Carbon moving to the center stage

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I am returning to my blog after a long gap. The last few years I was  totally gone under, strengthening and guidinging our startup. 

Wait, on second thoughts as excuses go this one sounds pretty lame!

A lot has happened with the carbon in this period. The Carbon market in Eurozone, following in the footsteps of the economic woes, almost collapsed. A nascent carbon market (Cap-and-Trade program) , on the other hand, sprung up in California, where the auction price for carbon went up in the second round.  By burning natural gas, instead of coal, its dirtier cousin, US reduced emission of carbon dioxide.  California, taking a lead again, pushed (and fought) successfully tougher mileage norms for vehicles. We went through a cash-for-clunker program to reduce number of old polluting vehicles on the road, while putting some money into the hands of the needy.  Fracking  entered into the public debate. Keystone pipeline became a medium to convey not only a mixture of tar and sand, but also promised to deliver a heady concoction of reducing energy dependence and rejuvenating economic activity.

The biggest fillip came on June 25, 2013, when the President announced  his policy on climate change. He proposed imposing carbon emission norms on power generating plants, where none exists today. Since those standards will be difficult to meet (1,000 pounds of CO2 for every megawatt-hour of electricity produced) in a coal-fired plant, the mining lobby started crying foul.  With 40% of electricity generation from coal, the specter of rising cost to consumers raised its head again.

Somewhere in the policy announcement, President also talked about new efficiency standards for appliances. Given that our economy is mostly consumer driven, this step will help catalyze significant progress, as argued by DailyBeast here.

And as +Al Gore stated "...the climate crisis requires a new political reality: one marked by a willingness to accept solutions commensurate with the challenge."

The game, once again, is heating up...and we hope that carbon will take the lead!

EPA New Greenhouse Labeling: One step closer…!

EPA is releasing a new labeling system for cars that will detail out the measurement of fuel economy and will allow buyers to compare greenhouse emission of different cars. Check the new label below:

Less noticeable is EPA launching a new website fuelconomy.gov where a car owner can create his online “garage” by entering the make and model of the car and keep a track of fuel purchases and mileage. The system will calculate the mileage for your records. The website also allows you to share your data with others…

If this catches on (I am sure it is only a question of time) very soon we will have record of the distances individual car owners drive in a day, a week, a month, or a year along with the quantity of gasoline is consumed. Based on benchmarks established by EPA, it will be fairly easy to compute savings in carbon emission for the type of vehicle, distance driven, driving pattern and gasoline consumed!

Imagine the next step where a credit card issued for this purpose will automatically update the record of gasoline purchased by the vehicle owner...!

A step in the direction of recognizing individual’s contribution to carbon saving.