A few days ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit to be held in New York City, the United States government announced efforts at curbing climate change by focusing on energy efficiency and solar power.
One of the initiatives in place is a six-year job training program that will teach 50,000 veterans how to install solar panels. This, along with all other initiatives, will help the U.S. cut down on over 300 million tons of carbon emissions by 2030 (equivalent to getting over 60 million cars off the road for a year) while saving billions by reducing energy bills for businesses and homeowners.
For these plans to be realized, the White House said that $68 million has been set aside for more than 500 energy efficiency and renewable power projects in rural areas. About 240 of these projects are related to solar power. At the same time, stricter rules are being proposed for commercial air conditioners, which could save a lot of energy with minimal effort. As for the job training program for veterans, military bases are being tapped as partners.
Several more announcements were made prior to the U.N. Climate Summit to show what the country is doing towards cutting greenhouse gases that promote global warming. These include a commitment from major U.S. companies like DuPont, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Target, and Kroger that coolant use will be reduced to rein in the release of hydrofluorocarbons, a greenhouse gas.
Cisco Systems takes this commitment further by aiming to get at least 25 percent of its power through renewable sources and boosting solar capacity to 2.7 megawatts for its offices worldwide by next year. The company will also be giving discounts to employees who will be installing solar panels in their homes, like what Kimberly-Clark and 3M are doing.
The Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also released findings that showed how the cost of solar installations have dropped within the last 10 years and how solar energy has grown in popularity. In 2013 alone, prices for commercial and residential solar installations had fallen by 12 to 15 percent.
The state of New York, a fitting venue of the Climate Summit, is also participating in the Better Buildings Challenge, along with 27 other companies and local governments, to help reduce energy use in buildings by 2020 by at least 20 percent. The challenge was launched in 2011 and over 200 organizations have already signed up. So far, participants have been able to reduce energy use by 2.5 percent on average every year.
