New York University released its Climate Action Plan (CAP) today, which outlines the first steps toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2040.
The plan was developed after the university took a greenhouse gas inventory, and it outlines the projects and methods it will use to reduce or offsets its emissions.
NYU officials credited both Mayor Bloomberg’s PlanNYC Climate Challenge and the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) for initiating and helping shape its actions. The school is a signor of the ACUPCC .
Calling themselves “Clean Energy Patriots,” dozens of environmental leaders today asked the U.S. Senate to quit serving the interests of “Big Oil” and take action on behalf of Americans who want clean energy and climate solutions.
The leaders from nearly 50 environmental and social responsibility groups signed a declaration at the U.S. Capitol. It demands that the Senate quit stalling on climate action, and kicks off a 40-day countdown until Earth Day, which celebrates its 40th anniversary on April 22.
Clean energy and Fortune 500 executives arrived in Washington D.C. today for the fifth and final leg of the “Race for American Jobs: Clean Energy Leadership,” a coast-to-coast virtual race to drive home the economic and job-creation benefits of national climate and energy legislation.
Sponsored by We Can Lead, a coalition of business leaders from 30 states who are pushing for new energy and climate policies in the United States, the the four-week campaign included events in Oregon, Colorado, Ohio and New Hampshire, before moving to Washington.
A “race” baton, calling for swift passage of comprehensive climate legislation, was delivered at Congressional today on Capitol Hill. The baton was signed by executives from Best Buy, Nike, Starbucks, Levi Strauss, Jones Lang LaSalle and Stonyfield, and others from clean energy companies, union leadership, and investor and youth groups.
You’ve got to feel for the dirty fuel lobbyist, adrift in a world where suddenly oil and coal energy has competition, where emerging clean tech companies are peddling cheap energy solutions like wind and solar power (cheap because they’re renewable and non-polluting) and environmentalists keep jabbering about how carbon in the atmosphere is ruining the planet. Sheesh!
Such a lobbyist needs respite from the tilting political landscape, someone with whom to cuddle up, share their story, bestow with lots of money — like a U.S. Senator or Representative!
Some of the nation’s best-known and critically acclaimed celebrities, Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Jason Bateman, Felicity Huffman and Forest Whitaker, along with rising stars Chace Crawford, Emmy Rossum and Justin Long, are leading a campaign to help citizens sound the call for clean energy in Washington.
Dr. James Hansen, the NASA scientist known for sounding an early alarm about climate change, will join student protesters at a “sleep out” in Boston this weekend.
The students, from Boston-area and other Massachusetts colleges, have been sleeping out on Boston Common and at various campuses to push the state to pass a law committing to clean energy. Their target goal: Have Massachusetts pledge to be using 100 percent clean energy by 2020.
It could be colder in Boston this time of year. With overnight lows in the upper 40s, it’s not the worst or best condition for sleeping outside.
Still, that’s what dozens of college students and environmental activists across the state have decided to do to make a point about clean energy and press Gov. Deval Patrick to promote a bill that would power Massachusetts with 100 percent clean energy by 2020.
The students, organized through the student-led Leadership Campaign began their “sleep out” protest this past weekend with about 70 students and community members sleeping out in Boston Common
Not convinced that climate change matters? The Union of Concerned Scientists has concluded that if Americans adopt that stance, they’ll be gambling not just with their lungs, but with their pocketbooks.
It found that rising sea levels, intense hurricanes, flooding, impaired public health and strained energy and water resources would all add up to one monumental price tag.
We’ve been told that the switch to green energy will cost us a lot or a little, depending on who’s putting out the information.
Now, the Natural Resources Defense Council is telling us that switching to clean energy, as supported in the pending American Clean Energy and Security Act in Congress, would save us money on our electricity bills — at least by 2020.
The friendly skies are getting cleaner thanks to efforts made by Continental Airlines in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell’s UOP. In early January of this year, Continental Airlines conducted the first biofuel demonstration flight by a commercial carrier in North American. Wednesday, Continental Airlines announced their analysis of this flight in a statement.
The 90-minute test flight, taking off from, and then returning to, Houston, successfully completed many necessary flight operations. Engine 1 operated on 100% jet fuel, while Engine 2 of the Boeing 737-800 operated on a blend of 50% jet fuel and 50% biofuel. The biofuel was made from a combination of algae and jatropha plants, which do not impact food harvests, water resources or contribute to deforestation.
Solazyme Inc., a Bay Area algal fuel company, has won the San Francisco Business Times’ Bay Area Green Business Award for Renewable Energy Fuels.
The awards, presented June 11, recognize the Bay Area’s clean technology companies. A panel of area experts judged more than 200 nominations in 14 categories. Judging took three months.
“The San Francisco Bay Area is the heart of Green Technology innovation, we are proud to be selected for this honor, recognizing the work we’ve done in bringing renewable oil production and algal fuel to commercialization,” said Jonathan Wolfson, chief executive officer of Solazyme, in a statement. “This award further demonstrates the importance of our technology and research and recognizes our position in the industry during this critical time for our environment and for energy security.”
There’s a new wind whirly-gig on the block. You may not recognize him. Unlike those tall towers with outstretched airplane-style propellers, this new guy has a compact stance, a whole new look. Arms tucked in, he whirs more slowly and congregates with just a few others to power a building at time.
This wind power generator, called a vertical axis wind turbine, can be puzzling. Looking at one, it’s difficult to fathom how it works, though it simply uses a different aerodynamic concept than its propeller cousins, catching up winds that come from different directions bouncing along closer to the ground. The idea has actually been around for at least 2,000 years “but it’s just never been made to work very well,” says Michael Hess, CEO of Mariah Power.
The plan was developed after the university took a greenhouse gas inventory, and it outlines the projects and methods it will use to reduce or offsets its emissions.
