Green Options » Northeast

About 90% of Bats Wiped Out in Connecticut

Jake Richardson — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:24:39 +0000

A white fungus is devastating the bats of Connecticut and other Northeastern states.

Coal Use for Home Heating Increasing Due to Economic Woes

Jennifer Lance — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:41:26 +0000

Coal is making a comeback as a home heating fuel in the Northeast, Midwest, and Alaska, because it is cheap, plentiful, and locally-mined.

Burning coal at home was once commonplace, of course, but the practice had been declining for decades. Coal consumption for residential use hit a low of 258,000 tons in 2006 — then started to rise. It jumped 9 percent in 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration, and 10 percent more in the first eight months of 2008.

Retailers of home indoor coal stoves have seen the greatest sales increase in 30 years, and many models are on backorder until March.

Image: Jen SFO-BCN on Flickr under a Creative Commons License

Northeast States Don’t Need Feds to Cap Emissions

Amanda Peterka — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:04:55 +0000

While there will be no capping and trading in President Bush’s government, 10 northeast states are taking emissions into their own hands. On Thursday, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, bypassing the federal government, started its permit auction, creating the first mandatory cap-and-trade program in the United States.

The initiative involves Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont. The auction gave 12.5 million permits for CO2 emitters, with each worth one ton of carbon dioxide. The group will then offer 188 million permits a year for three years, according to a Reuters article.