bemoreeco

On January 20^th 2009, Illinois senator Barack Obama will become the 44th president of the United States of America. For green voters, the choice was either Obama, whose $150 billion energy policy would transfer financial backing from oil and gas to renewable energy technology and conservation, and Senator John McCain, whose campaign promoted more domestic oil and gas drilling, as well as nuclear power.

But with the current economic crisis, analysts have been warning for weeks that the new president is likely to scale-back many plans, given the US government’s mounting debt and responsibilities such as the recent $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.

An exit poll of Voters showed that the most important issue for 6 out of 10 people was that of the Economy while only 7% cited energy as there major concern.

However most of the top concerns of voters such as the economy, the war in Iraq & Afghanistan and terrorism – are all tied to energy. Barrack Obama’s talent for inspiring the US population could be put to no better purpose than galvanizing Americans to leave the majority of fossil fuels behind, in favor of US-made renewable energy. The US’s energy choices are seen to be the critical factor to its future as a superpower.

Obama will take office in difficult times but with the backing of Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. This means that there is a good chance his energy policy will be healthily fulfilled in part.

Speculation is mounting and Obama is expected to name people for his cabinet within weeks. John Kerry, Al Gore and Colin Powell are all names being banded around. Though he has denied wanting a government position, handing Al Gore the environment of the US, if he did accept, would give him freedom like never before to preserve, protect and evolve the US and the conservation of it.

Most Americans do expect the economy to be his major priority but spending on. Most expect the economy to be his first concern, but infrastructure spending - including on energy infrastructure – is most definitely part of Obama’s bigger plan.

As one US Journalist put it, “There’s an incredible energy surrounding Obama, and he’s inspired incredible energy among the voters who not only pulled levers and touched screens but poured out into the streets on election day.”

Barrack Obama will have to take the lead again and rally that enthusiasm to not just rescue the US economy and end the war in Iraq & Afghanistan but to combat global warming as he promised. With this, I am sure the effects of his presidency will be felt worldwide!

The planet is headed for an ecological “credit crunch”, according to a report issued by conservation groups. The document contends that our demands on natural resources overreach what the Earth can sustain by almost a third.

The Living Planet Report is the work of WWF, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network. It says that more than three quarters of the world’s population lives in countries where consumption levels are outstripping environmental renewal. This makes them “ecological debtors”, meaning that they are drawing - and often overdrawing - on the agricultural land, forests, seas and resources of other countries to sustain them.

Read the full article at the BBC

I saw this article in the Telegraph on Thursday 2nd October and found it very interesting that the Government are making us  improve our homes, but still need to get their house in order as well. They should practice what they prescribe.

About 18,000 public buildings are being tested for energy efficiency after a new law was passed dictating that their carbon dioxide emissions must be measured.

The measure ranks buildings’ efficiency on a scale where A is best and G is worst. Both the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, and the Bank of England received a G. Between them, they use enough electricity and gas each year to emit 21,356 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

However it was not only older buildings that were found to be energy inefficient. Despite opening only six years ago, London’s City Hall received an E grade. City Hall was described by Foster & Partners, which designed it, as a “virtually non-polluting public building”.

It is now a legal requirement that every public building with an area greater than 1,000 square metres show a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) - similar to the colour-coded charts which come on refrigerators. The Government has promised to make all new public buildings have zero carbon emissions within ten years.

Emissions from Britain’s public buildings

(The grade reflects the building’s type and size, as well as its emissions)

• Houses of Parliament - G grade - 11,983 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted each year
• Bank of England - G - 9,373
• Imperial War Museum London - G 3,664
• Imperial War Museum North - G - 1,396
• Natural History Museum - E - 10,026
• HM Treasury - E - 4,122
• City Hall, London - E - 2,255
• Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - E - 1,322
• 10 Downing Street - D - 675
• Job Centre Plus, Goole - B - 67

[Source: Display Energy Certificate]

To read the full article published at  www.telegraph.co.uk <click here>