Nebraska Ethanol's Carbon Footprint

If burning a gallon of ethanol emits less greenhouse gas or GHGs (CO2, primarily), than the gasoline it replaces then it has a smaller carbon footprint than gasoline. Actually, it is the amount of fossil CO2 emitted that matters, because CO2 from fossil fuels represents "new" carbon in the atmosphere, whereas the CO2 released by corn ethanol is recycled atmospheric carbon.

Regulating Green Buildings

Green buildings are becoming the new fixation for the building industry because of the impact they have on the carbon footprint and the cost savings they offer for utility costs. Governments have begun to produce policies and regulations that implement and mandate green buildings due to these successes. However, the policies are having troubles increasing the popularity and quantities of green buildings. There is a need for a way to produce better policies and regulations that will increase both the amount of green buildings their popularity. A decision-making tool, such as a decision tree, should be created to help policymakers who do not have the backgrounds to produce well thought out regulations. By researching the green building industry and its current status, key points can be graphed out in a decision tool that will provide the needed education for policy makers to produce better green building regulations.