Developing a Framework for Zero Carbon Buildings

Net zero carbon buildings are green and healthy buildings. They use energy ultra-efficiently and are supplied by renewables. They are comfortable homes where money isn’t wasted on energy bills, productive workplaces insulated from extreme temperatures, and healthy schools free from dirty air.  Action is needed today, because most buildings will be standing for generations to come. Missing this opportunity locks …

Faster, deeper, fairer emissions cuts

The CCC was not asked to identify how the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions could be cut as fast and as deep as possible. If they were, they may not have relied so much on the extraction and use of natural gas in electricity and hydrogen production, they would have been tougher on aviation, and they would have required a faster …

How Will Life Change If We Transition Away From Fossil Fuels?

May 16th, 2019 by Barry A.F.  in Clean Technica As part of the trashing of the Green New Deal, the political right wing has claimed the deal will essentially ruin life as we know it, ban air travel, and even lead to cannibalism (no joke). Let’s take a look at reality. Today, if you want to go somewhere, you usually travel by vehicle. If …

Indigenous land rights key to forest protection, which is key to limiting heating to 1.5 C

Excerpt from Climate Progress, May 2019 A new book published by Springer Nature presents a pathway to meet the internationally recognized goal of limiting planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As part of the study, scientists studied scenarios that avoided deforestation and the role that restoration of intact ecosystems would need to play. “What we have done is the first global study quantifying the …

Exxon predicted in 1982 exactly how high global carbon emissions would be today. Seas were 75 ft higher last time CO2 levels were this high

World continues to follow high emissions growth pathway that Exxon projected in 1982 SUN SETS ON THE BAO STEEL MILL IN BAOTOU, INNER MONGOLIA, CHINA. BAOTOU, A ONE-INDUSTRY TOWN, IS ALSO NOTORIOUS AS A BIG POLLUTER, MOSTLY FROM THE LARGE BAO STEEL FACTORY. (PHOTO CREDIT: RYAN PYLE/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES) KYLA MANDEL, Climate Progress, MAY 14, 2019, Exxon predicted in 1982 exactly …

Every dollar spent on energy transition would pay off up to seven times: Global economy would save up to $160 trillion by shifting to renewables, electric cars

Imagine a world where 85% of all electricity comes from renewable sources, there are over one billion electric vehicles on the road, and we are on track to preserve a livable climate for our children and future generations. We already know that every dollar spent on energy transition would pay off up to seven times: Global economy would save up to …

Half a Degree and a World Apart: The Difference in Climate Impacts Between 1.5˚C and 2˚C of Warming

By Kelly Levin – October 07, 2018, WRI          The IPCC finds that limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C will bring less severe impacts than if the world warms by 2°C. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William Ramsey/U.S. Navy A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that half a degree of warming matters—a lot. As part of the …

Why requirements for new vehicle registrations to be EV need to start soon: Even if every U.S. vehicle sold were electric starting today, it would take until 2040 for 90 percent of vehicles in use to be electric. 

The roughly 250 million cars, SUVs and pickup trucks on U.S. roads today account for 60 percent of transportation emissions. The 11.5 million big trucks that move freight around generate 23 percent and aircraft are responsible for 9 percent of those greenhouse gas emissions. One reason why it will be hard if not impossible to convert all U.S. transportation to electric models within …