Maryland raised $18 million this week in an auction of rights for power plants to release climate-changing pollution, officials recently announced. The bulk of the proceeds from this week’s auction in New York will finance energy-saving projects and help low-income residents pay their power bills.

The auction of allowances for power plants in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic to emit carbon dioxide yielded a total of $106.5 million for the 10 states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

This was the second auction held this fall. About 31.5 million allowances were sold at a “clearing price” of $3.38 each, an increase over the $3.07 price paid for rights sold in the first auction in September. Maryland received $16 million from the initial auction.

The regional initiative is the first mandatory “cap-and-trade” program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The participating states have all imposed caps, or ceilings, on carbon dioxide emissions from their power plants.

Read more about Biofuels & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Global warming is an issue pertaining to the world, and is as a result of human interferences and activities. It has not only put the world at risk of a complete ‘meltdown’ of the ice at the poles, but also is destroying the very atmosphere which helps us breathe. Car emissions, burning of fossil fuels, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, all contribute to the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a global catastrophe which the world is trying to cope with. The number of laws set and agreed upon by many a nation, wasn’t signed by USA, the largest polluter in the world, leading to a steady rise in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) over the past few years. Let’s find out what led to this rapid rise in GHG over the last few years in USA.

Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases, both natural and anthropogenic, which emit and absorb radiation of the infrared radiation emitted by the sun and reflected by the clouds. This cycle is known as the greenhouse effect. When anthropogenic gases like pollutants are released into the atmosphere, they can trap radiation, resulting in a heating up of the atmosphere. This process causes global warming.

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European Union leaders accorded recently to battle climate change by ordering that a fifth of Europe’s energy mix should come from renewable sources within 12 years.

The agreement, hailed as a “landmark” deal and a come through by politicians and the green lobby alike, came ahead of an all-important EU summit opening in Poland tomorrow at which 27 prime ministers and presidents are alleged to finalize an ambitious package to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020.

The accord reached yesterday paves the way for a law obliging all EU countries to meet national targets for renewable energy. Two points had threatened to derail the legislation: the insistence that biofuels comprise 10% of transport fuel by 2020, and an endeavor by Italy to loosen the law by ordering a review of progress on renewables in 2014. The review date was retained, but the compulsory target and national quotas also survived.

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Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA)’s chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee could bring sweeping changes to legislation affecting climate change and the energy sector.

The sweeping change which came to D.C this November has certainly been felt in the House Democratic Caucus, where on Nov 28, John Dingell (D-MI), one of the longest serving chairs of the Energy and Commerce Committee was narrowly defeated by Waxman. This represented a blow to the seniority system of chairmanships which has been the rule in the Democratic Caucus for decades now - and the new chairmanship f this influential committee may represent many changes coming down the pike for the 40% of the U.S. economy whose activities are regulated by the committee.

These sectors include the health care, pharmaceutical and biotech energies as well as the energy sector. The committee also has regulatory oversight for the FDA, the SEC and a number of other federal agencies. Waxman has a long track record as an aggressive reformer as chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform…

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In 2007 the emission from greenhouse gas (GHG) were 7,282 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) in the United States.  This represents a 1.4 percent increase in the levels recorded in 2006, according to a report issued by the Energy Information Administration titled “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007″.  Historically, since 1990 the GHG emissions have increased in the United States at an average rate of 0.9 percent annually.

The U.S. GHG intensity or U.S. GHG emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), dropped from 636 metric tons per million 2000 constant dollars of GDP (MMTCO2e/million dollars GDP) in 2006 to 632 MMTCO2e /million dollars GDP in 2007.  These figures represent a 0.6 percent decline.  The GHG intensity has declined on an average of 1.9 percent annually since 1990…

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With the latest decree of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on November 17, 2008, most refiners, blenders, and importers of gasoline will have to use renewable fuels like ethanol in place of 10.21% of total gasoline usage. The point is to ensure that about 11.1 billion gallons of fuels will be sold in 2009. The renewable fuel standard is increasing by around 23%, but the percentage requirement is rising by over one third. This is what the statistics show.

Authorities expect that fuel consumption will be lower in 2009 than it was in 2008. Therefore a greater amount of renewable fuels is needed to touch the 11.1 billion gallon mark.

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