Good news – United States greenhouse gas emissions are declining (graph)

I hate the doom-and-gloom focus of global warming. For an issue that asks people to make big changes, there couldn’t be a worse message. And so I’m proud to present another piece good news: As our economy grows we are lowering our emissions (blue lines) As our population our emissions are remaining steady or decreasing …

EPA gets tough, forces all power plants to slash air pollution

Woot! This is good news for all of us, from the NRDC’s report on Toxic Power: The electric power sector is the largest industrial source of toxic air pollution in the United States. Thanks to new standards by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), toxic pollution from power plants will decline dramatically over the next several …

The United States continues to go green – CO2 emissions near 1990 levels

CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators …

The world of professional sports is going green

Allen Hershkowitz, from The N.Y. Times, has written up an interesting piece about The Greening of Professional Sports. Among the many great points he makes, include how every industry will need to participate and public opinion is the most important factor, as well as:   Fifteen professional stadiums or arenas have achieved LEED certification for …

World scientists – we can’t raise the temperature by more than two degrees Celsius

The official position of planet Earth at the moment is that we can’t raise the temperature more than two degrees Celsius. Some context: So far, we’ve raised the average temperature of the planet just under 0.8 degrees Celsius, and that has caused far more damage than most scientists expected. (A third of summer sea ice …

Microsoft implements “carbon fee” – to push the company into carbon neutrality

Beginning in fiscal year 2013 (which starts this July 1), Microsoft will be carbon neutral across all our direct operations including data centers, software development labs, air travel, and office buildings. We recognize that we are not the first company to commit to carbon neutrality, but we are hopeful that our decision will encourage other …

California launches a statewide network of charging stations for electric vehicles

Governor Brown joined with the California Public Utilities Commission today to announce a $120 million dollar settlement with NRG Energy Inc. that will fund the construction of a statewide network of charging stations for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), including at least 200 public fast-charging stations and another 10,000 plug-in units at 1,000 locations across the state. …

Nissan LEAF, electric cars means no oil changes, no tailpipe, and a big market for "charging stations"

The all-electric Nissan LEAF is coming soon to a neighborhood near you. It’s a fascinating new car with many exotic features, as compared to our normal gas-engine cars. To learn more about it, I’ve pulled out some of the more interesting Frequently Asked Questions. After reading them one realizes that we are facing some serious …

Nissan LEAF, electric cars means no oil changes, no tailpipe, and a big market for “charging stations”

The all-electric Nissan LEAF is coming soon to a neighborhood near you. It’s a fascinating new car with many exotic features, as compared to our normal gas-engine cars. To learn more about it, I’ve pulled out some of the more interesting Frequently Asked Questions. After reading them one realizes that we are facing some serious …