Obama Puts Government On Greenhouse-Gas Diet

[SpartanDem]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is putting the federal government on a greenhouse-gas diet.

In an executive order signed Monday, Obama directed all agencies to set the first-ever targets for reducing climate-altering pollution from government buildings, fleets and federal workers' commutes.

The agencies will have 90 days to tell the White House how much they plan to measure and reduce greenhouse gases from buildings and vehicles by 2020. Targets for employees' commutes and travel will be due June 2010.

"As the largest consumer of energy in the U.S. economy, the federal government can and should lead by example when it comes to creating innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Obama said in a statement.











Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/06/obama-puts-government-on-_n_310822.html

[polichick]

1. Good news! k&r

[livetohike]

2. Good move!

Maybe companies will go back to providing van pools again. Everyone needs to get back on board for this to work.

[vaberella]

3. I thought SNL and many on DU said O has done nothing for the last 8 months?!

Thanks Pres...you're doing great. This is fantastic news.

[BlooInBloo]

4. :)

[Beetwasher]

5. What A Corporate Tool!!!

:sarcasm:

[Soylent Brice]

6. cool!

[vinylsolution]

7. It would be a great move for....

... President Obama to re-install President Carter's solar panels on the roof of the White House.

And add a couple of wind turbines alongside them, for good measure.

[robo50]

9. Actually some NEWER MORE EFFICIENT ones were put on ...

back in the years of G W Bush, I hate to tell you.

It's already done!

http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/solarwhitehouse.htm

Reagan had taken them down.

"Jan. 8, 2003--Evergreen Solar, Inc. today announced the installation of a 9 kW photovoltaic (PV) system at the White House for the National Park Service.

The new solar roof in Washington, D.C. is the first solar electric project on the White House grounds.

James Doherty, the architect and project manager at the National Park Service Office for White House Liaison, said, "We believe in these technologies, and they've been working for us very successfully. The National Park Service as a whole has long been interested in both sustainable design and renewable energy sources. We also have a mission to lower our energy consumption at all our sites, and we saw an opportunity to do both at the White House grounds."

The White House is maintained as part of the National Park Service.

[HillbillyBob]

10. I wish they would put solar panels on my house

or even help us out with a low cost loan!

Not bragging, but we are trying to do our part.
We have cut our power use from 3300 kwhrs to 1150 kwhrs and our heat fuel use by 2/3 (one gal per cold day instead of 3 gal a day) we sealed our house leaks, gaskets in light fixtures/switches and elect outlets.
Insulated curtain liners and double blinds in the windows(the dead air spaces become insulation) mylar in the windows in summer, replaced weather stripping, put expanding foam where ever i found air leaks around pipes and drains and around windows, double jacket on the water heater tank and turned the temp down. When we replaced the dishwasher and clothes washer we went with energy star dw and front loader(uses one tablespoon of soap instead of 1/2 cup(prop the door open till it dries out or it will mildew) it also uses less water and both machines have internal water heaters. The front loader uses about 20 gallons for a full wash cycle compared to 60 or more for the top loader, it makes a difference in our power bill because we are on a deep well and the pump takes a good bit of power to get that water up 200 feet.
I use solar gain in winter opening the curtains and blinds on the sunnyside and closing the curtains and blinds on the 'darks side' of the house and after is sun gone. On days that it is 30 F or above we can turn off the heat all together and warm the whole house (4/3 2000sqft) with the sunlight. We have a solar water heater to instal, when that is done we can turn off the electric one and use that for holding the heated water and another tank to supply radiant heat. Under or infloor radiant only needs 70-75 degree water to heat the house. We will run the pumps by solar with battery back up.

Our current power needs can be run by a 2 kw solar set up, we want to drive that down to where we can use a 1 kw system (10,000 instead of 25,000$) and we can tell the power company to come cut the cord.
We considered staying grid tied, but they were very dismissive and talked to to me like i was a retarded child. I am a retired commercial electrician, I also built controls systems for industrial apps.

We brought CFLs from our last rental and as they die off are replacing them one and two at a time with LEDs, yes they cost upfront but the power savings and the fact they last a long time.

We also bought an Energy Star upright freezer if I had it to do over i would go ahead and get the frost free one..I have to unload it every 6 mos to defrost. When we replace the electric stove we plan to get an induction and put in a small 2 hob gas cook top that runs on propane(it gets cold fast and its hard to hot up soup with a candle!
Even with the cost of the DW and Frnt load washer we have spent about 3500$ over 2 1/2 years we save 2500 per year in electric alone, since kero has tripled in price we spend about the same, we woud be spending 3x as much if we had not dropped our usage. We are not sittin in the cold and dark either. That was the point to be comfy and not go broke paying for fossil fuel. We have a fire place, but plan to take it out and put in an efficient wood stove.

We are in the woods and off the paved road, forget going anywhere if there is snow or ice or even a hard rain.

[Stumbler]

11. Good job, Bob!

I fully agree with the idea of low-cost loans. I've heard Hartmann rant about the German gov't offering such loans to their citizens, and now they produce 30% off their national electrical needs by residential solar. And if we could all get on the same bandwagon you're already on, we'd never need to build another coal or nuclear plant in this nation again. Good job!

[AlbertCat]

8. OMG!!!!! SOCIALISM!!!!

or something....

Well, if it was ORDERED by OBAMA..... y'know it be socialism and bad.


Maybe they'll put the solar panels Reagan had removed from the White House back up.