Re/Action on Climate Protection

Playing Climate Change Roulette with CAFE

Buying a fuel efficient car is one of the first steps to take in reducing your personal GHG footprint. However, you will probably find that the mileage you actually get may be up to 50% less than the EPA sticker. An article in the Oct. '05 Consumer Reports contains important information about the EPA fuel efficiency ratings of new cars. Estimates of the national fleet fuel economy that are used by Congress and the NHTSA are much higher than actual because of the inaccuracy of the EPA mileage sticker. But it gets worse...

Question - What do you think?

For the readers of this blog (yes you!) What do you think so far? Any suggestions? Personally, I would like to see more comment. Any ideas how we could use this blog better to stimulate discussion/debate/new approaches to climate change? I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment on what could be done to make the blog better.

Thanks,
Dave Erickson

Carbon trading and the US

The United States has famously withdrawn from further consideration of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. Therefore, the US is a "non-Party", and can't participate in the Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation or Emissions Trading using CERs, ERUs, RMUs and AAUs. None of the fungible emissions credits can be originated from US investments, or emissions reduction activities occurring in the US. So can US firms or individuals still participate in the carbon markets? Or are we SOL?

Kyoto - What is it? Part II

The Kyoto Protocol set up three separate categories for emissions reduction mechanisms. These mechanisms involve interactions between "Annex I & II Parties" and "non-Annex I Parties". For this discussion, "Annex I" and "Annex II" countries are the "developed nations" or nations with economies in transition (EIT) and the "non-Annex I Parties" are the so-called LDC's or Less Developed Countries. There are criteria for defining which group a country falls into that won't be discussed here. The United States is an Annex I and Annex II country, and has ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is a Kyoto Protocol Annex B country, but has not ratified Kyoto. Therefore, the US is not a "party" (to the Kyoto Protocol). The US does have committments under the UNFCCC which will be discussed in another post.

The three mechanisms for reducing GHG emissions defined in the Kyoto Protocol, and refined in the Marrakesh Accords are: 1) the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); 2) Joint Implementation (JI); 3) Emissions trading. All of these mechanisms involve the creation and transfer of certified emissions reduction (CER) which is an actual, measured reduction of one tonne of CO2.

Carbon Trading - What is it? Part 1

What is the Kyoto Protocol? What is the Chicago Climate Exchange? What is carbon trading?

Any organization that is involved in energy efficiency, renewable energy or fuels or GHG reduction efforts should understand carbon trading and carbon markets such as those created by Kyoto and the Chicago Climate Exchange. All businesses involved in activities that can potentially generate carbon credits should have the knowledge to be able to turn this activity into a revenue stream.

This is the first in a series of posts about the Kyoto Protocol, the Chicago Climate Exchange and carbon trading vehicles such as the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC or Green Tag).

CPC's Energy Tracking System

In Sonoma County, Climate Protection Campaign has been working with the nine municipal governments, the county government, and the water agency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to their operations. As cities develop and implement their climate action plans, they need to be able to monitor their emissions to see how they are doing on achieving their emission reduction target. Climate Protection campaign has built an Energy Tracking System (ETS) to give the city government officials up-to-date information on emissions from city operations. The ETS consists of three elements:

CA Energy Commisions - Conference on Climate Change

http://www.climatechange.ca.gov/events/2005_conference/index.html
Good information about what is happening at the state level

Against the backdrop of the borderless battle against global warming, the California Energy Commission and the California Environmental Protection Agency will hold the Second Annual Conference on Climate Change Research.

Sir David King, the chief science adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will deliver the keynote speech at this year's gathering (on Thursday). Through Sir David, the United Kingdom will forge a united front with California and its two closest Western neighbors - in hopes of complementing worldwide strategies to soften the economic and environmental blows inflicted worldwide by the climactic phenomenon.

Young Activist Takes a Stand

...In May 2005, the Climate Protection Campaign convened a workshop to agree upon a greenhouse gas reduction target for Sonoma County, where 32 community members came to consensus that Sonoma County should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2015, the boldest emission reduction target set by any community in the United States to date. The recommended target has now been adopted by all nine of Sonoma’s city governments, and the Board of Supervisors will vote on the target on September 27th, 2005.

Eight youth under 18 participated in the workshop, alongside city councilmembers, civic leaders, and business members. Below is the experience of Katie Arnold, the youth representative for Cotati...

Apollo Alliance

The Apollo Alliance is promoting an energy policy that emphasizes efficiency and renewable energy. It stands in stark contrast to the current energy bill just passed by Congress. The vision of the AA policy is American energy independence, but their policy is a model for how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a national level. www.apolloalliance.org

Katrina Photos - NOT!

We received some photos that were supposedly of Katrina. It was a hoax. Thank you Tonya.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/storm.asp

Sheepishly,

Dave at Climate Protection Campaign