Find Out What Your City Is Doing To Curb Global Warming

Today is day 14 into the new year and I have been discussing what some states and countries have been doing to curb global warming. I have also discussed how the City of New Orleans missed the mark when Stan "Pampy" Barre was allowed to steal from an energy savings contract under former Mayor Marc Morial's administration. The city really blew it with that one. I also urged all of my readers to find out what there city was doing to curb global warming.

It is time that you should ask that question because New Orleans is suffering right now and it may take years for the City to recover from Stan "Pampy" Barre's actions.

IBM Helps Retailers "Go Green"

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled technologies and services that are uniquely able to improve energy and operational efficiency across a retailer's entire IT operation. The IBM "Green Retail Store" portfolio includes high-performance point-of-sale systems, industry-leading IBM blade servers, and system management software that allow retailers to deploy end-to-end solutions from the front of the store to the back office that benefit the environment.

"Retailers are looking for ways to differentiate and build customer loyalty in a fiercely competitive environment, and consumers are increasingly showing preference for retailers who are environmentally responsible," said Steve Ladwig, General Manager, IBM Retail Store Solutions. "IBM technologies and services not only help retailers appeal to consumer requirements, but also help protect the environment and save money by making their operations more efficient."

We All Can Do Our Part

Wal-mart now has bags in its' stores that you can purchase and use instead of the old plastic baggies. My sister, Charmaine, came up with her own novel idea of going green in order to help save the environment. She made cloth grocery and shopping bags for friends, family and neighbors this holiday season.

Everyone loves those bags since they are washable and you can take them with you whenever you go shopping. I love to use mines and I have totally left plastic grocery and shopping bags alone.

Weatherize Your Home To Conserve Energy

Tired of high energy bills?

Now's the time to do something about your leaky house.

Oncor Electric Delivery is expanding its energy-efficiency efforts and plans to spend more than $300 million over the next five years to help North Texas homeowners plug leaky doorways, insulate attics and change out light bulbs.

At the same time, the Dallas-based utility will help businesses shore up their conservation measures, targeting big users such as data centers.

NIPSCO Offering Energy Incentives

Before you buy your next water heater or furnace, taking the time to find one that's energy efficient could mean more money in your wallet.

The Northern Indiana Public Service Co. has introduced a new energy efficiency initiative for all NIPSCO natural gas customers that rewards them for buying with the environment in mind.

The program, called EnergyHarvestSM, offers cash rebates to encourage customers to purchase certain energy efficient appliances, including water heaters, Energy Star furnaces and programmable thermostats.

Nexsan Introduces First High Density Energy Efficient Storage

Nexsan, a leading provider of energy efficient disk-based storage systems designed for the long-term storage of information, today announced the SATABeast Xi, the first high density, energy efficient storage solution built and optimized for the Apple Xserve and Mac Pro markets.

The SATABeast Xi is the highest density storage solution available today, providing up to 42TB of storage in only 4U of rack space, and the only one of its caliber in the Xserve market featuring AutoMAID (Massive Array of Idle Disks). AutoMAID allows SATABeast Xi to place its disk drives in an idle state to conserve energy yet provide near-instantaneous access to data.

Hewlett Packard to Reduce PC Energy Usuage

Do you want to cut your energy bill while still browsing the web? Then Hewlett Packard may have the product for you.

Today at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Hewlett Packard has committed to reduce the energy consumption of its volume desktop and notebook PC families by 25 percent by 2010. As a result, HP also now leads the industry in the number of Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT(TM)) Gold listed products with the introduction of more than two dozen PCs registered in North America at either the Gold or Silver rating levels.

HP has long focused on developing products designed with the environment in mind, and it was the first PC manufacturer to register an EPEAT Gold product with the HP Compaq rp5700 Long Lifecycle Business Desktop PC in 2007.

UK Companies Seeks To Improve Energy Efficiency Technologies

The Technology Strategy Board has launched a funding competition that it believes will stimulate UK companies to address the challenge of improving the efficiency of lighting while at the same time reducing energy consumption. The Technology Strategy Board believes that this investment will help to accelerate the development of new technologies, bringing them quickly into use in the UK and around the world.

Explaining the background to the decision to invest in this area, Technology Strategy Board Chief Executive Iain Gray said: "Lighting accounts for up to 20% of the UK's power. As we move towards a lower carbon economy, and recognise the need for more efficient energy use, developing advanced light sources becomes increasingly important."

Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama's, Plans For The Environment

Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has the best laid out plan concerning preserving our environment: Obama's plan includes:

1. Supporting cap-and-trade programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with 100 percent of permits auctioned; proceeds would go to job training, helping workers and industry adapt to clean technologies.

2. Setting "green job corps" for disadvantaged youths.

3. Investing $150 billion over 10 years in climate-friendly energy supplies, bio-fuels, plug-in hybrids, large-scale renewable energy and "clean coal" technology. Would set aside $50 billion for a clean-technologies venture capital fund.

4. Seeking a reduction in deforestation, a program to capture and store carbon emissions, the doubling of energy research funding and the establishment of a national low-carbon fuel standard. Opposes drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

5. Backing 52 mile per gallon fuel economy standard by 2026. Would offer tax credits and loan guarantees to encourage retooling by domestic automakers. Would set national building efficiency standards and offer grants to states and communities that implement building codes that emphasize energy efficiency.

6. Would propose a global energy forum of the world's top energy consumers.

Residents Get Help With Energy Efficiency

Good news for Lansing residents struggling to pay their utility bills. Urban Options and the city of Lansing are offering free energy visits to help make your home more energy efficient.

The service is meant for those wanting to save money on their utility bills. To apply, you must live in Lansing and can call Heather Mann at 517-337-0422, extension 6 to schedule an appointment.

Citizens Bank Offering Energy Efficiency Loans

Low interest rates, yes, but is it worth it?

Citizens Bank announced today that it is offering a new Energy Efficiency Loan to help low-to-moderate income homeowners make their homes more energy efficient.

The Citizens Bank Energy Efficiency Loan offers select homeowners the ability to qualify for an unsecured loan of $1,000 to $3,000 at a rate of 1% APR for as long as 36 months. A 3% APR is available for loans of $3,001 up to $10,000, for up to 84 months.

Trying to go green this way may lead one to the poor house.

California Sues Government Over Curb Emissions

Should states have the power to regulate?

California and 15 other states sued the Bush administration Wednesday, seeking to overturn a federal decision last month rejecting the state's bid to curb greenhouse gases from cars and trucks.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, marks a new round in an epic five-year struggle between California and the federal government over whether states have the power to regulate carbon dioxide and other pollutants that cause global warming.

Some may argue that giving the states such power may create an atmosphere where regulation is not strictly adhered to. What is your opinion on the matter?

Has Global Warming Been Proven?

There are still global warming skeptics:

Jonathan Chait of the New Republic magazine points out that a recent National Journal poll found that 84 percent of House and Senate Republicans surveyed didn't believe that it has been ``proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is warming because of man-made problems.''

That rather stunning poll result causes one to ask whether these skeptics have even made themselves aware of the Fourth Assessment of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In that report, the panel's 2,000-plus scientists concluded that there was more than a 90 percent chance that human activity was the main cause of global warming over the last half- century.

What do you think?

Cities and Energy Consumption

Humans can now officially be called an urban species. More than half of the global population now live in cities and the United Nations says that by 2030, 60 percent of us will live in them.

Yet according to U.N. Habitat, the world's cities emit almost 80 percent of global carbon dioxide as well as "significant amounts of other greenhouse gases."

Put simply, if you want to tackle climate change, tackle the cities. |Read more|