Makes you wonder why they haven't been doing this before in those regions.
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Check the website of any "low-e" replacement window manufacturer. Here is a link that is semi useful: http://www.askthe...s_.shtml
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
the legislation against window tinting tends to be regarding the degree of tinting, not the presence of it, and anyways the article says that the IR (heat) blocking aspect doesn't require tinting the windows - different wavelengths.
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
1) If you don't heat your car while parked, the battery(ies) either stop working completely, or don't work well. This means that you have to constantly heat the car while parked. This drains the battery, which in turn requires fuel to recharge after the car is turned on.
2) Engines do not immediately heat up when started in a cold climate. It takes ~15 minutes for the engine to get warm enough to start heating the vehicle (longer for a diesel). During that time you're either having no heat at all, or you're using a secondary heating source, which requires fuel to run. Given that nearly the entire population of the world drive less than 40 kilometres a day on average (work and back, or store(s) and back), that 15 minutes constitutes the vast majority of the driving time.
3) Electric engines produce *very* little heat in comparison to an internal combustion engine, and electric cars require secondary heaters in cold climates.
So, uh, you're just flat out wrong in everything you said.
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Agreed and well aware, however, there are many that are so general as to leave automakers in a position where they cannot legally tint any window except the rear. So would it be cheaper to make vehicle for all 50 states, or make vehicles for sale in one state with interchangable windows.
As usual, California is putting the squeeze on the auto industry for something that will have a neglible result on end use.
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
The immediate pun here would be to ask how you could see anything if all sun light was blocked...
On the other hand, why would they block IR from getting into the car? It's UV that causes the warming.
Jul 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 07, 2009
Rank: 4.5 / 5 (2)
Because they want the car to be cooler.
There's nothing magical about UV. Whatever UV, visible and IR radiation that gets into the car and does not get reflected back out of the car will cause heating.
If you look at which wavelengths the sun's power output is in, very little is UV: http://www.nas.na...e2.3.gif
In addition, soda-lime glass will block significant parts of UV A and essentially all UV B and UV C.
Jul 07, 2009
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
Put these crazies in check before they start banning air conditioners, or making us pay extra for them, or some other kind of rubbish.
Jul 08, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Jul 08, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 08, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
UV-B and UV-C are blocked (UV-C is blocked most all by the atmosphere, anyway). Some of the shorter wavelengths of UV-A are also blocked. However, the longer wavelengths of UV-A are not, and those are also contributory to skin aging, damage, as well as the heating of the vehicle.
Jul 12, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Jul 12, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 13, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Holy crap! This does not look a like a parody. I just looked at some data and a presentation on the subject. They look like they are also going to specify what kinds of window glazing vehicles can have on them as well as the types of paint with solar-reflective compounds will be compliant. Black definitely appears to be on the outs.
Sorry, but I like black cars. Glad I moved out of that insane state in a nick of time!
What is going to be really funny is that when they have done all they have and there is little to no change they are going to be scratching their heads trying to figure out what went wrong and why they crippled the economy for nothing...
Jul 13, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
http://www.docsto...ion31209
Jul 19, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
They've backed off on that:
http://latimesblo...ban.html
Jul 20, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
In the same vehicles a percentage of visibility was lost as well, and irritating patterns could be seen in the windows as a result. These also could create a distraction while driving. I certainly hope that they get their acts together and do a little more intense study before mandating such coatings.