June 20, 2007

A movie production goes carbon neutral!

The producer of the movie Evan Almighty is working with the conservation fund to go carbon neutral! Heres more about the organization and their plans: ABOUT GO ZERO WE CAN ALL START SOMEWHERE BECAUSE ITS WHAT WE DO TOGETHER THAT MATTERS

As part of its Climate Change Program, The Conservation Fund launched Go ZeroSM to engage people around the world -- companies, communities, and individuals -- in the effort to combat climate change. Go Zero measures the specific carbon dioxide emissions of virtually any slice of life, from travel-related emissions to corporate headquarters, high profile events to single individuals. The Conservation Fund then offsets that impact by planting native trees, which absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.

Since 2000, The Conservation Fund has restored nearly 30,000 acres and planted nine million trees through its carbon sequestration program. Over the next 100 years, these new forests will capture an estimated 13 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.

The Go Zero program was created to calculate and offset the annual carbon dioxide emitted by a specific activity, business, organization or individual. Therefore, all "carbon credits" are retired and cannot be banked for future offset purposes or sold.

GO ZERO PRINCIPLES

ALL GO ZERO PROJECTS ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES:
  • NATIVE SPECIES: All Go Zero reforestation uses tree species native to the region in which they are planted and chosen to restore fully functioning natural systems.
  • PERMANENCE: The Conservation Fund works with the nation's leading public natural resource agencies to ensure that trees are planted in permanently protected areas that have long-term management plans to ensure accuracy and reliability of carbon sequestration.
  • ADDITIONALITY: All Go Zero projects result in the capture of additional carbon dioxide compared to that which would otherwise have occurred without native tree planting.
  • ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS: Go Zero reforestation projects provide additional environmental benefits including restored wildlife habitat, improved air and water quality and enhanced recreation areas.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Native trees and forests help fight climate change as part of a natural process called photosynthesis. As they grow, trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (C02 is one of the most potent greenhouse gases) and convert it into oxygen. In addition to trapping the dangerous gases that cause climate change, these new forests help to protect water quality, restore wildlife habitat and enhance public recreation areas.

The process of trapping carbon in forests, soils, geological formations and other carbon “sinks” is called carbon sequestration. Through its pioneering Carbon Sequestration Program, The Conservation Fund has become the nation's leading environmental nonprofit working to implement on-the-ground solutions that address climate change. Since 2000, The Conservation Fund has restored 30,000 acres and planted more than 9 million trees through its carbon sequestration program.

Over the next 100 years, these new forests will capture an estimated 13.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere. The majority of these trees are planted and monitored by Environmental-Synergy, Inc. a group of leading scientists that specializes in reforestation and carbon sequestration monitoring. Reforestation efforts are currently focused on the Lower Mississippi River Valley – an area that has lost more than 20 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest in the last century.

Google, Intel in 'green' initiative

Partnering with other tech giants, companies will push for 90% efficient computers and server systems.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Reuters) -- Web search leader Google Inc. and semiconductor maker Intel Corp. launched a broad-based program Tuesday to introduce more energy-efficient personal computers and server systems to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Called the "Climate Savers Computing Initiative," the new program has signed on computer makers Dell Inc. (Charts, Fortune 500), Hewlett-Packard Co. (Charts, Fortune 500), IBM (Charts, Fortune 500), Lenovo Group Ltd. , software maker Microsoft Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500), the Environmental Protection Agency and more than 25 environmental groups, companies and universities for the energy savings campaign.

The program will set new efficiency goals for computers and software tools that manage power consumption.

It comes at a time when Silicon Valley has made clean technology a priority as it seeks to play a greater role in reducing the harmful effects of climate change attributed to global warming.

Google (Charts, Fortune 500) co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have thrown capital behind numerous environmentally friendly ventures, including the installation of one of the largest solar energy systems to power their sprawling headquarters.

The program requires a 90 percent efficiency standard for power supplies, said Urs Holzle, senior vice president of operations at Google.

More efficient computing could trim the use of electricity that now is being wasted as heat, which in turn, especially in large server centers, requires more power for air conditioning.

"Today, the average desktop PC wastes nearly half of its power and the average server wastes one-third of its power," Holzle said.

A 90 percent standard would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons a year and save more than $5.5 billion in energy costs, he said at a meeting at Google's headquarters in Mountain View.

Google aims to go carbon-neutral by year-end!

The Web search giant plans to cut or offset all of its greenhouse emissions by the end of 2007 by investing in efficiency, renewable energy and carbon offsets.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Google aims to voluntarily cut or offset all of its greenhouse emissions by the end of the year, the Web search leader said Tuesday.

Google (Charts, Fortune 500) is one of a number of companies - including News Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500) and Yahoo! (Charts, Fortune 500) - that are attempting to cut emissions of gases scientists link to global warming.

To make the cuts, Google is investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy like solar and will purchase carbon offsets for emissions it cannot reduce directly, the company said.

"On their own, carbon offsets are not capable of creating the kinds of fundamental changes to our energy infrastructure that will be necessary to stabilize global greenhouse gas emissions to safe levels," Google said on its Web site.

"But we believe that offsets can offer real, measurable and additional emissions reductions that allow us to take full responsibility for our footprint today."

European companies can invest in carbon offsets through a Kyoto Protocol U.N. program that allows rich countries to invest in clean projects in developing nations. The United States did not ratify the Kyoto pact, but some U.S. companies have begun to offset emissions on a voluntary, unregulated basis.

Google said it would invest in projects like capturing and burning methane, a greenhouse gas with about 20 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide, from animal waste at Mexican and Brazilian farms.

"Our funding makes it possible for anaerobic digesters to be installed, which capture and flare the bio gas produced while simultaneously improving local air quality and reducing land and water contamination," Google said.

Separately, Google is planning to spend $600 million to build a data center in western Iowa that will receive power from a MidAmerican Energy plant fired by coal, the fuel that emits the most carbon dioxide. A Google spokesman told Reuters all emissions from its Iowa project were accounted for in its carbon neutral plan.

Nonprofit emissions advisers, The Climate Group, said they will partner with Google to support its offset plans.

Google last week launched a program with semiconductor-maker Intel (Charts, Fortune 500) to introduce more energy-efficient personal computers and server systems.

News Corp. pledged in May to become carbon-neutral by 2010.

U.S. electric vehicle research funded

WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has selected five next-generation vehicle research projects to share in $19 million in government funding.

The projects are designed to further development of hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. Combined with industry cost sharing, the selected projects will receive total funding of nearly $34 million, officials said.

The projects will focus on reducing the cost, weight and size of electric drive and power conversion devices, while increasing vehicle efficiency.

The winning projects were submitted by Delphi Automotive Systems in Troy, Mich.; Virginia Polytechnic Institute of Blacksburg, Va.; General Electric Global Research of Niskayuna, N.Y.; the General Motors Corp. in Torrance, Calif.; and the U.S. Hybrid Corp. of Torrance, Calif.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

U.S. solar energy research projects funded

WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has released $22.7 million for basic research projects aimed at improving the capture, conversion and use of solar energy.

Officials said the research involving 27 projects at 23 universities and national laboratories will help increase the amount of solar power in the nation's energy supply.

"These projects are part of our aggressive basic research in the physical sciences -- what I call 'transformational science' -- aimed at achieving a new generation of breakthrough technologies that will push the cost-effectiveness of renewable energy sources to levels comparable to petroleum and natural gas sources," said U.S. Energy Undersecretary for Science Raymond Orbach.

The research will address two priority technical areas: the conversion of solar energy to electricity (14 projects, $9.9 million over three years) and conversion of solar energy to chemical fuels (13 projects, $12.8 million over three years).

Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

Deforestation impacts climate change

CAMPBELL, Australia, May 15 (UPI) -- An Australian study has determined tropical deforestation releases 1.6 billion tons of carbon into the Earth's atmosphere each year.

Pep Canadell and colleagues from the Global Carbon Project and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization found deforestation in the tropics accounts for nearly 20 percent of carbon emissions due to human activities.

"This will release an estimated 87 (billion) to 130 billion tons of carbon by 2100, which is greater than the amount of carbon that would be released by 13 years of global fossil fuel combustion," said Canadell, "so maintaining forests as carbon sinks will make a significant contribution to stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations."

He said his team's findings suggest considerable value in preserving tropical forests such as those in Indonesia and the Amazon as carbon sinks.

The research, called the first study of its kind, involved scientists from the United States, Britain, Brazil and France who compared data from 11 climate-carbon computer models. The results are detailed in the journal Science.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

Using Microalgae To Try To Eliminate Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Science Daily Scientists of the University of Almeria, led by Gabriel AciƩn, are carrying out a research project on the development of new systems to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions using microalgae photosynthetic activity. This project, called CENIT CO2, is being developed by Spanish electricity company Endesa on the initiative of the Spanish Ministry of Industry.

On the pilot plant developed at the experimental station of Las Palmerillas, which depends on Spanish bank Cajamar, Almeria-based researchers try to prove the validity of this new method for eliminating CO2 emissions. It seems that in one year time, the system will be fully operative and therefore tests can be started at an industrial level. Researchers say that ENDESA, which is promoting this research line, may test its application in some of the facilities which, a priori, could show better results- the small gas plants.

The mechanism developed is simple on paper. By the gas emission points a water tank would be installed in order to retain the pollutant gases resulting from a specific industrial process. This polluted water would go through a system of bioreactors with a microalgae culture system, which would then transform the CO2 emissions into vegetal matter and oxygen through the photosynthesis process’, researchers say.

This system also offers the added value of the resulting materials, as in addition to purified air, the organic matter obtained could be reused as fuel for biomass plants, transforming it into biofuel through fermentation or using it in agriculture.

Today, the single technology available with similar applications is based on the use of etanolamines, which do not have the added value microalgae have and also their applicability and profitability in industrial processes shows is not very satisfactory, the resulting gases being used for geological storage.

McCain's stand on environmental issues

Taken from McCain's campaign website: Stewards of Our Nation's Rich Natural Heritage John McCain has a proud record of common sense stewardship. Along with his commitment to clean air and water, and to conserving open space, he has been a leader on the issue of global warming with the courage to call the nation to action on an issue we can no longer afford to ignore.

America has been blessed with a rich and diverse natural heritage. In the tradition of his hero, Theodore Roosevelt, John McCain believes that we are vested with a sacred duty to be proper stewards of the resources upon which the quality of American life depends. Ensuring clean air, safe and healthy water, sustainable land use, ample greenspace - and the faithful care and management of our natural treasures, including our proud National Park System - is a patriotic responsibility. One that must be met not only for the benefit of our generation, but for our children and those to whom we will pass the American legacy.

John McCain believes that America's economic and environmental interests are not mutually exclusive, but rather inextricably linked. Our economic prospects depend greatly upon the sustainable use of ample and unspoiled natural resources. A clean and healthy environment is well served by a strong economy. History shows that poverty is a poor steward.

As John McCain said, "Americans solve problems. We don't run from them." He believes that ignoring the problem reflects a "liberal live for today" attitude unworthy of our great country, and poses a serious and unacceptable threat to our environment, our economy, and U.S. national security. He has offered common sense approaches to limit carbon emissions by harnessing market forces that will bring advanced technologies, such as nuclear energy, to the market faster, reduce our dependence on foreign supplies of energy, and see to it that America leads in a way that ensures all nations do their rightful share.

By addressing this problem responsibly, John McCain believes we can meet our obligation to be proper caretakers of creation, in a manner of which we can be proud - by protecting our country, strengthening our economy, and addressing the challenges of our time, rather than leaving a much worse problem for our children.

Mitt Romney's stand on energy independence

Taken from Romney's campaign website:

We must become independent from foreign sources of oil. This will mean a combination of efforts related to conservation and efficiency measures, developing alternative sources of energy like biodiesel, ethanol, nuclear, and coal gasification, and finding more domestic sources of oil such as in ANWR or the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

Governor Romney: "We're using too much oil," Romney said. "We have an answer. We can use alternative sources of energy -- biodiesel, ethanol, nuclear power -- and we can drill for more oil here. We can be more energy independent and we can be far more efficient in the use of that energy."

(Waterloo Courier, September 29, 2006)

Giuliani's Environmental Standing

Taken from an article in the San Fransico Chronicle:

"I do believe there's global warming, yes,'' said Giuliani, in response to reporters' questions following his talk to the Churchill Club. "The big question has always been how much of it is happening because of natural climate changes and how much of it is happening because of human intervention.''

But "the overwhelming number of scientists now believe that there is significant human cause,'' he said, adding the debate on the existence of global warming "is almost unnecessary ... because we should be dealing with pollution anyway.''

He also delivered a sharp jab at former Vice President Al Gore, saying his Academy Award-nominated documentary about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth,'' serves to "frighten people ... but it doesn't really recommend solutions,'' such as nuclear power.

GIULIANI HAS NO MENTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT OR GLOBAL WARMING ON HIS CAMPAIGN WEBSITE OR IN HIS PLATFORM ( Fiscal Discipline, Cutting Taxes, Winning the War on Terror, Iraq, Public Safety, Judges, Education, Abortion, Second Amendment, Marriage).