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Today, Japan is contributing to our potential for a further reduction in emissions – Martin Bursik, Czech Environment Minister
Solar Heating: Now Subsidized
To fulfill its target to buy 100 million metric tons of Carbon Emission Rights, Japan has bought 40 million metric tons of these rights from the Czech Republic at a cost of $500m. The Eastern European country sold the ‘redundant’ rights it had earned by reducing its carbon emissions by a decent 24% (from 1990), significantly above its pledge (Kyoto) of 8%.
To put the reduction in perspective, Germany reduced its emissions in the same period by approximately 22% but will unlikely engage in a similar trade as its Kyoto pledge was a significantly higher 21%.
The Ministry of Environment, led by Green Party leader Martin Bursik, will use the substantial financial inflow to subsidize Czech households’ building or installing environmentally friendly heating or insulation systems.
The move will not only reduce the country’s energy use and carbon emissions but, perhaps more importantly for the regular Czech household, significantly reduce their heating bill during the current downturn.
A recent spate of polls indicate that American popular opinion is trending in the direction of strong majority support for greenhouse gas regulation, even if such regulation results in higher energy prices.
Yesterday's ABC/WaPo poll, which revealed a number of trends to brighten any progressive's day, found the following about climate change regulation (via Climate Progress):
While majorities across the board support government regulation of greenhouse gases, it peaks among liberals (88%) and under 30s (80%), vs. 61% of conservatives and 64% of seniors. Support also ranges from 85% of Democrats, 65% “strongly,” to 64% of Republicans, 39% strongly. Concern about its cost is broader, and stronger, among those who’d presumably be hit hardest — lower-income adults.
If Congress were to pass measures ensuring that lower-income families don't bear a disproportionate burden with any new regulations, surely that concern would disappear.
NY Times has a handy cheat sheet on tax incentives on offer from the IRS, in the form of tax credits for energy-efficient home upgrades.
I love technology. Seriously, the amount of resources an average home can save through a little care and cleverness is impressive. Here's a new bit of cleverness:
"
You've probably heard the saying "like pouring money down the drain." Well, the innovators at EcoDrain say that's exactly what you are doing every time you take a shower -- unless you have installed their high-performance water heat exchanger, that is.
The EcoDrain device (the little gray rectangle in the illustration) circulates heat from your "used" hot water, and transfers it to the incoming cold water. Here's how it works: when you turn on the shower, hot water comes from your storage tank and cold water comes from the municipal supply. As you shower, the "waste" water is sent through a drainage pipe. EcoDrain is attached to this pipe, and transfers heat from the hot water to the incoming cold water supply. Hot water and cold water rush past each other separately inside the device to prevent mixing. Bottom line: the water will be warmer without you needing to turn up the heat."
Visit Worldchanging for a nifty diagram of the thingamajig.
Urbanites worldwide have a much lower per-capita carbon footprint than their suburban and rural peers, according to a study publishd in the April issue of Environment and Urbanization.
From the International Institute for Environment and Development: "[The] tendency to identify cities as major culprits in causing climate change diverts attention from the main driver of greenhouse gas emissions, namely unsustainable consumption, especially in the world’s more affluent countries.
The paper examines published reports of emissions from cities in Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe. It shows that greenhouse gas emissions for New Yorkers are less than a third of those of the national average for the USA. Those of Barcelona residents are half the average for Spain. Londoners have little more than half the greenhouse gas emissions per person of the UK average. Brazil’s two largest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have less than one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions per person of the average for Brazil.
"Many cities have surprisingly low per capita emissions but what is clear is that most emissions come from the world’s wealthier nations," says [report author David] Dodman. “The real climate-change culprits are not the cities themselves but the high consumption lifestyles of people living across these wealthy countries.""
Come to think of it, aren't everyone's budgets tight these days?
"It wasn't that long ago that "allotment gardening" was almost a synonym for "unfashionable". It was something that people did when they were too old to have anything interesting to do with their summer evenings, before going home to put their slippers on and have a cup of cocoa.
But, spurred on by Jamie, Gordon, Hugh and the rest of the TV cheferati, and combined with concerns about climate change and sustainability, there has been a dramatically increased interest in growing your own. Up and down the country, old allotment hands are pestered for advice, as yummy mummies and other urban trendies rediscover the joys of peas fresh from the pod and just-dug potatoes.
Those who sneered at the allotment brigade are now green-fingered with envy, as waiting lists top 100,000 nationally. In some areas, it's more difficult to get an allotment than it is to get in to the most exclusive London clubs, with waiting lists running to 10 years - those that have not been closed altogether."
While a 100% "green" building is still a rare thing, more and more builders are incorporating energy efficiency into their projects. And now builders of low-income housing are getting in on the act, transforming the formerly elite concepts of green and energy-efficient into practical, universal codes for living. For example, in the Bronx, the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation has just opened the Intervale Green housing development, a 128-unit apartment building for low-income families.
From Time:
"No one would describe Intervale as cutting edge, but it is green where it counts — with more energy efficient appliances, better window insulation and energy efficient fluorescent lights, all of which will enable its low-income residents to save real money on their utility bills. "Residents will be paying 30% less for their utilities than in an ordinary building," says Nancy Biberman founder and president of WHEDCo, during a recent tour of Intervale. "For them, going green is a survivability issue. It's important for the environment, but it's really important for their pocketbooks."
Intervale is one of a number of new and planned green, low-income housing projects around the country — an enterprise for which the federal stimulus package will include increased funding (it will also provide money for improving the energy efficiency of existing homes). In Miami, the nonprofit Carrfour Supportive Housing is building the 145-unit Verde Gardens Apartment building; the project will use green modular wall systems and aim for LEED certification. In Chicago, the Resurrection Homes project offers affordable green housing, and the soon to be completed Victory Centre will include green apartments for low-income seniors. And nationwide, the nonprofit Enterprise Communities Partners has helped create or preserve more than 320 inexpensive green housing developments, from Portland to Jacksonville. The building momentum shows that you don't have to be rich to go green — which is often accused of being an elitist concern. "There's no reason why we shouldn't be building everything green," says Dana Bourland, senior director for Enterprise's Green Communities Program. "If you can do this in affordable housing, there's no excuse not to do it everywhere."
From the Guardian:
"Cavity wall and loft insulation will be available for all suitable homes, with plans to retrofit 400,000 homes a year by 2015. Financial incentives for householders will also be available for low-carbon technologies such as solar panels, biomass boilers and ground source heat pumps, paid for by a levy on utility companies.
The government wants a quarter of homes (7m) to benefit from the schemes by 2020, extending to all UK households by 2030.
The strategy could help cut household carbon emissions by a third by 2020, part of its target to reduce overall UK emissions by 80% by 2050. Currently, homes account for 27% of the UK's carbon emissions through heating and power."
From Green by Design:
"Buildings in increasing numbers, such as Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, California, are turning up with blue jean insulation instead of the traditional fiberglass batts or spray foam.
Arizona-based Bonded Logic has been promoting its UltraTouch natural fiber insulation which is made from 100% recycled and post-industrial denim — a mass-manufactured resource that otherwise would have been consigned to landfills.
Unlike fiberglass, which contains potentially harmful chemical formaldehyde, the cotton-based blue jean insulation is safe enough for children to play with. Hackensack Med Center gave the insulation high points for its ability to filter toxins and carcinogens from the air — elements that can induce asthma attacks and allergies — despite its costing 50% less than standard insulation materials."
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