CleanTechnica

Nearly two years ago, I wrote that transportation was “the leading contiributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the country, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and… the fastest growing contributor.”

Now, in other terms and looking at additional factors, NASA has determined that automobiles are the largest net contributor to climate change pollution.

In other words, when you take into account the climate change (or global warming) gases automobiles emit as well as gases they emit that have a cooling effect, automobiles are the largest contributor to climate change, followed by 2) burning of household biofuels (i.e. wood and animal dung) and 3) raising livestock.

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When environmentalists ask you to do something, you might not listen. When concerned citizens ask you to do something, you might not listen. When scientists ask you to do something, you might not listen. But when your investors ask you to do something, maybe then you’ll listen.

BP and Shell investors are demanding that they leave the Canadian oil sands alone. Why? For the bottom line (as well as all of the moral environmental reasons).

But does it look like BP and Shell will actually listen?

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That’s right, the US government is “the single largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy.” In 2008 alone, it spent $24.5 billion on electricity and fuel.

This 28% reduction target Obama is ordering is equivalent to $8-11 billion in avoided energy costs. Additionally, it is far beyond the 17% reduction Obama has pledged to the international community for the US as whole, making the US government a leader by example on this issue.

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Nike has been one green company lately — in the last year, it has pushed for a strong clean energy and climate bill in Congress on its own and in concert with others and it has helped to reduce deforestation of the Amazon. Now, Nike has also just reported that it reduced its own carbon footprint last year while still growing economically. In fact, it has tremendously reduced greenhouse gas pollution over the last decade and 2009 just kept the ball rolling.

On top of all of that, Nike announced today that along with nine other organizations — Yahoo!, Best Buy, Creative Commons, IDEO, Mountain Equipment Co-op, nGenera, Outdoor Industry Association, salesforce.com, and 2degrees — Nike will “collaborate and share intellectual property (IP) which can lead to new sustainability business models and innovation.” This “Web-based marketplace” — GreenXchange (GX) — was announced at a CEO breakfast at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this morning.

If this all has you feeling warm inside, read on.

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The deadline for agreeing to the Copenhagen Accord may have been dropped, but the pressure to agree to the Accord and to announce commitments to create cleaner energy sources and reduce pollution is still on.

The US Climate Action Network (USCAN) is making it easier for all of us to follow all of the countries’ commitments through a useful chart of their pledges, how their 2020 targets compare to their 1990 pollution levels, their per capita CO₂ emissions, and other information.

The chart also lists those countries which reject the Copenhagen Accord.

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Yeah, that’s what I said — What?!

Apparently, Bell Labs has launched a global effort to overhaul the internet and other communication networks to make them 1,000 times greener by the year 2015!

Bell Labs is the research arm of telecom giant Alcatel-Lucent. In this effort they are coordinating with 15 other initial members from industry, academia, science labs, and NGOs, including AT&T, China Mobile, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, and MIT’s Research Laboratory for Electronics. “Green Touch” is the name being given to the consortium.

How much energy do the internet and other communication networks use? They emit about the same amount of greenhouse gas pollution as 50 million cars — 300 million tons each year.

This consortium, along with anyone else who joins it (more on this below), is looking to make yearly emissions in 2015 a few times less than what the current daily emissions are.

The system for producing this green internet and communications revolution is quite unique.

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Email may be the norm of the day for expressing your opinion on political issues, but the phone still has its place. The organization 1Sky is hosting a national call-in day to the Senate — TODAY — to help push for good clean energy and climate legislation.

The national call-in event has already been picked up by the New York Times, so hopefully it will be quite successful.

We’ve got quite a few readers on this site, and I think that most of you are strong advocates of clean energy and good climate legislation. You can help 1Sky and the world by making this day one for Senators to remember.

1Sky provides you with a very quick and easy system for calling using their toll-free number. You call your Senators for free, don’t even have to find their phone numbers, and have a little guide with some talking points, or you are free to us your own.

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Transportation is one of the biggest parts of our lives, whether we think about it or not. How will 2010 help shape the future of transportation in the US? How should it do so?

And, more specifically, what is going on in government on this matter? With an expired (in September of 2009) and extended and extended and extended and extended (yes, four times) 6-year transportation bill, what is coming in 2010?

The following discussion goes into my own thoughts on some of the major issues with the help of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO’s) “Top Ten Transportation Topics” list and other stories.

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That’s right, you read the headline correctly. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina is getting censored by his own colleagues because of his clean energy, reduce greenhouse gases and carbon pollution, improve energy security message, but he is not letting up.

The Senator gave a speech this week that looks like it could have been given by Obama or Al Gore.

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A new climate bill proposal with bi-partisan and moderate-Democrat support changes a few critical features from previous proposals, but it still seems to keep to the aim. Supposedly, the (Cantwell-Collins) bill would achieve a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and an 83% reduction by 2050.

Not only that, but it would also give a monthly refund of about $100 to a family of four, refunding approximately 75% of all revenue to US residents.

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