Clean Energy - Introduction (Back to Air Quality and Energy Program Index)
Generating electricity from fossil fuels—primarily coal—dumps more than 6 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 13 million tons of sulfur dioxide, and 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air of the United States every year (Clean Air Network). Without doubt, cleaning up dirty coal-fired power plants is necessary and important work. But if we are to ultimately win the battle against air pollution that leads to the early deaths of thousands of people, impairs the health of millions, degrades visibility in our national parks, wilderness areas, and other places close to our hearts, and causes global warming, we must find new and better ways to generate electricity that are renewable, sustainable, and non-polluting. In addition, we must improve the way we use electricity—regardless of how it is generated—through increased energy efficiency.
Climate change, which is driven in large part by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, will have a profound effect on the natural water cycle, plants, and animals of the Colorado Plateau. For example, average snowpack in the Colorado River basin may decrease by 30 percent by the middle of the next century and the date of peak runoff will continue to advance, coming more than a month earlier. We work with national and regional groups to manage and regulate greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels and other human activities and to educate the public. In 2005, we organized the Southwest’s first training workshop for global warming activists in collaboration with the Green House Network and assisted Clear the Air in publicizing and distributing its report climate disruption in the West (please see websites below).
When the Trust expanded its building in 2000, we consulted with the Rocky Mountain Institute and the resulting addition won an award from the Coconino County Sustainable Building program. In addition, with donations from our members, we installed a 1.4 KW photovoltaic system at its headquarters office in early 2003, and in September 2004, we added another 1.4 kilowatts to the system. We are also working with Southwest Windpower to test a newly designed wind turbine on our property.
Links
Southwest Windpower
Green House Network
Clear the Air
Clear the Air/Water in the West
Real Climate
Rocky Mountain Institute
Southwest Renewable Energy Conference
Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP)
Western Resource Advocates
Western Governor’s Association
Arizona Environmental Portfolio Standard
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