The EPA's new rules governing greenhouse gas emissions will be aimed at large polluters — like coal-fired power plants — and, after a delay due to conflict over this regulatory change, will take effect in July of 2011. The ruling will require any new plants that emit at least 100,000 tons a year of greenhouse gases to seek EPA...Read more »
Despite the current administration’s commitment to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020, a recent analysis by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) seems to indicate that U.S. carbon emissions are going up, not down.
The recent CDP analysis shows that the companies on the S&P 100 are reporting an emissions increase of 0.36 percent...Read more »
Greenpeace has issued a new report warning that greenhouse gas emissions could increase due to expanding usage of cloud computing. The report, entitled "Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and its Contribution to Climate Change," attempts to track streams of data back to the data centers to measure the impact of cloud computing.
The report contends that...Read more »
The EPA has officially added methane and fluorinated gases to their Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule passed by Congress in 2008 with the goal of tracking major producers of greenhouse gas emissions through yearly EPA reports. Although methane is considered one of the most harmful emissions, it was left out of the original mandate...Read more »
To date, 15 U.S. states have filed petitions with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to force the EPA to reopen hearings on "endangerment findings" that claim six greenhouse gases — namely carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride — are dangerous to public health. Alabama, Indiana, Florida, Virginia and Texas are some of...Read more »
Prior to the most recent spate of global warming denial, fueled by the discovery of a few errors in a very big IPCC report, petro-conservatives' arguments against international climate agreements focused on the premise that emission caps would hurt the (oil-based) economy — in particular, America's.
But that's so Kyoto. What the petro-conservatives missed was that the U.S. does...Read more »
Ah, Coal — plentiful in America, and now (somewhat) more clean and efficient. Carbon capture and sequestration technology holds out the promise of burning the stuff with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Better yet, investor Vinod Kholsa says, let's turn all that excess carbon into building materials.
Not so fast, says David Roberts at Grist. Taking the carbon...Read more »
Analysts have debated for years how to measure greenhouse gas emissions that occur when items are manufactured in one location, and imported into another. Should the responsibility for environmental impact rest on the shoulders of the exporter or the importer?
Two scientists from the Carnegie Institution For Science, a think tank founded by Andrew Carnegie in...Read more »
Following a Senate hearing this past Wednesday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson stated that the EPA is now revising previously proposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Large coal-fired plants, which emit over 75,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year, still face limits on their CO2 emissions. However, factories which emit 75,000 tons or less of...Read more »
Senator Kerry has surprised players in the climate change debate by suggesting he thinks it's likely that a climate bill will come up for a senate vote in the near future. Kerry is apparently part of a group of bipartisan senators who are working with the Whitehouse to fast track a bill through the senate, hoping they can...Read more »
The litigation filed in December 2009 by The Southeastern Legal Foundation against the EPA is heating up. Initially, the case seemed to be merely another battle symbolizing the fight between fossil fuel energy manufacturers and its green technology opponents. Briefly, the plaintiffs are challenging the EPA in its attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions...Read more »
The Obama Administration announced this week new biofuel rules for a Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2). The EPA will calculate greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels in the following way:
- Corn-based ethanol with international indirect land use included: 21 percent reduction. – Corn-based ethanol without that land use included: 52 percent. – Cellulosic ethanol: between 72 and 130 percent reduction,...Read more »
Danish police fired pepper spray and beat protesters with batons outside the U.N. climate conference Wednesday, as disputes inside left major issues unresolved just two days before world leaders hope to sign a historic agreement to fight global warming. Hundreds of protesters were trying to disrupt the 193-nation conference to demand "climate justice" — firm steps to...Read more »
Cities and counties are facing new challenges as federal and state regulators adopt greenhouse gas emission reductions targets and other new environmental performance standards to try to reverse the degradation of our environment and planet. We are entering an era of broad scale environmental accountability.
Achieving sustainability performance targets across complex and integrated social,...Read more »
The UN climate change conference (cop15) opened Monday in the hopes of reaching a deal in Copenhagen within the next two weeks. Besides commitments to cut emissions, a major aspect of the negotiations is financing of mitigation and adaptation to climate change in developing countries. 110 world leaders are attending this conference. If the leaders are able...Read more »