Green Options

This column highlights the top economic stories of the week.

Having children is the surest way to send your carbon footprint soaring, according to a new study from statisticians at Oregon State University.

The study found that having a child has an impact that far outweighs that of other energy-saving behaviors. More on this story here.

A quarter-century ago, in the wake of America’s first energy crisis, a young scientist named Amory [...]

Indian government is eying international financial resources to fund its solar energy project even as it possesses adequate financial resources of its own.

The Indian government has failed to announce any funding schemes for the massive clean energy plans it unveiled in its National Action Plan on Climate Change.

As we end the year, I’m looking back at 2008 and am happy to see that some good things did happen this year. In addition to Federal subsidies for renewable energy purchases being renewed and even increased, cities governments also stepped up with programs to support cleaner energy adoption.

On September 30, 2008, City Solar Tour stopped in San Francisco, and Mayor Gavin Newsom used the opportunity to announce a program to subsidize conversion to solar power for commercial users in San Francisco.

Although commercial users throughout the City can apply, the City of San Francisco is reaching out to commercial users whose location makes solar power particularly financially viable. They used the sfsolarmap.org to identify 1600 companies in downtown San Francisco where it is sunny much of the year and sent letters letting them know about the availability of up to ten thousand dollars for solar subsidies and the availability of a free audit to evaluate the viability of solar power for their commercial building.