As you know, population is straining our natural resources a lot. There are only a few resources left for our future generation, some of which are facing extinction. If you want to give your children the same standard of living that we have enjoyed, you must preserve these natural resources. So it is inevitable for us to go green.

Internet service will help you to lead a Green Life. You will be able to use the power of Internet to decrease even global warming. Follow these tips for a green living. They will help you to save your money and earth.

1. Switch on to Online Shopping
If you are able to buy some of your things online and don’t use vehicles on the road, you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will help you to save your fuel and time.

2. Use of Electronic Invoices
Electronic billing system helps you to save a great amount of paper by avoiding the need for printed invoices. These electronic invoicing will also help you to save your time to reach and pay the bill. The real environmental cost of traditional invoicing is much greater than that of a paper. The printed bills also need ink and energy to be printed and fuel to be transported to the customers. So by using electronic invoices you can save your paper, energy, fuel, time and money.

3. Use of Second Hand Books
The Internet is an absolutely reliable source to search and find and buy what your essential goods. If you are a student, your textbooks take big amount from your budget. A student spends a very huge sum each year on textbooks and notebooks. To lessen the costs of it, you can search for new or used textbooks at online markets. If you want to a search a textbook, all you need is the ISBN number of the book you are searching for. You can also save money and decrease the use of paper by using used books and sell those books which you don’t want to keep any longer at home.

4. Sell or Recycle Your Electronic Equipment
The management of electronic wastes is more important because of the increasing number of electronic equipment, we use. There are some web sites from which you can learn how to sell or recycle your old electronic equipment.

5. Giving Public Awareness
Use all the search engines of social network such as twitter, post blogs, send emails etc. to share the idea of recycling and reuse.

More Green Tips
Internet is an ultimate source for learning Do It Yourself and green tips. Green living Tips and The Daily Green are among the millions of web sites to reach green living tips and they’re all free.

These simple tips will help you to reduce your energy use and budget which means less dependence on the fossil fuels and paper.

Please remember these 3R’s to reduce wastes and live green.

The three R’s namely Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Manage wastes means not to produce it. This can be done by careful shopping. This is Reducing.

Reusing makes economic and environmental sense to reuse products.

Recycling is a series of steps to sell a product as a new one. Begin it from home itself.

These 3R’s help us to reduce the amount of waste we throw away and also conserve natural resources and energy.

Article by Rebecca Jones, a blogger by profession. She loves writing on topics related to parenthood and technology. Beside this she is fond of automobiles. These days she is busy in writing an article on sustainable design style.

Related posts:

• Energy Savings?! Knock, knock…any CleanTechie at home?
• Five Green Ways to Reduce Your Household Bills
• Easy Tips to Save on Your Energy Bills
• Take a Bite Out of Coal!
• 31,000 Homes Weatherized in June

It should come as no surprise that the large majority of environmental impact takes place outside a company’s physical boundaries. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) reporting probably gives us the best estimate of this; the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) estimates that over 50% of an entity’s greenhouse gas emissions are indirect ‘Scope 3’ emissions, while AT Kearny says the number is closer to 80% (source: CDP 2011 Supply Chain Report). In this article, we look at why so many companies are now addressing sustainability in the supply chain, and what approaches are used to reduce environmental impact in the supply chain. We use AMD, a Chamber BCLC Environmental Innovation Network member, as a case study, which reports that 63% of total GHGs are Scope 3, over 90% of which comes from the supply chain. (The rest comes from business travel and employee commutes; see this page for more information or the AMD 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report.)

Even the most far-reaching climate legislation, either passed or proposed, recognizes that supply chain emissions are not the legal responsibility of a firm. So why are so many companies beginning to measure and manage supply chains for sustainability? The reasons are simple. First, many companies are feeling pressure from a wide array of stakeholders, including consumers, shareholders, retailers and nonprofits. Second, a sustainable supply chain is an efficient supply chain, so improving supply chain performance can provide multiple benefits to a firm by saving money while reducing impact.

Despite the high impact of supply chains and the potential benefits from addressing them, most companies have still not looked closely at the issue. CDP reports that, of the 57 companies participating in their supply chain initiative, 87% have GHG reduction targets but only 45% of these include supply chains.

Which companies are diving in? From our experience, companies that have a high level of accountability to stakeholders and have more public visibility are feeling more pressure to act. In addition, companies that can more easily influence their suppliers find it easier to act and reap the benefits. So when companies are insulated from stakeholders or when supply chains are unruly, large, or often in flux, implementing a deep sustainability program isn’t easy.

Learning from others’ experiences can help smooth the path. Companies are finding a host of ways to reduce supply chain impacts, and these include: (1) using ecodesign principles to make more sustainable products; (2) implementing green procurement policies that select more environmentally friendly providers; (3) helping suppliers improve onsite operational efficiency; (4) improving logistics to save time and money while reducing impact; (5) reducing or switching to eco-friendly packaging; (6) using footprinting or life cycle analysis as a tool to understand impact; and (7) improving and managing communication with suppliers.

But which approach is right to take for your company? The key is to understand how your supply chain is structured and use that to find opportunities.

When a firm has a large number of suppliers, when competition between potential suppliers exists, or when the final product is a commodity with infrequent innovations, developing reporting systems to grade suppliers is a promising approach. CDP call this ‘Buyer Advantage’, since buyers can pick and choose suppliers. This can also be thought of as a technical approach to manage an efficient supply chain structure (Parmigiani, A., Klassen, R.D., Russo, M.V., 2011. Journal of Operations Management, 29: 212–223.) A reporting or scorecard approach gives yet another set of criteria, in addition to cost and quality considerations, by which firms can judge suppliers and determine where to purchase. Wal-Mart’s sustainability scorecard is a well-known example of this approach, and balancing a comprehensive and accountable set of criteria with minimizing the burden to suppliers is critical to success.

On the other hand, when a firm has fewer suppliers, when each supplier fills a critical role that would be difficult to replace, when relationships with suppliers are longer and deeper, or when supplier innovation is critical to maintaining market advantage, the ‘threat’ of a scorecard system is less of an option, and enhancing communication with suppliers may be the best way forward. This is often called ‘Supplier Advantage’ (CDP) or a relational approach in a responsive supply chain (Parmigiani et al.).

This is precisely AMD’s situation. A relatively small number of foundries produce AMD wafers, and these suppliers make up the lion’s share of supply chain risk. Over the past two years, the AMD Corporate Responsibility team has established quarterly reviews with these foundries. During these reviews, the foundries report several key metrics to track progress, such as GHG emissions, energy use, water consumption, waste volume, and environmental regulatory compliance. For other suppliers, sustainability is integrated into existing supply chain processes by leveraging the strong existing relationships and close communication between lead source managers and suppliers. Through AMD’s business review process, sustainability and corporate responsibility are incorporated as part of suppliers’ performance evaluation, and the frequency of reviews – either quarterly or semiannually – is determine by supplier risk. According to AMD’s Corporate Responsibility Manager, Heather O’Cleirigh, “through this process, and due to strong existing relationships, AMD and our suppliers work together to reduce environmental and social impact.”

Given the complexity of the issue, it isn’t surprising that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. For us, there are three key steps in any comprehensive supply chain initiative: (1) Determining and building support for an approach, (2) Developing a system to collect and track information, and (3) Influencing supplier decision-making. Underlying all of this is a set of robust performance metrics, which are critical for executive buy-in, determining cost-effective actions, and creating competition among suppliers. In a survey of 582 European companies, over half are already using sustainability performance criteria with suppliers, and among Scandinavian countries 77% do so (BearingPoint 4th Supply Chain Monitor, 2010-2011).

It may seem paradoxical that supply chains constitute the bulk of environmental impact and are still a relatively new frontier in corporate sustainability. Clearly, there are good reasons to attack supply chains only after low-hanging fruit has been picked. But as we get better at understanding and managing supply chains, and as the tools and metrics get standardized within industries, supply chains will rise to the forefront of corporate sustainability.

Article by James Barsimantov, Principal and Cofounder of EcoShift; Article appearing courtesy 3BL Media.

Related posts:

• Zoo Wants to Turn Elephant Poop into Power
• Federal Agencies Plan for Sustainability
• Where Sustainability Executives Fall in Today’s Organizational Structure
• Are Employees Investing in Business Sustainability?
• Easy Steps for Businesses to Go Green and Promote Employee Engagement

GCB Bioenergy journal has published a study in which scientists present the findings of a study on switchgrass as cellulosic ethanol feedstock. They concluded that using switchgrass bioenergy can help reduce emissions but add that further research “to address the significant sources of uncertainty” (such as what type of land is converted to switchgrass), is advisable.

According to Biofuel Daily, the research was carried out at the University of Bologna, in Italy. Lead researcher Dr. Andrea Monti said the team reviewed over 100 articles on switchgrass and found this type of crop has a better ability to accumulate carbon in the soil compared to several other grasses, especially row crops. She added that because switchgrass has not been planted as a monoculture crop until the mid 20th century, it’s necessary to factor in long term predictions on carbon sequestration, which includes land use change, carbon turnover rate and the economic life cycle length. These calculations are still lacking, she said.

Dr. Monti’s team examined the emissions and uptake of three greenhouse gasses – carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – over the life cycle of switchgrass from cultivation to processing. They also considered how previous estimates differed according to what variables are included and what values are used for factors, such as agricultural practices (such as tilling, harvest frequency, and fertilizer application), end-product (bioethanol vs. bioelectricity), and fossil fuels that are being displaced.

The overall conclusion is that switchgrass bioenergy could play a role in reducing emissions from fuels, but some gray areas need to be further researched to understand its actual impact. “A reliable assessment of the contribution of switchgrass, along with other energy crops, in reducing greenhouse gas emissions might increase their demand in the booming renewable energy market,” said Dr. Monti.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

Related posts:

• Corn-based ethanol takes a hit
• Study Finds Efficient Method to Produce Electricity from Waste Heat
• That Shot of Tequila May Come With a Biofuel Chaser
• New Discovery Could Improve Ethanol Production
• Trash and Bacteria Remain Supreme in Biofuel Manufacturing

There is a lot of discussion lately about domestic energy production and American energy security. For the Obama Administration, moving towards the goal of energy independence has been a clear priority since day one. When President Obama took office, the United States imported 11 million barrels of oil a day. The President has put forward a plan to cut that by one-third by 2025 by strengthening domestic production of our energy resources, making our homes and buildings more efficient, and transitioning to a wide range of clean energy technologies.

When it comes to domestic energy production, the numbers speak for themselves. Since 2008, U.S. oil and natural gas production has increased, while imports of foreign oil have decreased. Here are the facts: 

• In 2011, U.S. crude oil production reached its highest level since 2003, increasing by an estimated 90,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) over 2010 levels to 5.57 million bbl/d.   
• U.S. natural gas production grew by an estimated 7.4 percent in 2011– the largest year-over-year volumetric increase – and easily eclipsed the previous all-time production record set in 1973. 
• Overall, oil imports have been falling since 2008, and net imports as a share of total consumption declined from 57 percent in 2008 to 45 percent in 2011 – the lowest level since 1995. 

In May of last year, President Obama outlined a series of additional steps to expand domestic oil and gas production as part of his long-term plan to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. More specifically, the President directed the Department of Interior (DOI) to conduct annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), speed up the evaluation of oil and gas resources in the mid- and south-Atlantic, develop new incentives for industry to develop unused leases both onshore and offshore, extend drilling leases in the areas of the Gulf impacted by the temporary moratorium following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and lease new areas in the Gulf of Mexico.

Significant progress has been made in many of these areas. For instance, in December 2011, DOI held the first oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since the oil spill. The sale, which covered over 1 million acres, attracted more than $338 million in total bids – about $100 million more than average for Western Gulf sales over the previous decade. During the same month, DOI held a lease sale in Alaska’s NPR-A that generated winning bids of over $3.6 million and covered 17 tracts on over 140,000 acres.

The Administration has also taken historic action to reduce our dependence on oil by making our cars and trucks more efficient. In July of last year, the President announced the next phase in the Administration’s program to increase fuel economy, which will require a performance equivalent to 54.5 miles per gallon for model year 2017-2025 passenger vehicles. Taken together, the standards established under this Administration span Model Years 2011 to 2025. They will save American families money at the pump, for a total of $1.7 trillion in fuel savings over the life of the program. They will clean up our environment, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 6 billion metric tons over the life of the program, while reducing pollutants like air toxics, cause soot, and smog.

These new fuel economy standards will dramatically cut our oil dependence, reducing consumption by an estimated 2.2 million barrels a day in 2025 (eventually reaching more than 4 million barrels a day as the fleet turns over), and saving 12 billion barrels in total over the lifetime of the program. To put that in perspective, it would take a pipeline that carried 700,000 barrels a day nearly 47 years to transport the amount of oil we are saving thanks to these new fuel economy standards.

Of course, the Administration has also been intent on developing and deploying clean energy technologies and positioning the United States as the global leader in the clean energy race. The Recovery Act invested more than $90 billion in clean energy, the largest such investment in America’s history. Those investments have created hundreds of thousands of jobs and spurred thousands of clean energy projects across the country. For example, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program has already supported more than 40 clean energy projects that will ultimately employ more than 60,000 Americans. And because of Recovery Act investments, we are on track to double non-hydro renewable electricity generation from 2008 levels this year.

In short, the Obama Administration’s approach to achieving American energy independence has been a comprehensive and sustained effort, with emphasis on boosting domestic energy production, increasing efficiency, and transitioning to cleaner energy sources.

But what’s abundantly clear is that there are no silver bullets when it comes to this challenge. And the idea, as some in Washington have tried to suggest, that building a pipeline is the ultimate answer to the question of American energy security and job creation is nothing more than a pipe dream. The truth is that just two of the Administration’s programs – the DOE Loan Guarantee Program and the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards – will create more than 10 times the amount of jobs generated by the Keystone XL pipeline, which will only generate a few thousand temporary jobs. In terms of reducing America’s dependence on oil, the Administration’s fuel economy standards alone will save more than twice the amount of oil the Keystone pipeline would deliver.  

Related posts:

• The Case for National Security: Clean Energy
• Low-Cost Solar in Nevada
• Data Center Virtualization: Cloud Computing – Ease Up on Security to Keep Carbon Under Check?
• U.S. Military Must End Oil Dependence Within 30 Years, Report Says
• Solar-Powered Irrigation Boosting Household Incomes

The sheer abundance of recently discovered natural gas resources in the U.S. could drive down gas and electricity prices in the next few decades, yield an overall increase in energy use, and stunt the nation’s still-emerging renewable energy sector, a new report says.

Using economic modeling, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that relatively cheap natural gas — much of it to be extracted from underground shale formations — could represent an increasingly large share of U.S. electricity use, particularly in the face of a weak national climate policy.

By 2050, the report says, this growth could cause national energy use to increase, possibly leading to a jump in greenhouse gas emissions of 13 percent above 2005 levels. Absent this supply of natural gas — which has become increasingly available as a result of improved drilling methods, including the emergence of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — the U.S. could have expected emissions to decline 2 percent, the report says.

The natural gas boom could also retard development of carbon capture technology, the report says.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

Related posts:

• US Wind Energy Suffers in 2010, Cost-Competitive with Natural Gas in 2011
• U.S. Wind Energy Capacity Grew 39 Percent in 2009, Report Says
• Clean Tech Bursts Ahead, Exceeding Growth Expectations
• Number of Environmental Courts Doubled Since 2005, Study Says
• Offshore Wind Market To Surge In Next Six Years, Report Says

The Chinese government has ordered five cities and two provinces to set caps on greenhouse gas emissions in preparation for a series of regional carbon markets.

Last week, China’s National Development and Reform Commission urged Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen, as well as the provinces of Hubei and Guangdong, to set “overall emissions control targets” and submit strategy proposals on how to achieve them.

A plan developed by Guangdong — which commits the province to achieving 20 percent of its total energy consumption from non-fossil fuels by 2015 — has already been approved by the central government. The province must also cut its “carbon intensity,” or the CO2 emissions per unit of economic growth, by 19.5 percent.

China as a whole, which has already passed the U.S. as the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has committed to reducing its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. According to a new government report, China’s urban population surpassed its rural population for the first time ever in 2011.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

Related posts:

• China Pushes Commitments From Western Nations at Global Climate Talks
• U.S., China Energy Use Predicted to Flatten in Coming Decades
• India Will Reject Curbs On Its CO2 Emissions
• China Says It Will Move to Enforce Greenhouse Gas Goals
• China’s Per Capita Emissions Could Rival U.S.’s By 2017

Poland, in accordance with the 2007 European Council directive requiring that European Union Member states reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 through investments made into renewable energy sources, creates its own energy policy. The objectives include increase in the share of renewable energy sources by 15 percent by 2020 and 20 percent by 2030, achieve ten percent share of biofuels in the transportation market by 2020, and protect forests and promote sustainable farmland use. The potential of Poland to grow in the field of renewable energy is evolving and if it continues to follow the path right now, they could reach 48 percent renewable energy use by 2050.

1 ) Meeting the Need for Wastewater Treatment Plant Facility in Warsaw. French company Veolia and WTE, a German water company, won a contract to upgrade as well as extend the Czajka wastewater treatment plant located in Poland’s capital of Warsaw. The plant will provide treatment for 435,000 cubic meters of wastewater daily, which is good for a city that is already meeting and exceeding the current plant’s 200,000 cubic meters of wastewater daily. The upgrade and extension was carried out in smaller phases to allow the plant to continue operation.

2 ) Outside investment into Biomass. Chinese biomass developer, DP Cleantech, made a significant investment end of 2010 by providing them with a new biomass production facility in the town of Jedrzejow. The new facility will be utilized in the manufacturing of energy conversion boilers and pressure parts which will then serve the European biomass and waste-to-energy market. According to Simon Parker, DP Cleantech CEO, “On-time and on-budget project delivery is something that we take very seriously at DP Cleantech, the expansion of our manufacturing in Poland will help facilitate this in Europe, combining the benefits of both localization and our global philosophy.”

3 ) ERBD Promotion of Energy Efficiency in Poland. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD) is assisting Poland in reaching its renewable energy and energy efficiency goals by providing the country with 50 million Euro loan to Bank BGZ and another loan of 35 million Euro to Bank Millennium for on-lending to local SMEs (small and medium enterprises) undertaking investments in sustainable energy. “The proceeds of the EBRD loans will be used to finance eligible energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy projects with up to €1 million. Such investments include industrial energy efficiency improvements, energy efficiency and/or renewable energy measures in commercial buildings and small-scale renewable energy production. The project will help local SMEs improve their competitivness and overall efficiency, and will contribute to reducing the Polish economy’s energy intensity,” EBRD says.

4 ) The Polish Economic Chamber of Renewable Energy. The Polish Economic Chamber of Renewable Energy is an economic self-government organization that brings together various companies that have expressed their desire to cooperate in the development of renewable energy sources. They integrate businesses, institutions, and persons who act toward the development of renewable energy sources in Poland. They also have a say on the law regulations relating to renewable energy sources market, monitoring, implementation, and intervention. The chamber also influences over the coordination and coherence of various sector policies in the scope of the renewable energy sources market.

5 ) Polish Wind Energy Association. As a non-governmental organization, the Polish Wind Energy Association was established by a group of interested Polish citizens who displayed interest in the implementation of wind power technologies. This association has actually becomes the most effective organization that is lobbying for the creation of a suitable legal framework permitting the development, as well as operation of renewable energy sources. The strategic target is, “The superior goal of the Association is to improve existing and create new legal provisions and to increase political and social awareness insofar as wind power to enable its dynamic development and increased use in Poland.”

6 ) Polish Foundation for Energy Efficiency. FEWE, the Polish Foundation for Energy Efficiency is a nongovernmental organization that looks to promote energy efficiency and the production of environmentally friendly energy. One of the projects is the Polish Energy Efficient Motor Program, an organization that encourages sustainable electricity management and investments into energy efficiency.

7 ) Polish Solar Energy Society. The Polish Solar Energy Society is a nongovernmental organization established in 1994 to “foster the sciences and technology in the application of solar energy; to encourage solar energy fundamentals and applied research, and development in the country.” The society’s main activities center around the encouragement of technical solar energy know-how and information dissemination of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

8 ) Polish Wind Energy Society. The Polish Wind Energy Society is a nongovernmental organization involved in the spreading of wind energy use knowledge, publishing information on wind generators, lobbying the promotion of renewable energy, especially on-shore and offshore wind energy, participation and initiation of demonstrations in wind energy, and organizing research studies. The society has cooperated with numerous organizations, institutions and companies, including the Warsaw Foundation for Sustainable Energy, the Institute for Renewable Energy in Warsaw, and the Polish Economic Chamber of Renewable Energy.

9 ) Increase in Wind Energy Use. Currently, wind energy accounts for more than six percent of the net electric energy production. Frost and Sullivan analysts have indicated that the wind energy sector has seen the most significant increase in installed power among all renewable energy sources currently being utilized in Poland. According to Frost and Sullivan, this increase was due in large part to the accessibility of new finance sources, as well as the increase in foreign investors attracted to Poland because of the high price of their certificates.

10 ) United Kingdom Investment into Polish Cleantech. The United Kingdom has realized the need of Poland to increase its renewable energy sources and provided large opportunities. Martin Oxley, CEO of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce said, “If there are two areas of greatest interest when it comes to the Polish economy these days, they are infrastructure and energy. If Poland is to increase its share of energy generated through renewables to 20% by 2020, from 3% today, it means a vast amount of investment will be required.” One example is Torftech’s biowaste powered combined heat and power plant in the town of Swidnica.

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

Related posts:

• Coming Attractions: CleanTechies Events Highlights
• Poland to Introduce Recyclable Subway Cars in 2012
• The Bull is Bullish on CleanTech… So?
• Fuel Cell Startup EnStorage Raises $15M Series B Financing
• Big Oil Redraws the Energy Map

In a good news / bad news press release, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced last week that its Green Technology Pilot Program would be extended for three months but “will soon draw to a close.”

Previously set to expire on December 31, 2011, the program is being extended through March 30, 2012 or until 3,500 applications are accepted onto the fast track (read more in this post at Sustainable Marks).

As of December 5, 2011, the most recent report summary date, 2,913 petitions for the program have been granted, and 373 are awaiting decision.

To be eligible for the fast track program, the application must satisfy the following criteria:

the application is any non-reissue, non-provisional utility application for which a first office action has not been issued;

the applicant must request early publication of the application.

Eric Lane is a patent attorney at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps in San Diego and the author of Green Patent Blog. Mr. Lane can be reached at elane@luce.com.

Related posts:

• Green Sunset?: A USPTO Green Patent Fast Track Update
• USPTO Announces Extension and Expansion of Green Technology Pilot Program
• Fast Track to U.S. Patents for Israeli Cleantech Companies
• Evaluating the USPTO Green Tech Pilot Program
• Two-Month Warning for the USPTO Green Patent Fast Track

Last week I traveled to Durban, South Africa to participate in the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to highlight the critical and largely untapped potential of women to combat climate change. Studies have shown that it is often women who are on the frontlines of, and suffer disproportionately from, the impacts of climate change. This is certainly important. But we must remember that women are also a powerful force for finding solutions to climate change across the board, including in areas such as agriculture, sustainable forest management, and energy access. 

Agriculture, which accounts for approximately 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is a sector that can be particularly sensitive to climate variability and change, is one key area where women can play a major role. A recent FAO report shows that women, in many places, are the main producers of the world's staple crops, particularly in developing countries and regions likely to be adversely affected by climate change impacts.  However, globally, only a small minority of women farmers have access to land tenure. This is a problem for many reasons – including that it limits women's potential to combat climate change. Studies have shown that women with the right to property are significantly more capable of investing in climate-smart agricultural productivity; we have a lot of work to do to unlock women's potential in this area. 

Women also have untapped potential for increasing energy access, which directly relates to climate change. For example, nearly 3 billion people globally still rely on traditional cookstoves and open fires to prepare food for their families. In most instances, women are responsible for cooking – not to mention also spending many hours per week collecting fuel, which often puts women at risk of gender based violence. The resulting smoke exposure causes an estimated two million premature deaths annually, with women and young children the most affected. Cookstoves also impact the climate through emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived particles such as black carbon. Engaging women is critical to tackling this problem. As we work to build a global market for clean cookstoves, integrating women into the cookstoves supply chain will help increase clean cookstove adoption rates while also creating new economic development opportunities. And as Secretary Clinton has noted, women create a multiplier effect in local communities because they disproportionately spend more of their earned income on food, healthcare, home improvement, and schooling.   

The United States recognizes the power of women’s potential in these areas and many others, and is investing in major initiatives including Feed the Future and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, where women’s role in generating transformative change is front and center.

I went to Durban to highlight the critical role of women in combating climate change. While there, I worked with U.S. negotiators on the Durban texts and participated in public engagement events. Our efforts to build on the gender equality and women’s empowerment language in the Cancun agreements are reflected in several crucial institutional developments, including language on gender balance related to the composition of the board of the new Green Climate Fund, the Standing Committee, and the Adaptation Committee. We also worked to reflect gender considerations in the mission of the Climate Technology Center and Network. USAID Assistant Administrator Eric Postel and I solicited input during a meeting with leading non-governmental organizations working on gender and climate issues, and I hosted a high-level side event at the U.S. Center focused on unlocking women’s potential to combat climate change. The level of enthusiasm among my fellow panelists and the audience at the event was inspirational.

We made progress in Durban, but we can’t stop here. To achieve the future we all seek, we must do more. As the late Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement and ground-breaking advocate on women and the environment said, “We must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist.” The future of not only women, but our planet, depends on it.

Article by Ambassador Melanne Verveer, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.

Related posts:

• Can Women Take on Men in Demolition and Construction?
• Where Are The Green Jobs For Women?
• Are Women Greener Than Men?
• Women’s Impact on the Green Economy
• United Nations Prioritizes Renewable Energy

Adding a charred biomass material called biochar to glacial soils can help reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. Studies by scientists with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are providing valuable information about how biochar-the charred biomass created from wood, plant material, and manure-interacts with soil and crops. As part of this effort, ARS scientists in St. Paul, Minn., are studying biochar activity in soils formed from glacial deposits. ARS Soil and Water Management Research Unit in St. Paul, found that amending glacial soils with biochar made from macadamia nut shells reduced a range of greenhouse gas emissions.

Biochar or terra preta is a charcoal like material created by pyrolysis of biomass. Biochar is under investigation as an approach to carbon sequestration via bio-energy with carbon capture and storage. Biochar thus has the potential to help mitigate climate change, via carbon sequestration. Independently, biochar can increase soil fertility, raise agricultural productivity and reduce pressure on forests. Biochar is a stable solid, rich in carbon and can endure in soil for thousands of years.

After the researchers amended the soils with biochar at levels ranging from 2 to 60 percent, emission levels for the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide were suppressed at all amendment levels. But the suppression in nitrous oxide emission was notable only in soils amended with 20, 40 or 60 percent biochar.

The amended soils also had lower microbial production of carbon dioxide and lower volatilization rates for the pesticides atrazine and acetochlor. The scientists plan to follow these findings with new investigations on how volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in biochar affect soil microbe activity. As part of this work, they have already identified 200 different VOCs on some biochars.

Spokas and Baker also conducted the first study that documented the formation of ethylene, a key plant hormone that helps regulate growth, from biochar and soils amended with biochar. They found that ethylene production in biochar-amended, non-sterile soil was twice as high as ethylene production observed in sterile, biochar-amended soil.

This strongly suggests that soil microbes are active in this biochar-induced ethylene production. The scientists also believe ethylene might be involved in plants’ reaction to biochar additions, since even low ethylene concentrations produce various plant responses.

Article by Andy Soos, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

Related posts:

• Carbon Capture Potential Found in Biochar
• What is Biochar?
• Carbon Emissions Dropped with Fuel Consumption, Report Says
• New Report Reveals Levels of GHG Emissions in 2009
• Cap & Trade – Obama’s Win Is the States’ Loss