Issues: Air

In Brief Articles

How to Reduce Your Energy Consumption
Guides

Energy efficiency and renewable energy represent the fastest, cleanest and least expensive ways to reduce our electricity use -- and our dependence on oil. Here, some tips on doing just that, for both individuals and businesses -- along with links to other resources that will help you conserve even more.

Efficient Appliances Save Energy -- and Money
Guides

Energy efficient appliances are good for consumers and the environment. They won't solve our energy problems by themselves, but there are many reasons why they are a step in the right direction.

Wind, Solar and Biomass Energy Today
Overview

Not your father's "renewables," these alternatives to old and dirty fossil fuels are now business-friendly, cost-competitive and ready to meet a significant portion of America's energy needs.

A Consumer's Guide to Buying Clean Energy
Guides

Figuring out how to buy clean energy can be a challenge because options differ from state to state. This page offers information on choosing cleaner power, helping to offset power plant pollution and locating incentive programs for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

NRDC's Green Offices
Overview

When it comes to energy efficiency, NRDC practices what it preaches with energy-efficient and green design features in each of our four offices. Some of the environmentally beneficial features of our offices include utilization of natural light from skylights and large windows, innovative recycled building materials, and a water recycling system. Since beginning the greening of our offices in 1988, we have achieved numerous economic and environmental benefits, including keeping millions of pounds of global warming pollution out of the atmosphere. Includes links to details about our New York City, Washington, D.C., Santa Monica and San Francisco offices.

NRDC's New York Office
Overview

NRDC renovated our New York City office in 1989 with the goal of putting our environmental principles into practice -- designing an office that would dramatically cut down on our energy use, while at the same time demonstrating to architects, builders, and businesses around the country that "green building" concepts can go hand in hand with pleasant, productive, professional workspaces.

Stop Dirty Fuels
Overview

Looking for fuel in all the wrong places puts wildlands, air, water and climate at risk.

Arctic Wildlife Refuge: Why Trash an American Treasure for a Tiny Percentage of Our Oil Needs?
News

Drilling for oil in America's premier wildlife sanctuary would deface the pristine landscape and threaten Alaskan wildlife.

The True and False of Oil Drilling
FAQ

With gas prices soaring, oil companies and their allies in the Bush administration are pushing to exploit America’s wildlands and protected coastal regions – all in the name of short-term relief at the pump.

Buying Carbon Offsets: What You Need to Know
Guides

When combined with other personal energy-saving efforts, carbon offsets can help you green your home, office and travel. But the key is to shrink your own carbon output first.

Plug In for a Greener Future
Overview

A new breed of hybrid cars could play a big role in cutting global warming pollution.

Reducing Hawaii’s Petroleum Dependence
Opinion

A new biodiesel policy for Hawaiian Electric could jumpstart sustainable agricultural energy in Hawaii.

Hybrid Values
Guides

If you're thinking of buying a hybrid, you’re looking at a range of high-tech cars that get great gas mileage, cut polluting emissions and earn you a tax break. Find out what makes a hybrid such a good buy, and learn what’s on the market.

Move Over, Gasoline: Here Come Biofuels
Overview

If biofuels are done right, we could soon be filling our tanks with clean, renewable, homegrown energy.

China Clean Energy Project
Overview

Since 1996, NRDC has promoted efforts to develop a sustainable energy system in China, featuring cleaner, more efficient energy production and use. Learn more about our work.

The Campaign to Dump Dirty Diesel
History

NRDC has been square in the middle of a national, grassroots effort to clean up diesel pollution. We have led the way on numerous fronts and through many fights on the diesel issue, and sticking to our guns on a few key principles has been important to our success.

The Bush Energy Plan & America's Public Lands
FAQ

The Bush administration has quietly undertaken an organized, sweeping program of opening up lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to industrial development, at the expense of environmental protections.

Energy and National Security
FAQ

How our country's thirst for oil has become a national Achilles heel, why reducing that thirst is the fastest, cheapest and cleanest route to energy security, and what you can do to help make it happen.

What Parents Need to Know About Diesel School Buses
FAQ

Answers to questions including: What are the health effects of diesel exhaust inside school buses? Are all diesel buses equally dangerous? What can I do to reduce my children's exposure to diesel exhaust?

Location Efficient Mortgages
FAQ

Find out about this new city-friendly lending program and whether you qualify for increased homebuying power.

In Contrast: Smart Growth versus Sprawl
Photo Album

Sprawling development eats up farms, meadows and forests, turning them into strip malls and subdivisions that serve cars better than people. This photo essay illustrates the damage that sprawl causes, and shows practical alternatives that can preserve the landscape and improve the quality of our daily lives.

The Leaded Gas Scare of the 1920s
History

The invention of the additive tetraethyl lead for gasoline in the 1920s was a great technological advance, improving the performance of gasoline-fueled engines. But in 1924, reports began to appear of the harmful effects the substance had on humans. People working closely with tetraethyl lead had died suddenly and mysteriously. The reports were hushed up and leaded gas continued to power big American cars for another 50 years. Today we know that while lead is good for cars, it is bad for people. Although finally banned in the U.S. and other industrialized nations, leaded gasoline continues to be used in many developing countries where it is a continuing health risk.