Meanwhile the United States that is still a government by the people, most of whom prefer to do things the practical way instead of by government madate, is doing pretty well if human-generated greenhouse gas emissions in fact do significantly contribute to global warming. Typically, however, the left wingnuts are only interested in villifying rather than working with the current administration.
BERKELEY
Greenhouse emissions reduced by biodiesel
Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Berkeley reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the city by 14 percent during the past two years with conservation measures that included running cars on vegetable oil, city officials said Monday.
The dramatic drop in carbon emissions apparently puts Berkeley at the forefront of a handful of cities that are legally committing themselves to reducing the pollution that many scientists have blamed for global warming.
"Berkeley's groundbreaking efforts to be a model environmental city are beginning to show dramatic results,'' said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates.
The city calculated that its carbon emissions in 2004 were 2,066 metric tons less than its baseline number. To get equivalent air-quality benefits, the city would have had to plant 52,000 trees or remove 450 cars from the road, Bates said.
The greatest cut in greenhouse gases, 47 percent, came from city vehicles -- particularly as a result of the use of biodiesel fuel but also through use of electric, natural gas and hybrid electric-gasoline powered vehicles.
Berkeley's City Council is expected to vote tonight to join four other cities, including Oakland, as members of the Chicago Climate Exchange, a stock-market-like association of private and public entities that has been trading "emissions allowances" since December 2003. The exchange requires members to reduce emissions by 1 percent per year through 2006.
None of the other cities has documented a reduction in emissions as big as Berkeley claims. This year, Oakland became the second city to join, but it has not calculated its emissions.
Chicago, a founding member of the exchange, claims about a 5 percent reduction over 2003 and 2004. Portland has not released numbers, while Boulder, Colo., showed a drop of 9 percent in 2003 and estimates its emissions stayed constant in 2004.
The exchange's 110 members include major corporations such as IBM, Ford Motor Co. and DuPont Co. In the first year, members of the exchange collectively reduced their carbon emissions by 9 percent, said Richard Sandor, the chairman and chief executive officer of the exchange. Numbers for 2004 are not yet available.
Berkeley is "doing a fantastic job'' said Sandor, who was chief economist of the Chicago Board of Trade in the 1970s and an assistant professor at UC Berkeley's business school from 1966 to 1972.
The city has had problems this year with engines being damaged by contaminated biodiesel fuel -- which is essentially vegetable oil -- and has been using much less biodiesel as a result, which could result in higher emissions this year, officials said.
The city cut its use of natural gas by 16 percent but saw electricity use climb 5 percent, mostly from the opening of its expanded central library and the purchase of a downtown office building that has a tenant operating an Internet server farm.
Bates took a swipe Monday at the Bush administration for it refusal to abide by the Kyoto Protocol, which calls upon nearly 40 industrialized countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
"With the outrageous failure of our federal government to take action, it is essential for cities to step up to the plate and show real leadership in the fight against global warming,'' Bates said.
Michele St. Martin, a spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, took exception with Bates' criticism, saying that President Bush in 2002 set forth a plan to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent by 2012.
She claimed reductions were 2.3 percent in 2003 and 2.6 percent in 2004, but those numbers have been hotly disputed by environmentalists.
"We welcome efforts from all levels of government to meet that goal,'' St. Martin said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/13/BAG0GEMQEJ1.DTL
