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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
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In response to President Bush's call on Americans to reduce gasoline consumption, Tuerff-Davis EnviroMedia Inc. has issued a national challenge to small business owners to promote fuel conservation to their employees. [ENN Business Headlines]
12:14:35 PM Google It! 
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GM and Ford are sinking under the weight of large SUVs, once the auto industry's cash cows. The two automakers have reported substantial slides in North American profits. The Washington Post's Sholnn Freeman has the bottom line, 9/28/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
12:12:19 PM Google It!
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is putting his choice of an official vehicle where his mouth is. The governor, who has emerged as one of the nation's most aggressive salesmen for ethanol fuels, revealed Tuesday that he is getting a Chevrolet Suburban that will be powered by E85, gasoline with 85 percent ethanol content. By By Dane Smith. [Stateline.org RSS - Environment]
12:08:24 PM Google It!
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New research shows more mercury than some scientists expected is emitted when "stabilized" dredge made from contaminated sediments is used as landfill. More from Kellyn S. Betts of Environmental Science & Technology, 9/28/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
12:05:31 PM Google It!
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California colleges are going greener. University of California, a leader in using "green building" design since 2003, is now aiming to lower pollution levels in its transportation fleet. [Source: San Diego Union Tribune]
11:57:25 AM Google It!
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifteen states led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued the U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday for failing to set efficiency standards for household appliances that would save enormous amounts of energy. [Reuters: Science]
11:51:49 AM Google It!
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Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois is being designed with environmentally friendly features that include large expanses of glass for natural light, water-retentive plantings on the roof and a "rainwater garden" to recycle water. [ENN Business Headlines]
11:50:56 AM Google It!
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Homes, businesses, schools, and libraries throughout the country will open their doors to visitors on the weekend of October 1st. The National Solar Tour, organized by the American Solar Energy Society, is now in its tenth year. Look for a solar tour near you! [EERE Network News]
11:47:00 AM Google It!
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When there's no power and fuel is hard to find, solar- powered lights and charging stations prove their worth, as people in Mississippi and Louisiana are finding out in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, biodiesel helped fuel an effort to deliver 15 tons of supplies to southeast Louisiana. [EERE Network News]
11:46:15 AM Google It!
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Looking to save energy or use renewables in your home or workplace? The updated Consumer Web site from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) could be just the ticket. The new Web site is chock-full of updated information and links to supporting material. [EERE Network News]
11:45:21 AM Google It!
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PHOENIX, Ariz., Sept. 28, 2005 - Hospitals have significantly reduced the amount of mercury found in facilities and are demonstrating a clear preference for safer alternatives, according to a recent national survey. [GreenBiz.com]
11:44:14 AM Google It!
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Nike's corporate campus earns Salmon Safe certification for programs to maintain watershed health and environmental quality. [Breaking News]
11:39:41 AM Google It!
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Being green in Santa Monica just got a bit easier for both businesses and builders. Local businesses will now have the chance to cash in on $150 rebates to install water-free urinals in their restrooms, while sustainable builders will be placed on a fast track for permits and receive financial incentives from the City, Santa Monica officials announced this week. [Source: Santa Monica LookOut News]
11:38:12 AM Google It!
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Relief from soaring health care costs in exchange for more fuel-efficient cars. That's what Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, is advocating. [Environmental Health News]
11:33:31 AM Google It!
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Brower Youth Award winners share their stories and their hopes. [Source: Grist Magazine]
11:27:51 AM Google It!
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Research organizations in Ohio, Illinois, and Utah will lead three new DOE projects to develop advanced industrial-sized boilers. The projects, costing $2.6 million, are part of an effort to cut energy use in industrial boilers by 7 percent by 2020, saving industry $2 billion per year in energy costs. [EERE Network News]
11:24:06 AM Google It!
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Abstract: The ever-increasing industrial demand for nylon-6 (polycaprolactam) necessitates the development of environmentally benign methods of producing its precursor, -caprolactam, from cyclohexanone. It is currently manufactured in two popular double-step processes, each of which uses highly aggressive reagents, and each generates substantial quantities of largely unwanted ammonium sulfate as by-product. Here we describe a viable laboratory-scale, single-step, solvent-free process of producing -caprolactam using a family of designed bifunctional, heterogeneous, nanoporous catalysts containing isolated acidic and redox sites, which smoothly convert cyclohexanone to -caprolactam with selectivities in the range 65–78% in air and ammonia at 80°C. The catalysts are microporous (pore diameter 7.3 Å) aluminophosphates in which small fractions of the AlIIIO45- and PVO43- tetrahedra constituting the 4-connected open framework are replaced by CoIIIPO45- and SiIVO44- tetrahedra, which become the loci of the redox and acidic centers, respectively. The catalysts may be further optimized, and already may be so designed as to generate selectivities of 80% for the intermediate oxime, formed from NH2OH, which is produced in situ within the pore system. The advantages of such designed heterogeneous catalysts, and their application to a range of other chemical conversions, are also adumbrated. [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue]
11:20:07 AM Google It!
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The large earth-tone building and its picturesque arbor in the Santa Cruz Mountains welcomes visitors to a serene retreat from the busy metropolis down the hill. But inside is a bold world of cutting-edge architecture and "green" technology. [Source: San Jose Mercury News]
11:18:18 AM Google It!
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Architect Rafael Pelli's approach to designing healthy buildings defies easy categorization--and that's a good thing. [Source: Fast Company]
11:15:42 AM Google It!
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Purdue University's Clean Manufacturing and Safe Materials Institute will be presenting a free workshop on Chemical Risk Management, at the DePaul University/O’Hare Campus at Chicago Airport, Chicago, IL, on November 2-4, 2005.
Participants will learn how to conduct risk assessments on chemicals with little data through the use of free predictive modeling software. Funded through an EPA grant, this workshop will demonstrate models and methodologies that can be used in support of Premanufacture Notifications for new chemicals under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), as well as your Product Stewardship obligations under Responsible Care*. You will use the same QSAR models and methodologies that EPA/OPPT uses to assess the risk of new chemicals. These models and methodologies are equally effective for assessment of potential risks for new chemicals and for assessment of risks associated with existing chemicals already in commerce. The benefits of using sophisticated modeling tools are obvious as this approach provides a cheap and inexpensive approach to assessing the risk of chemicals without undergoing a major animal testing programs.
Upon completion of the workshop you will understand how EPA evaluates new chemicals in the absence of data. You will anticipate regulatory action and avoid spending R&D dollars on chemicals likely to be regulated. Participating companies can qualify for regulatory relief, i.e., go to manufacture at day 45 for qualifying new chemicals. By attending this workshop your company will be able to participate in the Sustainable Futures Pilot Program and receive, at no cost, detailed one-on-one technical assistance as you work with the models to screen chemicals of interest to your company.
During the 3-day hands on workshop you’ll learn to use a variety of sophisticated computer based models in order to assess both hazard and exposure components of risk assessment. These methods relate to both humans and the environment, and they are used along with the necessary elements of professional judgment required to put modeling results into perspective or when no adequate model is available for predicting important toxicological end points. Just a few of the models that will be covered are:
- ECOSAR which is used to predict aquatic toxicity;
- Oncologic, which is used to predict carcinogenic potential in humans;
- and ChemSTEER which provides screening level estimates of environmental releases from and worker exposures to chemicals.
As an additional bonus, the new approach in identifying suitable chemical analogs as described by EPA in this year’s Global Chemical Regulatory Conference (GCRC) called AIM (Analog Identification Methodology) will be covered in detail. These techniques will be taught by the EPA scientists who actually use them in the assessment of your PMNs. The workshop is free to all participants, and the training does not end after the two and a half day program: EPA has established a mechanism whereby companies can “practice” what they have learned on chemicals of their own choosing after they leave the course.
When you attend training, please feel free to bring along several chemicals of interest to you so that you can run them during the open labs scheduled at the conclusion of each day’s activities. Either CAS registry numbers or chemical structures may be used. Attendees should not bring any confidential business information (CBI) to the workshops.
To register for the free training in Chicago, IL, please contact: Lynn A. Corson, Ph. D., Director Indiana CMTI,Purdue University, School of Civil Engineering, Phone: 765-463-4749 / Fax: 765-463-3795, Email: corson@purdue.edu; or Gail Mills, Purdue University, Phone: 765-463-4749 Email: gail.a.mills.1@purdue.edu
For questions about the training, please contact Jim Santory, CERM, Phone: (412) 751-8958, E-mail: jsantory@cermonline.com; or Elizabeth Becker, CERM, at (812) 452-4778, email at ebecker@cermonline.com. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]
11:13:44 AM Google It!
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The big secret about the "Green Dollhouse Exhibit" that opened at the Coyote Point Museum this weekend is that you don't have to plan to solar-panel your roof or build a gray-water reclamation system on your property to enjoy it. [Source: San Francisco Examiner]
11:11:39 AM Google It!
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Congress spent the last four and half years working on an energy bill, which the president finally signed in August. But the one-two Katrina-Rita punch has Washington dealing with many of the same issues. [Environmental Health News]
11:09:58 AM Google It!
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Contrary to the Bush Administration's plans, a network of social justice and environmental groups is working to build a green Gulf Coast. [AlterNet.org: EnviroHealth]
11:08:28 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:12:02 PM.
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