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Thursday, June 30, 2005
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I've added a list of environmental news sources to the navigation bar on the left side of the page. Right now, it only includes the RSS feeds I use to get environmental news. Eventually, I'll add a list of other environmental news sources too.
4:20:48 PM Google It! 
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Part four of a six part AP series on the steel industry deals with how former steel towns are trying to use brownfields redevelopment to stimulate economic growth.
11:55:35 AM Google It!
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Two Ohio lawmakers want to promote brownfields redevelopment with a tax credit bill they're proposing in Congress. [Source: Worcester (MA) Telegram]
11:53:14 AM Google It!
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The long-awaited office is free of asbestos and has an efficient cooling system. [Source: Salt Lake City Tribune]
11:52:01 AM Google It!
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Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered a tiny biological structure that is highly electrically conductive. This breakthrough helps describe how microorganisms can clean up groundwater and produce electricity from renewable resources, the researchers said. It also may have applications in the emerging field of nanotechnology, which develops advanced materials and devices in extremely small dimensions.
The findings of microbiologist Derek R. Lovley's research team are published in the June 23 issue of Nature, an international science journal. Researchers found that the conductive structures, known as "microbial nanowires," are produced by a novel microorganism known as Geobacter. The nanowires are incredibly fine, only 3-5 nanometers in width (20,000 times finer than a human hair), but quite durable and more than a thousand times long as they are wide. [Source: Water and Wastewater Products E-News]
11:49:13 AM Google It!
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The modern American lawn is a chemical nightmare, but alternatives abound. [Source: E -- The Environmental Magazine]
11:47:22 AM Google It!
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Applications due Aug 12, 2005.
The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to provide support to the regional pollution prevention information centers (also know as P2Rx) that collaborate to provide timely retrieval of pollution prevention (P2) information for State and Local technical assistance providers as well as medium and small businesses. EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics expects to have approximately $100,000.00 available in fiscal year 2005 to fund one proposal for the coordination of these centers. Coordination of these centers involves tasks such as: facilitating conference calls and meetings, recording and posting minutes of discussions, aiding priority setting, and measuring activities that support adoption of P2 practices.
11:46:07 AM Google It!
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Applications due Dec 02, 2005.
The Discovery Corps Fellowship Program is a pilot program seeking new postdoctoral and professional development models that combine research expertise with service-oriented projects. Discovery Corps Fellows leverage their research expertise through projects that address areas of national need. Their projects enhance research capacity and infrastructure, contribute to workforce development and job creation and develop innovative linkages between chemistry and other fields. For this pilot program, successful Fellows will have research expertise in areas supported by the NSF Division of Chemistry. The Discovery Corps Fellowship Program comprises two categories of awards: recent doctoral recipients serve as Discovery Corps Postdoctoral Fellows; and mid-career professionals serve as Discovery Corps Senior Fellows.
11:45:06 AM Google It!
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The Bikes Belong Coalition is sponsored by the American bicycle industry, with the mission of putting more people on bicycles more often. Bikes Belong provides grants of up to $10,000 to nonprofit organizations and public agencies at the national, regional, and local level for facility, capacity, and education projects. Priority is given to organizations that are directly involved in building coalitions for bicycling by collaborating the efforts of bicycle industry and advocacy groups. Requests are reviewed quarterly and the remaining deadlines in 2005 are August 29, and November 28.
11:43:47 AM Google It!
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Tourism Cares for Tomorrow is a nonprofit organization that benefits society by promoting the responsible use of the world's natural, cultural and historic treasures and supporting education and research to help secure the positive future of travel and tourism worldwide. As part of its mission, Tourism Cares for Tomorrow distributes grants to nonprofit organizations worldwide with one or more of the following goals: to protect, restore, and conserve sites of exceptional natural, cultural, or historic significance; to increase the traveling public?s awareness of and involvement in conservation efforts; and/or to promote conservation education within local host communities and to the traveling public. The remaining deadlines for 2005 are September 1 and December 1.
11:42:51 AM Google It!
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Jean Rogers, associate principal of Arup, looks at how public disclosure of sustainability fundamentals can drive performance, and how close we are to such disclosure. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
11:39:36 AM Google It!
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The DOE's plantwide assessment activities have identified cost savings of $187 million per year, $111 million of which have been implemented. This paper, presented at the agency's Paper Industry Energy Symposium in March 2005, describes the opportunities to improve energy efficiency in the forest product industry. The presentation includes information about DOE plantwide assessments activities and lists several case studies of assessments at forest product manufacturing plants, including the impacts of the assessments in terms of cost and energy savings, capital requirements and length of payback of investments. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
11:33:34 AM Google It!
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This site from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization shows the amount of energy derived from wood products that is consumed in countries around the world. Data is presented from 1995 and 1997 and is broken down by type of woodfuel, including black liquor, charcoal, and fuelwood. The site is useful for comparing countries to each other, with more data to come. Don't miss the lengthy list of downloadable publications plus related links and a glossary of wood energy terminology. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
11:32:03 AM Google It!
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Climate consultant and author Guy Dauncey wrote this how-to guide while helping New Society Publishers go carbon-neutral in May 2005. The guide is designed to publishers offset their climate impact in a similar way. Start by analyzing your emissions from use of paper, flights and couriers, trucking and vehicle travel, fuel for heat and power, and garbage. Then offset them through tree planting and contributions to relevant nonprofits and climate-conscious projects. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
11:30:54 AM Google It!
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Bentley Prince Street, California's largest commercial carpet manufacturer, has declared its goal to make all its products "climate neutral," with net zero GHG emissions, by 2010. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
11:29:21 AM Google It!
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Researchers at Alcoa have developed a global sustainability model that forecasts the use of additional recycled metal and the use of aluminum in the transportation market will make aluminum greenhouse gas (GHG) neutral by 2017. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
11:28:35 AM Google It!
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This Science News for Kids article explains the chemistry of fireworks.
11:27:29 AM Google It!
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Recent efforts to unlock a frozen source of natural gas deep under the permafrost and ocean floor have energized prospects for a methane-hydrate industry. [Source: Science News]
11:23:43 AM Google It!
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As we enter into mid-2005, the prospects for renewable energy development in the United States are good overall, even if still fragmented into many state-level minimarkets. This brief article gives an overview of the markets today. [Source: Renewable Energy Access]
11:22:10 AM Google It!
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Coal-tar based sealcoat—the black, shiny emulsion painted or sprayed on asphalt pavement such as parking lots—has extremely elevated concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and can affect the quality of downstream water resources, according to a recent joint study in Texas by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program and the City of Austin.
PAHs are an environmental concern because they are toxic to aquatic life and because several are suspected human carcinogens. Small particles of sealcoat flake off as they are abraded by vehicle tires, and can wash into urban streams with rain and runoff. The study found that particles in runoff from coal-tar based sealcoated parking lots have PAH concentrations that are about 65 times higher than in particles washed off parking lots that have not been sealcoated. Particles in runoff from parking lots sealed with asphalt-based sealcoat, the other major product on the market, have PAH concentrations about 10 times higher than those from unsealed lots. The large differences suggest that abraded sealcoat is a potentially dominant (and heretofore unrecognized) source of PAHs in urban and suburban water bodies. PAH concentrations have been increasing over the past 30-35 years in many urban and suburban lakes across the United States.
Findings are scheduled to be published in the Aug. 1, 2005 issue of Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T). ES&T is a publication of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
The abstract of the ES&T article is available on-line. The media can obtain the full text of the ES&T article by contacting Michael Bernstein, Office of Communications, American Chemical Society, (202)-872-6042.
11:21:05 AM Google It!
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From the AP story:
The Pentagon at times refused to conduct tests for a toxic chemical when environmental regulators said such tests were needed, congressional investigators said in a report Tuesday. The report drew a stinging Pentagon response criticizing it as "factually incorrect and fundamentally flawed."
The General Accountability Office study of contamination from perchlorate - an ingredient in rocket fuel and other defense manufacturing that has been found to interfere with thyroid function - said it was found in at least 395 sites in 35 states. The study said Defense Department activities are a leading cause of the contamination. It also said Pentagon policies require testing for the chemical only under limited circumstances, such as when there is a reasonable likelihood of human exposure.
In a number of cases, the GAO says, the Pentagon refused state or federal requests to conduct sampling. For example, Utah state officials reported that the Defense Department had refused its request to sample at an Army base where perchlorate had been used for 20 years, saying there wasn't a clear potential for human exposure.
11:17:17 AM Google It!
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Grist Magazine's spin on the NYT story:
Silicon Valley's venture capitalists are seeing green in clean energy -- and we're talking gobs of profit, not the whole planet-saving thing. Investor interest in clean-energy tech firms has jumped in the past year, fueled in part by escalating global demand for electricity and the rising price of oil. This month, a consortium of moneybags put $20 million into Nanosolar, a solar energy company based in Palo Alto (gajillionaire Googlemeisters Sergey Brin and Larry Page were early investors). Other California energy innovators are raking in millions in investment funds as well. Total venture capital going into clean tech is still relatively small -- the $520 million invested in 2004 was only 2.6 percent of the total pool of funds -- but trailblazers who have focused on the sector for several years feel validated. "The reason we're allocating dollars to this sector is we think we can deliver attractive returns," says one happy venture capitalist; that it helps the earth is a "great byproduct."
11:14:55 AM Google It!
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Grist Magazine helps us get to the bottom of climate-change lingo.
11:12:59 AM Google It!
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Grist Magazine reviews two new books, Green Living: The E Magazine Handbook for Living Lightly on the Earth and Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World.
11:11:14 AM Google It!
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University of Oregon green chemistry experts have launched an online treasury of teaching materials they expect will help catalyze rapid adoption of green chemistry worldwide.GEMs (Greener Education Materials) is a "living database" that corrals and organizes into a single repository, a wealth of resources supporting the teaching of green principles and strategies across chemical disciplines. The GEMs Web site is http://greenchem.uoregon.edu/gems.html. More information about green chemistry at the University of Oregon can be accessed at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~greenlab/Pages/resources.htm. [Source: Environmental Protection E-News]
11:08:34 AM Google It!
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USEPA Regions 5 and 7, Illinois EPA, Iowa DNR, the Northeast Midwest Institite and University of Illinois-Chicago are organizing the "Summit on the Sustainable Redevelopment of Brownfields" for August 30 - September 1 in the Quad Cities. The heart of the event is an interactive discussion about site design issues of the Quad Cities brownfield sites. The second day will consist of work on designs for sustainable structures on these sites. For more information, contact Eugene Goldfarb at 847-831-9412 or visit http://128.248.232.70/glakes/ce/courseDetail.asp?GID=303.
11:05:58 AM Google It!
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Green Meetings, developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program, provides tips and information for conference planners and suppliers on ways to reduce the energy use, water use, and waste of a conference. The site provides easy-to-read charts and tables that list prevention strategies (ranked by degree of difficulty for event planning, accommodations, food service, and event space), checklists, and contact information for green-minded conference organizers. Its Current Initiatives section includes descriptions and links to green conference projects like the Canadian Pacific Hotels EcoMeet program, and Meeting Professionals International's Green Meeting Task Force.
If you are interested in how to have a green meeting, the U.S. EPA also has a report from its Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response called "It's Easy Being Green! A Guide to Planning And Conducting Environmentally Aware Meetings and Events". [Source: GreenBiz.com]
10:55:26 AM Google It!
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This guide from the University of Wisconsin Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center offers tips on reducing waste from common dental office operations, including mercury amalgam wastes, x-ray processing chemicals, and other common materials found in dental practices. The guide features a checklist of waste sources with options for proper handling and disposal. Also includes a list of environmentally preferable alternatives to traditional amalgam, plus information on U.S. amalgam and mercury recyclers. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
10:53:31 AM Google It!
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An extensive process is underway to update the 2002 Global Report Initiative (GRI) Guidelines by mid-2006. As part of this process, the nonprofit Business for Social Responsibility has released recommendations for updating the GRI guidelines, based on interviews with 19 of its member companies. Download the report in PDF format online. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
10:52:01 AM Google It!
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A new laser ultrasonic sensor could help the paper industry save millions of dollars in raw materials and energy each year. The new sensor, which was designed and built by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was recently successfully tested at a paper mill in Jackson, Alab. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
10:50:55 AM Google It!
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The American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), and The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) are offering attendees of Solar World Congress 2005 an option to green their travel. Many attendees are voluntarily selecting to green their travel and include the cost in their registration for the conference. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
10:50:04 AM Google It!
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The Pew Center on Global Climate Change has released two new reports identifying technologies and policy options for reducing GHG reductions in the building and power sectors. The first report is Towards a Climate-Friendly Built Environment, written by Marilyn Brown, Frank Southworth and Therese Stovall of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The other is U.S. Electric Power Sector and Climate Change Mitigation, written by Granger Morgan, Jay Apt, and Lester Lave of Carnegie Mellon University. Copies of these Pew Center reports can be downloaded from the organization's Web site. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
10:49:11 AM Google It!
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Said Al-Hallaj, a Jordanian-born research associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, is quietly toiling away in his university lab. He says that he and other scientists are slowly perfecting new technologies that will push to the forefront a message for "clean energy technology" that is too often drowned out among the current wave of "shortsighted, reactionary solutions." [ENN Business Headlines]
10:37:08 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:11:09 PM.
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