Clean Tech Update 03.12.10

California approves renewable energy trading scheme (Greenwire)

California regulators approved a trading scheme yesterday that will allow electric utilities to buy and sell credits for meeting the state's renewable energy goals. The California Public Utilities Commission's move is aimed at making it easier and cheaper for utilities to generate 33 percent of their electricity with wind, solar and other renewable energy by 2020. Analysts say it is unlikely utilities will meet their interim goal of 20 percent this year through generation alone

Stealthy EV maker Aurica moves to save Bay Area auto plant (Green Beat)

Fremont, California's NUMMI automotive plant has been facing a death sentence for a while now. Slated to shutter on April 1, leaving upwards of 4,700 locals jobless, the facility was one of the biggest industrial employers in the southern Bay Area. But today, stealthy electric vehicle company Aurica Motors says it might have a plan to keep the plant's doors open -- as a new manufacturing facility for its Aurica E-Car.

Feinstein bill to preserve desert land gains traction in White House (The Press-Enterprise)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's push to build support for her plan to preserve more than a million acres of San Bernardino County land has yielded an important ally: the White House. During a budget hearing this week, high-ranking Obama administration officials spoke favorably about Feinstein's legislation to create a pair of national monuments totaling 1,075,000 acres in the Mojave Desert, one northwest of Palm Springs and another in the eastern reaches of the county.