 The Maldives announced yesterday a plan to go carbon neutral within the next decade. The project will cost $1.1 billion to install renewable energy across the nation's 250 inhabited islands.
Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said that the nation would achieve carbon neutrality through 155 1.5-MW wind turbines, a half-square kilometer solar farm and forgoing fossil fuels. Since much of the nation's economy is based on tourism, greenhouse gases emitted by air travel will have to be offset with EU carbon credits.
The nation is privatizing their electric utility to open up funds for the effort and it will be looking for outside investments as well.
Island nations like The Maldives have been front runners for drastic climate change initiatives because they're likely to suffer great consequences from sea level changes and harsher tropical storms. The Maldives is the lowest country in the world, averaging 1.5 meters above sea level. Also, their smaller populations and remoteness make them great candidates for renewable energy.
In the U.S., Hawaii has been pushing for much greater renewable energy standards compared to other states, planning to get 70 percent of the state's electricity from renewables by 2030.
via Earth2Tech
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 MIT has discovered an industrial fumigant that has 4,800x the potency of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Even more interesting is that this fumigant came into widespread use in the campaign against the depletion of the ozone layer.
In the late 1980s when the Montreal Protocol limited chlorofluorocarbon emissions, methyl bromide, a popular compound used for agricultural pest elimination, was targeted for its ozone depleting properties. Over time, sulfuryl fluoride replaced it as the standard in pest fumigation. Now, years later, scientists have discovered that sulfuryl fluoride lasts much longer in the atmosphere than they thought and is far more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.
The good news is that since the compound was only introduced into the air in recent years, there is just a tiny concentration in the atmosphere. Stopping its use now will prevent any major consequences. But what is scary about this discovery is that the EPA found sulfuryl fluoride to have "virtually no impact on the global atmosphere" when it approved it for use in 2002.
This news really emphasizes the need to constantly evaluate the impact of the chemicals we use and release into the atmosphere. There could easily be many more 'sulfuryl fluorides' out there that we now consider harmless, but could really do lots of damage.
via WSJ Environmental Capital
 Today's Greener Gadgets Conference featured keynote speaker Saul Griffith: inventor, entrepreneur and science-geek extraordinaire. He spent the first half of his presentation explaining how he's come to quantify his personal impact on the earth through adding up the watts it takes to power his life.
From air travel and driving to the food he consumes and the stuff he owns, the average amount of watts his lifestyle requires is close to 18,000, while the average American clocks in at 11,500 watts. He was surprised by this - he drives a hybrid, bikes often, eats locally, etc. Shouldn't all these things amount to a lower watt demand? He had news for us too - we are all probably racking up way more watts than we think.
In order to help all of us identify exactly where we stand, Griffith and his friends created Wattz On, a website devoted to calculating personal energy consumption based on individual lifestyle. The website aims to prove that our energy use can in fact be measured and knowing our impact can help us to analzye our worse habits and change them. Ready to face your energy reality? Click here.
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 One of the popular design ideas isn't a gadget at all, but a concept for a shared bicycle network with lots of green details. The Ubicycle Public Bicycle Program aims to solve the problems that have held other public bike programs in the past.
The program consists of solar-powered bike stations, smart-card readers and the bikes themselves. The stations would be located conveniently in residential neighborhoods, near schools and downtown workplaces as well as near mass transit stops. The smart-cards in the program would work for unlocking the bikes and charging the user based on the length of time the bike was used. The same card could ideally be used to access buses and trains to create a full network of car-free options.
The bikes would be uniformly-colored a bright green to deter theft and include a built-in locking device. Solar power runs the stations so that they remain secure without being manned.
Bike programs have had varying degrees of success in the cities that have launched them, with theft and vandalism being major issues along with just plain lack of use. If this design could advance security measures and offer more convenient locations, especially linking to other mass transit, this program could really be effective.
via Greener Gadgets
 Now that the stimulus bill has passed, Congress is moving on to more environment-specific legislation. According to a recent AP interview, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expects an energy bill to be ready for a vote within the next few weeks and a climate change bill to be ready by the end of the summer.
The upcoming energy bill will focus on renewable energy and efficiency and will most likely include a national energy standard requiring 20 percent of the energy generated by utilities to come from renewable sources by 2020. A national standard has been proposed before unsuccessfully, but now that several states have passed their own mandates, it's likely to have a better shot this time around.
The senator also expects more tax incentives for energy efficiency, particularly in the construction and retro-fitting of buildings, to be included in the bill.
The climate change bill will concern actions necessary to slow down global warming and will most likely be put to a vote before the international climate negotiations happening in Copenhagen in December. The climate change bill is expected to be more controversial and involve topics like CO2 emission caps.
So far, it seems the new administration is keeping its promise to act quickly on energy and environmental issues. We'll be keeping close tabs on what comes of these bills and keeping our fingers crossed for effective legislation.
via AP
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