CleanPress

The "Low Carbon World" website … www.LowCarbonEconomy.com – was officially launched today … [25-Feb-2010] …in Bali, Indonesia at the United Nations Environment Programme’s annual Governing Council. … joint project between Low Carbon Economy.com and the United Nation’s Climate Neutral Network … aims to facilitate the move to global low carbon economies, …"

" … will assist knowledge transfer and simplify access to information and tools that can be difficult to trace … will list every country’s carbon policies, commitments, historical performance, future projections and opportunities, …"

"Annual global greenhouse gas emissions should not exceed 40 to 48.3 Gigatonnes (Gt) of equivalent C02 in 2020, if a rise in global temperatures is to be curbed at 2 degrees C or less, whilst between 2020 and 2050, global emissions ideally need to fall by between 48 per cent and 72 per cent."

Via:  United Nations Environment Program LINK

Our food choices determine our carbon footprint / impact. Some choices are less carbon intensive than others. The video that follow shows how the choice of a grilled chicken sandwich has approx. 1/5 the carbon intensity of a cheesburger.

Check out the video for more on food choices and their carbon impact.

Via: SmartPlanet LINK

 ”San Francisco based, Climate Earth has developed new software technology that measures and analyzes the carbon impact inside the supply chain, from the production of a carton of orange juice to the construction of a giant skyscrape …

Via: SmartPlanet  LINK

"Equator Coffees … is going green … using sustainable farming practices to grow their coffee cherries by partnering with local farmers in developing countries. On their site, they also have a smart coffee roaster that burns 80 percent less natural gas than a traditional coffee roaster and a food composter that turns excess coffee waste into fertilizer."

To learn more about Equator Coffee CLICK HERE.

Via:  SmartPlanet LINK

This video shows interactively the carbon footrprint of two food choices – a cheesburger and a chicen sandwich. Knowing this which would you choose?

Via: SmartPlanet LINK

Zerofootprint offers software and services that help your organization measure and manage its environmental footprint."

 For example, their "One Minute Calculators enable individuals to get a quick measure of their carbon footprint. After they input basic lifestyle information, the calculator will provide an estimate of a user’s carbon emissions in 60 seconds or less." 

There are 10 One Minute Calculators … looking at the Earth Hour version I found that my family uses 11.45 ton / year of CO2.  By changing some variables like diet you can see the impact of various changes.

>>> Check it out.

Via:  zerofootprint  LINK

Andy Pag has set off on a trip around the world – but with a low carbon twist.  He is travelling on a "budget" of 2 tonnes of carbon per person per year.  You can follow his progress and story on his blog 2tonnesofcarbon and see some of the technology he is using as well as ways to cut your carbon footprint.

"The Biotruck Expedition is a 12 month expedition to drive around the world to discover how people are using and generating energy, and their attitudes t0wards carbon emissions."

" … I’ll be trying to conduct the whole project with a carbon emissions budget of 2 tonnes per person … doing this because I’m curious about energy use around the world, and I want to see if I can travel on a sustainable carbon budget myself."

"Over the next 10 years, I predict recreational travel will either change dramatically, or become as socially unacceptable as drink driving or smoking is today."

Via:  Bio Truck Expedition  LINK

The University of Illinois has developed the Carbon Capture Report™ that brings together all web information Carbon related.  If you are looking for something carbon related this would be a good place to search!

 … monitors news services from around the world to offer the latest news on carbon capture, carbon sequestration, and climate change, updated every 24 hours, 7 days a week. … compiling a list of all articles mentioning these topics, and preparing a series of analytical reports to make it easy to continually keep track of what the world’s media is saying about carbon capture."

" … Daily Map service overlays each day’s coverage onto Google Maps and Google Earth, showing what different countries and different parts of those countries are saying about carbon capture. See how coverage has changed over time using the interactive timeline of the Google Earth display."

" … Daily Summary Newsletter service sends you the latest headlines … delivered to your inbox at 2AM CST each morning."

" … is an ongoing, highly experimental research project. All results are generated entirely by machine, so reports may occasionally contain errors and no guarantees of any kind are provided …"

Via: Carbon Capture Report LINK

Here is an interesting approach toi reducing waste and CO2 at the same time.  Using fly ash (waste and high in CO2) to make bricks solves both.

Read about CalStar’s  approach >>> 

" … CalStar directly addresses global climate change and CO2 emissions … Brick is an energy- and carbon-intensive industry … U.S. demand for brick is almost 10 billion units in a typical year. At 1.3 pounds of CO2 per brick, the industry footprint equals almost 13 billion pounds of CO2 per year. …"

 "Our commitment to green extends to product safety …  to ensure they are safe throughout their lifecycle, from manufacture to placement to use (and reuse) to end-of-life disposal …  process for making fly ash into bricks binds the materials within a strong crystalline matrix that holds even if exposed to the intense acids found in landfills. …"

"CalStar … promotes pragmatic solutions to climate change …. reducing the carbon footprint of cement, the biggest lever for industry has been and continues to be substitution of fly ash for CO2-intensive Ordinary Portland Cement. "

Via:  Calstar  LINK

Concrete is everywhere and is a key component of modern infrastructure …. used in roads, buildings, bridges, etc.  It is also anything BUT green.  Not only is it typically gray – its manufacturing process is quite dirty.

"MIT Prof. Franz-Josef Ulm is obsessed with concrete and how to make it greener … behind the reinvention of this backbone material … that  happens to contribute up to five per cent of the world’s carbon emissions. "

" … in concert with the Portland Cement Association and the Ready Mixed Concrete Research & Education Foundation will try to … reduc[e] …the carbon emissions in concrete production by 83 per cent over the next 40 years."

" …  25 billion tons of concrete are produced annually on a worldwide basis versus 3.3 billion tons of lumber. … production … emits carbon dioxide (CO2) in two ways. Cement forms the glue in concrete and is made from limestone. However, limestone isn’t cement until the CO2 is baked out, a process that makes up half of concrete’s carbon emissions. … other 50 per cent … comes from fossil fuels used to heat the limestone up to 1,300 degrees Celsius. …"

Via:  Smart Planet  LINK