California Watch

Via KQED: If you’re ready for some good news on the climate front: California’s carbon emissions from power generation dropped in 2009 and 2010.

Ever wonder just how hot it’s going to get in your town if the climate changes as scientists predict? Or whether your beachfront house is going to be underwater if sea levels rise?

The answers to those questions – and more – can now be accessed through a nifty interactive Internet tool designed by Google, in collaboration with the California Energy Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, several California universities and others.

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Among climate scientists, it’s not the smorgasbord of foods and sundries in grocery stores and supermarkets that are concerning, but the large amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the buildings.

But that may change. On Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that supermarkets in all 50 states had promised to try to control these gases by voluntarily signing up for the agency’s GreenChill program.

The program’s aim is to help supermarkets reduce the amount of refrigerant emissions, greenhouse gas pollution and ozone-depleting gases escaping from the stores.

Several California-based stores and nationally recognized chains have signed up for the program, including Stater Bros., Lucky’s, Whole Foods and Target.

Supermarkets require large amounts of electricity to run lights, air conditioning and cash registers. But it’s the chemicals used to keep freezers, refrigerators and produce counters cool that are the largest threats. Read more

For a single-person household earning less than $10,000, living in California, the annual carbon footprint is about 16 tons of greenhouse gasses. But for a couple earning $90,000 living in the Bay Area, it’s about 57 tons annually. That is almost the same as a family of five living in St. Louis, with half of the annual income.

See what your carbon footprint is by going to coolcalifornia.org.