The Natural Marketing Institute tracks public familiarity with carbon footprinting. They found awareness of the term has been growing rapidly; in 2008, 57% of the general public claimed familiarity with the term, compared with only 38% in 2007. A growing number of organizations also track and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to a 2008 study by KPMG, more than 80 percent of the “Global 250” corporations are tracking GHG emissions.

A number of online carbon calculators, GHG accounting tools, and reporting methods can be used to track emissions. Here are a few of the better known and well-established ones:

• Greenhouse Gas Protocol – a multi-stakeholder partnership providing standard accounting procedures, supporting data, and calculation tools. This is the most widely used international accounting tool for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions and serves as the basis for the most widely accepted standards for reporting emissions data.
• The Climate Registry - the North American standard for reporting GHG inventories. It also prepares companies for GHG reporting and reduction regulations like California’s AB 32 legislation.  It is a collaborative effort between more than 40 states, provinces and tribes in the United States, Canada, and Mexico to develop and manage a common and unified GHG emissions reporting system.  You can view the Grand Targhee Resort’s (located in Alta, Wyoming) Climate Registry emissions report on The Climate Registry site.
• OpenEco – a web application and online community for reporting, analyzing, and comparing GHG emissions.

Once you find a specific department receiving funds, you can contact them to see if they’ve assembled a project list. The following list of state maps contains detailed energy efficiency allocation information, an opportunity from which electrical distributors can benefit:

• The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program offers a state and local grant allocation map showing where its share ($3.2 Billion) of the stimulus package is going.
• State Energy Programs are receiving $3.1 Billion from the stimulus package, and a map of those allocations can be found here.
• Recovery.gov also provides an interactive map showing how all stimulus funds are being spent on the state level.

Additionally, the U.S. General Services Administration will spend $5.55 Billion in stimulus funds on more than 250 construction projects across the country. These projects will focus on converting numerous government facilities to high performance green buildings, as well as new construction and general renovations. A list of projects scheduled to receive this funding can be found here.