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Thursday, October 21, 2004
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An award-winning system developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to clean up perchlorate pollution is now also helping scientists determine whether the contamination is natural or man-made. Full citation for the paper:
Bao H; Gu B. "Natural Perchlorate Has a Unique Oxygen Isotope Signature." Environmental Science and Technology 38(19), 5073-5077 (2004).
Abstract: Perchlorate is known to be a minor component of the hyperarid Atacama Desert salts, and its origin has long been a subject of speculation. Here we report the first measurement of the triple-oxygen isotope ratios (18O/16O and 17O/16O) for both man-made perchlorate from commercial sources and natural perchlorate extracted from Atacama soils. We found that the  18O values (i.e., normalized 18O/16O ratios) of man-made perchlorate were at -18.4 ± 1.2”, whereas natural perchlorate has a variable 18O value, ranging from -4.5” to -24.8”. The 18O and 17O values followed the bulk Earth's oxygen isotope fractionation line for man-made perchlorate, but all Atacama perchlorates deviated from this line, with a distinctly large and positive 17O anomaly ranging from +4.2” to +9.6”. These findings provide a tool for the identification and forensics of perchlorate contamination in the environment. Additionally, they confirm an early speculation that the oxidation of volatile chlorine by O3 and the formation of HClO4 can be a sink (albeit a minor one) for atmospheric chlorine.
12:11:43 PM Google It! 
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Ontario is losing out on a huge opportunity to create thousands of new jobs and pump billions of dollars into the economy because the province is not focusing enough on renewable energy, says a new report released today. [Source: Toronto Star]
12:02:51 PM Google It!
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This is a revision of a paper presented at the Western Economics Association, International 78th annual conference, Denver, 12 July 2003, in a Contemporary Economic Policy invited session. The authors recently published Natural Resource Damage Assessment: Methods and Cases, available on the WMRC publications web site.
Abstract: When natural resource damages are caused by releases of hazardous materials into the environment, government trustees must conduct Natural Resource Damage Assessments (NRDAs) to support claims to recover the value of lost or damaged resources. This article sets forth theoretical arguments that support efforts to develop unbiased simplified NRDA methods for use by government trustees and proposes a set of criteria that can be used to evaluate the quality of any such simplified method. The authors then describe the simplified methods being used by five states across the country, affording academic economists a rare view of the kinds of methods state agencies use in-house. The article evaluates those methods against the criteria set forth and discusses the potential of other nonstate- specific simplified NRDA methods (benefit transfer and Type A models) to do the job better. The new framework established can guide future research to design simplified methods that are less biased than the simplified methods currently in use by some states without compromising ease of implementation.
11:38:00 AM Google It!
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The Nature Conservancy goes beyond 'little nature preserves' to work on saving the region. [Source: South Bend (IN) Tribune]
11:34:15 AM Google It!
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Twenty-five hundred tons of concrete, 350 tons of steel and nine tons of aluminum window frames will be left after a seven-story downtown building is taken down.
But instead of ending up in the scrap heap, the concrete will be ground up and used to fill the site, the steel will be melted to create rebar and the aluminum will be melted and used in cans and other products.
Companies have become more environmentally aware, and that attitude is reflected in the buildings they work in - and the ones they renovate or take down. Officials at PNC Financial, for example, plan to recycle more than 70 percent of the downtown Pittsburgh building they began deconstructing Wednesday, something that's happening with increasing frequency at demolition sites all over the country. [Source: Miami Herald]
11:31:07 AM Google It!
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On behalf of Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty awarded 18 pollution prevention grants totaling $203,987 to reimburse local governments 50 percent of the cost associated with developing and operating household hazardous waste collection events.
11:29:05 AM Google It!
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Dates: February 3-4, 2005
Location: Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, DC
The conference will serve as a forum for more than 700 leading scientists, engineers, policy makers, government officials, business executives, and educators to assess our ability to understand and forecast environmental changes and to identify opportunities for improving these capabilities. It will bring together researchers who study environmental conditions and trends with decisionmakers who need that information.
The opening keynote address will be delivered by James Gustave Speth, Dean of the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, who will draw upon his experience as former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Founder and former President of the World Resources Institute, and former Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality to address opportunities for the United States to assert a leadership role in domestic and international environmental issues.
Three plenary roundtable discussions will address the following themes:
- Lessons Learned from Successful Environmental Forecasting Approaches
- Designing Ecological Forecasting Systems
- Applying Environmental Forecasting to Environmental Decisionmaking
Participants in roundtable plenary discussions will include:
- D. James Baker, President and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences; former Administrator of NOAA
- Charles Groat, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey
- Bruce Hayden, Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia; Lead Investigator of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Design Consortium
- Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, Administrator of NOAA; U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
- Margaret Leinen, Assistant Director of Geosciences at the National Science Foundation
- Thomas Lovejoy, President of The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment
- Ronald Pulliam, Regent's Professor at the University of Georgia; former Director of the National Biological Survey
All conferees will take part in one of 15 interactive breakout sessions and one of three symposia, where they will generate strategies to connect institutions, fields of science and stakeholder communities to further advance environmental forecasting and decisionmaking. Active participation and lively discussion are encouraged in these sessions. A poster session will enable participants to share their research on topics related to the major themes of the conference.
A report containing strategies developed at the conference will be widely publicized and presented at briefings to the U.S. Congress, federal, state and local governments, educational institutions, and the general public.
Please visit the conference webpage to register online, see pre-conference materials, obtain the latest program updates, and view links to travel and lodging options. A limited number of complimentary registrations are available to members of the NCSE University Affiliates Program (see the conference registration page or call 202-530-5810 for details). Please direct general conference questions to conference2005@NCSEonline.org.
11:23:06 AM Google It!
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According to the National Wildlife Federation, it would cost the average residential customer living in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania or North Dakota only 69 cents more per month on their electric bill to produce a 90 percent reduction in airborne mercury from coal-fired power plants. [Source: Chicago Sun-Times (10/20)]
11:21:13 AM Google It!
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The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) Endowment for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research presented the Paul L. Busch Award to Bruce Logan, Ph.D., at WEFTEC 2004. Logan was selected for his research on microbial fuel cells and their application in the wastewater treatment process.
The WERF Endowment for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research presents the Paul L. Busch Award each year at WEFTEC, the Water Environment Federation's technical exhibition and conference. For more information on the award, visit www.werf.org/funding/endowment.cfm.
11:18:37 AM Google It!
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Water Environment Research Foundation research is looking at the fate of EDCs in wastewater in order to develop treatment technologies and analytical techniques that can successfully monitor EDCs in the products of wastewater treatment. For an in-depth look into the issue of EDCs and a listing of WERF's ongoing research efforts in this area, visit the WERF Web site at www.werf.org/Watersheds/EDCs.cfm.
11:16:57 AM Google It!
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The Rocky Mountain Institute's Community Energy Opportunity Finder is an interactive tool that collects information about community energy use and provides suggestions for beneficial energy efficiency and renewable energy measures. The tool also estimates potential energy and dollar savings, emissions reduction, and job creation.
11:14:42 AM Google It!
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The U.S. Postal Service's solar power installation generates electricity while providing shade.
Credit: PowerLight Corporation
The U.S Postal Service (USPS) announced last week that it has completed the installation of 403-kilowatt solar electric system, as well as a number of energy efficiency upgrades, on its West Sacramento Processing & Distribution Center. PowerLight Corporation provided the solar array, consisting of 2,120 solar panels mounted on a parking facility that covers nearly 28,000 square feet. Chevron Energy Solutions managed the project, which also included energy-efficiency improvements such as new energy-efficient lighting systems; heating, cooling and ventilation systems; air compressors; and energy management controls.
The improvements will reduce the facility's annual electricity purchases by more than $615,000 and its power consumption by more than 33 percent, or about 5.5 million kilowatt-hours per year. The improvements will also lower the facility's natural gas use by about 43,000 therms per year. The $6.3-million project was funded entirely through energy savings and utility rebates incentives, including a $1.6-million rebate from Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E)
self-generation incentive program. PG&E will also provide a $300,000 rebate for the energy efficiency improvements at the facility. See the Chevron Energy Solutions press release.
11:13:37 AM Google It!
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week grants of $2.1 million to 16 business ventures related to biomass, wind, and solar energy resources. The grantees include seven projects related to ethanol, four related to converting farm waste into energy, two biodiesel projects, one wind energy project, one solar energy project, and one project to evaluate generating energy, fuel, and other products from low-quality wood resources. The grants will go towards efforts such as creating a business plan for harnessing wind energy in Colorado, determining the feasibility of marketing ethanol from a plant in Illinois, and determining the feasibility of converting dairy biogas in Idaho into either automotive fuel or a high-purity gas for distribution by pipeline.
The renewable energy ventures are part of $13.1 million in agricultural product market development grants announced by USDA last week. These "value-added" grants are aimed at refining agricultural commodities and products to increase their value in the market place. See the USDA press release, the list of recipients, and the project descriptions (PDF 156 KB).
11:12:47 AM Google It!
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Acting Under Secretary of Energy David K. Garman participated yesterday in the opening of a hydrogen technology park that will produce hydrogen from renewable energy sources and use it to refuel fuel-cell vehicles. The Michigan Hydrogen Technology Park, located in Southfield, converts electricity from solar power panels at the site and from a municipal solid waste plant off-site to make hydrogen from water. Funded through DOE's State Energy Program, the project is a cost-shared effort between DOE and DTE Energy, running for three years at a cost of $3 million. In addition, DaimlerChrysler will provide the vehicles for the project, while BP will provide the refueling technology. See the DOE press release, and for more information, see DOE's Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies Program.
11:11:37 AM Google It!
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DOE announced yesterday its selection of 36 research projects to receive more than $75 million to support the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, including 11 projects to produce hydrogen from sunlight. The projects address major recommendations from the recent National Research Council (NRC) report, "The Hydrogen Economy: Opportunities, Costs, Barriers and R&D Needs," such as the NRC's call for shifting towards more exploratory research on sustainable, carbon-free pathways for hydrogen production.
The selected projects also establish more robust programs in distributed hydrogen-generation appliances?such as small-scale natural gas reformers and electrolyzers?that can be sited at existing gasoline stations. These projects will address the NRC's recommendation to use existing natural gas pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution systems for near-term hydrogen production. These small-scale technologies can also generate hydrogen from renewable resources such as biomass liquids and wind power.
When private cost share is included, the 36 projects come to a nearly $100 million investment and involve more than 115 organizations, including academia, industry, and DOE national laboratories. Projects were chosen through a merit-review, competitive solicitation process. See the DOE press release and the full list of projects (PDF 35 KB).
11:09:50 AM Google It!
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Scott Edward Anderson writes:
"This past January I started working out of my home in a new position with The Nature Conservancy. As I set up my home office on the third floor of my house, I began looking for ways to reduce my impact on the environment."
11:07:25 AM Google It!
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Paper Plate Education is an initiative to reduce complex notions to simple paper plate explanations. This website promotes innovative hands-on Activities that you can experience across a range of interests, at varying degrees of complexity, and at a low price—all with common paper plates. [Librarian's Index to the Internet]
11:01:30 AM Google It!
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Guidelines for home testing for radon, "a cancer-causing, radioactive gas ... [that] is estimated to cause many thousands of deaths each year." Learn how radon enters your home, how to test your home for radon, and how to lower the radon level of a house. Includes statistics on lung cancer risk due to radon exposure and links to related publications. From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). [Librarian's Index to the Internet]
10:57:02 AM Google It!
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This site features consumer and trade information about biodiesel, "a domestic, renewable fuel for diesel engines derived from natural oils like soybean oil." Provides a FAQ, news, tutorials, a buying guide, fact sheets, and a searchable database of technical reports. "The NBB is the national trade association representing the biodiesel industry as the coordinating body for research and development in the US." [Librarian's Index to the Internet]
10:46:35 AM Google It!
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AP - The feathered creatures winging across North America have an obvious gift that land-bound humans lack, but their survival is threatened by earthly concerns. Almost 30 percent of bird populations on the continent are facing a "significant decline," The National Audubon Society said in its first "The State of the Birds" report Tuesday. [Yahoo! News: Science]
10:16:16 AM Google It!
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AP - People are plundering the world's resources at a pace that outstrips the planet's capacity to sustain life, the environmental group WWF said Thursday. Read all of the WWF's Living Planet 2004 report. [Yahoo! News: Science]
10:09:31 AM Google It!
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From press release: "Installing technology at coal-burning power plants to deeply reduce mercury emissions would cost the average consumer an additional $1 to $3 per month on their household utility bills, according to a report by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF)." [ResourceShelf's DocuTicker]
10:05:06 AM Google It!
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"World production of solar cells, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, soared to 742 megawatts (MW) in 2003, a jump of 32 percent in just one year. With solar cell production growing by 27 percent annually over the past five years, cumulative world production now stands at 3,145 MW, enough to meet the electricity needs of more than a million homes. This extraordinary growth is driven to some degree by improvements in materials and technology, but primarily by market introduction programs and government incentives."
See: World Photovoltaic Annual Production, 1971-2003 [ResourceShelf's DocuTicker]
10:04:26 AM Google It!
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"Pollution in the United States poses health risks for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, or country of origin. A large percentage of U.S. Latinos, however, live and work in urban and agricultural areas where they face heightened danger of exposure to air pollution, unsafe drinking water, pesticides, and lead and mercury contamination. These hazards can cause serious health problems, including an increased risk of asthma and cancer; waterborne diseases such as giardiasis, hepatitis, and cholera; and neurological and developmental problems. This October 2004 NRDC report underscores the urgent need for government action on these environmental health threats."
Full report (PDF; 2,5 MB) [ResourceShelf's DocuTicker]
10:00:10 AM Google It!
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The EPA has recently published applicability determinations, alternative monitoring decisions, and regulatory interpretations that EPA has made under the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS); the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP and MACT); and the Stratospheric Ozone Protection Program. The documents containing this information are posted on the Applicability Determination Index (ADI) database system on the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) website.
For more information regarding the ADI or this Federal Register notice, contact Maria Malave at EPA by phone at: (202) 564-7027, or by e-mail at: malave.maria@epa.gov. For technical questions about the individual applicability determinations or monitoring decisions, refer to the contact person identified in the individual documents, or in the absence of a contact person, refer to the author of the document. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]
9:55:28 AM Google It!
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EPA is now accepting nominations for the 2005 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. These prestigious awards recognize innovative chemical technologies that incorporate green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use – and that have broad applications in industry. Green Chemistry strives to develop alternative ways to synthesize industrial chemicals in order to reduce or prevent the generation of environmental pollutants.
Any individual, group or organization, both nonprofit and for profit, including academia, government and industry, may nominate a green chemistry technology for these awards. Self-nominations are welcome and expected. Typically, five awards are given each year: one to an academic researcher, one to a small business, and the rest in specific areas of green chemistry. EPA has given 46 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. Each nominated technology must have reached a significant milestone within the past five years in the United States.
Nominations must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2004, to be eligible for the 2005 awards. The 2005 awards, marking the 10th year of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge, will be presented at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2005. More information on the Green Chemistry Program is available at http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/ . More information about the nomination process is available at http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/wanted.html. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]
9:50:54 AM Google It!
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Still more Gil Friend:
Raising the bar on sustainable business. [New Bottom Line]: Sustainable business - a vision statement
This latest article in my New Bottom Line series lays out a business vision for 'getting beyond mitigating the problem, making things less bad, slowing the rate of decline of the regenerative capacity of the living systems that sustain human culture and economy,' and actually solving the problem -- in a way that builds business value.
The purpose of this vision statement: to challenge already good companies, developers, designers and public authorities to an even higher level of thinking, aspiration and performance.... It's intentionally both spare and provocative. Every phrase in it could be further explained, justified, specified, documented and exampled -- and soon will be, on an interactive web page. But then it wouldn't be a vision statement.
The full article is posted here (along with a join our mailing list opportunity. And it's posted in outline form here (with annotations to come). (Watch for it also at greenbiz.com). Your comments and suggestions most welcome. [Gil Friend]
9:45:55 AM Google It!
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Yet another from Gil Friend:
How to Kick the Oil Habit. The wild-eyed crazies at Fortune are joining that socialist rag Business Week in rethinking energy policy.
Risk, in other words, has become a part of the fundamental equation when it comes to the price of oil[~]not a temporary "premium," as some characterize it. Indeed, even without a major disaster, some analysts now believe we're likely to see $50-a-barrel oil before we see $30 a barrel again. To make matters worse, we're more vulnerable now than we were in 1973. Their four-point program:
1. Improve fuel economy
2. Ramp up spending on alternative fuels
3. Redouble our commitment to efficiency
4. Get serious about solar and wind
Not so radical a program to some, until you consider where it's from. There's a tectonic shift underway in the global economy -- with huge impacts on both enterprise-level and national-level economic futures, and risk/reward profiles -- only some people/companies/governments can't see it yet. They proceed at their own peril. You invest in them at yours. [Gil Friend]
9:44:32 AM Google It!
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From Gil Friend's weblog:
Waste equals food... sorta. Sewage waters a tenth of world's irrigated crops [New Scientist]
Nothing wrong with that in principle, of course. Closing the farm to city to farm nutrient cycle makes good sense. (Recalls to me my masters thesis, back in the long ago, looking at the potential nutrient balance of Washington DC's sewage stream and the ag region that supports the city, which in turn lead to my current work with business and regional metabolism and 'material flow analysis' and key performance indicators.)
But good 'in principle' can be bad in application. The story talks of raw sewage applied to crops like lettuces and greens that are eaten without cooking, when it should be limited to crops that won't get irrigation splash -- or better yet, on feed crops that will transit any human sewage through an animal gut. Meanwhile, wash your vegetables, folks, especially the imported ones.
The other problem: sewage from cities with heavy industry, or combined storm and sanitary sewers that flow automobile emission and brake ware particulates into the flow, will feed heavy metals into the crops, and into you.
So, as is so often the case, the solution isn't just a technology or material swap, but a system-level change. Organic agriculture isn't just about organic waste; it's about an 'organic' as in 'integral' approach to agriculture and food systems. [Gil Friend]
9:41:45 AM Google It!
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From Gil Friend's weblog:
Global warming to devastate Europe first. [New Scientist]: European winters will disappear by 2080 and extreme weather will become more common unless global warming across the continent is slowed, warns a major new report from the European Environment Agency.... The changes are happening at such a pace that Europeans must put in place strategies to adapt to an unfamiliar climate, the researchers write, although they stress the importance of the Kyoto Protocol in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Yet another reason for some of the many differences in perspective between Europe and the US (or at least the US government).
Prediction: expect this perception gap to widen.
Question: What happens if I'm right? What happens if I'm wrong? [Gil Friend]
9:38:36 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:07:13 PM.
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