US lawmakers supporting the climate change legislation have found an extra hand in former US Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore. Calling the bill a “good start”, Al Gore has mustered his grassroots manpower and mobilized environmental organizations to secure the bill’s passage through Congress’ House Energy Committee.

Although the controversial bill has received criticism from environmental groups, Al Gore believes it has “reached the stage that a lot of people thought that it never would”. The bill has been seen as too lenient to utilities, coal plants and manufacturing companies. Republican and Democrat lawmakers from coal-manufacturing states disputed an earlier draft of the bill that required utilities to secure six% of fuel from renewable sources by 2012 and to 25% by 2025. In addition, the initial target of a 20% reduction of 2005 greenhouse gas (GHG) levels by 2020 in the first draft of the warming bill decreased to 17%.

In acknowledging that the bill did provide concessions, Gore was nevertheless optimistic about how it was moving the country forward in GHG emission reductions.

Aside from GHG emissions reduction, the Democrat-dominated House of Representatives is aiming to have 15% of US energy derived from renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels by 2020. It also aims to achieve an annual energy savings of 5% by that time through energy efficiency measures.

Gore has been actively campaigning worldwide for countries to adopt green legislation in order to combat global warming. An environment champion, he formed the Climate Project and the Alliance for Climate Protection in 2006 as machinery for public dissemination of climate issues. Together, the two groups have poured in considerable resources and provided additional backbone for the nationwide effort to produce a climate bill, working in different congressional districts all over the country.

In the early part of May 2009, they launched two television ads focused on clean energy that encourages viewers to contact their representative to say ‘yes’ to the climate bill.

• Waxman-Markey Bill is detailed in this Committee on Energy and Commerce.
• The Atlantic Monthly offers some criticsms of the Waxman-Markey bill.

THE HOME DEPOT LAUNCHES NATIONAL CFL BULB RECYCLING INITIATIVE
Also Implementing In Store Energy Conservation Program

ATLANTA, June 24, 2008 – The Home Depot ®, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, today expanded its long-term commitment to the environment and sustainability by launching a national in-store, consumer compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb recycling program at all 1,973 The Home Depot locations. This free service is the first such offering made so widely available by a retailer in the United States and offers customers additional options for making environmentally conscious decisions from purchase to disposal. The Home Depot Canada launched a CFL recycling program in November, 2007.

At each The Home Depot store, customers can simply bring in any expired, unbroken CFL bulbs, and give them to the store associate behind the returns desk. The bulbs will then be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.

In addition to the CFL recycling program, The Home Depot has also launched an in store energy conservation program to switch Light Fixture Showrooms in U.S. stores from incandescent bulbs to CFLs by Fall 2008 and save $16 million annually in energy costs. The CFL recycling program is an extension of The Home Depot’s Eco Options program. Eco Options, launched in April 2007, is a classification that allows customers to easily identify products that have less of an impact on the environment.

“The CFL recycling program is another example of how The Home Depot is empowering
customers to help make a difference in their own homes, and have less of an impact on the
environment,” said Ron Jarvis, senior vice president, Environmental Innovation. “With more
than 75 percent of households located within 10 miles of a Home Depot store, this program is the
first national solution to providing Americans with a convenient way to recycle CFLs.”

Original Source

Related Environmental Initiative Sources:

Check out Home Depot’s latest products and services designed to help you design your home to be more comfortable and environmentally friendly.

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