It's been a busy week full of government agencies and proposed new regulations. The US Environmental Protection Agency is starting to take a more active role with regard to pesticides and greenhouse gasses. The California Energy Commission is considering regulations to ban power hog televisions. And the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory also is in the news this week with their annual green power report.
EPA Takes Another Step Towards Regulating Greenhouse Gases
The EPAy formally declared that heat-trapping gases like CO2 and five others were a threat to public health and welfare. In order to regulate the gases under the Clean Air Act, the agency had to prove that the gases endangered the public. The EPA recently announced that it would require companies to start reporting their greenhouse gas emissions and now with today's declaration, regulation could be as little as 60 days away, when the comment period ends on this ruling.
EPA Starts Testing Pesticides. Finally.
Only thirteen years after the passage of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, the EPA is ready to start testing pesticides for their potential effects on the endocrine system of animals and humans. The EPA announced on Wednesday that it would finally start testing 67 of the most commonly used pesticides. The testing protocols, long anticipated by the agriculture and chemical industry, are now ready for implementation.
DOE Ranks Greenest Utility Companies, Spots Positive Trends
The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released its annual lists of utility companies that are leading the way in renewable energy programs. The DOE compiled lists in these categories: total sales of renewable energy to program participants, total number of participants, percentage of customer participation, green power sales percentage, and lowest price premium for green power. Unsurprisingly, utilities in Texas, Oregon and California topped most of the rankings.
100 MPG Bright IDEA Unveiled Today
Bright Automotive has been hyping their 100-mpg concept vehicle for months, and today, it was finally revealed. It's not much to look at, but luckily, the IDEA has a lot of impressive features that should make it very appealing. The IDEA plug-in hybrid is designed specifically for commercial and government fleets. It has a 30-mile all-electric range before the hybrid engine takes over, which achieves 70 mpg. So, if you drove it 100 miles in one trip, you'd only use one gallon of gas, but the car would become less efficient over longer trips that didn't include recharging the battery.
California Proposes Banning Energy-Guzzling TVs
Though it seems a dangerous proposition to come between people and their TVs, California's Energy Commission is looking to do exactly that; for a good cause. According to the Commission, consumer electronics - including TVs - use 10 percent of the average household electricity. The state is proposing rules that would require all television sets sold in California to use 50 percent less energy by 2013. If approved, they would start regulating TVs in January, 2011.
Don't forget to check out the news on the other EcoGeek Network blogs, too:
EnviroWonk - http://www.envirowonk.com/
Envirovore - http://www.envirovore.com/
Carectomy - http://www.carectomy.com/
And be sure to check in for more information about all the latest green technologies at EcoGeek.org
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