Climate Action Plan: the progress

Hydrocarbon Engineering, Monday, 30 June 2014 12:45

One year after President Obama laid out a comprehensive Climate Action Plan, the White house has released a new report detailing progress towards cutting carbon pollution and protecting US communities and public health.

In the year since the President’s speech at Georgetown University, the Administration has announced new efficiency standards, permitted renewable energy projects on public lands, and proposed carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants. Alongside state, tribal, local and private sector partners, the Administration is taking steps to make our communities more resilient to the effects of severe weather and is working with other countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases internationally. In fact, when fully implemented, the policies put forward just in the past year since the plan was released reportedly will:

Cut nearly 3 billion t of carbon pollution between 2020 and 2025, an amount equivalent to taking more than 600 million cars off the road for a year.
Enable the development of 8100 Mw of wind, solar, and geothermal energy, enough to power nearly 2 million homes.
Train more than 50 000 workers to enter the solar industry.
Save consumers more than US$ 60 billion on their energy bills through 2030.
Improve the energy efficiency of more than 1 billion ft2 of city buildings, schools, multifamily housing complexes, and business across the USA, an area the size of 17 000 football fields.
Protect the health of vulnerable Americans, including children and the elderly, by preventing 150 000 asthma attaches and up to 3300 heart attacks.