Saving Water Saving Energy Blog

This week the US Environmental Protection Agency released a very cool new interactive website/tool that allows users to track the largest greenhouse gas emitters - from power plants to industrial factories - at the national and state level. The tool is based off of 2010 emissions data collected from over 6,700 facilities across the US that account for approximately 80% of National greenhouse gas emissions. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

Scheduled to go into effect this January, the Federal lighting efficiency standard that was signed into law by President Bush as a part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, has now effectively been shot dead in the water. Today, a Federal omnibus bill was passed that prohibits the Department of Energy from spending any money to enforce the efficiency standards. Click the title, image or here to view the entire post.

Water is becoming the Achilles’ heel of the electric industry. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) report "Freshwater Use by US Power Plants: Electricity's Thirst for a Precious Resource" shows how we currently divert three Niagara Falls’ worth of freshwater into thermoelectric power plants -- more than 4 times what is used in all U.S. residences and equivalent to all of irrigated agriculture. The good news is that promoting water conserving alternatives (closed-loop, dry cooling, etc.) may have an important side-effect: reducing our nation’s carbon footprint. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

Is your Nation running low on it's supply of precious finite oil reserves?! No worries, just have some sent over from neighboring countries! Never mind the environmental concern with the transport, refining and burning of the oil, it's still "less expensive" than those other ludicrous renewable, non thermoelectric sources of energy. At least that is about the gist I get from the currently operational Keystone oil pipeline and the proposed - but delayed for further environmental review (thank god) - Keystone XL Pipeline project. Check out this article from the blog EcoCentric about the proposed Keystone XL project, the threats it poses for the health of our nation, and the ever increasing need to address on a federal level the issue of water, energy and food coordinated management. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

Read this week's The Climate Post to learn: why it may be too late to keep global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius; why American manufacturers are accusing Chinese solar panel producers of attempting to create a solar panel trade war with the U.S.; When Australia's new carbon tax will officially take effect after being approved by both house and senate; and, where else Canada is considering building pipelines to export their dirty oil (even after Obama's move to reconsider the environmental impacts of the Keystone XL project). Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

The energy management decisions we make today have a huge impact on the water resources of tomorrow. Therefore, water related impacts from electricity production should absolutely be a key factor in every energy policy decision made. Check out this new report by The Great Lakes Energy-Water Nexus team, Integrating Energy and Water Resources Decision Making in the Great Lakes Basin: An Examination of Future Power Generation Scenarios and Water Resource Impacts. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

For decades, hydroelectric dams have disrupted the migratory and spawning patterns of fish and other river running riparian species, essentially wiping out entire species in some cases. However, the destructive nature of hydroelectric dams could be changed as scientists and engineers at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Alden Laboratories, have recently developed a new "fish friendly" hydroelectric turbine. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

California has adopted a cap and trade system! The heavy greenhouse gas emitting state will act as a guinea pig for the greater Unites States in testing out the waters of such a program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate funding for renewable energy developments. If this new system works well in California, perhaps this guinea pig project can be used to springboard a new national climate policy. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

It has been a while since my last "Sustainability Watch" post, highlighting businesses, services, utilities, organizations, etc. from across the nation that go the extra mile to help protect our environment by making energy and water conservation a top priority. So, here is another update! This month's sustainability watch takes a look at the winner of the US Department of Energy's 2011 international Solar Decathlon, University of Maryland's WaterShed building. Click the title, image or here to read the entire article.