Published on February 10th, 2010
Some leading businesses, Hollywood, Obama, and the public are putting the pressure on Congress to move forward with a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill, but while we wait on that, some Senators have decided to tackle some specific coal pollutants that cost the American public trillions of dollars in healthcare costs, hundreds of thousands of lives, and great human suffering every year in another way.
12 Democratic, Republican and Independent Senators have just put forth “The Clean Air Act Amendments of 2010” to protect countless Americans who are being harmed by extremely toxic coal emissions everyday.
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Published on February 2nd, 2010
The Obama administration is moving ahead with not one, but three EPA rules that will start to reduce our use of coal, (by far the worst emitter of greenhouse gases in the nation) despite misuse of the Senate filibuster by Republicans who are heavily funded by fossil interests to obstruct this kind of good governance.
As a result, even in the absence of climate and energy policy being written by congress to turn around our use of harmful energy sources and fund an investment in clean safe energy sources, US greenhouse gas emissions will start to drop as coal powered electricity is already being reduced, halting pollution of our air and water.
Coal was the only energy source that was lower last year as coal-powered electricity was swapped by many utilities in favor of natural gas. Most coal power stations could equally well burn natural gas, which is not without its own health problems, but it is only about half as harmful to our climate as coal.
But more constraints are coming from the new Democratic administration, which should lead to further drops in the future, and to replace it, an increase in renewable energy purchases by utilities, which are now eligible for 30% tax credits for renewable energy investment to move the nation towards a cleaner, safer, healthier energy future.
The three EPA rules…
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Published on January 1st, 2010
Struggling to get things sorted out and in place for the Commonwealth Games which start on October 3, 2010, the Delhi government is contemplating closure of industrial units in order to improve air quality of the city which has improved only slightly after introduction of CNG-powered public transport few years ago.
Taking cue from China’s quite successful endeavor to provide satisfactory air quality the Mayor of New Delhi, Mr. Kanwar Sain has suggested the government that the worst polluters of the city be identified and be asked to stop operations a month prior to the Games.
Although the introduction of CNG powered vehicles and expansion of Metro rail in New Delhi has resulted in noticeable improvement in the air quality, emissions output from industrial units continues to be a major problem. Few years back, the government forced small industrial units out of residential areas which resulted in slight improvement in the air quality however, there are still large industrial clusters present in the city which do not always stick to the emission rules put down by the Central Pollution Control Board. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on December 25th, 2009
Diesel pollution from the shipping industry should be expected to soar in the near future as shipping traffic increases, but the U.S. EPA has just taken an important step toward nipping the emissions trend in the bud. On December 22 the agency announced that it has finalized a tougher rule for engines and fuel on U.S.-flagged ships, bringing this country in accord with more sustainable international standards.
The new rule is part of an overall effort to reduce diesel emissions and other forms of air pollution along the coasts of Canada and the U.S. It is an early Christmas present for port cities, which are most directly affected by diesel emissions from ships. It is also expected to have a positive impact on air quality in inland areas as well, affecting millions of U.S residents.
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Published on December 19th, 2009
Over 100 million homes in the poorest villages of India are currently without electricity. Villagers like these might be in the path of airplanes coming in for landing overhead, but in their thatched roofed dwellings they still fire up kerosene lamps at night so their kids can do their homework after dark.
But kerosene lamps emit toxic fumes and climate-changing greenhouse gases. If they need more light at night, they burn wooden tapirs. It’s medieval technology.
So Kumaar Thakkar; an Indian inventor and electronics entrepreneur came up with a solar powered fluorescent lamp to solve the problem: Aishwarya®. Problem solved, right? Not quite. In the hard knocks school of starting a business, he found that that wasn’t enough. Video over the jump:
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Published on December 12th, 2009
It’s official. The Acid Rain Cap and Trade program worked. The EPA has just released its report. Electric utilities in the US are already below the 2010 emission cap of 8.95 million tons of sulfur dioxide SOx and nitrogen oxides NOx.
The Acid Rain Program established under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments required major emission reductions of SO2 and NOx, using Cap and Trade.
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Published on October 7th, 2009
A Woman’s Work…
The Governor’s Global Climate Summit ended with Oxfam America’s inaugural Sisters on the Planet Climate Leader Awards. Thanks to Karen Solomon at Opportunity Green, I was able to attend. The event showcased the work that women all over the world are doing to adapt to climate change. Sisters on the Planet is committed to exposing how livelihoods of the majority of the planet’s women are the most severely impacted by climate change. To quote the brochure:
“But if you remember one thing about Sisters on the Planet, make it this: Climate change is already having a disproportionate impact on poor people in the US and abroad, and it’s hitting women hardest.”
Oxfam is working with women all over the world to develop low-cost adaptation techniques relevant to the regions they’re in. Adapting to global warming requires a range of tactics, from helping families in flood-prone regions elevate their homes, build floating vegetable gardens, and store seeds and other necessities safely to helping farmers in drought-prone areas plant trees, drill wells and improve their irrigation techniques. Oxfam’s publication, Adaptation 101, shows the overall cost of some of these projects, and at what level they need to be carried out- in the community or nationally.
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Published on September 14th, 2009
The U.S. EPA has found that a simple, inexpensive rooftop solar panel can provide enough power to run a fan and remove toxic fumes from homes sitting on contaminated ground. The EPA gave solar-powered venting a test run on several homes earlier this year, in a Superfund action aimed at tricholoroethene (TCE) vapors in a Grand Prairie, Texas neighborhood. The pollution had been traced to a site occupied by the now-bankrupt Delfasco Forge company.
Compared to conventional remediation that involves weeks, months or even years of work along with a potentially huge carbon footprint for transporting or capping soil, the solar-powered exhaust systems took mere hours to install and resulted in an immediate 95% reduction in TCE vapors within the homes. The EPA plans to extend the program this fall to other homes affected by the Delfasco site.
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Published on August 27th, 2009
More sulfur dioxide and other acid gasses could be scrubbed from power plant emissions with a new technology developed by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The new method, Reversible Acid Gas Capture, is a sustainable twofer: it doubles the amount of pollutants currently captured by the leading water-based scrubber, and it is far more energy-efficient. David Heldebrant, the scientist who headed the PNNL research team, points out that the technology easily lends itself to a retrofit for existing power plants. That’s good news for reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants, but it would be a mistake to call it a win for “clean coal.”
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Published on August 24th, 2009
The European Union (EU) released a 94-page list of airlines that must reduce their emissions or will be banned from European airports two days ago. These are airlines of various sorts from all around the world. Some top players include United Airlines, US Airways, and the US Navy. Read the rest of this entry »
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