When I hear people say that China isn't going to do anything to combat climate change so it doesn't matter what we do, I tell them that is old information.  China has figured out that they can't have their people drowning in their own pollution.  They have also figured out that they want to build the innovative energy systems that the rest of us will need to buy.  Tom Friedman has an interesting opinion piece, entitled "Can I Clean Your Clock?" up at the NYT on why he thinks that China will step up to making the changes needed to prevent horrendous greenhouse gas emissions.

A full 5% of all the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere today comes from the manufacturing of cement and concrete.  In the cement manufacturing process, about a ton of carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere for every ton of cement that’s made.  Liv Haselbach, an Environmental Engineering professor at Washington State University, thinks that can be changed.  She is working on a process to develop concrete that will reabsorb the CO2 back into the concrete.  And then, the CO2 will be captured, or sequestered in carbon emissions terminology, and taken out of the atmosphere permanently. 

The 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago will soon get a $350 million retrofit aimed at reducing electricity use in the tower by 80% over five years.  The 4.5 million sq.ft. building will employ upgrades in the glass exterior, internal lighting, heating, cooling and its own green power generation utilizing wind turbines on its rooftops. 

According to an article in the NYT, "buildings are among the world’s largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. After the retrofit, energy savings at the Sears Tower, which is to be renamed the Willis Tower this summer, would be equal to 150,000 barrels of oil a year, officials said".

Kate Sheppard, political reporter at the online magazine, Grist, has a pretty straight-forward piece on what is currently in the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill or ACES (American Clean Energy and Security Act).  The bill is due to be voted on tomorrow in the House and can go to the Senate anytime in the next year and a half.  Since the bill is likely to be harder to get through the Senate, it will apparently be timed for discussion at whatever point Obama's numbers are highest and gas prices are up.  The goal of the bill is to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 3% by 2012, 17% by 2020, 42% by 2030 and more than 80% by 2050.

As Congress wrestles with voting on a climate change bill, some interesting research has been done that should inform the outcome.  Last month, the Global Humanitarian Forum released a study saying that 300 million people around the world have have been impacted seriously by climate change.  The report calculates that "more than 300 million people are seriously affected by climate change at a total economic cost of $125 billion per year".  Going beyond the polar bears or the melting ice caps, the report, entitled "Anatomy of a Silent Crisis," focuses on money and people.  The problem is huge and it will only get worse. 

Call it the Mediterranean solution.  Roofs painted a light color reflect up to 80% of the sunlight that falls on them (vs. 20% on buildings with darker roofs), making them much cooler, thus requiring far less air-conditioning.  By reflecting the bulk of the solar radiation back into space, it lessens temperatures, smog and carbon emissions.