Greenhouse emissions reduced by biodiesel
Berkeley reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the city by 14 percent during the past two years with conservation measures that included running cars on vegetable oil, city officials said Monday.
The dramatic drop in carbon emissions apparently puts Berkeley at the forefront of a handful of cities that are legally committing themselves to reducing the pollution that many scientists have blamed for global warming.
“Berkeley’s groundbreaking efforts to be a model environmental city are beginning to show dramatic results,” said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates.
The city calculated that its carbon emissions in 2004 were 2,066 metric tons less than its baseline number. To get equivalent air-quality benefits, the city would have had to plant 52,000 trees or remove 450 cars from the road, Bates said.
The greatest cut in greenhouse gases, 47 percent, came from city vehicles — particularly as a result of the use of biodiesel fuel but also through use of electric, natural gas and hybrid electric-gasoline powered vehicles.
Berkeley’s City Council is expected to vote tonight to join four other cities, including Oakland, as members of the Chicago Climate Exchange, a stock-market-like association of private and public entities that has been trading “emissions allowances” since December 2003. The exchange requires members to reduce emissions by 1 percent per year through 2006.
Continue reading this story from the San Francisco Chronicle:
Greenhouse emissions reduced by biodiesel