What's this? Did you know that the typical northern California home's annual energy use emits the same amount of greenhouse gas as an SUV?

PG&E is hoping more people will realize this with the recent launch of the ClimateSmart program's new ad campaign, which seeks to educate people about their homes' carbon footprint and how they can reduce, then offset that footprint.

Keep an eye out for the ads online and on local TV stations throughout northern and central California. As you can see here, the ads literally portray a home as an SUV, illustrating the cumulative emissions that result from normal, everyday activities. The ads also encourage customers to take advantage of PG&E's new online carbon calculator to calculate their own homes' carbon footprint, enroll in ClimateSmart and join the fight against climate change.

PG&E's ClimateSmart program is not alone in its efforts to educate the public about the benefits of third-party verified carbon offsets. As GreenBiz reports, Brighter Planet kicks off its One Day campaign today, where people are invited to go carbon neutral for a day. For each person who signs up, Brighter Planet will donate 136 pounds of carbon offsets (the emissions Brigheter Planet claims is for the average person for one day).

The Brighter Planet blog outlines 12 conservation tips for the holiday season. Like PG&E's ClimateSmart program, these tips outline many other opportunities for reducing your carbon footprint before offsetting it.

December could be your month to make a difference in the fight against climate change by putting your own home's emissions into neutral through PG&E's ClimateSmart program.

A broad coalition of utilities and energy producers (including PG&E Corporation), energy consumers (American Honda, 3M) and Environmental Defense Fund today issued a broad set of suggested principles to guide the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the Bush administration, EPA has staunchly resisted issuing any such regulations. The incoming Obama administration will surely adopt a new approach, taking advantage of the Supreme Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which opened the door to the agency acting if it finds that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare.

The coalition's proposed principles at first glance seem commonplace. They call for EPA to root its decisions in science, consult closely with Congress, work with state and local governments, emphasize measures that are cost-effective, and give firms credit for taking early voluntary action to reduce emissions.

What's remarkable on second take is how little some of these principles appear to have governed EPA's decision making over the past eight years. The Obama administration and Congress will have their hands full reviewing EPA's rules and rulemaking procedures--if this recent story from the Washington Post is any indication:

The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA's 10 regional administrators formally dissented from the decision and four others criticized the move in writing.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction - in life as well as in physics.

The widespread hoopla over the promised reappearance of electric vehicles after the demise of General Motors' EV-1 is now inevitably being countered by skeptics who question their cost and suitability. Even proponents of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs)--including we at NEXT100--should take note of their arguments.

One significant skeptic is Michael Kanellos at GreenTechMedia. In recent posts he's noted that Tesla Motors, designer of a high-performance electric sports car, is seeking $400 million in federal loans having "already burned through massive amounts of capital and delayed its sedan."

BMW, he points out, plans to lease prototypes of its Electric Mini for $850 a month--as much as some of its most expensive cars, even though it "only goes about 150 miles before conking out and has a reduced backseat."

The Norwegian manufacturer Think plans to sell a compact urban EV, The City, which has a range of just over 100 miles and a top speed of just over 60 mph. Base price is a little under $30,000--but that doesn't include the battery. When you factor in the battery's lease cost, Kanellos reports, the total cost over seven years comes to more than $40,000: "At those prices, you could almost buy two new Honda Accords for the price of a single City."

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that GM plans very small runs of its much-anticipated Volt for the first couple of years due to high production costs:

"People ask us when will we produce not just 10,000 but 50,000," said Frank Weber, GM's global vehicle line executive and chief engineer for E-flex systems. "I say when the battery and power train costs have come down significantly."

The high cost and limited storage of vehicle batteries remains the Achilles heel of electric vehicles. A recent survey in Newsweek reports that battery capacity is increasing only about 8 percent a year, far below the rapid doubling of computer power.

A lot of smart people are nonetheless banking on EVs and PHEVs. Their combination of high performance, low emissions, and low fuel costs is hard to beat. Hopefully, well-heeled early adopters will pay inflated prices for the first production models, allowing manufacturers to gain scale economies and begin serving the mass market with reasonably priced vehicles before the earth overheats.

Now that election season is over, notes The New York Times' Green Inc. blog, politicians in Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont and now New Hampshire are beginning to talk about the unthinkable: raising gas taxes to pay for infrastructure repairs and trim budget deficits. (The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon hasn't risen since 1993 and is much lower than in most other developed countries.)

Don't be surprised if more politicians begin joining them in the name of national security or combating global warming.

A new report by the Institute for 21st Century Energy, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and led by General James L. Jones (Rtd.), President-elect Barack Obama's designee as the new national security adviser, calls for "bold and comprehensive" action to reduce demand for energy, including imported oil:

The volatility of the gas and oil markets of 2008 is proof positive that a call to action is necessary and justified. With the recent sharp drop in oil prices, we should not be lulled into believing that this reflects a fundamental change in our energy fortunes. . . . Indeed, the fact that such boom and bust cycles have been all too common in energy markets over the past four decades is indicative of the lack of a national energy policy that keeps pace with the rapidly changing dynamics of energy markets and systems.

Most politicians still regard gas tax increases as the "third rail" of American politics--to be avoided at all costs. Back in the early 1990s, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts made an off-hand comment in favor of raising federal gas taxes by 50 cents a gallon, only to face a Bush-Cheney '04 campaign ad a decade later blasting the idea as "wacky." Kerry had to backpeddle furiously. Learning from Kerry's misstep, Sen. John McCain in 2008 called for a summer-long suspension of the federal gas tax to help revive the economy.

Most economists across the political spectrum support higher gas taxes (sometimes paired with a reduction in other taxes). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they enjoy academic tenure. President Bush's own chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Greg Mankiw, endorsed a 50-cent-per-gallon tax increase in a 1999 Fortune magazine article:

Cutting income taxes while increasing gasoline taxes would lead to more rapid economic growth, less traffic congestion, safer roads, and reduced risk of global warming--all without jeopardizing long-term fiscal solvency. This may be the closest thing to a free lunch that economics has to offer.

Now the director of the University of California Energy Institute, economist Severin Borenstein, has issued an interesting new variant on the idea: a variable tax surcharge that would rise or fall inversely with oil prices in order to keep gas prices at the pump roughly constant:

Such a surcharge could stabilize gasoline prices at levels that a few months ago would have been celebrated by consumers and still significantly reduce California's budget deficit. It would also slow the return of gas-guzzling vehicles that will otherwise result if oil prices remain at current levels.

Even anti-tax politicians might support the plan if other sales or vehicle license taxes were cut equivalently. Why? Because higher gas prices would reduce traffic congestion and delays and, more important, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Borenstein estimates that a tax surcharge that raised fuel-pump prices 50 cents a gallon to $3.00 would cut greenhouse emissions from transportation fuels by 9 percent in the long run, a substantial amount.

Of course, such a tax might be redundant if other policies, like cap-and-trade markets, raise the price of carbon fuels more generally. And gas taxes always raise difficult questions about equity, especially during a painful recession. But Borenstein's plan has the advantage of offering consumers more price stability, helping them make more thoughtful longterm plans about their choice of vehicles and driving habits.

A roundup of items this week related to the impact of global warming:

• The shrinkage of Himalayan glaciers is leading to reduced runoff in major South Asian rivers and may cause severe water shortages in the region by 2030, according to findings reported in the November issue of Geophysical Research Letters. In addition to global warming, one major culprit appears to be vast brown clouds, caused by the burning of fossil fuels and vegetation, that deposit dark particulates that absorb solar radiation.
• The World Meteorological Organization reports that greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere have reached record highs, with "no sign of leveling off." The WMO tracks carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane gases. It said there is today 37 percent more CO2 in the atmosphere than in the mid-18th century, mainly due to burning of fossil fuels.
• The Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, famed for their pristine beaches, have announced plans to consider buying land on higher ground to resettle their population if sea levels continue to rise. More than four-fifths of the islands' land area of 300 square kilometers is less than one meter above sea level.
  

A roundup of items relating to clean energy that caught our attention this week:

• Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a proposal--still in the early planning stages--to meet 10 percent of the city's electricity demand from solar energy. Apparently he envisions a combination of residential and commercial rooftop panels and large-scale solar projects in the desert.
• The world's biggest solar tower is scheduled in January to begin generating 20 megawatts of electricity in southern Spain. With more than 1,200 mirrors, each half the size of a tennis court, it will create superheated steam to turn power generators serving about 11,000 homes. Spain reportedly plans to generate more than two gigawatts of power from concentrated solar plants by 2015.
• The UK government plans to institute new energy tariffs that will reward "micro-renewables," primarily residential solar and wind generation, in order to meet the country's target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent come 2050. The Energy Saving Trust, an independent body charged with promoting energy efficiency, predicts a quarter of the country's households could engage in clean energy production.
• Portugal plans to build 1,300 charging stations for electric vehicles over the next three years, in partnership with Renault and Nissan. The country also plans to provide tax incentives, financing subsidies, and reduced parking rates for buyers of electric vehicles, In return, the car companies will make Portugal the first European market for their new generation of electric cars.
  

If the San Francisco and Los Angeles Auto Shows are any indication, there still remains a strong drive to electrify vehicles despite the ongoing economic turmoil and recent reductions in gas prices.

Included in the fleet of alternative vehicles on display at the San Francisco show is PG&E's new all-electric vehicle from Mitsubishi Motors. As I've noted previously, we're leasing the vehicle for three years for research and demonstration purposes, which is part of our ongoing efforts to prepare for the integration of electric vehicles with the electric grid.

I had the opportunity to take a noiseless ride in Mitsubishi's iMiEV when we received it last Friday and was surprised at how roomy the four passenger vehicle is; there's ample leg room even in the back seat and trunk space to boot!

Although most electric vehicles won't begin hitting the marketplace until 2012, Palo Alto-based Better Place recently announced plans to help the San Francisco Bay Area prepare to switch to these low-carbon vehicles. Through a public-private partnership, Better Place hopes to spearhead a $1 billion investment to begin network planning in 2009 and deployment of charging infrastructure in 2010.

There are many reasons that make the Bay Area an ideal place for electric vehicles to enter the U.S. market, not the least of which is the region's energy provider (wink, wink), which delivers some of cleanest electricity in the nation, with 50 percent coming from non-carbon sources on average.

Organic Thanksgiving? Vegan Thanksgiving? Energy-efficient Thanksgiving? So many choices. What's a family to do to celebrate an environmentally friendly holiday? Here are some tips gleaned from newspapers, blogs, colleagues, and personal experience.

• Shop for locally grown food. Food trucked over long distances pumps more harmful carbon emissions into the air. There are many farmers' markets in cities and towns throughout the PG&E service area in northern and central California offering organic produce that hasn't been exposed to chemical pesticides and fertilizers. More information is available from the California Federation of Certified Farmers' Markets.
• If a farmers' market isn't available in your area, you can find organic food in stores such as Safeway, Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods and other large markets and at smaller neighborhood groceries. My favorite in San Francisco is Golden Produce, a small grocery carrying a large offering of organic fruits and vegetables along with other foods on Church Street near Market Street opposite the Safeway. FoodRoutes.org has more information on local stores.
• Take along reusable bags for your Thanksgiving shopping. More stores large and small are providing reusable bags free or for a small charge. And look for goods packaged in recyclable materials.
• Turkeys have come a long way. When I was a boy, our neighborhood butcher sold a lot of fresh turkeys at Thanksgiving but I can't recall anyone asking if the bird was free range or antibiotic-free, or much less happy. Turkey was turkey. Today it's all about choices and that's a good thing. I usually get my turkey at Mollie Stone's Grand Central Market on California Street in San Francisco's upper Fillmore neighborhood. The store offers a number of turkey categories, among them organic (organic feed; access to the outdoors; no antibiotics or growth hormones) and free-range (growers must show the USDA the birds can go outside). Ask your butcher for more information on the differences. 
• An organic Thanksgiving may cost up to $100 more, according to SmartMoney.com, which did some shopping in New York City at a Whole Foods Market, an Associated Supermarket and a Food Emporium. Organic baked yams, for example, cost $9.95 (5 lbs.) for eight people, $6 more than non-organic. Nationwide, organic groceries can carry a 40 percent premium. If your wallet is a little light these days, take a pass on certified organics.  
• While the bird is roasting in the oven for a few hours, your home will be nice and warm so turn down the thermostat by 4 or 5 degrees to save energy. If you're using an electric stove, cook side dishes in off-peak hours to save energy and warm them up in the oven while the turkey is resting before carving. In a hurry? Try the easy 45-minute roast turkey recipe from Mark Bittman, who writes the Bitten blog for the New York Times. You can check out Bittman's in-the-kitchen video at New York Times.com.
• Pack leftovers for your guests in reusable containers and if you still have extras, consider a mini-Thanksgiving the next day. One year we had a lot of leftover turkey, so my wife found a recipe for Turkey Tetrazzini, and we had a wonderful picnic at Muir Beach in Marin County with friends who also shared their leftovers. And don't forget to put the scraps in the compost bin if your town offers this service or if you compost in a garden.
• If you decorate the Thanksgiving table, try creating a centerpiece in a cornucopia basket with colored leaves, gourds, dried ears of corn and other natural decorations. If you have young children in the house, ask them to arrange the centerpiece. Or give the children construction paper and crayons to draw placemats for the table.
• You may want to consider carbon-emission offset programs if you're travelling to your Thanksgiving destination, but you should only consider carbon credits that are rigorous and verified by third parties.

NEXT100 wishes you and yours a safe and happy Green Thanksgiving.

Last Thursday, two dozen environmental groups, energy developers, public utilities and other stakeholders wrote President-elect Barak Obama about a remarkable collaboration to promote renewable energy powered by waves, tides, and ocean currents.

This initiative, spearheaded by the Environmental Defense Fund in the same spirit of common national purpose that Obama championed during his campaign, took nine months of work aimed at building trust and finding an environmentally responsible path toward developing this promising new source of clean power.

The participants included Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which is studying the potential of wave energy off the coast of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties as part of its commitment to renewable energy. (Last month, the California Public Utilities Commission rejected a PG&E contract with Finavera Renewables for a separate project that would have produced 2 megawatts of ocean wave power off the coast of Humboldt County, as not having a mature enough technology.)

Ocean renewable energy could supply as much as 10 percent of the nation's current electricity demand, about the same as conventional hydropower. Although ocean energy projects today produce only about 10 megawatts of power worldwide, a recent report by Greentech Media and the Prometheus Institute estimated that production could grow 100-fold by 2015.

Reaching that potential will take sustained cooperation between stakeholders at the local, state and national level. All too often, progress on renewable energy has been slowed by conflict between eager project developers and environmentalists who demand assurances that major new projects will not damage fragile habitats.

In the case of wave power, the Pacific Fishery Management Council's executive director, Donald McIsaac, raised questions in June about effects on marine fish, mammals, and commercial fishing. "A large number of projects could compromise healthy ecosystems, and should be evaluated at a regional ecosystem scale before projects are installed," McIsaac warned the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which issues wave power project leases.

To avoid legal and regulatory wrangling and facilitate the orderly development of ocean energy, the initiative backers call for systematic testing and deployment of demonstration projects to provide data that will help uncover and assess any environmental risks. They also call for federal funding and consolidated regulation to help accelerate those projects.

"Because this industry is new, we have an opportunity to do it right from the beginning," the participants wrote Obama. As their collaboration has demonstrated--and as Obama surely agrees--"people of good faith can work together to help create a sustainable energy future for America and the world."

A roundup of green headlines that caught our eye this week:

• A relatively clean-burning diesel Volkswagen Jetta TDI sedan won "Green Car of the Year" honors at the Los Angeles auto show, the first diesel-powered car to win the auto industry's highest environmental honor, Reuters reports.
• Retail king Wal-Mart will purchase electricity from a Duke Energy windpower project in Texas to light up 15 percent of its 360 stores in the Longhorn State, Wal-Mart's first direct purchase of windpower, says Green Tech Media.
• The Stata Center building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology captures runoff waste water from storms in a giant cistern and reuses it in toilets in the building, the New York Times Green Inc. blog reports from the Greenbuild conference in Boston.
• Air Canada flight attendant Marcelo da Luz last month set a Guinness World Record for distance travelled in a sun-powered car of 9,320 miles throughout Canada and Alaska. Now he's pointing his flying-saucer-looking vehicle south to Argentina to extend the record, Canada's Globe and Mail reports.