Articles About Greenhouse Gases

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new greenhouse-gas standards for power plants, following through with the authority conferred by a 2007 Supreme Court ruling declaring carbon dioxide a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.  The new regulation effectively bans new coal-fired power plants unless they capture and sequester carbon dioxide.  Advanced natural-gas plants would meet […]

Green roofs are springing up in the concrete jungle of New York City – plants growing on waterproof membranes on top of buildings – in all five boroughs.  Considering the potential to reduce greenhouse gases, increase energy efficiency and capture storm-water runoff, this movement is understandable.  “Most of this work is small in scale so […]

Depending on who you listen to, 2011 was either the 11th warmest on record — that’s according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — or the 9th — according to the National Aeronautic and Space Administration — NASA. According to scientists at NOAA, 2011 broke records for climate extremes, as much of the […]

The three gases that contribute the most to global warming rose to their highest levels ever, according to the United Nations (UN). Carbon dioxide, the most significant heat-trapping gas, rose 0.59 percent to 389 parts per million molecules of air, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.  Methane rose 0.28 percent to 1,808 parts per […]

President Barack Obama and the nation’s predominant automakers have agreed to increase new vehicles’ fuel mileage.  The major way to accomplish this is to reduce the size of vehicles.  By 2025, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) must be 55.4 mpg for cars.  That’s up from the 2009 Obama mandate of 35.5 mpg by 2016. […]

A total of $1.4 trillion worth of commercial real estate loans are coming due between now and 2014, with the majority on small- and medium-sized buildings that are either under water or very nearly there.  Writing for the Huffington Post, Daphne Wysham says that “crisis breeds opportunity. It turns out that buildings are responsible for […]