An analysis of the most recent transit use data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that transit use grew by up to 47% in major metropolitan areas in the U.S. from 2006-2008, with several metro regions in the South and West growing by more than 10%.

The South and West, being more dominated by automobile-oriented development and auto use, have historically struggled to get significant transit ridership. However, the top ten cities with the highest recent increase in ridership include several metro areas in the South and West, including Charlotte, NC (47%), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA (26.7%), Pheonix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ (23.6%), San Antonio, TX (15.1%) and others. This seems to shine a light of hope on increased transit use in the southern and western U.S. in the future.

First, however, why are we seeing a boom in these places?

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Steven Chu, US Energy Secretary, announced at the start of the Solar Decathlon on DC’s National Mall on Friday that the Department of Energy (DOE) would be dishing out an additional $87 million in new funding for the development and rapid deployment of solar energy technologies.

This money is being given to 47 projects in a range of sub-fields and sectors.

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According to the Billionaires’ website they are:

A grassroots network of health insurance CEOs, HMO lobbyists, talk-show hosts, and others profiting off of our broken health care system. We are not a political, religious or even particularly well-organized group. We’re simple folk, thrilled profiteers pouring out of our corner offices to dance on the grave of “Change.” We’ll do whatever it takes to ensure another decade where your pain is our gain. After all, when it comes to health care, if we ain’t broke, why fix it?

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Thanks to wildlife authorities acting on a tip that led to the bear’s gruesome “burial site” on a family farm, two men are facing felony violations of the Endangered Species Act for shooting a grizzly bear in Washington State.

Two men accused of killing a grizzly bear while on a hunting trip in 2007 will finally appear before a federal magistrate in Spokane. According to kgw.com, wildlife authorities acted on a tip that led them to a bizarre “burial site” where the suspects had attempted to hide the bear.

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Biologists have known for years that the low numbers of Southern Resident Killer Whales in Puget Sound may be tied to vessel traffic. A new plan for curbing vessel activity may help increase the population of these marine mammals.

New rules regarding vessel traffic have been proposed by NOAA’s Fisheries Service to provide additional protection of the Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca). The regulations, if adopted, would take effect as early as May 2010.

According to today’s release by NOAA, the new proposal would curb vessel activity by:

• Prohibiting vessels from approaching any killer whale closer than 200 yards
• Forbidding vessels from intercepting or parking in the path of a whale
• Establishing a half-mile-wide no-go zone along the west side of San Juan Island from May 1 through the end of September, where generally no vessels would be allowed

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Arizona wants to be the “solar-energy hub of the world,” Kristin Mays, chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in the state, said at the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week.

The state last week enacted a law that offers new incentives, including a tax credit of up to 10 percent, for solar companies that set up shop there.

At the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week, some state rivalry became apparent as Arizona leaders argued the state’s advantages compared to California. “We know the Mojave desert’s off limits. Well, the desert in Arizona is open for business,” said Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, to laughter from the audience.

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75-megawatt solar plant would also create hundreds of new green jobs

Not all of the big solar projects coming down the pike in the West will be on public land. A team of private investors today announced plans to build a solar photovoltaic plant in the state of Washington that would be the largest of its kind in the world.

The 75-megawatt Teanaway Solar Reserve will be located on 400 acres of formerly-logged private property four miles north of Cle Elum, in Kittitas County, Washington. If built, the plant would generate enough power for an estimated 75,000 homes. Currently, the largest solar photovoltaic plant in the world is a 60-megawatt facility in Spain.

Teanaway has not secured power purchase agreements with the major electricity providers, but project developers are confident they will find a buyer. Howard Trott, Managing Director and principal investor for the Teanaway Solar Reserve, said “We’ve had very good meetings with local utilities.”

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Unfortunately, riding bikes means occasionally dealing with pitfalls like bad roads, dangerous intersections, and theft. It would be great if drivers were more bike-aware, but this just isn’t always the case. Seattle-based BikeWise is looking to take some of the unknown out of bike commuting, providing a tool to “make biking safer and more fun by gathering good data on the things that sometimes go wrong.”

So how does it work?

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The Shred Stop seems to have hit on an idea that both integrates with the rest of people’s lives and does a better job then a personal size shredder could do, with a higher degree of environmental sensitivity.

It’s simple: locate them in grocery stores and other places that already have coin counting machines, charge $2/minute for shredding, able to do it much faster than your usual home/small biz shredder, and you’re able to quickly get done what would either not get done, where you’re already going anyway, or would otherwise take much more of your valuable time.

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Yes, even the wind power is bigger in Texas. The Lone Star State held the top spot again in the just released American Wind Energy Association’s annual industry report.

In fact, if Texas was its own country it would rank sixth worldwide in production, with 7,118 megawatts installed. Texas added 2,671 MW just last year.

The AWEA report breaks down a record 2008 for wind power in the U.S. The U.S. now ranks ahead of Germany as the world’s top wind power producer. More than 8,500 MW of wind power came online last year, the report says, a more than 50 percent jump in U.S. production.

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The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), intended to “create jobs, help end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and combat global warming” according to the official announcement of the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, centers around four titles:

• A clean energy title that promotes renewable sources of energy, carbon capture and sequestration technologies, low-carbon fuels, clean electric vehicles, and the smart grid and electricity transmission;
• An energy efficiency title that increases energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy, including buildings, appliances, transportation, and industry;
• A global warming title that places limits on emissions of heat-trapping pollutants; and
• A transitioning title that protects U.S. consumers and industry and promotes green jobs during the transition to a clean energy economy.

The bill seeks emissions reductions greater than those proposed by the president: calling for a 20 percent cut in emissions from 2005 by 2020 instead of the 14 percent included in Obama’s Feburary budget. It also calls for utilities to produce one-quarter of US electricity from renewables sources by 2025, and includes a federal low carbon fuel standard modeled on California legislation.

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The Humane Society of the United States has returned to court in attempt to stop the sea lion cull near the Bonneville Dam in Washington and Oregon.

Hundreds of sea lions may be trapped and killed in a program aiming to increase the salmon population in the river. The animal welfare group argues that the NOAA Fisheries Service has not sufficiently explained why the sea lions are being singled out despite other predators (like humans) having a greater impact on the salmon population.

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A top China central government think tank yesterday released a framework for quantifying countries’ historical emissions. Under this proposed framework, the State Council Development Research Center (DRC) would create a “historic account” of past emissions, used to benchmark developing countries with lower accumulated emissions - like China - against countries with higher accumulated emissions and assign emissions “deficits” to countries who have emitted less. Using this quantitative assessment, countries with emissions “deficits” would get the green light to emit, or trade emissions credits with countries that have already exceeded their allowance.

The release of this plan supports external analysis that China believes it should have the right to develop free from carbon reductions until their accumulated emissions are on par with industrialized countries. A recent Brookings Institute report: “Overcoming Obstacles to US-China Cooperation on Climate Change” articulated Beijing’s stance, which included the conviction that:

Countries should be held responsible not only for their current emissions but also for their cumulative historical emissions, given that greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere over many decades.

This plan is Beijing’s most comprehensive effort to date to both highlight and quantify development inequalities as a justification for releasing China and other developing countries from emissions reduction expectations.

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A rain barrel or two may seem like the perfect solution for watering the garden without waste and without adding to your water bill. Before you build your rainwater harvesting system, though, you might want to make sure that it’s legal to do so. There are three states that say the water that falls from the sky belongs to them, not to just anyone.

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Around $10,000-worth of timber was confiscated from a lumber company after their illegal activities were exposed on their very own reality TV show on the History Channel.

Before we get into the details, let this sink in for a second: there’s a reality TV show that documents people competing to cut down trees. We’ve all seen some horrible television, but how on earth is this considered entertainment? Apparently 2 million people think so.

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Imagine being able to drive from Vancouver, B.C., to Baja, California, without using gasoline. That’s what West-coast Governers are contemplating with a new plan to build a network of alternative-fuel stations along the I-5 corridor.

The Governers of Washington, Oregon, and California met briefly last month to discuss the idea of an alternative fueling infrastructure that would offer up a mix of biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, or compressed natural gas, along with the opportunity to recharge or swap out batteries for electric cars.

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Both “clean coal” and carbon trading are lies. They are huge scams perpetrated by massive energy companies that are choking our planet. Over twelve thousand students converged on Washington D.C. to demand an end to polluting coal plants, and that the United States start to lead the world in creating truly sustainable clean energy and green jobs. Students filled the halls of Congress, lobbying their elected officials to fight global warming and demanding an end to polluting coal.

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Why kill sea lions instead of lowering allowed fishing quotas? This question and others were left unanswered at a press conference today.

Activists with In Defense of Animals and the Sea Lion Defense Brigade were awarded hard hats and badges before attending a press conference by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at the Bonneville Dam.

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At the Washington Auto Show, the troubled automaker said it will collaborate with San Francisco and Washington D.C. to ensure that the proper policies and infrastructure are in place for the time when plug-ins such as the Volt start hitting the streets.

GM says it will work with everyone from governments to utilities to permitting and codes officials to prep for the launch. Among the challenges that need to be tackled, GM says, are consumer incentives, charging infrastructure and the codes and permits to allow charging stations to be installed, commercial and government fleet purchases, and utility rates that encourage plug-in use.

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Wine writer Alan Richman in the December 2005 issue of Bon Appetit magazine bombastically wrote:

Say what you will about California Sparklers - which are to French Champagne what paddlefish eggs are to beluga caviar - they will not transport you to a fantasy world, unless you are enthralled by the Napa Valley wine train. Sparkling wines that are not Champagne structurally lack finesse, enologically they lack bouquet, and sentimentally they lack ostentation.

I hate to disagree with a James Beard award winning writer, but Alan, YOU ARE WRONG.

Domestic bubbly has reached amazing heights and achieved complex flavors and textures. These wines are world-class while still somehow maintaining their own sense of terroir. Some are even fantastic values.

Here are my Top 9 sparkling wine suggestions for your 2009 New Year’s Eve celebration.

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