A new report released by the Global Commission on the Economy and the Climate identifies 10 key economic opportunities that could close up to 96 percent of the gap between business-as-usual emissions and the level needed to limit dangerous climate change. Shipping is on the list.
Alaska Airlines says it is on track to save 87 gallons of fuel, shorten flight times by about nine minutes and reduce carbon emissions by nearly 1 metric ton, every time one of its planes land at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport using new, operations-enhancing Federal Aviation Administration procedures designed by Boeing.
Sometime this summer, a United Airlines flight will take off from Los Angeles International Airport bound for San Francisco using fuel generated from farm waste and oils derived from animal fats.
In response to the EPA and U.S. Department of Transportation's proposed greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) said it continues to support efforts to assure that the EPA and DOT coordinate efforts and propose a single, national greenhouse gas reduction and fuel efficiency improvement program.
New "clean truck" standards have been proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation to improve fuel economy and reduce pollution from the nation's freight trucks and buses.
TNT is deploying seven 3.5-tonne electric express delivery vehicles for its operations in and around Amsterdam and Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as a partner of Freight Electric Vehicles in Urban Europe, an urban e-mobility project supported by the European Commission. FREVUE seeks to demonstrate to industry, consumers and policy makers how electric vehicles can meet the growing need for sustainable urban logistics.
Hydraulic fracturing has contaminated some drinking water sources, but the damage is not widespread, according to a landmark U.S. study of water pollution risks that has supporters of the drilling method declaring victory and foes saying it revealed reason for concern.
Although gas prices are temporarily low at the pump, long-term energy costs are on the rise. According to State of the World 2015 contributing author Nathan John Hagens, a former hedge fund manager who teaches human macro-ecology at the University of Minnesota, nations are papering over those costs with debt. Higher energy costs are leading to continued recessions, excess claims on future natural resources, and more-severe social inequality and poverty.
In 2014, renewable energy accounted for 9.8 percent of total domestic energy consumption. This marks the highest renewable energy share since the 1930s, when wood was a much larger contributor to domestic energy supply.