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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
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Environmental News Bits will be taking a break from October 12-14 while I attend the Illinois Library Association Annual Conference. I'll return on October 17.
4:36:46 PM Google It! 
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The National Research Council has recently published the report, "Sustainability in the Chemical Industry: Grand Challenges and Research Needs - A Workshop Report". The report is available through the National Academies Press website and can be viewed page by page, or the complete report may be ordered online. The purpose of the study was to assist the chemical "industry" in defining the necessary research objectives to enable the ongoing transition towards chemical products, processes and systems that will help achieve the broader goals of sustainability. The report is largely based on the results of a workshop held in February of 2005, and the knowledge and experience or organizing committee members.
Sustainability, as it is used in this report, refers to a path forward that allows humanity to meet current environmental and human health, economic, and societal needs without compromising the progress and success of future generations. Sustainable practices refer to products, processes, and systems that support this path.
The report presents eight Grand Challenges that are considered to pose the greatest science and technical challenges for addressing sustainability in the chemical industry over the next 100 years. These Grand Challenges fall under the categories of Green Chemistry and Engineering, Life Cycle Analysis, Toxicology, Renewable Chemical Feedstocks, Renewable Fuels, Energy Intensity of Processing, Separation, Sequestration and Utilization of Carbon Dioxide, and Sustainability Education. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]
4:22:53 PM Google It!
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The EPA is still accepting applications for the 2005 National Clean Water Act Recognition Awards. The awards will be presented October 31, 2005, during the Water Environment Federation's Technical Exposition and Conference (WEFTEC) at the Washington Convention Center, in Washington, D.C. An inscribed plaque will be presented to first and second place national winners.
The awards recognize municipalities and industries for outstanding and innovative technological achievements in wastewater treatment and pollution abatement programs in the following categories:
- operations and maintenance at publicly-owned wastewater treatment facilities;
- biosolids management;
- pretreatment programs;
- storm water management;
- and combined sewer overflow controls.
Nomination and application deadlines are available through EPA regions. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]
4:21:23 PM Google It!
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) is updating and revising, where appropriate, the Air Quality Criteria for Lead, EPA-600/8-83/028aF-dF, published in June 1986, and the associated supplement (EPA-600/8-89/049F) published in 1990. Interested parties are invited to assist the EPA in developing and refining the scientific information base for updating the Air Quality Criteria for Lead by submitting research studies that have been published, accepted for publication, or presented at a public scientific meeting.
Under the Clean Air Act, lead is one of six principal (or "criteria"') pollutants for which EPA has established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Periodically, EPA reviews the scientific basis for these standards by preparing an Air Quality Criteria Document (AQCD). The AQCD is the scientific basis for the additional technical and policy assessments that form the basis for EPA decisions on the adequacy of a current NAAQS and the appropriateness of new or revised standards. One of the first steps in this process is to announce the beginning of this periodic NAAQS review and the start of the development of the AQCD, by requesting that the public submit scientific literature that they want to bring to the attention of the Agency as it begins this process.
The sixty-day period for submission of this information begins November 15, 2004, and ends January 15, 2005. For technical information, contact Robert Elias, Ph.D., NCEA, facsimile: 919-541-1818 or e-mail: elias.robert@epa.gov. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]
4:19:38 PM Google It!
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One company has for 20 years followed the now-popular strategy of pursuing the "double bottom line": not only profit, but social goals as well. Jerry Kay spoke to Lisa Pike, the Director of Environmental Programs at Patagonia. [ENN Business Headlines]
4:14:30 PM Google It!
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Even as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles gather increasing attention, it's a less exotic - and these days a surprisingly more mainstream - auto technology that's set to showcase the near-term viability of hydrogen fuel. [ENN Business Headlines]
4:01:29 PM Google It!
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Renee Montagne talks to Louisiana bluesman Tab Benoit about his new CD, Voice of the Wetlands. Benoit and an all-star group of Louisiana musicians recorded the album in January to call attention to the state's vanishing wetlands. [NPR Topics: Environment]
3:52:47 PM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
Mongabay.com, Unplugged Living and we-make-money-not-art have all pointed to an interesting (odd?) power experiment: generating electricity by creating "artificial whirlwinds that can be controlled." According to the original source, an article in The Economist , Canadian engineer Louis Michaud's concept
...works on a similar principle to a solar chimney, which consists of a tall, hollow cylinder surrounded by a large greenhouse. The sun heats the air in the greenhouse, and the hot air rises. But its only escape route is via the chimney. A turbine at the base of the chimney generates electricity as the air rushes by. A small solar chimney was operated successfully in Spain in the 1980s, and EnviroMission, an Australian firm, is planning to build a 1,000-metre-high example in New South Wales. But the efficiency of such a system is proportional to the height of the chimney, notes Mr Michaud, which is limited by practical considerations. His scheme replaces the chimney with a tornado-like vortex of spinning air, which could extend several kilometres into the atmosphere.
This vortex would be produced inside a large cylindrical wall, 200 metres in diameter and 100 metres tall. Warm air at ground level enters via tangential inlets around the base of the wall. Steam is also injected to get the vortex started. Once established, the heat content of the air at ground level is enough to keep the vortex going. As the air rises, it expands and cools, and water vapour condenses, releasing even more heat. This is, in fact, what powers a hurricane, which can be thought of as a heat engine that takes in warm, humid air at its base, releases cold, watery air at the top of the troposphere, about 12 kilometres up, and liberates a vast amount of energy in the process. (Just as water requires heat to make it boil, it releases heat as it condenses back into a liquid.) Mongabay's post has more information on solar chimneys, a concept WorldChanging has also covered in some detail. Perhaps I'm showing my ignorance of engineering, but this seems like the closest thing to a genuine perpetual motion machine I've ever seen. I'm not clear on the amount of energy that has to be fed back into the machine to run it vs. excess energy that can be fed to the grid, though.
3:41:07 PM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
From the Daily Nexus, the student newspaper at the University of California, Santa Barbara, comes news of the university's efforts to implement a campuswide sustainablity plan. Step one: bring in consultants on The Natural Step. Step two (as is always the case at a university): form committees:
Today's [October 6] presentation will also introduce the 12 campus committees composed of three to four people that were created to focus on such areas of campus life as facilities management, food services and transportation, said Katie Maynard Sustainability Education and Outreach Coordinator.
Eric Cummings, Environmental Affairs Board (EAB) co-chair and fourth-year English major, said the Campus Sustainability Plan will be a subsection of the campus' new Long Range Development Plan, which will be released later this year. The plan regulates construction and expansion on campus for the next 30 years.
Cummings said EAB will be working extensively this year on campus sustainability plans.
"Our goal is to create a lifestyle that is sustainable for the future, and that will allow us to live in harmony with the environment, " Cummings said. "Our main focus is to work on the sustainability plan and to lobby for it." Of course, as you might imagine, I'm already encouraged since I see an English major heading up the process. I find this really inspiring, though, as I can't think of a better way to educate students about sustainability than to put it into practice with their involvement.
3:39:29 PM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
From Unplugged Living (who got the news from Treehugger), the story of University of Vermont student Ross Nizzle's experiment with "going solar" in his dorm room. As Ross notes on his web site for the project, installing a solar panel in the dorm presented a number of unique challenges:
With the idea of creating a system to meet the basic electrical needs of my Apple Powerbook G4, iPod, cell phone, and Palm Pilot, I researched and priced out a system, ordered it and set it up. The challenge with the system was not building a solar energy system, but where I was building it: in a college dorm room. I could not make any [structural modifications] to the building, I had no power tools - or any tools, for that matter, and also knew that I would have move the system every few months. Everything I needed - tools included, needed to be purchased and I had to work around the needs of others that I lived with, as well as my own already busy schedule. Therefore, "Installation" is not only how I wired the project, but the adventures and trials I had to go through before I could even begin screwing planks together or connecting wires. Ross has written an overview of the process of installing the system and, perhaps more challenging, getting it approved (which is still officially up in the air). I really admire his initiative here. As Kevin at UL notes, most college students, upon moving in, focus like laser beams on 1) how to import alcohol, and 2) how to meet & greet with members of the opposite sex. I certainly hope the University of Vermont congratulates this young man, and encourages such experimentation by its students (within the rules, of course -- they really can't have students making structural changes to the building...).
3:37:06 PM Google It!
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Almost 40 percent of the new cancers expected to emerge this year are those affecting the reproductive organs in both sexes. Is it something in the environment? New studies link environmental toxins to breast cancer and other diseases like infertility, reports Francesca Lyman in the September/October issue of The Green Guide. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
3:27:22 PM Google It!
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With Democrats chanting "Shame! Shame!" the House passes a new energy bill that offers incentives for oil companies to build new refineries. The San Francisco Chronicle's Zachary Coile explains, 10/8/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
3:26:21 PM Google It!
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The Midwest distribution center for Whole Foods Market (WFMI) is beginning a switch to a B20 biodiesel blend for its delivery trucks that service a five-state area. [Green Car Congress]
3:24:45 PM Google It!
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People across the country, as well as state and local governments and school districts ... are turning away from gas and oil, buying wood stoves, wood-pellet stoves, even corn-burning stoves. Others are replacing windows, buying carpets, adding insulation. Some are rushing to invest in alternative energies like solar, geothermal or biodiesel. And many are tightening their budgets. By By Pam Belluck and Sarah Kershaw. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
3:22:59 PM Google It!
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GILLETTE, Wyo. - Attempts by other states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions might increase the market for Wyoming wind power, but they might also reduce demand for the state's vast coal reserves. By The Associated Press. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
3:21:12 PM Google It!
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At Solar Power 2005, this year's annual conference and trade show for the US solar energy industry, there's an unmistakable buzz, a real sense of optimism, that a series of important factors have come together at the national level to propel this industry into a new and accelerated phase of growth. [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
3:17:53 PM Google It!
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The most recent issue of the e-journal Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy is available.
3:15:16 PM Google It!
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The United Nations, so accustomed to thinking globally, turned its hopes this year to local governments’ efforts to clean up the environment. More than 70 mayors and other local leaders from around the world have signed the Urban Environmental Accords, 21 ambitious—but non-binding—sustainability goals. They pledged specifically to work toward getting 10 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2012, extending public transit to within a quarter mile of all city residents by 2015, reducing greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2030 and achieving zero municipal waste by 2040. Other measures address sprawl, air quality, access to clean water and open space. [Source: E: The Environmental Magazine]
2:55:27 PM Google It!
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Last year solar energy surpassed wind power as the fastest growing alternative energy source in the world. While solar products account for only a tiny fraction of the electricity produced in the United States, new federal legislation coupled with state programs are helping to promote growth in the industry.
Each year, thousands of Americans get a chance to explore energy efficient homes and buildings in hundreds of communities across the United States during the . [Source: Voice of America]
2:52:24 PM Google It!
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With oil and gas prices in the United States hovering at an all-time high, interest in renewable energy alternatives is again heating up. Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science hope to meet the growing demand with a new and more affordable way to harness the sun's rays: using solar cell panels made out of everyday plastics.
2:49:54 PM Google It!
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Researchers from New Mexico State University and Wake Forest University achieve 5.2 percent energy conversion with organic solar development. This means less expensive more durable solar panels available in four to five years. [Source: Physorg.com]
2:45:06 PM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
11/1/2005; 1:07:39 PM.
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