Being Green is a good thing to aspire to.
As reported yesterday in the Energy Daily:
NUSA DUA, Indonesia -- The United States will oppose preamble language in a draft "roadmap" document for negotiating a new international climate change agreement that implies that mandatory emissions reductions for developed countries in the range of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 must be included in the agenda for the future talks, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
As a Board Member of our Political Action Committee (PAC), we recently had our new Chief Nuclear Officer address our members. Based on his insights, I have to say that I support the reluctance of our government to commit to mandatory emissions reductions.
In order to achieve carbon dioxide levels (CO2) levels below those of 1990 will require a mix of all available technologies. None of the technologies currently available, by itself, will achieve this aggressive but potentially feasible goal. The currently available technologies are: Energy Efficiency, Renewables, New Nuclear Generation, Advanced Coal Generation, Carbon Capture Sequester, Alternative Fuels Vehicles, and Electrical Vehicles. It will take a "village" to ensure that this energy mix comes to fruition. Not only that, it will also require some bold congressional initiatives to ensure that tax credits, rights of way, and loan guarantees are established. At the state level, public commission rate cases, collegiate programs, and individual voters will provide direction as to where we proceed on this important issue.
So, a natural question would be, besides voting, what can I do as an individual contributor? I can provide two immediate responses, one based on the current holiday environment, and one based on a recent TIME article.
First, the holiday environment. As a long time member of the Nature Conservancy, I pondered, real Christmas tree, or artificial Christmas tree (I went Artificial nine years ago). Recent research I performed indicates that these two options are neck-to-neck, provided you compost (or plant) your real Christmas tree, your real Christmas tree is locally grown with an organic farmer, and if you select artificial - you keep your tree at least 10 years.
Second, the TIME article (12/17/07 Issue), Let There Be Light. A single incandescent 60W light bulb, which costs less than $1, lasts about 1,000 hours, and costs about $263 over five years to illuminate. Compared to a compact fluorescent 15W light bulb (which provides as many lumens as an incandescent 60W bulb), which costs about $2, lasts about 10,000 hours, and costs about $66 over five years to illuminate. If you have not started using compact fluorescent bulbs, start now.
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