"Air quality can play a significant role in the well being of people living in cities. New research suggests that planting vegetation on rooftops to make 'green roofs' could substantially reduce the impact of urban air pollution, thus enhancing city life. People in cities are exposed to high levels of pollutants, which adversely affect human health. For example, ground-level ozone is a major constituent of smog, which can develop during hot summers. Vulnerable people, including children, the elderly and those with heart and respiratory conditions are especially at risk and long-term or chronic exposure to air pollution for people with asthma is of particular concern.

   "Sheila Watt-Cloutier , who lives in a remote community up above the Arctic circle, is thrilled to have her name put forward as one of the 181 nominees for this year's accolade from the Nobel Prize committee, because it can only advance the cause for which she has been fighting for the past 12 years - protecting the Inuit peoples whose lives are directly and most immediately threatened by the change in the world's climate and raising awareness about global warming. As she said recently: "It's been a long haul and a daunting task to get the message out. When you're 155,000 people at the top of the world, there aren't very many people who even know who you are or what you're facing."     It is far too soon to say who will emerge as this year's Nobel Prize winner - the nominations were announced yesterday, and the peace prize is not awarded until October - but already the environment has emerged as this year's big theme and Ms Watt-Cloutier, as the tribune of a remote people living with the stark realities of global warming on a daily basis, is perhaps the closest thing the planet has to a beacon of hope for a better future.

"We have today put real numbers on America's renewable energy future that we have for years felt in our gut. This is a huge tipping point that will guide the public policy support required for renewable energy to help lower CO2 emissions and reduce our nation's dependence on foreign fossil fuels." according to Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) which hosted the recent 5th annual national policy conference "Renewable Energy in America: Phase II Market Forecasts and Policy Requirements".

Renewable sources currently provide about 6 percent of all the energy used in the United States. Renewable resources could produce 25 percent of the electricity and motor vehicle fuels used in the United States by 2025 at little or no additional cost if fossil fuel prices remain high enough and the cost of producing renewable energy continues falling in accord with historical trends, according to a RAND Corporation study issued mid-November, 2006.

"The high price of petroleum, government incentives to reduce dependence on imported oil, and growing efforts to address climate change have created a perfect storm for bio-based products, driving demand for alternative feedstocks for biofuels and chemicals and cleaner biotech-based production processes. Industrial biotechnology has enhanced the efficiency of biofuel production and made possible production of a range of polymers and chemicals from agricultural starting materials. The next challenge facing the biorefinery industry is producing, harvesting and delivering abundant feedstocks in an economically and environmentally sustainable fashion." according to Brent Erickson, executive vice president of Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Industrial & Environmental Section.

The European Commission has just published new state aid rules, backed by a communication on tax incentives to stimulate bioenergy R & D.  The new rules recognize EuropaBio’s Young Innovative Companies (YIC) status as an eligibility criterion for state aid. This will enable Member states to provide extra public funds like tax and other financial incentives to their young innovative biotechnology companies without running into trouble with EU competition rules.

Three ethanol plants, a biodiesel facility, three wind-powered electrical farms, a methane-powered generator and a research and development site for fuel alternatives are being planned in Rock River Valley, northern Illinois, as investors, government officials and business leaders talk about new ways to make power for the region.

Annual federal spending in the United States for all energy research and development, not just the research aimed at climate-friendly technologies, is less than half what it was a quarter-century ago. It has sunk to $3 billion a year in the current budget from an inflation-adjusted peak of $7.7 billion in 1979, according to several different studies.

"The Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Biomass Program, run by the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy includes major programs for developing and improving technology for biomass power; including biofuels such as ethanol (from biomass residues as well as grain) and renewable diesel; and for making plastics and chemicals from renewable, biobased materials.

"The Higher Education Committee (HEC), a coalition of college and university presidents and academic leaders organized by The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), is calling on American institutions of higher learning to commit to renewable energy by greening their campuses, investing in the industry and teaching future generations about renewable energy.

"Australia's climate is now permanently hotter and drier, and the country faces major temperature rises and significantly less rainfall by 2070, scientists said on Monday. The projections, described by one official as a "frightening picture", were published as Australia grapples with its worst drought in 100 years and follows Prime Minister John Howard's recent conversion to the view that global warming is real.

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm says a package of legislation will create incentives for consumers who buy alternative fuel vehicles and service stations that make ethanol and biodiesel available to their customers. “The state that put the world on wheels will be the state that makes those wheels independent of foreign oil."

"Biodiesel has captured the interest of Washington State citizens. For policy makers, biodiesel provides air quality benefits, including reductions in greenhouse gas and particulate emissions.

Renewable electricity standards and funding are anticipated to reduce the level of carbon dioxide by 76.3 million metric tons by 2017. This is the equivalent to taking 11.4 million cars off the road or planting 18.3 million acres of trees (an area approximately the size of West Virginia).

"In the past year, world temperatures reached record highs, oil prices climbed to new peaks, and the market for clean energy technologies grew dramatically. These trends illustrate both the imperative to move beyond outdated patterns of energy use and the enormous opportunities awaiting enlightened innovators with the courage to pursue new approaches.

 The House Approved $1 Million to Study Coastal Population Centers Most At Risk (June, 2006). The amendment offered by Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)  provides the funds for a comprehensive study to determine which U.S. coastal population centers are most at risk from the consequences of sea level rise due to global warming.

"Biofuel production has doubled since 2001 and is poised for even stronger growth as the industry responds to higher fuel prices and supportive government policies.

SUPERIOR,WI - "Governor Jim Doyle today toured Elkhorn Industries in Superior, a company that could benefit from his $450 million public/private investment strategy in renewable energy. The Governor’s proposal, including nearly $80 million from the state, will be included in his budget next year as part of a broad effort to make Wisconsin the nation’s leader in energy independence and create 17,000 jobs.

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is the grassroots voice of the U.S. ethanol industry. ACE is a national, non-profit organization of more than 1200 members in 45 states, including ethanol producers, farmers, investors, commodity organizations, businesses supplying goods and services to the industry, rural electric cooperatives, and others supportive of the increased production and use of ethanol across America.

"If ethanol is such a good motor fuel, then America ought to import it as well as make it. Or, at least that's the argument of people who contend Congress should eliminate the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported fuel ethanol. The impact on US bioenergy companies may not be as dramatic as one might think.  By Philip Brasher, Des Moines Register 10-10-06  Read entire article here.

From Grist.org  Sept. 21, 2006  By Bill McKibben "After almost two decades of inaction, at long last America seems ready to start considering some kind of action to address global warming. With states setting conflicting standards, with the scientists announcing weekly updates on the speed and size of the approaching cataclysm, with shareholder activism starting to push business, and with green stirrings even from the evangelical wing of American Christianity, the time when the fossil-fuel lobby could get away with total obstruction may be passing.

 

Australian businesses market greenhouse neutral products or services, deliver greenhouse gas abatement and give Australian consumers greater purchasing choice through the GreenHouse Friendly project.