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The good news is that we can slow and eventually stop global warming, but we must act today. The most important step we can take to curb global warming is to improve our nation's energy efficiency. Our cars and light trucks, home appliances and power plants could be made much more efficient by simply installing the best current technology. Energy efficiency is the cleanest, safest, most economical way to begin to curb global warming. No global warming solution will succeed unless we can control emissions from cars. If U.S. autos were a separate country, they would be the world’s fifth largest global warming polluter, emitting more than all sources in Great Britain combined!
Clean up our electrical power plants. We also need to clean up our electrical power plants. Most electric utilities still use coal to produce electricity, spewing millions of tons of carbon dioxide and other pollution into the atmosphere every year. Part of the problem could be solved by converting these plants to burn cleaner natural gas. We could do much more to save energy in our homes and office buildings. More energy efficient lighting, heating and air-conditioning could keep millions of tons of carbon dioxide out of our air each year.
Midwestern states in particular hold enormous potential as sources of renewable energy. Renewable sources currently make up less than 1% of the energy market in the US. But states like Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota hold the potential of becoming the Saudi Arabia of wind power. AMERICA MUST INVEST IN THE FUTURE The United States has entered the 21st century relying on dirty, polluting 19th century fossil fuel technology. It is good for America's environment, economy, health, and climate to use energy more efficiently, to develop clean alternative sources of electricity, and to use more efficient methods of transportation. We must begin to look towards a cleaner, healthier future. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
Curbing the Global Warming Threat
While
there is no technology to remove C02 from a car's exhaust, we can make them pollute less
by making them more fuel efficient. By using today's best technology, car makers could
dramatically increase the fuel economy of their cars and trucks. In fact, off-the-shelf technology
can change the nation’s best-selling
SUV, the Ford Explorer, from a 19 mpg
gas-guzzler to an efficient 34 mpg vehicle.
Gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, such as
the 70 mpg Honda Insight and 55 mpg
Toyota Prius, can be used to obtain significant
improvements in fuel economy. If we
are to make any progress in slowing global
warming, we must make our cars go farther
on a gallon of gas.
Step up the use of clean
wind and solar energy. Harnessing the clean, abundant energy of the sun and wind is
critical to solving the global warming problem. Technological advances have brought the
cost of electricity generated by the wind down by 82 percent since 1981. Solar energy technology
has made remarkable progress as new photovoltaic cells have been developed to convert even
greater amounts of sunlight directly into electricity. Today the costs of wind and solar
power are becoming competitive with dirty coal-fired plants.