Communities Fight Ecological Effects Of Climate Change

Nick from Big Green Smile has written an interesting post on how the Government is rewarding communities trying to stop climate change:

Communities battling to stop the ecological damage of climate change could receive a share of a £10 million government fund.

Twenty successful communities will receive funding from the Low Carbon Communities Challenge, which will be used to pay for energy saving measures chosen by the residents themselves, such as electric car charge points.

If measures put in place by the project are successful at cutting emissions on a local scale then they could be rolled out nationally.

Currently around one-quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions come from powering heating, lighting and electrical appliances around the home, and this number needs to fall to almost zero by 2050 if the country is to meet government energy saving targets.

The Government also wants to see around 40 per cent of energy produced by low carbon sources by 2020.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband, explained that the project is a chance for communities across the county to play their part in tackling climate change.

He said: “The UK has the most ambitious emissions reduction commitments in the world and projects like this will develop the policies we need to be successful.”

Free Program That Reduces Your PCs Carbon Footprint

Supported by Microsoft and developed by Verdiem, Edison is a new computer program/programme that lets you monitor the energy your PC uses and allows you manage that consumption. And it’s free.

Verdiem say uses of its Edison software in the US are saving around $60 a year and 325 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per PC. Explained in the video below, collectively, computers use a huge amount of energy and if just one per cent of the world’s one billion PCs used Edison, it would be the carbon dioxide equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off the road. And with PC usage set to quadruple by 2020, that’s a lot of CO2.

Edison is available for free here.

Employers Not Doing Their Part

Employees in the leisure industry are keen to shrink their workplace emissions but need more support to do so, according to new research carried out by Carbon Trust. The results are similar to what has been found in other industries by other surveys – employees don’t think their employers do enough.

It found that 63% of employees wanted to cut emissions but need more guidance and empowerment. Just 18% thought their company was doing enough to cut its emissions and 71% said that their employer made no attempt encourage them to consider different ways of lowering their carbon footprint.

Hugh Jones, solutions director at the Carbon Trust, said: “Our research shows that those in workplaces where a ‘Carbon Champion’ has been appointed say it encouraged more action to reduce emissions. You can put in a new energy-efficient boiler, or install low-energy light bulbs, and those will make a difference, but many of the measures that will have the biggest impact and achieve the greatest savings require buy-in across your workforce.

“In the current economic climate it’s never been more important for all businesses, of all sizes, to act on climate change. With savings of up to 20 per cent to be made on energy bills through no cost or cost effective measures it makes perfect business sense to empower employees to do their bit both at work and at home.

“You need your teams to think twice before printing documents, to turn off their PCs and lights at the end of the day, to participate enthusiastically in recycling schemes and to consider the carbon footprints of the method of travel they use and the products they source.”

[Source: Carbon Trust]

Campaign For Tougher CO2 cuts – CanvassYourMP.com

Yesterday (or today depending on where you are) CanvassYourMP.com launched, a UK site that is asking you to conatct your local MP to campaign for tougher CO2 cuts. The Climate Change Bill is proposing a 60% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050, green bloggers like ourselves are campaigning for 80%.

Many green bloggers were invited to see Steve Webb MP at the House of Commons. Although we couldn’t make it, many bloggers did including GreenGuysGlobal, Greenormal, Turnfront, Beth Eats Local, Being Unchained, People Against Dirty, and TreeHugger who had this to say:

“There’s nothing like a bit of one on one time to convince someone of your true feelings and many British people feel passionately that the UK Government needs to take positive action on Climate Change. Canvass Your MP is providing three easy steps for you to take action.

1. If you don’t already know your MP you can find out by entering your postcode into the Find Your MP website.

2. Contact your constituency MP at their surgery. You can use this website to find telephone numbers and surgery times.

3. As soon as you get a response from your MP, saying that they will (or won’t) support the 80% target, let us know by reporting back.

The Canvass Your MP website will show people taking their future into their own hands, proving that the power of the individual is an amazing force. The more people that meet their MPs to discuss their thoughts about the Climate Change Bill the more informed the Government will be and the more likely they will vote for the 80% target.”

The site was created in a weekend and massive thanks must go to Jez Swinscoe of Make Hay Media for getting such a great site up in such a short time. The site makes it quick, simple and easy, so is it time you contacted your MP and let them know 60% isn’t enough?

US Carbon Footprint Map

Just a quick post, I received an email from Ed regarding a US Carbon Footprint Map, an interactive United States Carbon Footprint Map, illustrating the greenest states & cities. The site has all sorts of stats on individual state & city energy consumptions, demographics and state energy offices, state taxes and more down to the local US city level.

The interactive map itself is further down the page, tables explaining the data are at the top. When clicking on the map you can click through to further details, such as for California that contains an impressive level of data. Worth a look, especially if you live in the US.