Climate 411

This post is by John Mimikakis, Senior Policy Manager at Environmental Defense.

Climate Vote 2007

Part of a series on the work of the Environmental Defense Action Fund to enact an effective climate law. You can help by writing to Congress.

Congressmen John Dingell (D-MI) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) aren’t the most likely global warming allies. Until this year, Dingell was a staunch critic of efforts to curb global warming. And Boucher, hailing as he does from coal country, would seem more likely to play the role of climate skeptic than evangelist.

And yet, these two representatives appear to be leading House efforts to draft legislation that would, for the first time, place hard limits on America’s global warming pollution.

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This post is by Mark MacLeod, Director of Special Projects, Climate and Air Program.

Climate Vote 2007

Part of a series on the work of the Environmental Defense Action Fund to enact an effective climate law. You can help by writing to Congress.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has long supported national cap and trade legislation to fight global warming. In fact, he helped draft the first bill more than four years ago.

Senator John Warner (R-VA) has steadily warmed to the issue and has acknowledged the significant threat global warming poses to our environment, economy and national security.

As they announced this summer, they are now working together as chair and ranking member of a key Senate subcommittee to draft a comprehensive national global warming bill to cap and reduce America’s emissions.

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This post is by Mark MacLeod, Director of Special Projects, Climate and Air Program.

Climate Vote 2007

Part of a series on the work of the Environmental Defense Action Fund to enact an effective climate law. You can help by writing to Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has already voted for a national global warming cap and trade bill. Twice, in fact.

And, as Majority Leader, Senator Reid has said all the right things, promoting global warming as one of the top 10 legislative priorities for this Congress and mentioning global warming repeatedly in press conferences and speeches.

However, the Senate has yet to vote on a global warming bill this year. In fact, no global warming bill has even made it out of committee, though Senators Warner and Lieberman have joined forces to make this happen.

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The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

One reason that old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs are such a particularly poor idea in summer is that they put out a lot of heat compared to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). If you’re air conditioning your home, incandescent lights will require your air conditioner to work harder because you’re basically heating and cooling the room at the same time.

Some people have translated this into the advice that incandescent light bulbs are good in winter because they supplement the heat to your home, making up for the additional energy they draw. I asked James Wang, Ph.D., a climate scientist at Environmental Defense, to calculate whether this was indeed true. His answer was no. Here’s why.

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The author of today’s post, Jeffery Greenblatt, Ph.D., is a scientist at Environmental Defense specializing in low-carbon energy technologies.

Consumers and businesses alike complain that it takes years for savings on energy bills to repay the up-front costs of energy efficiency. No longer. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, lenders have discovered what energy analysts have known for years: loans for energy efficiency improvements are low-risk, because borrowers can "finance" these loans through lower energy payments.

Energy-efficient mortgages have been available for some time, but lenders didn’t promote them, and customers resisted the extra inspections and paperwork. Now to get home buyers interested, banks are offering incentives of $500-$1000 off closing costs. Everybody wins: consumers save money, lenders make a profit, and the atmosphere enjoys lower carbon emissions.

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