California Backpedals on Plan to Ban Black Cars to Reduce Emissions

March 27, 2009

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The California Air Resources Board has withdrawn an unpopular set of plans that would have effectively banned black vehicles as a way to reduce emissions.

Under a plan to increase solar reflectivity 20 percent by 2016, California had put a plan in place requiring auto paint makers to tinker with their hues and mixtures. To achieve this goal, paint makers were finding no good way to reproduce the color black, according to AutoBlogGreen. Never mind that black is the second most popular car color.

Instead of black, paint makers fiddling with compliance were finding a color described as “mud-puddle brown. The air resources board’s rule follows the accepted fact that the darker the color of car, the more it takes to cool the car, thus the increased emissions. A phase-in period for the rule starts in 2012.

Now, after facing global ridicule, the air resources board says it has no plans “at this time” to regulate the color of car paint, according to a Los Angeles Times blog.

However, the board will move forward with its plans to require reflective coatings for windshields, backlights and sunroofs by 2012.

California has ambitious plans to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

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