Government and Environment

DriveClean.ca.gov is a web site of the California Air Resources Board developed as a resource for car buyers to find clean technology vehicles. The web site is designed to educate Californians of the large difference in pollution levels between vehicles, and the variety of clean vehicle options available today that offer the same performance and luxury features as traditional gasoline vehicles. DriveClean.ca.gov provides educational information on clean advanced technologies, and offers a variety of useful search and comparison tools to help car buyers find the cleanest vehicle that suits their lifestyle.

As a way for car buyers to compare the pollution levels between vehicles, DriveClean.ca.gov provides smog and global warming information for all vehicles from 1996 to present. Detailed information, specifications and images are provided only for the cleanest vehicle options available on the market.

The annual World Energy Outlook is the leading source for medium- to long-term energy market projections and analysis and has achieved widespread international recognition. It is the annual flagship publication of the International Energy Agency.

a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program (NACP)to quantify North American fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at space and time scales much finer than has been achieved in the past. The purpose is to aid in quantification of the North American carbon budget, to support inverse estimation of carbon sources and sinks, and to support the demands posed by the launch of the Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO)scheduled for 2008/2009. The detail and scope of the Vulcan CO2 inventory has also made it a valuable tool for policymakers, demographers and social scientists.

The Vulcan project has achieved the quantification of the United States fossil fuel CO2 emissions at the scale of individual factories, powerplants, roadways and neighborhoods. We have built the entire inventory on a common 10 km grid to facilitate atmospheric modeling. Vulcan is available at the hourly timescale for the year 2002. In addition to improvement in space and time resolution, Vulcan is quantified at the level of fuel type, economic sub-sector, and county/state identification.

THE SET AMERICA FREE COALITION brings together prominent individuals and non-profit organizations concerned about the security and economic implications of America’s growing dependence on foreign oil. The coalition, organized by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), promotes a blueprint which spells out practical ways in which real progress toward energy security can be made over the next several years.

TWO THIRDS OF U.S. OIL CONSUMPTION IS DUE TO THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR. We believe that by spearheading a global effort to transition the transportation sector to next-generation fuels and vehicles that can utilize them, the United States can deny its adversaries the wherewithal they use to harm us. Doing so will also protect our quality of life and economy against the effects of cuts in foreign energy supplies and rising costs of oil.

The Apollo Alliance provides a message of optimism and hope, framed around rejuvenating our nation’s economy by creating the next generation of American industrial jobs and treating clean energy as an economic and security mandate to rebuild America. America needs to hope again, to dream again, to think big, and to be called to the best of our potential by tapping the optimism and can-do spirit that is embedded in our nation’s history.

In case it's not clear from that paragraph - they are a political action group making some kind of splash about environmental policy change.

The buildings in which we live, work, and play protect us from Nature's extremes, yet they also affect our health and environment in countless ways. The design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal of buildings takes enormous amounts of energy, water, and materials, and generates large quantities of waste, air and water pollution, as well as creating stormwater runoff and heat islands. Buildings also develop their own indoor environments, which present an array of health challenges. Where and how they are built affects wildlife habitat and corridors and the hydrologic cycle, while influencing the overall quality of human life.

As the environmental impact of buildings becomes more apparent, a new field called green building is gaining momentum. Green or sustainable building is the practice of creating healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition. Research and experience increasingly demonstrate that when buildings are designed and operated with their lifecycle impacts in mind, they can provide great environmental, economic, and social benefits. Elements of green building include: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Water Stewardship, Environmentally Preferable Building Materials and Specifications, Waste Reduction, Toxics, Indoor Environment, Smart Growth and Sustainable Development

Creating a better indoor environment can help building owners, managers, occupants, architects and builders to minimize or eliminate the negative health effects, liability, bad publicity, and costly renovations and repairs often associated with IEQ problems. Improving IEQ involves designing, constructing, commissioning, operating, and maintaining buildings in ways that reduce pollution sources and remove indoor pollutants while ensuring that fresh air is continually supplied and properly circulated.

The Swedish Commission on Oil Independence propose a number of far-reaching, concrete measures that can end dependence on oil by the year 2020 and tangibly reduce the use of oil products.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, located in Richland, on the sunny eastern side of Washington state. PNNL is one of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) ten national laboratories, managed by DOE's Office of Science. PNNL also performs research for other DOE offices as well as government agencies, universities, and industry to deliver breakthrough science and technology to meet today's key national needs.

The Climate Change Science Program integrates federal research on climate and global change, as sponsored by thirteen federal agencies and overseen by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, the National Economic Council and the Office of
Management and Budget.

During the past thirteen years the United States, through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), has made the world's largest scientific investment in the areas of climate change and global change research -- a total investment of almost $20 billion. The USGCRP, in collaboration with several other national and international science programs, has documented and characterized several important aspects of the sources, abundances and lifetimes of greenhouse gases; has mounted extensive space-based monitoring systems for global-wide monitoring of climate and ecosystem parameters; has begun to address the complex issues of various aerosol species that may significantly influence climate parameters; has advanced our understanding of the global water and carbon cycles (but with major remaining uncertainties); and has developed several approaches to computer modeling of the global climate.