Summary of the Week in EHS
Lakeshore Technical College will host We Energies renewable energy workshops on Sept. 13 and 27. Presented by We Energies in collaboration with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, the two workshops are designed for residential customers to learn about renewable energy and systems available for use in the home. Participants will learn how to control energy costs, get tax credits and secure financial assistance to get started with environmentally safe, renewable energy systems. Source: The Sheboygan Press, 8/29/06.
Plasma assisted engines fuel efficient, cleaner
Gasoline, diesel, and turbine engines could soon burn cleaner or be more fuel efficient through the application of Plasma Assisted Combustion, a technology originated and developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and now poised to enter the marketplace. The technology consists of an electronic device that can be attached to an existing fuel injector that applies electrical voltage to the atomized fuel stream prior to combustion - generating a plasma in the fuel. This effect essentially breaks down the long chains of hydrocarbons in the fuel into smaller parts - allowing the fuel to be burned more completely, resulting in more miles per gallon, or reducing harmful emissions.
Source: Physorg.com, 8/30/06.
Fueling the future with citrus waste
To establish ethanol as an alternative to petroleum fuel, researchers are seeking new sources of candidate materials that are cheap, abundant, and sustainable. In Florida, which is one of the world's largest producers of citrus products, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Citrus and Subtropical Products Research Laboratory are looking for ways to use the ~3 million t of wet pulp and peel waste produced every year by citrus-processing companies. The waste could yield 50 million gal of ethanol fuel annually, says Bill Widmer, the researcher heading the project.
Source: Environmental Science & Technology, 8/30/06.
IL: Lt. Gov. praises WMRC biodiesel program
Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn has praised the biodiesel program operated by the Waste Management & Research Center as one of the ways America can reduce its dependence on foreign oil. Quinn visited the University of Illinois to highlight how WMRC uses waste oil from a student dining hall to power its "vegetarian" biodiesel truck. Quinn says such efforts will lead the way to a better future for Illinois.
'Compost effect' may cause global warming to reach crisis point in 2050
Independent (UK): The world faces a catastrophic rise in global warming in 2050 unless urgent action is taken to cut human-induced carbon emissions, a leading academic warned yesterday. Professor Peter Cox, of Exeter University, told the Royal Geographical Society annual conference that temperatures could rise 8C by 2100 because of a "compost effect" which could see carbon dioxide levels increase 50 per cent faster than previously estimated. Currently, around one quarter of carbon ...
EPA Brags About Going 100% Green
Axcess News: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has closed a deal making it the first federal agency to purchase renewable energy, or "green power," equivalent to 100 percent of its annual electricity needs. The agency signed a contract with 3 Phases Energy Services to purchase more than 100 million kilowatt hours (kWh) in renewable energy certificates, effective Sept. 1. The arrangement extends annual green-power purchases to more than 190 EPA facilities nationwide. This ...
Supreme Court case challenges Bush stance on global warming
San Francisco Chronicle: Opening briefs are due before the U.S. Supreme Court today in a case challenging the Bush administration's reluctance to issue regulations to control global warming. California and 11 other states have joined with environmental groups in a legal attack they hope will compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take action to curb the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere. The EPA maintains it has no authority under ...
Brazil Arrests 31 in Environmental Corruption Case
Associated Press: Police arrested 24 federal environmental protection agents accused of falsifying reports and selling illegal permits, and seven people who allegedly bribed the officials, Brazilian authorities said. Federal police said in a statement that the suspects, who were arrested in Rio de Janeiro state on Wednesday, allegedly bought and sold permits for out-of-season fishing and illegal construction. Police said nearly 200 officers participated in the investigation, which began in ...
Ocean Plant Stress Adds More Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas
Voice of America: In the plant kingdom, greener does not always mean healthier. Scientists have found that microscopic ocean algae called phytoplankton actually get greener when they are stressed. A new study finds this is why the tiny plants in a large region of the Pacific are failing to absorb as much of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as they normally do, with implications for global warming. Plants thrive on carbon dioxide just as animals do on oxygen. This is good for the atmosphere because ...
United States: Schwarzenegger makes deals with the Dems
Associated Press: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to cap California's greenhouse gas emissions is just the latest in a string of recent deals with the Democrats that could help him win back the moderate voters so vital to his re-election bid this fall. The deal announced Wednesday between the Republican governor and leaders of the Democratic-controlled Legislature would make California the first state to limit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from factories and other industrial ...
Fires and drought ravage southwest China
Agence France-Presse: A major drought affecting millions of people in southwestern China is being called "the worst in a century", as state press reports said searing temperatures had set off uncontrollable fires. Fire fighters and more than 1,500 residents were battling forest blazes that had consumed 67 hectares (165 acres) in the northern part of Chongqing municipality since Wednesday, a report by China Radio International said. Officials in Chongqing were calling the drought the worst ...
Alarm sounds on US population boom
Boston Globe: The United States, now at nearly 300 million people, is the only industrialized country that has experienced strong population growth in the last decade, creating concerns that the boom and Americans' huge appetites for food, water, and land will sharply erode the nation's natural resources in coming years, according to a report released yesterday. The Northeast remains by far the most densely populated region of the nation, but it also had the slowest population growth in the country ...
ABC News: A president who doesn't acknowledge the virtually universal consensus among scientists that mankind is dangerously overheating its home planet stands to be upstaged by a governor -- a fellow Republican -- who does. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reached a deal with state Democrats today on legislation that would make the state the first to impose across-the-board strict greenhouse gas emissions cuts on industry, energy plants and businesses -- the same sort of regulations a ...
U.S. must use less foreign oil
Associated Press: U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar challenged automakers to make sure each car sold in the nation is capable of running on alternative fuels to help reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. More than 1,000 auto and oil industry representatives attended an energy summit co-sponsored by Lugar and Purdue University on Tuesday. But the Indiana Republican's ideas -- including tougher fuel economy standards -- met resistance from industry officials who said they already were doing their ...
China: Denies Droughts Caused by Big Dams
Inter Press Service: China's worst drought in fifty years has forced Chinese leaders to defend their record of building vast hydro-engineering works at a time when the country's finite water resources are increasingly depleted by population growth and rapid economic development. Authorities have vehemently denied that continuous drought and shortage of drinking water in southwest China, which has affected the lives of 17 million people, are somehow related to the completion this year of the Three Gorges ...
Global Warming Feedback Loop Caused by Methane, Scientists Say
National Geographic: In the ongoing debate over global warming, climatologists usually peg carbon dioxide as the most dangerous of the atmosphere's heat- trapping gases. But methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, might be even more problematic. According to Tessa Hill, a geologist at the University of California, Davis, more methane is released into the atmosphere from ocean deposits during periods of warming than previously thought. This expelled methane ...
United Press International: The newest source of biofuel, an oil alternative, could be algae that feed off of polluting factory emissions, researchers say. "Looking for economical ways to produce biofuel is, shall I say, popular these days," Amir Drory of Kibbutz Ketura, Israel-based Alga Technologies told United Press International. Companies try making the oil alternative from "agricultural products, all kinds of creatures, or fermentation," Drory said. AlgaTech, with Drory ...
The Greening of Work (Original post by By Laura B.)
Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.
When Toyota Motor Corp. moved one of its divisions into an environmentally friendly, or “green,” building in Torrance three years ago, it expected to save on its energy bills. The building offered natural lighting, electricity-generating rooftop solar panels and water recycling.
But something else also happened. Employee morale jumped while absenteeism fell. The overall energy and worker productivity savings more than offset the added cost of making the facility environmentally friendly.
Ethanol keeps gas prices high?
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Rain gardens — a growing idea taps stormwater
Read the full story in the Grand Rapids Press. (Original post by By Laura B.)
GRAND RAPIDS — Patricia Pennell is happy to help you create a beautiful rain garden in your yard — even if you don’t know or care much about the harmful effects of stormwater runoff.
Ocean plankton absorbs less CO2 than expected
Even phytoplankton are letting us down when it comes to global warming. These microscopic ocean-dwelling plants, which were thought to be gobbling up atmospheric carbon dioxide, are apparently not doing as well as was hoped. In the past, satellite images of ocean colour were the main tool for measuring photosynthetic biomass: the greener the ocean the more CO2 was being taken up by the phytoplankton. This idea now seems to be misleading. » original news
Renewable energy museum planned
Read the full story in the Peoria Journal Star. (Original post by By Laura B.)
Bruce and Joyce Papiech are determined to spread the word about renewable energy sources.
They have created Sustainable Energy Education (SEE), an approved not-for-profit company. They plan to build a 40,000 square-foot museum complex in Sublette near the GSG 40-turbine wind farm, which they also own.
Congressman aims to eliminate SUV tax breaks
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Tax breaks benefiting buyers of sports-utility vehicles fly in the face of a good energy policy and are costing American taxpayers billions of dollars a year, according to a report from Rep. Edward Markey. "It is incredible that the Bush Administration and Republican Congress can be so blind as to leave these tax loopholes in place while our dependence on Middle East oil soars, the price of gasoline spikes, and our soldiers are mired a war in the Middle East," said Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts. » original news
Is Canadian e-waste an environmental disaster in waiting?
Read the full story at Canada.com. (Original post by By Laura B.)
That state-of-the-art personal computer in which you invested more than a thousand dollars as little as two years ago is now worth nothing. Actually, less than nothing. In accountants’ terminology, it’s now a liability — not an asset.
The reason lies within.
Nestled safely within the womb of your user-friendly computer system lurks a conglomeration of contaminating chemicals, heavy metals and plastic compounds that collectively have been proven to cause neurological disorders, a variety of cancers, kidney failure, endocrine disruption and a host of other ills to virtually all parts of the human body.
China nomads on energy's cutting edge (USA Today)
In China, coal is the main source of energy. It also contributes to polluted skies and respiratory disease. As the government works to get 15% of China's energy from renewables by 2020, it is beginning with villages. With a government subsidy, a photovoltaic solar unit is affordable for inhabitants.
EPA to co-sponsor Green-Diesel Technology conference in Chicago
WHAT: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5’s Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative will co-sponsor “Tools and Incentives for Green-Diesel Technology: Lower Emissions, Higher Profits,” a two-day conference on financial programs that fund diesel emission reduction and fuel-efficient technologies for heavy-duty trucks and locomotives. Topics include freight movement and finance, grant and loan programs, and tax incentives. Participants will work together to develop new finance tools and incentives for green-diesel technologies.WHO: EPA Region 5 acting administrator Bharat Mathur, Illinois Department of Transportation secretary Tim Martin, LaSalle Bank senior vice president of surface transportation Rob Hart and other senior-level policy officials in the finance, trucking and rail industries as well as policy-makers in state economic, environmental, energy and transportation agencies.
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 6, 11:30 a.m. until Thursday, Sept. 7, 2:40 p.m.
WHERE: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 230 S. LaSalle St., Chicago.
More information and the latest agenda updates are at www.epa.gov/midwestcleandiesel. To register, e-mail Julie Henning, henning.julie@epa.gov, (312) 886-4882.
China breeds rapeseed with record high oil content for biodiesel
Read the full post at Biopact. (Original post by By Laura B.)
Earlier we had a close look at China’s ambi- tious biofuels pro- gram, and we noticed that the country’s biodiesel industry was underdeveloped, compared to its already large ethanol production capacity. That is now about to change. China has bred a new kind of rape- seed with a record high oil content in a move to develop its biodiesel industry, the Ministry of Agriculture announced. According to Xinhua, the new rapeseed has an oil content of 54.72 percent, nearly two percentage points higher than the previously reported highest oil content, according to a test report from the ministry.
G8 Leaders For $50 Billion Global Solar Fund
"President Gorbachev has called for strong commitments to sustainable energy and warned of the dangers of continued reliance on oil and gas and nuclear power while relegating renewable energy to secondary status. Gorbachev, Green Cross International and its American affiliate Global Green USA, have urged the G8 to make significantly increased investments in renewable energy, including the creation of a $50 billion Global Solar Fund over 10 years." » original news
NASA and Boeing join Brazil to develop biokerosene aviation fuel
Read the full post at Biopact. (Original post by By Laura B.)
Earlier we wrote about biofuels for aviation, reporting that Argentina’s air force carried out the first tests with green fuels in a large aircraft (a C130). We also pointed out the many challenges facing the production of biofuels for airplanes. Now America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Boeing are teaming up with Brazilian biofuel company Tecbio to develop biokerosene (”biojet”).
Iowa offers 100% biodiesel “at the pump”
Read the full (short) story at BrownfieldNetwork.com. (Original post by By Laura B.)
One-hundred percent biodiesel is now available at the pump in some Iowa locations. Prairie Land Co-op is offering B100 at its cardtrol pumps in Ellsworth, Hubbard, and Ackley, Iowa, and B50 at its pumps in Garden City, Iowa. This is the first time B100 is available at the pump.
Public Doesn’t Understand Global Warming
Read the full story at GreenBiz.com. (Original post by By Laura B.)
Recently, the David Suzuki Foundation conducted a focus group about global warming to see where people are at in their understanding of this complex and challenging problem. The results? Let’s just say they were disconcerting, to say the least, says Dr. Suzuki.
Quote of week: "I'm not judging people, I'm judging their actions. It's the same type of distinction that I try to apply to myself, to judge, but not be judgmental." Jeff Melvoin
Have a great weekend
!!!
Christopher Haase
(ESS, Environmentally Sensitive Solutions, Inc.)Director of Environmental, Health & Safety
ESS, Cleaning the world “One Solution at a Time”
