Cow burps are a huge contributor to global climate change. In fact, livestock animals like cows, goats, and sheep, contribute to 44 percent of global methane production; and to make matters worse, methane is 18 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why in order to stop global warming, we need cleaner cow burps. Climate researchers think at a new powder added to cow feed may be just the thing.

Here’s the thing: When cows eat they go through a process of four-part digestion, and during the process they give off tons of carbon dioxide and methane in the form of cow burps. In the U.S. alone, livestock contributes to 26 percent of methane emissions. So the bottom line is that the problem is real contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the ways in which researchers have been looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is by reducing and cleaning up cow burps. And one way to do this is by cleaning up a cow’s diet.

“You could reduce emission intensities – i.e. emissions per kg meat or milk, by about 30% if people in a given region adopted the good practices of the top 10% of farmers that have the lowest methane emissions,” Johan Kuylenstierna, policy director of the Stockholm Environment Institute said by email to The Washington Post. This includes keeping animals healthier, giving them better diets, and managing their reproduction to lower their overall emissions.

And this is a win-win for farmers as well because cow burps are a loss in food energy. The less a cow burps, the faster the animal will grow and the bigger it will get.

Researchers at the material sciences Dutch company DSM have come up with a powder that when added to animal feed reduces methane emissions by 30 percent and has no negative impact on animal welfare. What’s more, new research trials prove without a doubt that the powder works.

According to The Washington Post,

[S]everal researchers from DSM, designed and carried out a trial in which 48 cows, receiving varying amounts of the inhibitor in their feed, were observed over 12 weeks. Their methane emissions were measured when they put their heads into feeding chambers which also had atmospheric measurement sensors, and also through nostril tubes attached to canisters on the backs of the cows. The result was that the inhibitor “decreased methane emissions from high-producing dairy cows by 30%,” the research found.

The Clean Cow Project, as it’s been called, also shows that the energy gained from reduced cow burps makes for cows that gain more weight, an outcome that may also motivate farmers to consider cleaner cow burps. But the trials didn’t show why the powder works and how it actually causes the cows to burp less. Plus, it also didn’t show if it could have a long term impact on cows.

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Image of a cow from Shuttershock

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Audi, a German luxury automobile manufacturer, is working with French company Global Bioenergies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the first petroleum-free gas made from plants. The clean burning fuel called e-benzin, is made from extracting glucose from corn. The company has started a pilot program to produce gaseous isobutane from renewable biomass sugars fermented from corn.

According to gizmag, the next step in the process “was to run the material through a conditioning and purification process, allowing it to be collected and stored in liquid form under pressure. Some of it was then sent to Germany to be converted into isooctane fuel, creating a pure, 100 octane gasoline.”

While the petroleum-free product currently contains corn, Audi wants to streamline the process further so that the product can be made with just water, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and sunlight.

IFL Science reports, “Audi has ambitions to make the technique even less wasteful by eventually getting rid of the need for corn. They want to modify the process so that it only uses water, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and sunlight. This is a thoughtful aim for the future as the risk with creating plant-derived biofuels is the increased crop demand and the possibility of people going hungry at an engine’s expense.”

“We’re thinking we’re bringing green-ness to a field that desperately needs green-ness,” Rick Bockrath, vice president for chemical engineering at Global Bioenergies said to gizmag. “It’s basically how we’re moving away from an oil-based economy towards something that has a renewable, sustainable future to it.”

The fuel is already used to improve fuel quality but soon it could be used as a stand-alone fuel. Audi hopes to use the fuel in its luxury fleet and be the first automobile company to test out the clean burning fuel for widespread use. Isobutan gas can also be used to make plastics and refrigerator systems as well as other products. Global Bioenergies says that the gas could be produced at a commercial level in the very near future.

Audi recently released the highly efficient diesel version of the Audi Q7. The company claims that the vehicles are “the most fuel-efficient automobiles in their segment.” But even still, the company has ambitions of even more efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using a fuel that is not only efficient, but also completely free of emissions.

It’s welcomed technology considering that in order to effectively reduce global warming we must drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, we must reduce emissions by 70 percent in order to stabilize rising temperatures and the rising sea levels, super storms, water shortages, heat waves and other impacts that they will have on our society as a whole.

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Would you trust a robot to drive you around? Would you trust a robot taxi? What if these driverless cars meant reducing greenhouse gas emissions? This isn’t something out of a science fiction novel. In fact, the cars could be widely available in the next 15 years.

Driverless cars, or more specifically, robo-cabs, are so space age, not to mention a good bit unsettling because they’re the ultimate means of sacrificing control to a computer. But according to researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, driverless robo-cabs could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent when compared to privately owned gas-powered vehicles. What’s more, they could reduce emissions by 82 percent when compared to more efficient hybrid vehicles. The study is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

“Autonomous taxis make a promising early business case for connected and automated vehicles because they spread the purchase cost among many users and match appropriate vehicles to trip needs,” wrote Austin Brown of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Washington in an article that accompanied the study, reported in the Los Angeles Times.

The emission reductions on these driveless cars come from so-called “right-sizing” car trips, according to the article.

“Most trips in the U.S. are taken singly, meaning one- or two-seat cars would satisfy most trips,” Greenblatt said in a statement. “That gives us a factor of two savings, since smaller vehicles means reduced energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.”

The driverless cars would be battery operated and far smaller than traditional gas-powered cars.

While many car manufacturers are working to bring the driverless cars to market, Google famously started the discussion a few years back. Their robo-fleet would pick up people on demand using an app.

In 2013, the company invested $258 million in a fleet that’s equipped with cameras, sensors, and radars. The cars cost a reported $150,000 each but Google thinks they can bring the price down in the coming years by making some of the software itself rather than outsourcing the work to auto manufacturers. Even still, there’s a good chance that the vehicles would be worth the price to companies like Uber in gas savings alone. The economic benefits are what bring huge companies like Google and Uber to the table, but the environmental benefits are real and worth the initial investment.

Additionally, if these driverless cars became more widely available, they might eliminate the need for individuals to own their own cars. For example, if the only place you drove was to work and to the grocery store and the rest of your life was in walking distance, it might be cheaper to spend your money on robo-cabs rather than having to invest in the maintenance and gas money of owning your own car. It’s appealing considering the amount of money older cars cost us in maintenance each and every month. And of course, there’s nothing quite as cool as being driven around by a robot.

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One of the biggest hindrances to staving off global climate change is getting the world’s biggest emitters to agree to take action. China is the world’s second biggest emitter due to its dependance on dirty coal and the astonishing double digit industrial growth that the nation has experienced in the past three decades. But a new report shows that China’s greenhouse gas emissions may be tapering off much sooner than suspected.

We hardly ever get any good news when it comes to global climate change but a new report from the London School of Economics found that China may be headed in a positive direction. Due to a reduced dependence on coal and increasing use of natural gas and clean energy, China’s greenhouse gas emissions will level off five years earlier than first thought, according to a report.

According to the report:

[C]oal consumption fell in 2014, and fell further in the first quarter of 2015. Analysing trends in the key emitting sectors, we conclude that China’s GHG emissions are unlikely to peak as late as 2030 — the upper limit set by President Xi Jinping in November 2014 — and are much more likely to peak by 2025. They could peak even earlier than that. With a comprehensive approach to reform, they could also fall rapidly post-peak. China’s transformation has profound implications for the global economy, and greatly increases the prospects for keeping global GHG emissions within relatively safe limits.

This means that temperature increases would average 2 degrees globally, which is still within safe limits and avoids the most damaging impacts of global climate change.

“Whether the world can get onto that pathway in the decade or more after 2020 depends in significant part on China’s ability to reduce its emissions at a rapid rate, post-peak,” write Nicholas Stern and Fergus Green, the authors of the new LES report, reported on Grist. Stern was also the author of the U.K.’s landmark “Stern Review” on climate economics.

China’s coal consumption grew by nearly 10 percent a year between 2000 to 2010, but last year it was reduced by 3 percent, which is a major step in the right direction in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. But the news is not all good because while China is filling in some gaps with clean energy, it is also increasingly dependent on natural gas. At the same time, China’s natural gas use will increase by 5-10 percent in the coming years. What’s more, oil consumption in the transportation sector is still on the rise.

Additionally, according to the report, China should take other steps to taper off its emissions including planning more compact, high density cities with more public transportation and reduced use of automobiles as well as phasing out coal-fired power plants completely in the coming years. But nonetheless, this is some good news in the face of a warming planet.

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The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the strongest actions yet to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed regulations would cut emissions by as much as 30 percent by 2030.

States could meet the new standards through a variety of methods that include energy efficiency, wind and solar alternatives, shifting from coal to natural gas, power plant upgrades, and encouraging a shift in electricity use during off peak hours. EPA says the approach will allow states flexibility in how they abide by the new regulations.

“This proposal is all about flexibility. That’s what makes it ambitious, but achievable,” said EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in The Washington Post.  McCarthy received two standing ovations and did a fist bump with Rep. James P. Moran (D-Va.) before starting her speech. “For the sake of our families’ health and our kids’ future, we have a moral obligation to act on climate.”

Ever since the carbon bill failed in Congress, environmental advocates have been pressing President Obama to take executive action under the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed regulations will cut carbon emissions by 500 million metric tons. The draft proposal is open to public comment.

“This momentous announcement raises the bar for controlling carbon emissions in the United States,” said Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute, a Washington research organization, reported in The New York Times, adding, “These new standards send a powerful message around the world.”

These are the strongest actions ever taken by the U.S. to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere; scientists warn they are to blame for global climate change. Burning coal is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. In all, 600 antiquated power plants may have to close if they can’t meet the new regulations, especially considering that some were built when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. As a result, the proposal is sure to have to withstand a host of lawsuits and legislative attacks.

This sets the U.S. on track to meet U.N. emission reduction targets set in 2009. Over the long term the U.S. has been the largest emitter of greenhouse gas, but today China is the largest emitter.

“I fully expect action by the United States to spur others in taking concrete action,” Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, said.

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I don’t know about you, but when elderly lesbian doppelganger slash Republican Lindsey Graham is one of the few Senators espousing a common-sense, ecologically-minded legislative opinion, I pay attention. Complete with a double spit-take and a heaping helping of “WHAAA?”

Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski, firing the next salvo in the knock-out grudge match between Alaskans and the Earth, has sponsored a bill that would overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s right to regulate air pollutants. Even though that’s, you know, what the EPA does. The core argument is that Congress should be regulating environmental policy, not an actual environmental regulatory group. Here’s where the startling sanity of Lindsey Graham comes into play: “If we stop them [the EPA], are we going to do anything?” Three guesses and a prize of their choice to the lucky winner.

The Murkowski bill counts at least 40 co-sponsors (including Democrats from Arkansas, Nebraska, and Louisiana). Several other Democrats from coal states have not yet stated which way they will vote, leaving open the possibility that the bill will find the 51 votes it needs to pass.

Since Obama’s climate bill hasn’t yet passed, the EPA’s Clean Air Act is the only governmental means of cutting carbon emissions currently available. There’s also nothing stopping Congress from crafting its own energy legislation in addition to whatever actions the EPA takes. But a consensus on energy policy in Congress is a long way off. Depending on which way the vote goes this afternoon, the reality of effective greenhouse emissions regulations may become just as distant. With Democrats scrambling to protect corporate profits and Republicans speaking up for sensible environmental protection (and no legislative consensus or leadership in sight), the score could very well be Alaska 1, Earth 0.

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Anyone who’s ever read the op-ed section of a newspaper or heard the word “Climategate” tossed around by a talking head shouldn’t be too surprised by the news that the US is actually losing ground in its Environmental Performance Index ranking. Planet Green has the full story analyzing the significance behind America’s failing environmental grades.

Last year, the U.S. ranked 39th on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). This year, 61st.

Editor’s note: Article by Rachel Cernanksy. Originally published by our friends at Planet Green. Planet Green is an offshoot of Discovery that covers every aspect of green living, from tofu to tattoos. Be sure to visit them and say hi, and follow Planet Green on Twitter, too!

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When you come in from working all day on the Farmville, check out Urbanville life in the new online game RETROFITS. Launched by the California software company, Autodesk, it features talking buildings that encourage players to learn the benefits of eco upgrades to our city dwellings.

As the makers see it, “Buildings are the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S,” and we need to make buildings better with sustainable and energy efficient design.

“Don’t just stand there,” they tell us, “Play the game, post your high score, and invite your friends to compete – every little fit helps.”

In other words, follow the Farmville route to creating a cooperative green mentality.

More cooperation is needed on the part of architects, engineers, builders, designers and others in the housing trade. According to ArchDaily, a substantial 8 percent of all carbon emissions in America come from powering our buildings and experts say we can achieve half the goal of cutting down on those emissions 60 to 90 percent by 2050.

Want to get started doing your part? Play the game here and let us know how you like it.

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