Conventional diesel tugboats are significant sources of pollution in the world’s seaports, but that is on the verge of change. The Foss Maritime Company is adding a second energy efficient hybrid tugboat to its Southern California fleet. Its first hybrid vessel, the Carolyn Dorothy, was launched in 2009 and at the time it was believed to be the first and only tugboat of its kind in the world.

The new vessel is actually a retrofit of an existing tugboat, for which the California Air Resources Board chipped in a grant of $1 million.  It’s just a small part of a major EPA program to reduce pollution in seaport areas all along the U.S. coastlines, which also includes efforts to cut emissions from trucks at seaports.

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It is rather well-known now that transportation is one of the leading causes of global warming pollution in the world, and especially in the United States. NASA actually reported in February that motor vehicles are the largest net contributor to global warming pollution.

Now, a new scientific finding in the journal Environmental Science & Technology shows that, counter to what most of us believe, driving a car causes more global warming pollution than flying the same distance in a plane.

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A scientist at the Florida Institute of Technology has come up with a new compound that disinfects and cleans polluted water without producing toxic byproducts.  It’s based on ferrate, which is a  revved-up form of iron.  Through the school’s technology transfer office, chemistry professor Virender K. Sharma has teamed up to commercialize the product with Ferratec, LLC, a group formed by an investment incubation firm based in St. Louis called The Incubation Factory.  Ferratec has a background working with ferrate, including a complementary technology from global science/tech research leader Battelle Memorial Institute.

The involvement of Battelle is significant because the non-profit  manages the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, which fits in neatly with the federal government’s support for green chemistry that relies less on toxic substances including petrochemicals.  In addition, the partnership nurtured by Florida Tech’s technology transfer office and The Incubation Factory demonstrates the growing power of academic institutions to link up with private investors and bring more sustainability-related research into the sphere of the public economy.  It’s yet another manifestation of the weakening grip of fossil fuels as we move toward a more sustainable future.

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The Port of Los Angeles has succeeded in making steep cuts in diesel emissions since 2008 when California’s Clean Trucks rules took effect, according to the 2009 air emissions inventory. The joint Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach Clean Air Action Plan requires that each unit of cargo be moved with fewer emissions.

Because the measurements are on a per unit of cargo basis, the recession is not a factor in these figures. The Journal of Commerce reports that the program has been a success:

Compared with 2005, per unit of cargo; Diesel particulate matter has dropped 47 percent, NOx by 26 percent and SOx by 51 percent compared to 2005, with over half the drop coming in the last year.

The Clean Trucks program alone has yielded a remarkable 70% cut in emissions, using legislation similar to the pollution caps in the American Power Act (APA) on track for a vote in July.

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Investors quickly dumped stocks across the fossil energy industry within minutes of Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that there could be criminal charges filed against BP, holding it accountable for the Gulf catastrophe. BP and Halliburton, already declining since the Gulf  accident, lost almost 15 percent on the news, and Anadarko Petroleum, a part owner of the exploded oil rig, tumbled nearly 20 percent, as the stock market factored in that oil companies might have to pay out huge amounts in criminal fines for pollution.

Other fossil energy companies that were part of the dive after the announcement by Holder included Massey – the other fossil energy company now facing likely criminal prosecution for its negligence in it’s recent mining disaster – which dropped another 10% down to $30.17.

Judging from this sudden sector-wide drop, investors don’t apparently already factor in that the fossil energy business is dangerous and dirty, and that polluters might be held criminally liable, which suggests just why the fossil energy industry puts so much money into climate science disinformation, and the purchase of Senators to prevent carbon legislation.

This graph is a picture of the true value of fossil energy in a future carbon-constrained world.

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China has just completed its first ever study of environmental pollution. Not surprisingly, the news is terrible. But the optimistic and frank tone is encouraging. And strangely reminiscent…

“Although the news is bad, we should not lose confidence in our ability to bring pollution under control” says Ma Jun, the Director of Public and Environmental Affairs. “Facing the problem lays the foundation for solving it and we need an accurate picture of the situation if we are to produce a realistic and practical pollution strategy.”

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Nearly two years ago, I wrote that transportation was “the leading contiributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the country, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and… the fastest growing contributor.”

Now, in other terms and looking at additional factors, NASA has determined that automobiles are the largest net contributor to climate change pollution.

In other words, when you take into account the climate change (or global warming) gases automobiles emit as well as gases they emit that have a cooling effect, automobiles are the largest contributor to climate change, followed by 2) burning of household biofuels (i.e. wood and animal dung) and 3) raising livestock.

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As a follow up to the post from Sunday (Social Media Day of Action on Mountaintop Removal), this is a reminder that today is a big day of social media activism to stop mountaintop removal coal mining!

Visit Rainforest Action Network’s website to join thousands of others in taking action to encourage Chase bank to stop supporting mountaintop removal coal mining in the Appalachian Mountains.

Why?

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Some leading businesses, Hollywood, Obama, and the public are putting the pressure on Congress to move forward with a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill, but while we wait on that, some Senators have decided to tackle some specific coal pollutants that cost the American public trillions of dollars in healthcare costs, hundreds of thousands [...]

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A new poll conducted by Yale University and George Mason University researchers shows that American voters do want strong climate and energy legislation.
“Climate Change in the American Mind: Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in January 2010” is the name of the poll and it shows bi-partisan support for more clean energy research, controlling [...]

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