Jul 19, 2012

Revisions to the Tier I and II Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms

The following is an update from EPA's Superfund, TRI, EPCRA, RMP & Oil Information Center:
On July 13, 2012, EPA modified the EPCRA Section 312 Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms (Tier I and Tier II) to add new mandatory and optional data elements under the facility identification and contact information sections of both forms.  EPA also revised some existing data elements on the chemical reporting section of the forms to make reporting easier for facilities and make the forms more user-friendly for state and local officials.

In the final rule, EPA added the following new mandatory data elements to the Tier I and II forms: the facility's latitude and longitude; identification numbers assigned under the TRI program and risk management program; whether the facility is manned or unmanned; the maximum number of occupants present at the facility at any one time; whether the facility is subject to EPCRA Section 302 and the Clean Air Act Section 112(r) risk management program; contact information for the individual responsible for completing the forms; emergency coordinator contact information for facilities subject to EPCRA Section 302; and e-mail addresses for the owner or operator and emergency contact.  The rule also revised the range codes on the forms for the maximum amount and the average daily amount of the hazardous chemical at the facility and added optional data elements for the facility phone number and parent company contact information.

In the rule, EPA also made revisions specific to the Tier II form.  Separate data fields were added for reporting pure chemical and mixtures; facilities must provide a description for storage types and conditions rather than reporting codes; and the form was revised to allow facilities to report any additional state or local reporting requirements or to voluntarily report hazardous chemicals below the reporting thresholds.

The final rule becomes effective on January 1, 2014, and facilities must comply with the new requirements on the Tier II inventory form starting reporting year 2013, which is due by March 1, 2014.  Additional information, including a copy of the final rule and fact sheet, is available at the following URL:

www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/epcra

EPA to Withdraw Proposed Rule On Livestock Facility Clean Water Act Reporting Requirements | @Bloomberg

Key Development: EPA will withdraw proposed rule that would have required all concentrated animal feeding operations, regardless of whether they discharge into water, to report information about their operations.

What's Next: EPA will work with the Association of Clean Water Administrators to collect information on CAFOs from existing state, local programs.

...The Environmental Protection Agency will withdraw a proposed rule, widely opposed by livestock and other industry groups, that would have required all concentrated animal feeding operations to report information about their operations, regardless of whether they discharge into water.

In a notice that will soon be published in the Federal Register, the agency said it would collect basic information on CAFOs through existing sources at the state and local level. EPA said it had established a memorandum of understanding with the Association of Clean Water Administrators, which will assist the agency in collecting information.

EPA posted the notice on its website July 13. The agency said that working with states was an efficient approach that would “not duplicate efforts” from existing programs. The agency reserved the right to initiate a similar rulemaking at a future date.

Please continue reading By Anthony Adragna  at:

Democratic congresswoman: Unemployment worse than 8.2% - Will she get the Cory-Booker-under-the-bus treatment for telling the truth?

...According to Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, however, the reason behind the swelling food stamp rolls is that unemployment is worse than the 8.2 percent reported earlier this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Let’s just say this,” DeLauro said during a Thursday CSPAN interview, when presented with a Bloomberg Government graph showing millions more people on food stamps even as unemployment decreased from Oct. 2009-Dec. 2011. “When we talk about the unemployment numbers, unemployment is 8.2 percent. That’s not including the people who have stopped looking for jobs. So, we’re looking at — probably — it’s a higher number given that the number of people who have stopped looking for a job can’t find a job, people who have been unemployed for a year or two years, who are unable to find jobs.”

Read on at:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/17/democratic-congresswoman-unemployment-worse-than-8-2-percent/

Doug Ross: Don't fear the fiscal cliff -- fear the welfare cliff

Doug Ross - I dream of a day when vintage media covers the important issues, such as how the president's policies are permanently condemning the nation's poor to lives of misery.

I wrote last year about the way in which welfare programs lead to very high implicit marginal tax rates on low-income people. More specifically, they lose handouts when they earn income. As such, it is not very advantageous for them to climb the economic ladder because hard work is comparatively unrewarding... Thanks to the American Enterprise Institute, we now have a much more detailed picture showing the impact of redistribution programs on the incentive to earn more money.


...Needless to say, there’s not much reason to earn more income when living standards don’t improve. May as well stay home and goof off rather than work hard and produce... This is why income redistribution is so destructive, not just to taxpayers, but also to the people who get trapped into dependency.

And which candidate continues to press for more and more dependency?

[Does the name] Julia ring a bell ... ? If you guessed Obama, pat yourself on the back. Why just yesterday he gutted theWork Requirements From Clinton-era Welfare Reform. As the chart indicates above, there is NO incentive to work and get off the government crutch and the Democrats are pushing forward with agendas to add more.

The problem for Obama and the Democrats is that eventually, you will lose many taxpayers as they give up the ghost and join those already on the teat of government. The reason will be that it is no longer worth having to work over 6 months of the year just to make enough to pay your taxes and then have only a few months of pay to spend on everything else.


Some call the inevitable result 'Going Galt'. Professor Glenn Reynolds describes it as 'Middle Class Anarchy':

When the backbone of a country starts thinking that laws and rules are not worth following, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to anarchy... 

TV has given us the illusion that anarchy is people rioting in the streets, smashing car windows and looting every store in sight. But there’s also the polite, quiet, far deadlier anarchy of the core citizenry—the upright citizenry—throwing in the towel and deciding it’s just not worth it anymore. If a big enough proportion of the populace—not even a majority, just a largish chunk—decides that it’s just not worth following the rules anymore, then that society’s days are numbered...

Please continue reading from Doug Ross at:

How Close Are We to New Great Depression? -depression could be so severe that I don’t think our civilization could survive it- CNBC

“We’re in a very unfortunate position to be here,” Richard Duncan, author of The New Depression, warned on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Monday.

“When we broke the link between money and gold, this removed all constraints on credit creation. This explosion of credit created the world we live in, but it now seems that credit cannot expand any further because the private sector is incapable of repaying the debt it has already, and if credit begins to contract, there’s a very real danger that we will collapse into a new Great Depression,” he argued.

“If this credit bubble pops, the depression could be so severe that I don’t think our civilization could survive it.”

Please continue reading at:

America Heading Towards a Collapse Worse Than 2008 AND Europe! - Yahoo

...According to CEO and Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Peter Schiff, the U.S. economy is heading for an economic crash that will make 2008 look like a walk in the park. Stimulus programs can delay this day of reckoning, but only for so long and only at the expense of making the eventual meltdown much, much worse.

Schiff, who famously warned investors about the housing and financial crisis in his 2007 book Crash Proof, says the Fed's palliative efforts during the housing meltdown have made the next crisis inevitable.

"We've got a much bigger collapse coming, and not just of the markets but of the economy," Schiff says in the attached clip. "It's like what you're seeing in Europe right now, only worse."

In this nightmare scenario detailed in The Real Crash: America's Coming Bankruptcy, the current economic pause is actually the beginning of a material slowdown or recession into year end. At that point, the Federal Reserve will unleash a third round of Quantitative Easing — weakening the dollar without jump-starting the economy. As a result of dollar weakness, import prices rise, pressing the margins of corporate America. Lower margins lead to heavy layoffs, sending millions of workers into unemployment during a time when they can least afford it. Banks fail, housing collapses, and taxes are raised in a futile effort to give the tapped-out government the capital to try yet more futile stimulus.

Please continue reading at:

3D, light-trapping solar cells successfully fabricated by Solar3D - @Engadget

...The California-based manufacturer has just successfully fabricated a three dimensional solar panel that traps sun light in nano-scale wells on a silicon wafer. Perhaps most exciting, the prototype panel was built using off-the-shelf tech from Panasonic, meaning that the price of mass production shouldn't be prohibitively high. More testing is needed, but the resulting panels should be up to 50 percent more efficient than current generation 2D ones. For a few more details, check out 

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Jul 18, 2012

Tier I, Tier II chemical inventory forms due for upgrade

EPA says revisions will make chemical reporting, emergency planning easier -JJ Keller
EPA is adding new data elements and revising existing data elements on the Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms (Tier I and Tier II) under Section 312 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). According to the July 13 final rule, the new data elements will be helpful for state and local agencies to develop or modify their community emergency response plans. In addition, EPA is revising the chemical reporting section of the Tier II inventory form to make reporting easier for facilities and make the form more user-friendly for state and local officials.

The rule will take effect on January 1, 2014.

Under EPCRA Section 312, if a facility has hazardous chemicals at or above the reporting threshold specified at 40 CFR Part 370, the facility owner or operator is required to submit a Tier I or Tier II form to the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), the local emergency planning committee (LEPC), and the local fire department by March 1 each year. The Tier I reporting form requires facilities to report on the general types and locations of hazardous chemicals present at the facility. Tier II inventory forms require facilities to report specific information on the amounts and locations of hazardous chemicals present at the facility. Currently, all states require facilities to submit the federal Tier II inventory form or a state equivalent form.

Read full at: JJ Keller

#OSHA and #NIOSH Agencies provide guidance on “#green” cleaning chemicals

JJKeller - New fact sheet educates employers on potential health problems

Workplaces, such as schools, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and manufacturing plants, use cleaning chemicals to ensure the cleanliness of their buildings. However, some cleaning chemicals can be hazardous to the workers, causing problems ranging from skin rashes and burns to coughing and asthma. As a result, many employers are switching to green cleaning products because they are thought to be less hazardous to workers and the environment. But according to OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) "… placing the word 'green' in a name or on a bottle does not ensure that a chemical is safe. Employers should review the cleaning chemicals they purchase, including green cleaning products, to understand their health and safety hazards. Employers should choose the least hazardous cleaners."

To help educate employers on the potential health problems caused by cleaning chemicals and the way to select safer products, OSHA and NIOSH have developed an "InfoSheet" on the topic (PDF Linked here).

According to the agencies, when employers are selecting cleaning chemicals, they should:

  • Consider the chemical ingredients; how and where the chemical will be used; and whether mists, vapors and/or gases will be released.
  • Understand that cleaners, sanitizers and disinfectants serve different purposes, and the importance of choosing the least hazardous cleaning chemical that will accomplish the task at hand.
  • Know that independent organizations are now certifying chemicals including cleaners as "green," which means that must meet specific criteria as defined by the certifying organization.

In addition, if the chemical does not meet OSHA's exception for consumer products, employers must:

  • Use the information contained in the Safety Data Sheet for all hazardous cleaning products to ensure that workers are properly protected.
  • Conduct the required training under the OSHA Hazard Communication standard BEFORE the worker begins using the cleaner, if the cleaning chemicals are hazardous.

In addition, the agencies also created a poster with guidelines for workers to protect their health while working with cleaning chemicals.

OSHA and NIOSH have developed an "InfoSheet" on the topic  www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2012-126/pdfs/2012-126.pdf

CDC "Protecting Workers Who Use Cleaning Chemicals"

Please read full notice from JJKeller

#OSHA Revised head protection #safety requirements become effective September 20

JJKeller - In a direct final rule published in the June 22, 2012, Federal Register, OSHA announced the revision of its personal protective equipment (PPE) sections under the general industry, construction, shipyard employment, long-shoring, and marine terminals standards as they relate to head protection requirements. The rule will become effective on September 20, 2012, unless OSHA receives a significant adverse comment by July 23, 2012. If OSHA receives a significant adverse comment, it will publish a timely withdrawal of the rule in the Federal Register.

According to OSHA, the standards are being updated to recognize the 2009 edition of the American National Standard for Industrial Head Protection, and to delete references to the 1986 edition of that national consensus standard since it is out of date. OSHA also is including the construction industry in this rulemaking to ensure consistency among the Agency's standards.

A few of the differences between the 2009 and prior editions of ANSI Z89.1 address optional testing for reverse wearing helmets, renaming of helmet classes, and explanation of the limitations of protective helmets in preventing injuries.

For a complete recap of all of the differences between the ANSI Z89.1- 2009 and prior editions, visit: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-22/pdf/2012-15030.pdf

Read full and sign up at: JJKeller

Breaking News: US bans bisphenol-A, or BPA, in baby bottles & sippy cups

The U.S. government announced Tuesday that baby bottles and sippy cups can no longer contain the controversial chemical bisphenol-A, or BPA.

Please continue reading at:

GreenWashing? Print Lobby Says Online Billing Not So Green - GOOD

How many bills come in paper form to your mailbox? Probably very few. You've likely long ago clicked the "go green" option and not looked back. But wait: Start the presses! The paper barons are here to tell you that e-billing may not be the better option for the planet.

Two Sides, a mouthpiece for the "graphic communications value chain,"is offering its "expertise at no cost to U.S. corporations who currently make environmental claims about print and paper relative to online billing and communication." According to Two Sides, their expertise led several UK corporations to adjust their misleading messaging around the environmental impact of paper usage. 

Raz Godelnik over at Triple Pundit was skeptical of the pulp industry's green claims and decided to take a closer look at a couple of related life cycle analyses. One from Australia and one from France. The big takeaway?

For every 1 million online bills received by customers instead of a paper bill, 19.9 tonnes of CO2 equivalents is saved, 6 tonnes of fossil fuels and scarce metals, 32 tonnes of toxic substances and reduces that potential impact on land use by 20,000 PDF cm2 yr

Please continue reading at:

Compressed Air Storage Beats Batteries at Grid Scale : Greentech Media

Compressed Air Storage Beats Batteries at Grid Scale CAES is efficient, scalable and familiar to utilities. Can electrochemical technologies compete in grid-scale storage?

What is the most widely deployed grid-scale energy storage technology? That would be pumped hydro, with about 21 gigawatts in the U.S. and 38 gigawatts in the EU. Pumped hydro is very site-specific, and few new pumped hydro sources have come on line in the last decade.  

Coming in second is compressed air energy storage (CAES) with a few hundred megawatts deployed across the globe at two sites -- one in Alabama, the other in Germany -- and a few more pilot projects in the works.

That's pumping water up a hill and pumping air into a cave, respectively, technologies that are more Flintstones than Jetsons.

Trailing a distant third are all of the other energy storage technologies -- electrochemical, thermal, gravitational and otherwise with just tens of megawatts in action -- mostly in Japan as a mandated way of firming up wind power generation using sodium sulfur (NaS) batteries from NGK.

Venture firms have sunk billions into battery, fuel cell and flow battery startups with utility-scale grid storage seen as the holy grail that turns variable energy sources like wind and solar into firm dispatchable power like coal or natural gas-fired plants. ARPA-E and the DODare funding advanced technologies for energy storage, as well.

But there are a few problems with the electrochemical solutions -- starting with cost, long-term reliability and utility familiarity.  Lithium-ion batteries might be good for cells phones andelectric vehicles, but when it's time for hundreds of megawatts -- that leaves CAES.  

Please continue reading By ERIC WESOFF at:

Hunger games: Congress cuts food assistance for the most vulnerable

The Pump Handle...We have a food problem.

But food cost money. So for some people, the problem is access toenough food. And in the aftermath of a recession, the foreclosure crisis and high unemployment, many more Americans need help putting food on the table. Specifically, many more families are seeking help through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP and previously referred to as the food stamp program.

The food assistance program has found itself in the middle of the frenzy to reduce government spending, with a whirlwind of votes on ways to cut food assistance. Last month, the Senate passed a spending bill that would cut SNAP funds by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years. And yesterday, the House Agriculture Committee went further, passing a proposal with cuts of $16 billion. According to the Food Research and Action Center, the House cut would mean up to 3 million people could lose food assistance and about 280,000 school-age children would no longer be eligible for free school meals.

Please continue reading at:

Jul 17, 2012

2012 Drought Rivals Dust Bowl - weather.com

10 Largest Droughts Since 1895

The 2012 drought disaster is now the largest in over 50 years, and among the ten largest of the past century, according to a new report released by the National Climatic Data Center today.

As The Weather Channel reported in an exclusive preview of the report Sunday, data computed from the Palmer Drought Severity Index shows that 54.6 percent of the contiguous 48 states was in drought at the end of June, the highest percentage since December 1956, and the sixth-highest peak percentage on record.

The June State of the Climate drought report from NCDC, released today, shows that in records dating to 1895, only the extraordinary droughts of the 1930s and 1950s have covered more land area than the current drought.

And by a slight margin, the current drought actually covers more area than the famous 1936 drought, though other droughts in the Dust Bowl years – particularly the extreme drought of 1934 – still rank higher.

Background

However, when excluding areas in "moderate" drought, the historical rankings change a bit. Some historical droughts were extremely intense, but more focused on specific regions rather than sprawling across large swaths of the country.

For example, infamous droughts in 1988, 2000, and 2002 each included over 35% of the country in the "severe" to "extreme" drought categories on the Palmer drought scale.  By comparison, severe to extreme drought covers 32.7% in June 2012.

In short, the overall 2012 drought now covers more territory than any drought since the 1950s; but the more severe drought categories don't cover quite as much land now as did the droughts of 1988 and the early 2000s.

Please continue reading at:

Pot Growers' Use of Rat Poison Killing Rare Carnivores

DAVIS, California, July 16, 2012 (ENS) - Rat poison used on illegal marijuana farms is sickening and killing the fisher, a rare forest carnivore that inhabits some of the most remote areas of California, finds a team of researchers led by veterinary scientists at the University of California, Davis.

Researchers discovered commercial rodenticide in dead fishers in two widely separated locations - Humboldt County near Redwood National Park on the California coast and also in fishers more than hundreds of miles away in central California's Sierra Nevada mountains in and around Yosemite National Park.

Distribution of the poisoned fishers indicated widespread contamination of fisher range in California, the researchers concluded.

The study, published July 13 in the journal "PLoS ONE," says illegal marijuana farms are a likely source of the rodenticides. Some marijuana growers apply the poisons to deter a wide range of animals from encroaching on their crops.

The study also involved researchers from UC Berkeley, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, the nonprofits Integral Ecology Research Center and Wildlife Conservation Society, and Hoopa Tribal Forestry.

Fisher captured for examination (Photo by Michael Schwartz, U.S. Forest Service)

Please continue reading at:

U.S. Develops Home-Fueled Natural Gas Cars

HOUSTON, Texas, July 16, 2012 (ENS) - The Obama Administration is investing $30 million to find new ways of expanding the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

In Houston on Thursday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman announced 13 new natural gas research projects that will share the $30 million.

The projects are funded under a new Department of Energy program, Methane Opportunities for Vehicular Energy, or MOVE. Overall, they aim to engineer lightweight, affordable natural gas tanks for vehicles and develop natural gas compressors that can efficiently fuel a natural gas vehicle at home.

"These innovative projects will leverage the ingenuity of U.S. scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough technologies to fuel cars with natural gas, said Poneman.

The United States has abundant supplies of natural gas and U.S. shale gas production has more than tripled since 2008.

Commercial fleet operators nationwide have begun to transition long-haul trucks and other commercial vehicles to run on compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. The advances achieved under this latest set of research and development awards are intended to help expand the use of natural gas vehicles, so that drivers nationwide can benefit.

Said Poneman, "These projects could transform America's energy infrastructure and economy by utilizing domestic energy sources to power our vehicles, reducing our reliance on imported oil, and increasing American energy security."

Please continue reading at:

BP agrees to pay OSHA $13 million in violations,company paid $50.6 million in 2010 to resolve notices.

OSHA and BP Products North America Inc. have resolved 409 of the 439 citations issued by the agency in October 2009 for willful violations of OSHA's process safety management standard at BP's refinery in Texas City, Texas. Under the agreement, BP will pay $13,027,000 in penalties, and already has abated or will abate all existing violations by the end of 2012.

"Protecting workers and saving lives is the ultimate goal of this agreement," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "For the workers at BP's Texas City refinery, this settlement will help establish a culture of safety. The workers who help keep our nation's oil and gas industries running deserve to go to work each day without fear of losing their lives."

In September 2005, OSHA cited BP for a then-record $21 million as a result of the explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 workers in March of that year. Upon issuance of the citations, the parties entered into an agreement that required BP to identify and correct deficiencies. In a 2009 follow-up investigation to evaluate BP's performance under the 2005 agreement, OSHA found that although the company had made improvements to the plant, the company had failed to correct a number of hazards, which led OSHA to issue 270 failure- to-abate notices. In a settlement agreement in August, 2010, the company paid $50.6 million to resolve those notices.


Read full at OSHA

Chemical that slows down the biological clock could lead to new drugs to treat diabetes

A chemical that affects the biological clock could help provide a new class of drugs to tr...

Scientists have long suspected that metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, could be linked to our circadian rhythm or biological clock. For example, laboratory mice with altered biological clocks often become obese and develop diabetes. Now biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a chemical, which affects the activity of a key protein that regulates our biological clock, can repress the production of glucose by the liver, offering a promising new direction for the development of a new class of drugs to treat diabetes... Continue Reading Chemical that slows down the biological clock could lead to new drugs to treat diabetes

Exporting uranium 'worse than selling heroin.' uranium mining increase the risk of cancer, particularly in children.

Paediatrician and anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott will speak to families in Roxby Downs on Wednesday about the health impacts of uranium mining. She says living near the proposed Olympic Dam mine will greatly increase the risk of getting cancer, particularly among children.

Please continue reading at:

Study links chemicals in drinking water to vision problems.

People who were exposed during childhood to a chemical solvent in their drinking water in Cape Cod, Mass., have an increased likelihood of vision problems, according to Boston University researchers.

Please continue reading at:

U.S. Vegetable safety testing vegetables and fruit for pathogens on chopping block.

The U.S. Congress is poised to scrap funding for a $5 million program that tests select vegetables and fruit for pathogens — an initiative that’s led to about 30 recalls since 2009. Consumer advocates say they’re outraged and that suspect that industry pressure influenced the decision.


Utility suggested downgrading leaks to cut costs before Bruno pipeline explosion — and potentially not fixing them

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. suggested to managers before the San Bruno pipeline explosion that downgrading more than 2,300 natural gas leaks — and potentially not fixing them — would save the company nearly $5 million, according to an internal document obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle.

Please continue reading at:

Jul 16, 2012

#Chemical #Safety for #Sustainability (CSS) Free Webinar/Seminar: Life-Cycle Considerations

This presentation will highlight research within the Life-Cycle Considerations (LCC) topic of the CSS Program. Research in this topic is unique, exciting and innovative due to its design to address the current needs of our Program Offices and Regions by applying a progressive approach to risk management with the intent to help the Agency achieve its goal to infuse current regulatory practices with sustainability concepts. Risk can occur throughout all stages of the life-cycle of a chemical, and it is necessary to identify at which stage, by what means and how such hazards can be mitigated or eliminated. This topic is supported by projects which apply a life cycle methodology for developing a sustainability data-network, demonstrating the application of sustainable chemistry and engineering and completion of case studies to identify areas where sustainable metrics can be incorporated.

This presentation will be followed up by a discussion session led by Matthew Small of Region 9. The discussion session will cover topics on regional office and program office regulatory needs, scientific interest and how CSS development of life-cycle data, tools and research can help to meet those needs.

Registration not necessary. Click the link or dial in via teleconference at the scheduled time.


Contact Information:
Phone: (866) 299-3188, Conference Code (2025643269)
URL: https://epa.connectsolutions.com/csswebinar/

New #DOE Database Makes Costs of #Energy #Tech More Transparent for #wind #solar#biofuel

As part of the Energy Department's Open Energy Information platform (Open EI) and its continued commitment to open and transparent energy data, the Department released today a new public database featuring cost and performance estimates for electric generation, advanced vehicle, and renewable fuel technologies. The Transparent Cost Database (TCDB) provides technology cost estimates for companies, utilities, policy makers, consumers, and academics, and can be used to benchmark company costs, model energy scenarios, and inform research and development decisions. The database makes it much easier to view the range of estimates for what energy technologies, such as a utility-scale wind farm, rooftop solar installation, biofuel production plant, or an electric vehicle, might cost today or in the future.
Read Full Story at EERE

JOB in Environmental Pathology/Toxicology Fellowship Available (Wash -DC)

UW has an additional postdoctoral position that is open in our EP/T Program. Please submit any candidates you may have. We are asking for your submissions by Wednesday, July 25th. Due to the late notice we are willing to modify the application process.

Please have your candidates visit the site below to apply, but please note the modifications below.

http://www.pathology.washington.edu/academics/ept/apply/

1. Completed Application Form

2. Project Title and Abstract

3. All Collegiate Institution Transcripts

4. One letter of recommendation from advisor; two additional recommendation letters will be needed but can be submitted after deadline

5. CV 6. Summary of Project's Relevance to EP/T and Career Plans (up to half page)

7. Project Proposal (up to three pages)

 Thank you and we look forward to your submissions!

East Texas Getting Compressed Air Energy Storage Plant - via @Slashdot

"A compressed air energy storage (CAES) plant was first built in Germany in 1978, but East Texas will be the site of one of the world's first modern CASE plants. How does it work? A CAES power generation facility uses electric motor-driven compressors (generated by natural gas generators) to inject air into an underground storage cavern and later releases the compressed air to turn turbines and generate electricity back onto the grid, according to the plants owner. The location near Palestine, Texas was selected because of its large salt dome, which will be used to store the compressed air. The plant is estimated to cost $350 million-plus, and will create about 20 to 25 permanent jobs."
Please read full and follow at:

Jul 15, 2012

Via @Nature - Global cooling. Roman times were higher than current temperatures

"An article in Nature shows that temperatures in Roman times were actually higher than current temperatures. A team lead by Dr. Esper of the University of Mainz has researched tree rings and concluded that over the past 2,000 years, the forcing is up to four times as large as the 1.6W/m^2 net anthropogenic forcing since 1750 using evidence based on maximum latewood density data from northern Scandinavia, indicating that this cooling trend was stronger (0.31C per 1,000 years, ±0.03C) than previously reported, and demonstrated that this signature is missing in published tree-ring proxy records."
Please read full and follow at:
http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/07/11/1559252/nature-global-temperatures-are-a-falling-trend

Why Ultra-Efficient 4,000 mph Vacuum-Tube Trains Aren't Being Built - Slashdot

"In the 1800s, when pneumatic tubes shot telegrams and small items all around buildings and sometimes small cities, the future of mass transit seemed clear: we'd be firing people around through these sealed tubes at high speeds. And it turns out we've got the technology to do that today – mag-lev rail lines remove all rolling friction from the energy equation for a train, and accelerating them through a vacuum tunnel can eliminate wind resistance to the point where it's theoretically possible to reach blistering speeds over 4,000 mph (6,437 km/h) using a fraction of the energy an airliner uses – and recapturing a lot of that energy upon deceleration. Ultra-fast, high efficiency ground transport is technologically within reach – so why isn't anybody building it? This article looks into some of the problems."

Please read full and follow at:

A Build-It-Yourself Electric Vehicle

Here's yet another exciting project for DIY geeks. Modi-Corp, a Japanese company, has just unveiled a new electric car that you can actually build yourself. Not to be confused with the Toyota 'Prius,' the DIY electric car from Modi-Corp is called 'PIUS.' It's a single-seat electric car that will be released next spring in Japan. The company hopes that the PIUS kits can be used as educational tools, expecting to sell them to universities and mechanical schools with the opportunity to have customizable parts embedded in the EV for testing.

Please read full and follow at:

"Chemical intolerance" a common complaint.

A sizable percentage of low-income patients in primary care may be particularly sensitive to chemicals in household cleaners, perfumes and other everyday products, a small study suggests.

Please continue reading at:

Study finds association between phthalates and risk of diabetes.

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital found women with the highest levels of certain phthalates in their urine had nearly twice the risk of diabetes compared to women with the lowest levels of those chemicals.

Please continue reading at:

Jul 14, 2012

Minnesota Town to Tap into its Own Sewers for Geothermal Energy

sewer grate, sewer steam, sewer heat, manhole cover, city sewers, sewer system

Cities and companies around the world tap into geothermal energy — the thermal energy below the Earth’s surface — but there’s another type of man-made energy coursing through sewer pipes beneath cities and towns: sewage. The town of Brainerd, Minnesota plans to develop a unique alternative energy system that will tap into the  thermal energy in sewer pipes to heat and cool buildings.

Read the rest of Minnesota Town to Tap into its Own Sewers for Geothermal Energy

Infographic Compares Acting Green Vs Buying Green Products

green lifestyle, green products, infographic, elocal, sustainable design, green design, environmental footprint, green home, green actions, sustainable lifestyle

Green products enable us to live healthier, more efficient lifestyles – but even if you’ve upgraded every light bulb and appliance in your house to the most environmentally-friendly model, you can still eek out even more efficiency by adopting greener habits. For example, you use the same amount of water with a low-flow shower head in a 15 minute shower, as a 9 minute shower with a regular shower head. If you also limited the amount of your shower in combination with a low-flow fixture, you are saving a ton! Check out eLocal‘s infographic on Acting Green vs. Buying Green after the break for more ways to lower your carbon footprint by living a greener lifestyle.

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Read the rest of Infographic Compares Acting Green Vs Buying Green Products

The popular news you read is now written by machines

The new reporter on the US media scene takes no coffee breaks, churns out articles at lightning speed, and has no pension plan.

That's because the reporter is not a person, but a computer algorithm, honed to translate raw data such as corporate earnings reports and previews or sports statistics into readable prose.

Algorithms are producing a growing number of articles for newspapers and websites, such as this one produced by Narrative Science...

Please continue reading at: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/reporter-call-him-al-algorithm-190751150.html

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