Our Latest Reports
Working with the Sun: How Solar Power Can Protect North Carolina's Environment and Create New Jobs
Released 5/26/2010 - Solar power can curb pollution, protecting public health and North Carolina’s environment. It can also drive North Carolina’s economy forward – creating jobs that can’t be outsourced, and launching new companies to manufacture and install solar power equipment.
Building Better: How High Efficiency Buildings Will Save Money and Reduce Global Warming
Released 3/31/2010 - America is the largest consumer of energy in the world, and the majority of this energy comes from dirty and dangerous sources like coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power. Our continued reliance on these fuels contributes to global warming, undermines our energy independence, and costs American families and businesses more and more money every year. We can save money and help solve global warming by reducing the amount of energy we use, and the best place to start is in the buildings we live and work in every day. Over 40 percent of our energy—and 10 percent of all the energy used in the world – goes toward powering America’s buildings1, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Today’s high-efficiency homes and buildings prove that we have the technology and skills to drastically improve the efficiency of our buildings while simultaneously improving their comfort and affordability. If we apply those lessons to all buildings, we can reduce overall building energy consumption 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.
Plug-in Cars: Powering America Towards a Cleaner Future
Released 1/20/2010 - America’s current fleet of gasoline-powered cars and trucks leaves us dependent on oil, contributes to air pollution problems that threaten our health, and produces large amounts of global warming pollution. “Plug-in” cars are emerging as an effective way to lower global warming emissions, oil use, and smog. A “plug-in” car is one that can be recharged from the electric grid. Some plug-in cars run on electricity alone, while others are paired with small gasoline engines to create plug-in hybrids. Many plug-in hybrids can get over 100 miles per gallon, while plug-in electric vehicles consume no gasoline at all.
Elizabeth Ouzts