A Cleaner Future

A Cleaner Future aims to provoke, inspire, and provide information about alternative and renewable energy sources. We're not experts on what should be done, we're just concerned citizens that want there to be an earth for our children and many future generations to come.

Its hard to live in this world without being a part of the petroleum process. Its easy to look at a catastrophe like the Gulf Oil Spill and demand immediate change.

So what can we do? For starters, we can choose to no longer remain silent. We can ask questions, we can demand answers, and we can seek out the truth.

These may sound like lofty ambitions, but at one point in time so was the idea of freedom to our forefathers.

Thanks for stopping by and please get involved. We only have one world.

Written By: Jonathan Hiskes Source: Grist

<strong>1. A better "cash for clunkers."</strong><p>Congress could commission a study to explore a grab-bag of methods to lighten the impact of trucking and rail and jet shipping. "Heavy trucks might save 32 percent of energy use through a combination of improved fuel efficiencies, and better coordination to reduce empty backhauls and unnecessary travel," Laitner writes in a journal article [PDF] Train design that reduces aerodynamic drag and collects energy from braking (as a Prius does) could produce more savings.</p>

<strong>2. Emergency funding for endangered mass transit.</strong><p>A chilling 59 percent of public transit networks have cut service or raised fares (or both) since January 2009, pushing more commuters into cars. Congress could save both oil and jobs by preserving existing bus and rail lines with emergency funding.</p>

<strong>3. A national telecommuting and videoconferencing initiative.</strong><p>Encouraging employees to work from home and cut back on business travel would cut fuel usage, save them money and commuting time, and probably make a lot of them happier. Congress could direct federal workers to telecommute and videoconference as much as possible. For everyone else, a campaign would help make these things more normative and socially acceptable.</p>

<strong>4. Smarter freight movement.</strong><p>Congress could commission a study to explore a grab-bag of methods to lighten the impact of trucking and rail and jet shipping. "Heavy trucks might save 32 percent of energy use through a combination of improved fuel efficiencies, and better coordination to reduce empty backhauls and unnecessary travel," Laitner writes in a journal article [PDF] Train design that reduces aerodynamic drag and collects energy from braking (as a Prius does) could produce more savings.</p>

<strong>5. Smarter land use.</strong><p>Congress could direct (and help fund) local government efforts to update zoning and land-use regulations in ways that encourage compact development compatible with transit service and friendly to walkers and bikers. (Obama's Partnership for Sustainable Communities is already taking steps in this direction.)</p>

<strong>6. Smarter travel through IT.</strong><p>By equipping its trucks with directional software that helps drivers avoid left-hand turns, UPS saved 3 million gallons of fuel in a year. If the nation's 270,000-some traffic-light systems all used technology that anticipated traffic patterns and reduced stop times, according to Laitner, they could cut transportation petroleum use by 5 to 10 percent. A national study into attacking fuel waste through information technology could yield more such gains.</p>

<strong>7. Educating drivers.</strong><p> Teaching energy-efficient driving practices (such as slower acceleration) and maintenance (keeping tires inflated) would lead to fuel-saving behavioral changes. Studying why people don't take money-saving steps like checking tire pressure could yield even more. Fuel-economy basics could also become a central part of driver's ed programs.</p>

<strong>8. A resolution saying efficiency is a new national priority.</strong><p> A "statement"--big deal, right? Well, it could be: An "efficiency is king" resolution from Congress would send a clear signal to businesses, consumers, and energy markets that would encourage them to make their own changes. Congress could also tell government agencies to move immediately on efficiency measures that would pay for themselves-and make funding contingent on that action.</p>

<strong>9. Prizes for tech breakthroughs.</strong><p>The privately run Automotive X Prize offers $10 million to the first team of engineers that can invent a commercially viable 100 mpg car. Congress could consider similar incentives to encourage entrepreneurs to focus on efficiency. (The Obama administration is already funding potential high-payoff cleantech research ventures.)</p>

<strong>10. Efficiency 'visibility.'</strong><p> Efficiency is a largely invisible energy source. To correct that, writes Laitner, 'Congress should direct and fund the Department of Commerce, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency (among others) to collaborate in the development of a National Energy Efficiency Data Center (NEEDC).' We're learning more than we ever wanted to know about oil dispersants, blowout preventers, and other offshore rig hardware. Why not learn instead about constructive technologies?</p>

History repeats itself. In the summer of 1979, the world watched eerily similar scenes being played out on television sets. The Ixtoc I oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the second largest oil spill in history. After 9 months of failed attempts to cap the gushing blow-out preventer, the incident was finally brought back under control after relief wells were completed. Fast forward to Deepwater Horizon. Technology has advanced and oil companies are drilling deeper and deeper wells, but how have they prepared themselves to prevent another Ixtoc? They haven't.