Energy Conservation Tips

IBM Developing Transistor to Reduce 'Vampire Energy'
International Business Machines ( IBM ) is searching for a method that will cut devices' power Consumption by 90% and reduce so-called vampire Energy - power used by machines when they are turned off. IBM's Zurich lab is developing a transistor to regulate Energy usage more efficiently, Bloomberg News said . The transistor would stop devices using Energy while they are left plugged into an electrical outlet. Sponsored Links IBM is working with European universities and companies on the...

Soros Gives $1M to California Pot Legalization Measure
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 By Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press (AP) - Billionaire financier George Soros has thrown his weight behind California's Marijuana legalization Measure with a $1 million donation a week before the vote. The contribution reported Tuesday by The Sacramento Bee is the single biggest donation from an individual other than Proposition 19's main sponsor, Oakland Medical Marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee. The high-profile liberal and philanthropist has long backed Drug Law...

California voters turning against Prop. 19 and Prop. 23, poll shows
By John Hoeffel and Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times California voters have turned against Controversial initiatives to legalize Marijuana and to suspend the state's Global Warming law, a poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found. Voters now oppose Proposition 19, the Marijuana legalization measure, 49% to 44%, and the measure to halt a law that aims to cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 48% to 37%.

Who's Right on Biofuels?
WHO'S RIGHT ON BiofuelS?.... How can America achieve Energy Independence? The Obama Administration believes increased production of Biofuels is key, as most recently signaled by its decision to increase the amount of Ethanol that can be blended with Gasoline. Yet critics warn that Biofuels produced from corn and other crops damage the environment and drive up the cost of food. Who's right? In the current issue of The Washington Monthly , two authors square off on the question. The first is...

James Cameron: a bully and a gigantic hypocrite
Director James Cameron is out to save the planet . If you are skeptical of the claims of the alarmists that Man is destroying the planet via Greenhouse Gas Emissions, he calls you a denier who has your head up your backside . He’d like to have a “shootout” with you, except that, when taken up on the offer, he suddenly has other things to do… Anyway, wouldn’t you expect that, being a good little cultist of the Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming, he’d try...

EPA plan could cut truck emissions
Large commercial trucks would be forced to slash their Greenhouse Gas Emissions by as much as 20 percent under a new proposal from the Obama Administration.  The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department on Monday announced the first-ever Greenhouse Gas limits and Fuel-efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses. Continue Reading Text Size Politico 44 The draft rules would mandate cuts in Fuel consumption and Emissions by up to 20 percent for long-haul...

James Cameron: a bully and a gigantic hypocrite
Director James Cameron is out to save the planet . If you are skeptical of the claims of the alarmists that Man is destroying the planet via Greenhouse Gas Emissions, he calls you a denier who has your head up your backside . He’d like to have a “shootout” with you, except that, when taken up on the offer, he suddenly has other things to do… Anyway, wouldn’t you expect that, being a good little cultist of the Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming, he’d try...

Congress candidate Q & A: Reducing human-caused emmissions to moderate global warming
The Anchorage Daily News asked Candidates in statewide Elections their views on a variety of issues. Question: Do you support enacting any laws or regulations to reduce human-caused Greenhouse Gas Emissions as a way to moderate Global Warming?

Who's Right on Biofuels?
WHO'S RIGHT ON BiofuelS?.... How can America achieve Energy Independence? The Obama Administration believes increased production of Biofuels is key, as most recently signaled by its decision to increase the amount of Ethanol that can be blended with Gasoline. Yet critics warn that Biofuels produced from corn and other crops damage the environment and drive up the cost of food. Who's right? In the current issue of The Washington Monthly , two authors square off on the question. The first is...

Why Sacramento needs to be fumigated ... [Darleen Click]
I am now going to give you the exact first sentence on Prop 23 on my CA sample ballot. This is the way it appears on the official ballot at the polling place: 23 SUSPENDS IMPLEMENTATION OF Air Pollution Control LAW (AB 32) REQUIRING MAJOR SOURCES OF Emissions TO REPORT AND REDUCE Greenhouse Gas Emissions THAT CAUSE Global Warming, UNTIL Unemployment DROPS TO 5.5 PERCENT OR LESS FOR FULL YEAR. See? Manmade CO2 causes Global Warming. Settled science, you know. You can stop thinking about that...

Obama aims for tougher fuel economy rules for big vehicles
The Obama Administration has announced plans to develop more strict rules regarding the fuel economy of big vehicles such as school buses, garbage trucks, and delivery vans. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are moving forward with a fuel economy concept for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The first models to be subject to the new rules will be those produced in 2014. Proponents of the Regulation hope for 20 percent less Greenhouse Gas Emissions and fuel...

Administration has no regrets on pushing healthcare before climate
A senior adviser to President Obama said the administration has no regrets about securing Healthcare Legislation before a broad Climate and Energy plan this Congress. Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, acknowledged that prioritizing Healthcare made it more difficult to get an Energy and Climate plan passed on Capitol Hill. But she said Healthcare was a topic voters frequently talked about during the Presidential Campaign in 2008. One of the things...

Is Energy Efficiency Blue, Red or Both?
Recently I wrote about how people in six Kansas towns had been motivated to cut their Energy use through intertown competitions. The residents were largely skeptical about the science behind Climate Change but were moved to act by values like thrift and Patriotism. In some cases towns reduced their Energy Consumption by as much as 5 percent over a year, considered a giant drop in this field. So when the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy released its annual scorecard comparing...

Obama Administration Issues New Emission Standards For Trucks
The White House issued new rules for heavy vehicles like "tractor-trailers, buses, delivery vans, heavy pickup trucks, cement mixers." They will have to reduce fuel consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 10 to 20 percent, depending on the type of truck, over the next eight years. The rules were issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, and they don't need Congressional approval, which is good for Obama because Republicans have a tendency to not believe in man-made Global Warming....

China refuses to budge on greenhouse gases
Beijing — China refused to budge Wednesday on its demands that rich nations commit to large Greenhouse Gas cuts at upcoming Climate Change talks, while also declining to put a ceiling on its own Emissions. China and other Developing nations will call on rich Countries to cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels at negotiations in Copenhagen in December, said Yu Qingtai, China's top Climate negotiator. "We have all along believed that due to the historical...

Seeking Crowd-Sourced Climate Pacts
A couple of years ago, the Center for Collective Intelligence (I wonder about the potential for this every day in running a blog) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched the Climate Collaboratorium. The goal was to split the Climate challenge — a “ super wicked ” lacework of science, policy, Diplomacy and economics — into manageable parts and foster productive online discourse aimed at distilling solutions. I included the project in a roundup of online...

EPA head: New carbon controls on big trucks and buses 'win for planet'
The Obama Administration on Monday continued its push to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Vehicles, proposing the first-ever Emissions limits for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses. The joint requirement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) would require a 20 percent cut in Emissions and fuel use from long-haul tractor-trailer trucks for model years 2014 to 2018. This will be a win-win-win, for reducing oil...

Gov't Pushing More Fuel Efficiency for Trucks
Monday, October 25, 2010 By Ken Thomas, Associated Press Washington (AP) - Future generations of semi-trucks, school buses and large pickups will need to cut Fuel consumption and Emissions by 10 to 20 percent under first-ever Fuel Efficiency rules for trucks announced Monday by the Obama Administration. For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department released proposed Fuel economy requirements and reductions in tailpipe Emissions for medium- and...

DOT, EPA Propose Nation's First-Ever Emissions, Fuel-Efficiency Standards for Trucks and Buses
Posted by Secretary Ray LaHood on October 25, 2010 at 02:22 PM EDT Today, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and I proposed the first national standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency for medium and heavy-duty trucks, vans, and buses. This is a historic first step to address categories of vehicles previously excluded from America's corporate average Fuel economy guidelines. Currently, the vehicles we propose covering account for 20% of the transportation sector's...

More miles per gallon a goal of first-ever efficiency rules for medium- and heavy-duty trucks
Washington — Future tractor-trailers, school buses, delivery vans, garbage trucks and heavy-duty pickup trucks must do better at the pump under first-ever Fuel Efficiency rules coming from the Obama Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are moving ahead with a proposal for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, beginning with those sold in the 2014 model year and into the 2018 model year. The plan is expected to seek about a 20 percent reduction in...

Big Methane Biogas Blowout Planned for U.S. Farmers
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture are teaming up to help farmers invest in Methane biogas recovery , to the tune of $3.9 million over the next five years. The new funds represent a big push for a rapidly growing trend that enables farmers to reclaim a Renewable Energy resource, cut their utility costs, and take a big chunk out of their Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The new partnership aims to expand the existing AgStar program for reducing Methane...

Obama aims to toughen big-vehicle mileage rules
Washington — Future tractor-trailers, school buses, delivery vans, garbage trucks, and heavy-duty pickup trucks would have to use less Energy under Fuel-efficiency rules proposed by the Obama Administration — the first ever for such Vehicles. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are moving ahead with a proposal for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, beginning with those sold in the 2014 model year and into the 2018 model year. The plan is expected to...

Mediterranean nations agree to combat climate change
VOUGIAGMENI, Greece — Some 15 Mediterranean countries, including Israel and the Palestinian Authority, agreed Friday to work together to combat the effects of Climate Change that threaten the region. The countries signed a declaration at a Climate Change conference near Athens in Greece which called for "contributing to the emergence of low carbon, resource efficient and Climate resilient economies." "Climate Change threatens our way of life as people of the Mediterranean," said Greek...

Obama aims for tougher fuel economy rules for big vehicles
The Obama Administration has announced plans to develop more strict rules regarding the fuel economy of big vehicles such as school buses, garbage trucks, and delivery vans. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are moving forward with a fuel economy concept for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The first models to be subject to the new rules will be those produced in 2014. Proponents of the Regulation hope for 20 percent less Greenhouse Gas Emissions and fuel...

Brady: The Anti-Green Nominee
this past year, thinks the Legislation will create 5,000 green Energy jobs and will position Illinois as a regional leader in solar production.) Brady could also scuttle a series of reforms to increase Energy Efficiency or even move to pull the state out of the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord Advisory Group , a promising consortium of six states and one Canadian province looking