Oh Ship

Britain and other European governments have been accused of underestimating the health risks from shipping pollution following research which shows that one giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50m cars.

Confidential data from maritime industry insiders based on engine size and the quality of fuel typically used by ships and cars shows that just 15 of the world's biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world's 760m cars.

Full story.

Turning a Blind Eye

It’ll be nice to have a functioning EPA again:

The Environmental Protection Agency eight years ago said it wanted to set a national standard for ponds or landfills used to dispose of wastes produced from burning coal.

The agency has yet to act.

Eight years, huh? That’s a pretty telling number.

The notion that the Bush Administration neglected an issue that would have been uncomfortable for the energy industry will surprise no one. The idea that if the Bush Administration had bothered to act, the TVA ash disaster in East Tennessee might have been averted will be lost on deliberately blind-eye Republicans like Rep. Zach Wamp.

Once again the Bush Administration failed to foresee or prevent a disaster that they had been explicitly warned about. Leaving President-elect Obama to deal with this:

Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, a practice the federal government has long recognized as a risk to human health and the environment but has left unregulated.

An Associated Press analysis of the most recent Energy Department data found that 156 coal-fired power plants store ash in surface ponds similar to the one that collapsed last month in Tennessee.

Only 11 more days until the White House is once again the head of the federal government instead of its primary obstacle.

Hullo, CHaP

Okay, what if you had a little power generator at your home or business that provided electricity, and the heat given off by that generator was captured and used to heat the building?

It’s called Combined Heat and Power (CHP), and the big brains over at Oak Ridge National Laboratory think we should use a lot more of it.

If the U.S. started getting 20% of our electricity from CHP technologies by 2030, that would eliminate 60% of our projected increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

Some countries over in Europe already get 20% of their electricity from CHP sources, but some countries in Europe are roughly the size of Rutherford County so I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison. By the way, CHP technologies have been around about a 100 years.

Eat Your (Local) Veggies

Are you down with the whole “local food” craze? You know, buying food that hasn’t been shipped all over the world before it reaches your plate? The idea is to reduce the carbon footprint of your daily bread.

Reason is not impressed with the hot new trend. The short of it: it’s only environmentally advantageous if you also only eat food that’s in season. Seems it’s worse for the planet to grow food locally in artificial environments than to grow it on the other side of the world and then ship it here.

The article also talks about how little of the US and UK’s carbon footprint is created by food transportation, but I always find that a weak argument because it rests on the idea that if you can’t find a single “silver bullet” solution then you shouldn’t do anything.

Environmental damage is a sum a million small parts, and so is the solution.

UPDATE: Nashville food guru and femme fatale Joy Ramirez has everything you need to know about local foods and eating in season. Check out her blog: Joy of Cooking.