Let there be energy-- from light

The amount of solar energy the bathes the earth in a single hous cold, if harnessed, supply energy needs around the wold for a year. The tecnology to harvest even a tiny fraction of that energy at a reasonable cost does not yet exist-but we´re getting closer. It now costs seven times as much to create electricity from solar panels as it does from burning coal. Why the high price tag? Silicon is expensive, and it´s needed to make the photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight to nergy, as seen here near San Luis Obispo, Calif. Another factor: new technology and the infrastructure to support it require substancial up front investments.

Even so, the price of solar energy has declined steeply in the past few yaers and will continue to fall. Add tax breaks and other forms of official support, along with economies of the businness matures, and solar power ,which produces no carbon emissions or other greenhouse gases, Begins to look competitive with cheap but dirty hydrocarbons.

Shut off your computer

A screen saver is not an energy saver. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 75% of all the electricity consumed in the home is standby power used to keep electronics running when those TVs, DVRs, computers, monitors and stereos are "off." The average desktop computer, not including the monitor, consumes from 60 to 250 watts a day. Compared with a machine left on 24/7, a computer that is in use four hours a day and turned off the rest of the time would save you about $70 a year. The carbon impact would be even greater. Shutting it off would reduce the machine's CO2 emissions 83%, to just 63 kg a year.

Remove the tie

How can a tie help fight climate change? When you leave it at home. In the "cool biz" summer of 2005, Japanese salarymen swapped their trademark dark blue business suits for open collars and light tropical colors. It was all part of the Japanese government's effort to save energy by keeping its office temperatures at 82.4�F throughout the summer.
The policy caused sartorial confusion but did make a dent in Japan's rising carbon emissions. In one summer, Japan cut an estimated 79,000 tons of CO2. If U.S. businesses eased off on their arctic-level air-conditioning, the gains could be significant. Time to make every summer day casual Friday?

Have a green wedding

You won't be able to stop global warming on your wedding day, but your choices can lessen the carbon footprint of your event. For example, if your guests are traveling long distances, offset the carbon emissions from their trips with a donation to renewable—energy projects. The sustainable—wedding website Portovert.com, in partnership with NativeEnergy, a renewable energy company, offers a wedding carbon calculator where couples can enter the number of guests and approximate miles traveled, to calculate the carbon impact of their wedding—related travel.

Wherever you celebrate, you can reduce your CO2 impact and often save money by giving your wedding a local touch. Buy wine from a nearby vineyard or beer from a neighborhood brewery. Get your wedding cake from a local bakery, and use seasonal flowers, not imports. "Why eat food or drink wine or beer that has traveled thousands of miles when you can choose local options that are just as good?" says Meghan Meyers, CEO of portovert.com.

Anything you do to make your wedding a little more modest—from wearing a borrowed wedding dress to choosing recycled paper or a website for your invitations—will lower its contribution to carbon emissions. Consider it your wedding gift to the planet.

This is an extended version of the article that originally appeared in TIME Magazine.

Straighten up and fly right

Until we can travel by fireplace, Harry Potter-style, the only way to get from Los Angeles to London is by carbon-spewing jet airliner. One simple change can help: adjust the exit and entry points each nation sets for its airspace so that planes can fly in as straight a line as possible. Last year the International Air Transport Association negotiated a more direct route from China to Europe that shaved an average 30 minutes off flight time, eliminating 84,800 metric tons of CO2 annually. Unifying European airspace as a "single sky" could cut fuel use up to 12%. Pilots could also change the way they fly. Abrupt drops in altitude waste fuel, so experts are advocating "continuous descent" until the plane reaches the runway—where it could be towed instead of burning fuel while taxiing. Of course, the best way to reduce plane emissions is to fly less. At least until the fireplace is ready for takeoff.

Plant a bamboo fence

Bamboo makes a beautiful fence, and because it grows so quickly (as much as 1 ft. a day or more, depending on the species), it absorbs more CO2 than, say, a rosebush. Most homeowners have to restrict its growth, lest it get out of control. Do this, however, and you reduce bamboo's capacity as a carbon sink. Only large-scale plantings, which absorb CO2 faster than they release it, can favorably tip the scales. How big is your yard?

Support your local farmer

Fruit, vegetables, meat and milk produced closer to home rack up fewer "petroleum miles" than products trucked cross-country to your table. How do you find them? Search localharvest.org by ZIP code for farmers' markets, greengrocers and food co-ops in your area. The website, which includes handy contact information in its directory listings, also identifies restaurants that specialize in regional and seasonal ingredients. If you really want to get close to the farm, join a Community Supported Agriculture project, which lets you buy shares in a farmer's annual harvest. In return, you get a box of produce every week for a season. It will take more than a few visits to the farm stand to reduce the carbon impact of the U.S. food supply. In the meantime, here's another reason to go local: the taste is great.

Disney

Wow in the equipment(team) of ciberbots are very satisfied for that cadavez mas people join the fight against the Global Warming and it for us is something very agradeble between(among) mas people one to this fight mas rapidly we will be able to stop this great problem.For which we order a great letter of congratulation Disney since a new movie has just released on the Global Warming this sera a good form in order that the children enter mas to this topic.

Guarding a Screpter´d late

Rising water levels are one of the most potent threars posed by global warming. In response Britain has doubled its spending on flood prevention. The most visible evidence of the danger is the Thames Barrier, a set of hulking yet beautiful floodgates that bisect the waterway II miles downriver from central London. When he barrier became operational in 1983, 30 years after the massive flood that spurred its construction, planners expected that in might have to close once or twice a year to keep ocean storm surges from inundating the capital. In tha past decade,however,extreme weather has caused the barrier to be closed an average of I0 times each year.

Guarding a scepter´d isle

Rising water levels are one of the most potent threast posed by global warming. In response Britain has doubled its speading on flood prevention. The most visible evidence of the danger is the Thames Barrier, a set of hulking yet beautiful floodgates that bisect the waterway II miles dowriver from central London. When the Barrier became operational in I983 30 years after the massive flood taht spurred its construction, planners expected that it might have a close once or twice a year to keep ocean storm surges from inundating the capital, In the past decade, however extreme weather has caused the barrier to be closed the barrier to be closed an average of I0 times each year.