The California Energy Commission October 31 unanimously adopted a report describing actions and conditions needed to increase the use of alternative fuels in California to reduce petroleum use and curb greenhouse gases. The Energy Commission developed the report with the California Air Resources Board. “Achieving the state’s petroleum reduction, climate change and biofuels goals will require substantial investment in fueling infrastructure, production facilities, vehicle components and commercial development of ‘second generation’ alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles,” states the 100-plus page report. More than $100 million a year will become available to help carry out the plan. AB 118 by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles), signed by the governor in mid-October, is set to provide the funding from increases on state motorist fees for alternative fuels development. The report recommends a combination of regulations, incentives, and market investments to promote alternative and non-petroleum fuels. The report, officially called the State Plan to Increase the Use of Alternative Transportation Fuels in California, was required by AB 1007, enacted in 2005. It is expected to be subsumed by the Low Carbon Fuels Standard under development. The report also recommends: -Increasing the use of alternative fuels to 20 percent of on-road transportation fuel use by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030. It also calls for significant increases in motor vehicle fuel efficiency, as well as a reduction in per capita vehicle miles traveled. -Setting greenhouse gas reduction goals that drop to levels emitted in 2000 by 2010, to 1990 levels by 2020, and reductions 80 percent below the 1990 level by 2050. -Establishing specific targets for use of biofuels in California of 0.93 billion gasoline gallon equivalents in 2010; 1.6 billion in 2020; and 2 billion in 2050. Also during this week’s meeting, the commissioners unanimously approved data adequacy recommendations for the Carlsbad Energy Center and Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. The proposed Carlsbad Energy Center project would be a 558 MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired generating facility on a 23-acre site in the northern San Diego County city of Carlsbad. The proposed Ivanpah project would develop three solar thermal power plants and shared facilities near the Ivanpah Dry Lake in San Bernardino County. It would sit on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The proposed project would be built in three phases: two 100-MW phases known as Ivanpah 1 and Ivanpah 2, and a 200-MW phase.