San Francisco has always been one of those cities that seems to be on the cutting edge of just about everything. So it is no surprise that San Francisco has become the first city in the USA to require all new buildings be required to have solar panels. Let’s see if this catches on. Read more about it here.
Happy Earth Day! This is a significant day every year but today in 2016 – 160 world leaders will join together at the United Nations to officially sign the Paris Climate Agreement. What is your carbon footprint? Take one of these quizes and find out! Carbon Fund or Carbon Footprint. You may be surprised to see what it actually is. Then after you get finished gagging on what you found get out there and change it today! Make sure you are doing the three “Rs” – Reuse, Recycle, Renew every where in your life! Join a community solar group, get solar for your home and/or business, divest (retirement funds, stocks…) from fossil fuel companies, talk to your town boards about doing the same….
The Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, first introduced by Senators Murkowski and Maria Cantwell in 2012, may be finally getting passed. The last energy act passed by Congress was back in 2007. We are long over due for change. However, we still have to wait and see until it is finally passed to see what is really going to happen. The NRDC and 9 other major environmental organizations have expressed concern over the act as it now stands in a letter dated yesterday. This is a bi-partisan bill in an arena where playing nicely together generally does not occur. At this time Congress is debating the many amendments which fall on all sides of the issue. See a brief summary from today’s Utility Dive.
This is certainly one of the dirtiest and generally nasty things talked about in the energy field today. The coal industry in the US is on it’s way out. This is a fact. And it is a fact that there are communities of people suffering because of that. A coal tax could be a answer to get the coal industry on the move. A move toward development of renewable energy and if instituted the socially responsible way could help this communities back on their feet. Read an article about this in USN.
This is a momentous announcement: that world wide renewable energy accounted for the majority of new development in 2015. And that’s in the world! Clearly renewables have come into their own. We are on the right path. Read about it a report from the United Nations.
Ron Kamen, CEO of EarthKind Energy, is the featured speaker for the renown annual Herzog Lecture at Oakwood Friends School on Friday, April 29. Mr. Kamen is an expert in clean energy and was pivotal in the development of Oakwood’s new solar electric system this year. “People, Technology and the Forces of Nature” will be presented at 10:30 am in the Oakwood theater, 22 Spackenkill Road in Poughkeepsie, NY . See article here
Tesler’s newest model has awakened a huge interest and desire for electric cars.
The Union of Concerned Scientists have published a report this week about the state of electric vehicles in California. Over 200,000 electric cars have been sold in the state at the time of the report. The Union estimates the reduction of over 56 million gallons of gas use by these new cars. That is a very significant amount of CO2 that is not ending up in the atmosphere. Read the NY Times Article Here!
My work involves water only as far as hydro tech goes. However, water is one of the most important issues facing the world today. All life needs it to exist on this planet. Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) (of which Ron Kamen of EarthKind Energy is a proud member) is dialoging about the issue beginning with a special event in LA on April 14.
