Even better, smart meters will be able to send that usage data to applications like those being developed by Google, Microsoft and Verizon. Theoretically, you could check your energy usage from your phone and realize that someone may have left the AC turned up and all the lights on. And of course, once you realize where and how your energy bills are skyrocketing, you can take more effective steps to reduce them.

Google’s PowerMeter
PowerMeter was launched recently with 12 pilot partner utilities, after being tested by Google employees on their own home energy usage. Anecdotes about expensive, power-hungry space heaters and paying to power the laundry room for a whole apartment complex illustrate the power of access to usage data. Also, it’s free.

Microsoft’s Hohm
Hohm seems similar to PowerMeter, although we have limited information so far. The press release mentions that Hohm will make energy saving recommendations based on data you enter about your usage. Sounds like it doesn’t hook directly into smart meter usage data yet, but Microsoft is also partnering with 4 utilities for pilot programs. Plus, there’s a communal element, allowing you to compare your usage with others in your area and talk about ways to reduce it. Again, also free.

Verizon’s Fios
Verizon, taking advantage of their home fiberoptic broadband system, plans to enter the home energy management game too. Since this tidbit of news just came out (very) recently at the Green:Net 09 conference, I’ll let an actual attendee from FastCompany explain:

Verizon can remotely update home routers, which means that customers can too. So once we give thermostats and window shades IP addresses, we can turn down the heat and schedule the shades to open or close on a daily schedule–all from our cell phones. That’s the gist of what Verizon wants to do, but the company remains mum on details of a release date, partnering companies, and price.

This one might not be free, but it would be pretty cool.

Republicans have stoked concerns of these younger members of the House, and also consistently cast the bill as the “largest tax increase in American history”.

The next step is for House members to vote on amendments to the bill and send their final version to the Senate, which has its own version of an energy/climate bill circulating. Analysts expect the process of reconciling the two bills to be long and protracted, without guarantee of victory for the Democrats.

President Obama has come out with strong support for the bill, combatting Republican tax rhetoric and reframing the legislation to create jobs and lead to economic recovery. His support extended even to Twitter, where his official “tweet” read: Help pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act — crucial to creating a clean energy economy: http://bit.ly/aWcDK. The link sends Twitter users to an official Barack Obama page with instructions to call Congress in support of the bill.

The report adds to existing international scientific consensus on these two points, and does so for the first time from the American government’s own research.The first and the last of the report’s 10 key findings are particularly powerful; scroll down for the full list.

If you’ve got the time and the inclination, click through to the full report here.

1. Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced.
Global temperature has increased over the past 50 years. This observed increase is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. (p. 13)

2. Climate changes are underway in the United States and are projected to grow.
Climate-related changes are already observed in the United States and its coastal waters. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows. These changes are projected to grow. (p. 27)

3. Widespread climate-related impacts are occurring now and are expected to increase.
Climate changes are already affecting water, energy, transportation, agriculture, ecosystems, and health. These impacts are different from region to region and will grow under projected climate change. (p. 41-106, 107-152)

4. Climate change will stress water resources.
Water is an issue in every region, but the nature of the potential impacts varies. Drought, related to reduced precipitation, increased evaporation, and increased water loss from plants, is an important issue in many regions, especially in the West. Floods and water quality problems are likely to be amplified by climate change in most regions. Declines in mountain snowpack are important in the West and Alaska where snowpack provides vital natural water storage. (p. 41, 129, 135, 139)

5. Crop and livestock production will be increasingly challenged.
Agriculture is considered one of the sectors most adaptable to changes in climate. However, increased heat, pests, water stress, diseases, and weather extremes will pose adaptation challenges for crop and livestock production. (p. 71)

6. Coastal areas are at increasing risk from sea-level rise and storm surge.
Sea-level rise and storm surge place many U.S. coastal areas at increasing risk of erosion and flooding, especially along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Pacific Islands, and parts of Alaska. Energy and transportation infrastructure and other property in coastal areas are very likely to be adversely affected. (p. 111, 139, 145, 149)

7. Threats to human health will increase.
Health impacts of climate change are related to heat stress, waterborne diseases, poor air quality, extreme weather events, and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents. Robust public health infrastructure can reduce the potential for negative impacts. (p. 89)

8. Climate change will interact with many social and environmental stresses.
Climate change will combine with pollution, population growth, overuse of resources, urbanization, and other social, economic, and environmental stresses to create larger impacts than from any of these factors alone. (p. 99)

9. Thresholds will be crossed, leading to large changes in climate and ecosystems.
There are a variety of thresholds in the climate system and ecosystems. These thresholds determine, for example, the presence of sea ice and permafrost, and the survival of species, from fish to insect pests, with implications for society. With further climate change, the crossing of additional thresholds is expected. (p. 76, 82, 115, 137, 142)

10. Future climate change and its impacts depend on choices made today.

The amount and rate of future climate change depend primarily on current and future human-caused emissions of heat-trapping gases and airborne particles. Responses involve reducing emissions to limit future warming, and adapting to the changes that are unavoidable. (p. 25, 29)

Chu notes that public investment is the only way projects like FutureGen will get off the ground. The Bush Administration yanked funding for FutureGen in January 2008, when they were told costs would double from $950 million to $1.8 billion. Fortunately, more recent data seems to suggest cost projections were inaccurate. Although a final decision won’t be made until early 2010, this is a step in the right direction for a project that was once presumed dead.

Artistic rendering of the possible FutureGen coal plant

Meanwhile, clean coal became a great vehicle for the coal industry during the election season, helping to lodge our dirtiest electricity source in the minds of the public as a viable “clean” technology. See below for the Reality campaign’s latest TV commercial, directed by the Cohen brothers. Restarting FutureGen changes the argument, albeit at a cost of $1 billion for one zero emissions coal plant. At least you can’t say we didn’t try.

“Greening the Herds: A new diet to cap gas” from the New York Times discusses how grass-fed cattle emit less methane during digestive processes than grain-fed cattle. Grass contains more Omega-3 acids than grain, which allows the digestive process to go more smoothly. Grass-fed cows even produce more milk. Researchers, such as those from Stonyfield Farms (the eco-yogurt mavens) are attempting to replicate the Omega-3 benefits of grass by heating flax seed, although the technology is still young and expensive.

Worldwatch Institute also put out a new report today entited “Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use” that pushes for more attention on soil carbon sinks. The authors recommend climate-friendly agricultural practices like farming with perennials that can absorb carbon over time, minimizing soil tillage, and (you guessed it) improving methane management in livestock. Are you seeing a trend yet?

Meanwhile, ClimateBiz guest blogger Noam Ross explains why the all-mighty Ethanol Debate isn’t helping anyone. Nothing is being accomplished by environmentalists trying to penalize ethanol for land use emissions, while pro-ethanol groups complain it isn’t their fault. Instead of shifting the blame, far sighted advocates on both sides should be working toward comprehensive land use improvement programs that would prevent destruction of carbon sinks in order to grow biomass for ethanol.

Incidentally, this plays into yet another hot button issue: reducing deforestation, and it’s role in international climate policy. Both pro- and anti-ethanol groups can hold hands and sing kumbaya over saving trees, right? Here’s a great (if lengthy) summary of the increasing role that REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) is beginning to play in the climate policy arena: Rainforests Win Big in new U.S. Climate Bill.

If you’ve ever taken an economics class, you might remember a concept called “comparative advantage”. That’s a fancy way of saying that some people can produce things more efficiently than others – maybe due to more knowledge, better resources, or any number of reasons. So it’s more efficient for you to purchase some goods from other people because it would cost you more to make them yourself.

The same concept applies to balancing out emissions, which economist Robert Frank touches on nicely in this New York Times blog. Frank gives some examples about buying offsets to neutralize emissions rather than spending the extra money to buy a hybrid car or buy local tomatoes. Although these choices are good for the environment, the same result can be achieved more efficiently in many cases by choosing a cheaper alternative and buying offsets instead. That’s why all of the climate policies currently in practice (Kyoto Protocol) or in the works (Waxman-Markey bill) allow for large emitters to purchase offsets in lieu of some of their emissions reductions. Reductions can be achieved at a lower cost elsewhere, which is good for the economy as a whole.

Frank ends his article by noting that offsets alone won’t solve global warming. For that, we need to limit carbon emissions and build the cost of emitting carbon into everyday transactions. Within that framework, carbon offsets are an efficient means to reduce global emissions. In the meantime, they’re a simple way for ordinary people and companies to keep global warming from getting any worse.

Climate positive strategies will focus on clean energy generation, building techniques, waste management, transportation, water management, and outdoor lighting systems. The Clinton Foundation, incidentally, is already walking the talk by purchasing RECs from BeGreen to offset their own carbon footprint. That’s a great starting point for a much bigger outreach program to reduce carbon footprints on a large scale.

Here’s what former President Clinton has to say about it:

See below for the surprisingly long list of communities and urban projects that have signed up to be Climate Positive. The list kicks off with Destiny, Florida, beach tourism mecca and home to thousands of waterfront condos. I’ll be interested to see how Destiny progresses toward their negative carbon footprint and how they communicate it to the thousands of tourists who visit each year…

The projects participating in the Climate Positive Development Program so far are:
• Destiny, Fla., USA.
• Dockside Green, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
• Godrej Garden City, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
• Elephant & Castle, London Borough, Southwark, UK.
• Albert Basin, East London, UK.
• Magok Urban Development Project, Magok-dong Gayang-dong, Seoul, South Korea.
• Mahindra World City, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
• Menlyn Maine, Pretoria, South Africa.
• VicUrban @ Officer, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Panama Pacifico, London & Regional, Panama.
• Zonk’izizwe Town Center, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Victoria Harbour, Docklands, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Toronto Waterfront-Lower Don Lands, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Treasure Island Redevelopment Project, San Francisco, Calif., USA.
• Stockholm Royal Seaport, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Pedra Branca Sustainable Urbanism, Palhoça, Greater Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil.

Here’s a breakdown of the mandated improvements:

• New passenger cars: Minimum 39 mpg by 2016, up from 27.5 mpg currently

• New light trucks: Minimum 30 mpg by 2016, up from about 23 mpg currently

The stricter standards will reduce passenger transportation emissions by about 30%. This huge reduction will save about 900 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions, said the administration. That’s like taking 194 coal plants offline! And since the transportation sector accounts for about 17% of our national carbon footprint, the new standards should result in a 5% reduction in our footprint overall. When you step back and look at the numbers, this may be the most significant policy every enacted to reduce the United States’ impact on climate change.

To provide a little background, this day was made possible by years of unrealized attempts to raise our minimum fuel economy. The new standards very closely mirror those California attempted to enact in 2005, which were blocked by the Bush-era EPA’s unwillingness to exempt the state from lower Clean Air Act standards. You also might remember an energy bill signed by Bush in December 2007 that called for corporate fleets to achieve a fuel economy of 35 mpg by 2020, a less stringent, less widespread, and less enforceable goal than Obama’s by all accounts.

Auto companies have reacted favorably to the new rules overall, because they provide the consistency of a federal standard as opposed to a hodgepodge of state standards. However, they will bear a cost on the order of $50 billion to upgrade their technology to meet the tougher requirements, as per a recent Department of Transportation study. This works out to about $1300 added, on average, to the cost of making each car and truck.

Despite this disincentive, the new standards elevate US fuel economy out of last place among industrialized countries, putting us near the level of China, Canada, and Australia by 2016, though still behind Europe and Japan.

Actual & Projected Fuel Economy for New Passenger Vehicles by Country, 2002-2018. Published before new US standards by the International Council on Clean Transportation, 2007.

AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2009) – BeGreen (www.begreennow.com), the carbon offset division of Green Mountain Energy, and the N9NE Group, a Las Vegas-based nightlife and hospitality company, is implementing two separate initiatives designed to make its popular Las Vegas’ hot spots more environmentally-conscious.

Now, guests of Rain Nightclub, ghostbar, Moon Nightclub and Playboy Club can have their fun and “green” it too with the launch of the BeGreen green ticket option – an online ticket add-on that guests can purchase to neutralize the environmental impact associated with their visit to the venues. Guests who reserve tickets through the N9NE Group’s Web site (www.n9negroup.com) can “green up” their purchase by adding $2.50 to the cost of any regular priced ticket. The BeGreen ticket offsets an estimated 332 pounds of CO2 and purchases 100 kWh of renewable energy made from sources like wind and biomass.

“Last year the N9NE Group paved the way by becoming one of the first of Vegas’ major entertainment companies to make ‘green’ a key focus for their venues,” said Gillan Taddune, chief environmental officer of Green Mountain Energy Company. “Showing that they’re truly dedicated to environmental sustainability, the N9NE Group has not only renewed their commitment by offsetting their carbon emissions again this year, but they’ve taken it a step further by allowing customers to get involved through the ‘green’ ticketing option.”

Furthering its commitment to the environment, the N9NE Group is also purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) to offset 100 percent of the total calculated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with their estimated electricity, natural gas, and refrigerant usage in 2009 for six of their Las Vegas venues including N9NE Steakhouse, Nove Italiano, Rain Nightclub, ghostbar, Moon Nightclub and Playboy Club at the Palms Casino Resort. The RECs have the same environmental impact as taking approximately 518 cars off the road or the sequestration of 349,000 trees each year. Their purchase will offset approximately 2,497 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

“The N9NE Group is proud to provide the best food and nightlife that Las Vegas has to offer,” says Co-owner and Director of Community Relations, Jenna Morton. “We just believe in doing it sustainably. This year, we’ve decided to make it easy for our guests to do the same thing with the simple option of the BeGreen ticket.”

About BeGreen Carbon Offsets

BeGreen Carbon Offsets (www.begreennow.com) is a division of Green Mountain Energy Company, the longest serving green power provider in the U.S. BeGreen provides education about the serious effects of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and offers businesses and consumers simple and effective ways to reduce their carbon footprint through the purchase of renewable energy, forest sequestration and other project-based offsets. BeGreen’s carbon calculators follow the EPA Climate Leaders methodology, which is based on the World Resources Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol (WRI GHG), a widely accepted industry standard. All purchases and sales of BeGreen’s carbon offset projects are also verified by an independent auditing firm to ensure their quality and effectiveness.

About the N9NE Group

The N9NE Group is a partnership between pioneering entertainment entrepreneurs Michael Morton and Scott DeGraff. Although the company was founded in 1992, the two have been friends since age nine, a fact commemorated in the company name. The son of legendary restaurateur Arnie Morton (Morton’s of Chicago steakhouses), Morton grew up in the restaurant business, while DeGraff pursued a career in law—becoming a real estate attorney at one of Chicago’s most prominent firms—all the while retaining his passion for great food and entertainment. Today, N9NE Group operates a total of ten venues nationwide: seven Las Vegas venues, including N9NE Steakhouse, Nove Italiano, Rain Nightclub, ghostbar, Moon Nightclub, Playboy Club and Palms Pool & Bungalows); two Chicago venues, including N9NE Steakhouse and ghostbar; and ghostbar in Dallas. For additional information, visit www.n9negroup.com.