"greenhouse gases" news and stories

Back in July, we reported on supermarkets using solar panels, something Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was early to adopt; now they've got yet another cool tool up their green sleeves: CO2 refrigeration. We know, CO2 hardly screams "good for the ozone," but the technology actually earned the chain a GreenChill certification from The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Here's why: Compared to standard refrigeration units, the system is estimated to drastically reduce the store's carbon footprint. That's because standard units are made with a potent greenhouse gas, hydrofluorocarbons (HCFC) -- 1,400 times more damaging to the environment than naturally occurring CO2. The EPA says that most refrigeration units in the U.S. use HCFCs in "direct expansion systems," which are typically "charged with 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of refrigerant and can leak in excess of 20 percent each year."

As we obsessively catalog the ways that humans damage the earth -- without really doing a hell of a lot about it – we must finally come to "green waste." It represents the uneaten food that must be disposed of. According to one estimate, it accounts for 14% of the vittles purchased, or 470 pounds per person per year. On the average, that's like each of us annually throwing away $600, or $3,000 for a family of five. Moreover, this figure has leaped by 50% since 1974. And the food we waste in restaurants, partly our fault and partly not, may exhibit an even higher percentage.

Working from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of the uses for discarded foodstuffs, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Sandy Bauers gives tips on how to partly solve the problem of household food waste. Not buying as much food, and finding creative -- and delicious -- uses for leftovers is a first line of attack, and she has high praise for her husband, who can do miracles with a ham bone or a chicken carcass.