Saturday, July 6, 2013

Obama's Grand Plan to Fight Climate Change

Bypassing Congress, President Barack Obama, standing under the scorching sun on a sweltering, hot day at the Georgetown University, on June 25, 2013 unveiled a major environmental plan to fight climate change. The plan doesn't require any Congressional action, and calls for the

* First federal regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from the existing power plants through issuance of the presidential memorandum.

* Revision and re-issuance of the proposed limits of carbon dioxide emissions from the new power plans.

* Provision of up to $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to spur investment in efficiency projects and advanced fossil energy, including technology to limit carbon emission.

* Expansion of the permitting process for renewable energy projects such as wind and solar on public lands, with a goal of powering more than 6 million homes by 2020.

* Installation goal of 100 MW of renewable energy projects on the federally assisted housing projects by 2020.

* Aggressive steps to enhance energy efficiency for appliances and federal buildings, with a goal of reducing carbon dioxide pollution by 3 billion metric tons overall by 2030.

* Development of a new set of fuel-economy standards for the heavy-duty vehicles.

* Creation of a National Drought Resilience Partnership to help communities, farmers and landowners prepare for droughts and wildfires.

* Promotion of the climate change preparedness by creating a toolkit for local governments and businesses, and partnering with hospitals.

* Update of the flood risk reduction standards to be met by all federally funded projects.

* Collaborative work with India, China and other major polluters to reduce emissions.

* End of US public financing for new coal-fired power plants in other nations.


CURRENT DISTRIBUTION OF US POWER SOURCES

* Coal                                                                                   37%
* Natural Gas                                                                       30%
* Nuclear                                                                             19%
* Hydropower                                                                        7%
* Other Renewables (biomass, geothermal, solar and wind) 5%
* Petroleum                                                                            1%
* Other Gases                                                                         < 1%

No comments:

Post a Comment