Carbon Footprint

www.tagtvonline.com features the entire video program. Watch the final Q&A where, at a recent TAG Smart Grid meeting entitled “Jobs and Economic Growth Opportunities in Georgia,” a panel of experts discussed the impact of Smart Grid technologies, the effect on green jobs and aspects of economic growth in the state, with a focus on economic stimulus opportunities associated with the strategies and experiences of organizations in the Smart Grid ecosystem. The featured speaker, Dr. Deepak Divan, Director-Intelligent Power Infrastructure Consortium and Professor School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology was joined by a panel of executives including - Ivan Urlaub, Executive Director, North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA); - Michelle Mindala-Freeman, VP Marketing and Product Management, Landis & Gyr; - Bob Ray,CEO and President, Flint Energies (Member Oglethorpe Power Corporation EMC); - Ken Van Meter, Business Development Director -Enterprise Integration Group, Lockheed Martin; - Chris Womack, President External Affairs, Southern Company. The Q&A ranged from how to cost justify the Smart Grid, the timeframe for adoption and which technologies come first, Smart Grid program challenges and opportunities in Georgia and more. The Smart Grid uses communications and computing technology to transmit and distribute energy more efficiently to reduce our carbon footprint through energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.

Complete video at: fora.tv Amory Lovins argues that reducing carbon emissions would be doable and profitable if the focus was on energy efficiency. He says the US is already cutting its energy intensity without even trying. “Everybody I can think of the last forty years or so who has done energy efficiency has made money at it.” —– It is now generally agreed that human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases are very likely to cause global warming. This will have serious consequences in the next fifty to one hundred years. What should be done? Some economists argue that taking steps now to mitigate this problem is likely to drive up energy costs and result in reduced economic growth. They suggest that in the interests of economic equality - and particularly to foster economic growth in developing countries - it is better to let growth happen as quickly as possible and rely on future increased technological capacities to solve the problem. Others argue that we need immediate and decisive action on this issue. - Whole Earth Films Amory Lovins is the Cofounder and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute. Lovins is a consultant experimental physicist educated at Harvard and Oxford. He has received an Oxford MA (by virtue of being a don), nine honorary doctorates, a macarthur Fellowship, the Heinz, Lindbergh, Right Livelihood (”Alternative Nobel”), World Technology, and TIME Hero for the Planet awards, the Happold Medal, and the Nissan, Shingo, Mitchell, and Onassis Prizes. His …

HOW I WILL REDUCE MY CARBON FOOTPRINT.

In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint even further, Babson College has stopped using trays in the dining hall.

360 Energy interviews Tom Adams, an independent energy and environmental advisor and former Executive Director of Energy Probe.

Earthlust: orgs.sccs.swarthmore.edu 350.org: www.350.org Earthlust in Swarthmore news: www.swarthmore.edu As part of the environmentally themed 350 Week, Earthlust produced a video encouraging viewers to take simple steps to reduce their carbon footprint. While 350 Week events focused on a wide range of environmental issues, the number 350 itself refers to 350 parts per million of CO2, what some leading scientists believe is the safe upper limit for atmospheric levels. The week concluded with the International Day of Climate Action, organized by 350.org. Video by Kat Clark ‘12

The NHS has the largest carbon footprint in the UK, estimated at 18million tonnes per annum , this despite an increase in efficiency has increased since 1990, There are now a number of directives in place to help the NHS achieve targets of 26% reduction by 2020 and 80% by 2050. N3, managed on behalf of the NHS by BT, is a key enabler and can help the NHS achieve these targets in a number of ways, including accessibility to national applications, increasing the efficiency of healthcare professionals whilst improving the welfare of patients. This video shows how N3 is already assisting the NHS reduce carbon emissions by helping to move information rather than people around.

The United States is under a lot of pressure to lower its carbon emissions during the Copenhagen summit this week. But the oil-rich Uniated Arab Emirates has an even worse environmental impact, relative to its population. With little public transport, few recycling options, and almost all food and general goods flown into the region, the Gulf nation is under pressure to improve its environmental sustainability. Dan Nolan reports from Dubai.

The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that some contrails are actually toxic chemicals or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitude for a purpose undisclosed to the general public. Versions of the conspiracy theory circulating on the internet and on some radio talk shows theorize that this activity is directed by government officials, and they have received thousands of complaints from people who have demanded an explanation. The existence of chemtrails has been repeatedly denied by Government agencies and scientists. Anyone living near a major metropolitan airport has gazed up at the sky and seen them: patchworks of crisscrossing contrails left by passing jetliners. Most of us don’t give a second thought to this common sight of a scratched-up sky. If we do, it’s likely to reflect on the explosion in air traffic and its growing contribution to air pollution. Do hanging contrails represent something much more sinister than increased carbon emissions? Since the late 1990s, a flourishing conspiracy theory subculture has been ringing the alarm that many of these contrails aren’t normal vapor-and-exhaust contrails at all. Rather, they are chemtrails, mysterious and menacing chemical evidence of secret government programs to modify the weather and depopulate the planet.

Barack Obama, the US president, has reached a non-binding agreement with four other nations on limiting future carbon emissions. The accord has been angrily criticised by developing nations, who say that it is not enough to prevent environmental catastrophe due to global warming. The US president will also have a tough time selling the climate agreement back home. With the country’s economy sluggish and unemployment in double digits, energy companies say it isn’t the time for new regulations. As Sebastian Walker reports from Texas, those firms say tougher rules would cut into their bottom line and keep them from creating new jobs.