You step up to the register, the cashier asks if you've found everything ok and then the inevitable question is asked: "Will it be paper or plastic?" What decision did you make? Was it an informed choice? Was it the best ecological choice? Well, to answer that, we need to start at the beginning and review each option and its impact on the environment.

July 30, 2007

New York's Marriot Marquis has seen the light. It has upgraded the lighting infrastructure inside its nearly 2,000 room, 50 story hotel to cut energy consumption by 790,000 kilowatt-hours per year.

Commercial and industrial sites are often some of the most voracious users of energy. Because a lot of industrial facilities are old, for example, they may be using antiquated equipment that is not energy efficient. Many companies are realizing that they can save big bucks if they implement some sensible conservation features and apply new operating procedures. Business can't control the price of energy. But they can manage how much power they use. Going green is, indeed, paying off.

July 18. 2007

Ground level ozone standards may get tougher. If the experts have their way, they will. But industry says that those pollution levels are dropping and advises to stay the course.

The Environmental Protection Agency is under court order to review and possibly revise its national ozone air pollution standard that is now set at 80 parts per billion over eight hours. It appears that the regulatory agency will take the middle ground and choose to set the new "smog" standard at around 70-75 parts per billion over eight hours. That's still less stringent the 60 parts per billion that EPA's own experts suggested.

The Alliance to Save Energy was pleased to be invited to author a chapter for the soon to be published Presidential Climate Action Plan (PCAP)  report. The report is a series of recommendations to the next President of the United States including guidelines detailing how to address climate change, energy stability and national security. Led by the University of Colorado, PCAP includes input and contributions from leading representatives from academia, the sciences, business, and environmental and advocacy groups. The Alliance chapter discusses federal energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Strategies for Guiding the State in a Carbon-Constrained World The Michigan at a Climate Crossroads: Strategies for Guiding the State in a Carbon- Constrained World Project (MCCP) team developed state-level greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction policies for the State of Michigan to consider as it faces an emerging carbon-constrained world. The MCCP builds upon the results of the Michigan Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 and 2002, conducted by the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan. Approximately 180 regional stakeholders representing the industrial, commercial, higher education, government, and non-profit sectors provided the MCCP team with input and feedback throughout the duration of the project. The MCCP team used the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) State Inventory Tool, the Energy 2020 model, and the Regional Economic Modeling, Inc. (REMI) Policy Insight Tool to calculate potential GHG emission reductions and economic impacts of state-level policies.