Prepared by the Office of Planning, Environment and Realty, Federal Highway Administration(FHWA)

Recent Events

DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Propose Landmark Joint Regulations to Establish Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Standards and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE). The proposed regulations, published in the Federal Register on September 28, 2009, have two goals: reduce GHG emissions and improve fuel economy. The proposal follows from the National Fuel Efficiency Policy announced by President Obama on May 19, 2009, responding to the country’s critical need to address global climate change and to reduce oil consumption. EPA is proposing the first-ever GHG emissions standards under the Clean Air Act; NHTSA is proposing CAFE standards under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. These standards apply to passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles, covering model years 2012 through 2016 and would result in an overall fleet fuel economy of 35.5 mpg. Comments must be received on or before November 27, 2009. To read the proposed rulemaking and find out how to submit comments, go to http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-22516.htm. (See related article on trends in fuel economy from 1923-2006)

Climate Change Bill Introduced in the Senate. On September 30, Senators Kerry and Boxer introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act “to create clean energy jobs, promote energy independence, reduce global warming pollution, and transition to a clean energy economy.” The bill would add two new sections (Titles VII and VIII) to the Clean Air Act, which would set declining limits on GHG emissions and establish a Pollution Reduction Investment (PRI) program, also known as cap-and-trade. The Act would require EPA to establish 1) GHG emission standards for new heavy-duty vehicles and engines, and for nonroad vehicles and engines and 2) to standardized emission models and related methodologies for States and MPOs. It would create an emissions reduction program, allowing DOT to provide grants to States and MPOs to help them reduce GHG emissions from the transportation sector. It would establish goals to reduce GHG emissions from the nation’s largest stationary sources-initially around 7,500 facilities that account for nearly three-quarters of U.S. carbon pollution-to 97% of 2005 levels by 2012, 80% by 2020, 58% by 2030, and 17% by 2050 (versus a reduction to 20% of 2005 GHG emissions by 2050 called for in the House bill, the American Security and Clean Energy Act, introduced by Congressmen Waxman and Markey, which passed the House on June 26, 2009). The Boxer-Kerry bill also would establish a National Climate Change Adaptation Program and require EPA to distribute formula-based funding to States for projects and activities that address impacts on coastal watersheds.

EPA Finalizes Nation’s First GHG Emissions’ Reporting System/Monitoring to Begin in 2010. On January 1, 2010, EPA will, for the first time, require large, stationary-source emitters of GHGs to begin collecting data under a new reporting system, which will cover approximately 85 percent of the nation’s GHG emissions and apply to roughly 10,000 facilities. The reporting system will provide a better understanding of where GHGs are coming from and will guide development of policies and programs to reduce emissions. The data will also allow businesses to track their emissions, compare them with those of similar facilities, and provide assistance in identifying cost-effective ways to reduce emissions in the future. Fossil fuel and industrial GHG suppliers, motor vehicle and engine manufacturers, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year will be required to report GHG emissions data to EPA annually. More information on the new reporting system and reporting requirements is available at:http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghgrulemaking.html. State and local officials interested in additional information about developing and implementing cost-effective climate and energy strategies that help further environmental goals and achieve public health and economic benefits may visit: http://epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/state-and-local/index.html.

U.S. Climate Envoy Elaborates on President Obama’s Speech at United Nations Climate Summit Regarding Climate Change and December U.N. Conference of Parties (COP15). Speaking at a White House press briefing after the President’s climate change speech at the U.N., Todd Stern, the U.S. climate envoy, said that the U.S. would still have a solid bargaining position in Copenhagen even if the Administration fails to push its own GHG legislation through Congress before the intergovernmental conference. “We would like to see the maximum possible progress… on our domestic legislation,” Stern said. “In the event that there’s not domestic legislation done by the time of Copenhagen, we will negotiate with that in mind. But certainly the most progress we can get would be helpful.” At the U.N., the President said that the major developing countries, where virtually all of the growth in emissions over the next 30 years is going to occur, also have to take actions. Elaborating on that Stern said “[The major developing countries] have to stand behind those actions to the same degree that the US and other developed countries do. The President is making that very clear. And that has not traditionally been the way that the climate change negotiations and the whole climate change international debate have gone on.” (See related “FYI” article.)

Driving and the Built Environment: The Effects of Compact Development on Motorized Travel, Energy Use, and CO2 Emissions (TRB Special Report 298) Published. This recently-released report examines the relationship between land development patterns and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States to assess whether petroleum use, and by extension GHG emissions, could be reduced by changes in the design of development patterns. The report estimates the contributions that changes in residential and mixed-use development patterns and transit investments could make in reducing VMT by 2030 and 2050, and the impact this could have in meeting future transportation-related GHG reduction goals. Increasing population and employment density in metropolitan areas could reduce vehicle travel, energy use, and CO2 emissions from less than 1 percent up to 11 percent by 2050 compared to a base case for household vehicle usage, depending on the assumptions used. Commissioned papers used by the committee to help develop Special Report 298 are available online. A four page summary of and a press release onthe report is also downloadable at http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12747&utm_medium=etmail&utm_source=National%20Academies%20Press&utm_campaign=NAP+mail+new+09.8.09&utm_content=Downloader&utm_term=. On Wednesday, October 21, TRB will be hosting a webinar to explore the findings of this congressionally-mandated study. Space is limited. To reserve a “seat,” go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/606169224.

NSF Awards NCSE $1.67M Climate Change Education Grant. The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) has been awarded a three-year grant of $1,666,820 by the National Science Foundation to create a nationwide cyber-enabled learning community for solutions to climate change to be known as CAMEL (Climate, Adaptation, and Mitigation e-Learning). CAMEL will engage experts in science, policy and decision-making, education, and assessment in the production of a virtual toolbox of curricular resources designed for teaching climate change causes, consequences, and solutions.The project was developed by theCouncil of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD), which is managed by NCSE. More information on CAMEL, including a PowerPoint presentation by principal investigator David Hassenzahl and a video thereof, can be found at the CEDD website (http://ncseonline.org/Updates/cms.cfm?id=3274).

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Releases Its Annual Energy Review (AER).The AER is EIA’s primary report of historical annual energy statistics. For many series, data begin with the year 1949. Included are data on total energy production, consumption, and trade; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewable energy, international energy, as well as financial and environmental indicators; and data unit conversion tables. Two especially interesting graphics are for Primary Energy Consumption by Source and Sector, 2008 (the most recent year for which data is available) and the Petroleum Overview, 1949-2008, which shows how closely petroleum consumption in the U.S. tracks with petroleum imports (see below).

Publications released by University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, Michigan:

Effect of “Cash for Clunkers” Program on Overall Fuel Economy of Purchased New Vehicles. September 2009. Conclusions: Based on data from October 2007 through June 2009 and using unemployment rate and price of gasoline as predictors of the fuel economy, the program improved the average fuel economy of all vehicles purchased by 0.6 mpg in July 2009 and 0.7 mpg in August 2009.
Economic Indicators as Predictors of Number and Fuel Economy of Purchased New Vehicles. July 2009. Conclusions: During October 2007 through June 2009, average fuel economy of purchased light-duty vehicles improved by a substantial amount-1.1 mpg-as a result of unemployment and price of gasoline; however, significantly fewer vehicles were purchased as a result of unemployment. The price of gasoline did not reduce the number of vehicles purchased.
Recent Reductions in Carbon Dioxide Emissions from New Vehicles. July 2009. Conclusions: Improved fuel economy of purchased new vehicles and decrease in distances driven, resulted in lower CO2 emissions per driver from purchased new vehicles were lower in November 2007 through April 2009, when compared to October 2007. The greatest reduction in emissions-12%-occurred in July 2008. The reduction in April 2009 (the latest month examined) was 8%.
Mechanisms involved in recent large reductions in U.S. road fatalities. Injury Prevention, June 2009. Conclusion: One factor in the large reductions in U.S. road fatalities was the decrease in leisure driving related to the price of gasoline.
Fuel efficiency of vehicles on U.S. roads: 1923-2006. Energy Policy, 2009. Conclusions: Overall fleet fuel efficiency decreased from 14 mpg in 1923 to 11.9 mpg in 1973. Starting in 1974, efficiency increased rapidly to 16.9 mpg in 1991. Thereafter, improvements have been small, with efficiency reaching 17.2 mpg in 2006.

State and Local News

Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) Releases Regional GHG Emissions Inventory Available for Download at No Charge. This inventory will help regional policy makers and citizens understand the sources of GHG emissions so they can make well-informed decisions for regional and local policies to reduce them. In addition, the inventory has been allocated to the municipal level, supporting local action in cities, boroughs, and townships across the region. The U.S. EPA is actively engaged with this work as a pilot for developing a standard national protocol for carrying out GHG emissions inventories at the metropolitan level.

U.S. EPA Offers Free, Downloadable Webinars: Greenhouse Gas Inventory 101 for Local, Regional, and State Governments covering:
Creating an Inventory. Topics include understanding the purpose and scope of a GHG inventory, inventories vs. registries, setting a boundary, setting a baseline, quantification approaches, certification and reporting protocols, comparability, and level of effort.
Translating Inventory Results into Action. Topics include describing the various uses of GHG inventories, including benchmarking, tracking emissions and progress over time, setting emission reduction goals, policy options for meeting goals, evaluating policy options, and processes for setting goals and policies.
State Inventory Tool (SIT) Training. Topics include background information on the development of the SIT modules and a live demonstration of the CO2 from Fossil Fuel Combustion Module, Natural Gas and Oil Module, Synthesis Module, and Projection Tool.

Announcements

Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations’ 2009 Annual Conference to be held October 28-30, 2009 in Savannah, GA. There will be sessions on Critical Issues Related to Land Use Planning in Transportation and Livability, plus a pre-conference workshop on Practical Examples of Integrating Land Use Planning with Transportation Planning. Three sessions will be devoted to climate change:
Strategies to Reduce GHG Emissions with presentations on Moving Cooler by David Jackson from Cambridge Systematics; TRB Special Report on Land Use, VMT, and GHG by Professor Jose Gomez-Ibanez, Harvard Kennedy School; and Global Climate Change: A “Top 10” List for MPOs by Cindy Burbank, Parsons Brinckerhoff.
GHG Emissions and Air Quality Standards with presentations on Alternative Regulatory and Incentive-Based Approaches to Reducing GHG Emissions: Potential Implications for MPOs by Michael Grant and Janet D’Ignazio, ICF International, and Implementing AQ Standards in the Context of New Planning Changes by Tracy Clymer, Cambridge Systematics. The session will be moderated by Sarah Siwek, Sarah Siwek & Associates.
Climate Change: Adaptation with presentations on Adapting to Climate Change Impacts by Michael Culp and Rob Ritter, FHWA, and Adaptation in Response to Global Climate Change: International Best Practices in Long Range Planning by Michael Flood and Chris Dorney, Parsons Brinckerhoff.

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Holds National Rural Transportation Conference in coordination with the AMPO conference. A climate change session on October 29 will cover strategies for beginning to incorporate climate change into regional transportation planning in rural and small metro areas. FHWA will make a presentation and Stephen Lawe, RSG Inc., will talk about a new GHG emissions model that may be useful for RPOs and small MPOs that don’t have their own modeling capabilities.

FYI

What are the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark and COP15 that I’ve been hearing about? The 15th annual Conference of the Parties (COP 15), which will be held from December 7-18, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the culmination of a series of meetings among the 192 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP adopt decisions and resolutions related to reducing GHG emissions, which make up a detailed set of rules for implementation of the Convention. Concurrently with the COP, there is a Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and came into force in 2005 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified it. Together the Conferences are called the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Next month: What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?

Previous Newsletters

• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008

If you have any suggestions for inclusion in future issues of Transportation and Climate Change News, or if someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to receive it directly in the future, please send your suggestions or request to Kathy Daniel at Kathy.Daniel@dot.gov.

(Source: FHWA Office of Planning, Environment and Realty)

(Source: FHWA-Office of Planning, Environment and Realty)

Recent Events

Secretary LaHood Testifies Before Senate. On July 14, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood testified to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about transportation’s role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  The Secretary outlined several initiatives that DOT is undertaking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including implementing more stringent fuel economy standards, improving operational efficiency of the transportation system, and addressing VMT growth by encouraging development of livable communities.  A webcast recording of the hearing, along with submitted written testimony from all presenters, is available at: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=57b8818d-802a-23ad-4d8d-e09cd7cb134a

Moving Cooler Report Released. This new Urban Land Institute (ULI) publication, prepared by Cambridge Systematics, Inc. based in Cambridge, Mass., explores incremental reductions in U.S. carbon emissions that could occur within the transportation sector as a result of a wide variety of transportation- and land use-related actions and strategies to minimize auto use, including more compact development. The full publication is available for purchase on ULI’s website in either electronic (pdf) or hardcopy formats at www.uli.org.

AASHTO Releases “Real Transportation Solutions” Website and Report. AASHTO has released a new website and report focused on strategies to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions.  AASHTO calls for limiting growth in VMT to 1% per year, increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, shifting to low- or no- carbon dioxide emitting fuels, and improving efficiency and operations of roadways.  See:http://www.transportation1.org/RealSolutions.

28^th Edition of the Transportation Energy Data Book Released. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Lab has released a new edition of its annual compendium of information on transportation energy use.  Two new tables have been added to the greenhouse gases chapter this year.  A new table on transportation greenhouse gases by mode in 1990 and 2007, based on EPA’s Inventory report, indicates that CO₂ emissions from light duty on-road vehicles increased 20.8% between 1990 and 2007.  CO₂ emissions from medium and heavy duty trucks and buses rose 77.8% in the same period.  Another new table, also based on EPA data, reports the CO₂ emissions from a gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel.  For more information, including a pdf of the report, downloadable spreadsheets, and a link to request a free hard copy, see: http://cta.ornl.gov/data/index.shtml.

UK Low Carbon Transition Plan Released. The United Kingdom has released its plan to achieve a 34 percent reduction in GHG emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.  Some of the transportation strategies include: calling for the government to purchase vehicles that meet 2015 emissions standards in 2011, investing in low carbon bus technology, providing help to reduce the price of low carbon vehicles, supporting the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, sourcing 10% of transportation energy from sustainable renewable sources by 2020, providing funding in a competition for a “Sustainable Travel City,” funding bicycle programs, and funding rail and bus transportation.  The complete plan is available here: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspx.

RFF Report Released on Adapting Public Infrastructure to Climate Change. Resources for the Future has released a report that assesses climate change threats and the needs it imposes on public sector infrastructure, reviews infrastructure’s capacity for adaptation, and provides policy options for improving infrastructure’s adaptive capacity.  The report is available here: http://www.rff.org/rff/documents/RFF-Rpt-Adaptation-NeumannPrice.pdf.

State and Local News

CA Sea Level Rise Final Report Released. This study, funded in part by CalTrans, the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and others, analyzes population, property, and infrastructure at risk from future sea level rise along the California coast.  It estimates that with 1.5 meters of sea level rise, about 3,500 miles of highways and roadways along the California coast and San Francisco Bay would be at risk from a 100 year flood, compared to about 1,900 miles of roadways and highways currently at risk.  The full report is available here: http://www.pacinst.org/reports/sea_level_rise/report.pdf

If you have any suggestions for inclusion in future issues of Transportation and Climate Change News, or if someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like to receive it directly in the future, please send your suggestions or request to Kathy Daniel at Kathy.Daniel@dot.gov.

(Source: U.S. Global Change Research Program)

New Report Provides Authoritative Assessment of National, Regional Impacts of Global Climate Change Details Point to Potential Value of Early, Aggressive Action.

Image Courtesy: U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)

Climate change is already having visible impacts in the United States, and the choices we make now will determine the severity of its impacts in the future, according to a new and authoritative federal study assessing the current and anticipated domestic impacts of climate change.

The report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” compiles years of scientific research and takes into account new data not available during the preparation of previous large national and global assessments. It was produced by a consortium of experts from 13 U.S. government science agencies and from several major universities and research institutes. With its production and review spanning Republican and Democratic administrations, it offers a valuable, objective scientific consensus on how climate change is affecting—and may further affect—the United States.

“This new report integrates the most up-to-date scientific findings into a comprehensive picture of the ongoing as well as expected future impacts of heat-trapping pollution on the climate experienced by Americans, region by region and sector by sector,” said John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “It tells us why remedial action is needed sooner rather than later, as well as showing why that action must include both global emissions reductions to reduce the extent of climate change and local adaptation measures to reduce the damage from the changes that are no longer avoidable.”

Some key findings includes:

• Climate changes are underway in the United States and are projected to grow. Climate-related changes are already observed in the United States and its coastal waters. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows. These changes are projected to grow.
• Crop and livestock production will be increasingly challenged. Agriculture is considered one of the sectors most adaptable to changes in climate. However, increased heat, pests, water stress, diseases, and weather extremes will pose adaptation challenges for crop and livestock production.
• Threats to human health will increase. Health impacts of climate change are related to heat stress, waterborne diseases, poor air quality, extreme weather events, and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents. Robust public health infrastructure can reduce the potential for negative impacts.
  

Here are the key messages of the report pertinent to Transportation:

• Sea-level rise and storm surge will increase the risk o • f major coastal impacts, including both temporary and permanent flooding of airports, roads, rail lines,and tunnels.
• Flooding from increasingly intense downpours will increase the risk of disruptions and delays in air, rail, and road transportation, and damage from mudslides in some areas.
• The increase in extreme heat will limit some transportation operations and cause pavement and track damage. Decreased extreme cold will provide some benefits such as reduced snow and ice removal costs.
• Increased intensity of strong hurricanes would lead to more evacuations, infrastructure damage and failure, and transportation interruptions.
• Arctic warming will continue to reduce sea ice, lengthening the ocean transport season, but also resulting in greater coastal erosion due to waves. Permafrost thaw in Alaska will damage infrastructure. The ice road season will become shorter.

Click here to download a copy of the full report.  Alternatively, you can specific sections of the report here.

(Source: AFP via Yahoo & Science Daily)

Image Courtesy: IOP - Energy consumption and GHG emissions per PKT (The vehicle operation components are shown with gray patterns. Other vehicle components are shown in shades of blue. Infrastructure components are shown in shades of red and orange. The fuel production component is shown in green. All components appear in the order they are shown in the legend.)

Do you worry a lot about the environment and do everything you can to reduce your carbon footprint? Are you the one who frets about  tailpipe emissions, greenhouse gases and climate change?

If yes,  you must be the one who prefers to take the train or the bus rather than a plane, and avoid using a car whenever you can, faithful to the belief that this inflicts less harm to the planet.

Well, there could be a nasty surprise in store for you, for taking public transport may not be as green as you automatically think, says a new US study published in Environmental Research Letters, a publication of Britain’s Institute of Physics.  Often unknown to the public, there are an array of hidden or displaced emissions that ramp up the simple “tailpipe” tally, which is based on how much carbon is spewed out by the fossil fuels used to make a trip. Environmental engineers Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath at theUniversity of California at Davis say that when these costs are included, a more complex and challenging picture emerges.

The pair give an example of how the use of oil, gas or coal to generate electricity to power trains can skew the picture.

Boston has a metro system with high energy efficiency. The trouble is, 82 percent of the energy to drive it comes from dirty fossil fuels.  By comparison, San Francisco‘s local railway is less energy-efficient than Boston’s. But it turns out to be rather greener, as only 49 percent of the electricity is derived from fossils.

The paper points out that the “tailpipe” quotient does not include emissions that come from building transport infrastructure — railways, airport terminals, roads and so on — nor the emissions that come from maintaining this infrastructure over its operational lifetime.

The researchers also touch on the effect of low passenger occupancy and show that we are naïve to automatically assume one form of transport is more environmentally friendly than another. They conclude from their calculations that a half-full Boston light railway is only as environmentally friendly, per kilometre traveled, as a midsize aircraft at 38 per cent occupancy.  From cataloguing the varied environmental costs the researchers come to some surprising conclusions. A comparison between light railways in both Boston and San Franciso show that despite Boston boasting a light railway with low operational energy use, their LRT is a far larger greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter because 82 per cent of the energy generated in Boston is fossil-fuel based, compared to only 49 per cent in San Francisco.

Total life-cycle energy inputs and GHG emissions contribute an additional 155 per cent for rail, 63 per cent for cars and buses, and 32 per cent for air systems over vehicle exhaust pipe operation.

Journal reference:

• Mikhail V Chester and Arpad Horvath. Environmental assessment of passenger transportation should include infrastructure and supply chains. Environmental Research Letters, 2009; 4 (024008) DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/4/2/024008

(Source: National Transportation Operations Coalition)

A coalition of transportation and technology leaders – including state and local officials, industry and academic leaders and prominent stakeholder organizations – is calling on Congress to focus federal funding in the surface transportation authorization bill on the deployment of smart technologies and innovative solutions in order to create a performance-driven, intermodal transportation system that is safer, cleaner, more efficient and more financially sustainable for communities, businesses and the traveling public.

America’s transportation system is facing significant challenges that must be addressed in the next surface transportation authorization bill, from financing our transportation system and reducing traffic fatalities to combating congestion and CO2 emissions. Solving these challenges will require transportation agencies and private sector partners to use all of the tools at their disposal, including intelligent transportation systems (ITS), related technologies, and multimodal operational strategies that can help prevent accidents before they happen, reduce traffic congestion and freight bottlenecks, provide more effective incident and emergency response, reduce energy use and emissions, and enable innovative 21st century financing options.

“As a result of successful research initiatives and private sector innovation, technologies are here today which can help increase safety, reduce congestion and emissions, boost competitiveness, improve system performance, and create more livable and sustainable communities,” the coalition wrote today to House transportation leaders. “While a continued and strengthened research role is still needed, it is critical that state and local agencies and private sector partners make better use of technology to modernize today’s infrastructure and optimize existing capacity, while building smart and efficient roads, bridges, transit systems, and multimodal transportation options for tomorrow’s transportation users.” 

(Source: Green Inc, NY Times)

Eurostar,  the high-speed rail link between Paris, London and Brussels, says it met its carbon-dioxide reduction goals three years ahead of schedule .  In 2007, EuroStar annoucned that it would aim to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 25 percent per passenger journey over then-current levels — and do so by 2012. 

Previously, half of the energy in the tunnel came from Britain, which relies more heavily on coal and gas-fired power.

France generates about 80 percent of its electricity from a fleet of nearly 60 nuclear reactors — which produce little CO2. The company said the speedier-than-expected reductions could be attributed to a number of factors — from more efficient train driving and turning off half of all on-board lights, to increasing the number of people riding each train.

But the vast majority of reductions were achieved by switching to France as the primary provider of electricity for trains traveling the undersea tunnel between Britain and Paris, according to a spokesman, Richard Holligan.  

Not content with its progress, Eurostar is now moving ahead to raise its target to further cut emissions because it had already reached its original goals.  The new target: reducing CO2 emissions by 35 percent per passenger journey by 2012.

I plans to achieve its new reduction target by improving the efficiency of its air-conditioning and heating systems, further reducing the energy consumption of its lighting systems, and introducing more tools to assist drivers to drive the trains efficiently.

Note: Europeans are leading by example in the fight against global warming by switching to technologies that yield “green” power, while folks in the US are still bickering over “clean coal”.   We have a long way to go!

(Source: SF Gate)

Some mayors tool around in Priuses and hybrid Civics. But Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has taken green transit a step further.  

Image: Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

No more cars for him, at all.

The International Energy Agency on Friday lowered its estimate for global oil demand in 2009 as the crisis curbs demand in the United States, Russia and China.

The agency said demand would drop for a second consecutive year for the first time since 1982-1983.

In its closely watched monthly survey, the IEA cut its forecast for demand this year by 270,000 barrels a day to 84.4 million barrels a day — 1.5 percent lower than a year earlier.

The Paris-based agency said demand for oil last year was estimated to have slid 0.4 percent to 85.7 million barrels a day.

To put that into some kind of concrete yet still unimaginably large and therefore abstract terms, the IEA estimates that the world will consume 270,000 fewer barrels of oil every day. On a related not, a professor at Cambridge University is predicting a 40-50% drop in greenhouse gas emissions due to the global economic downturn.” reports GreenDaily.com

Click here to read more.