Browsing environmental news sources so you don't have to. Contact Laura Barnes (lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu) with questions, comments, and suggestions.
Follow ENB on TwitterRead the full story in the New York Times.
Critics say Norway’s plan to become “carbon neutral” relies too heavily on sleight-of-hand accounting and donations to foreign environmental projects.
Via Docuticker.
Review of the Research Program of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership: Second Report
Source: National Research Council/National Academies Press
From press release:A public-private effort to develop technologies for more fuel-efficient automobiles and to investigate the feasibility of hydrogen-based vehicles has made significant progress in most research areas, says a new report from the National Research Council. While several barriers hinder the program from achieving its full objectives, the potential benefits — reducing dependence on imported oil and minimizing harmful environmental effects — justify the cost of the research. A strategic reassessment of the overall program plan that accounts for new national and changed research priorities also should be developed, said the committee that wrote the report.
The FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) and Fuel Partnership — a research collaboration among the U.S. Department of Energy, the Detroit Three automakers, and five major energy companies — seeks to develop technology that will allow U.S. automakers to decide by 2015 whether hydrogen-powered vehicles could be manufactured on a large scale. To achieve this goal, the program’s partners are seeking safe, cost-efficient methods to produce hydrogen from traditional and renewable energy sources, as well as ways to deliver, dispense, and store hydrogen for vehicles. The program also sponsors research to reduce the size, weight, and cost of vehicle components to increase fuel efficiency. While pursuing these goals, the program is exploring technology that, in the short term, will provide more efficient and less polluting combustion engines, as well as electric batteries that could be used in hybrid-electric or all-electric vehicles.
Read for free online.
Via Docuticker.
A Climate of War: The war in Iraq and global warming (PDF; 295 KB)
Source: Oil Change InternationalThe emissions associated with the war in Iraq are literally unreported. Military emissions abroad are not captured in the national greenhouse gas inventories that all industrialized nations, including the United States, report under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It’s a loophole big enough to drive a tank through.
Our research so far reveals:
- Projected total US spending on the Iraq war could cover all of the global investments in renewable power generation that are needed between now and 2030 in order to halt current warming trends.2
- The war is responsible for at least 141 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) since March 2003. To put this in perspective:
- CO2 released by the war to date equals the emissions from putting 25 million more cars on the road in the US this year.
- If the war was ranked as a country in terms of emissions, it would emit more CO2 each year than 139 of the world’s nations do annually. Falling between New Zealand and Cuba, the war each year emits more than 60% of all countries.
- Emissions from the Iraq War to date are nearly two and a half times greater than what would be avoided between 2009 and 2016 were California to implement the auto emission regulations it has proposed, but that the Bush Administration has struck down.
- Just the $600 billion that Congress has allocated for military operations in Iraq to date could have built over 9000 wind farms (at 50 MW capacity each), with the overall capacity to meet a quarter of the country’s current electricity demand. If 25% of our power came from wind, rather than coal, it would reduce US GHG emissions by over 1 billion metric tons of CO2 per year – equivalent to approximately 1/6 of the country’s total CO2 emissions in 2006.7
- In 2006, the US spent more on the war in Iraq than the whole world spent on investment in renewable energy. 8
- US presidential candidate Barack Obama has committed to spending “$150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of green energy technology and infrastructure.”9 The US spends nearly that much on the war in Iraq in just 10 months.
Estimates of emissions stem from fuel-intensive combat, oil well fires and increased gas flaring, the boom in cement consumption due to reconstruction efforts and security needs, and heavy use of explosives and chemicals that contribute to global warming.
These emissions estimates are very conservative. Throughout our research we have erred on the side of caution, and have simply omitted areas where reliable numbers were not readily available (e.g., military consumption of halons or other greenhouse gas intensive chemicals, and the use of bunker fuels for the transportation of troops and equipment to Iraq). We are confident that ongoing research will reveal more emissions (the full version of this report is forthcoming).
Read the full story at News.com.
The International Home and Housewares Show 2008, held this week in Chicago, touted many eco-friendly, energy-efficient household products coming soon to retail and online stores.
Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.
September 1 is the deadline for turning in your short film on the methods for and ideas about responsibly managing and using water.
Rain Bird, of Azusa, Calif., is sponsoring its second annual Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition.
Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.
On March 10, the Associated Press shared what its investigative team found over five months– that trace quantities of various pharmaceuticals have been found in treated drinking water in 24 major metropolitan areas.
The press agency outlined the extent of the problem, noting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not require testing for these contaminants and has not established limits for them in water. According to the AP article, EPA has analyzed 287 pharmaceuticals for possible regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but only nitroglycerin made the draft contaminant list.
The information in the article has made its way across the globe already and a few concerned individuals are calling for action and explaining what they know.
The latest issue of Renewable Energy Weekly is now available. Highlights include:
Via Docuticker.
EPA Dropped Ball on Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water
Source: Public Employees for Environmental ResponsibilityScientists have known about the widespread presence of chemicals from pesticides, pharmaceuticals and personal care products in our drinking water for decades, despite recent media coverage of the issue. In 1996, Congress ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address the issue, but the agency has missed deadlines and avoided addressing the growing contamination, according to an analysis released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Chemicals from over-the-counter and prescription medications, dietary supplements, hormones, cleaning agents and other products are not completely metabolized by the human body and are not screened in water treatment, and thus end up being discharged into rivers and lakes and entering our drinking water supplies. Many of these chemicals are also endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) that either block or mimic natural hormones, thereby disrupting normal functioning of organs.
+ Dropping the Ball: EPA’s Investigation and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products and Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (PDF; 45 KB)
BusinessWeek Special Advertising Sections and Environmental Defense Fund will spotlight some of the most promising private-sector environmental innovations in a section this April. Green Business Innovations: The Latest Trends in Corporate Greening will focus on new technologies, processes and services that strengthen a company’s business model while generating significant environmental benefits.
For a full-color, graphic version of this newsletter, go to
http://www.climatebiz.com/enewsletter.
U.S. Power Plant Carbon Emissions Rose Almost 3 Percent in 2007
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55754
New data shows 2007 saw the biggest single-year increase in power plant carbon dioxide emissions since 1998.
Corporate Leaders Discuss Challenges of a Low-Carbon World
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55735
Some of the biggest players in the corporate world gathered Thursday to discuss the intersection where business meets the environment for the Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics conference in Goleta, California.
Toshiba Sets New Environmental Targets
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55701
Toshiba plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its products by 7.3 million tons in fiscal year 2012, as well as reach new water consumption goals.
Green Building is Best Bet for CO2 Cuts in N. America: Report
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55731
A report from a trinational group says green building can cut carbon emissions fastest and most effectively, but also warns about what barriers are holding back widespread acceptance of green building.
New Software Helps Companies Control Energy and Emissions
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55705
PeopleCube and Building Sustainability Ltd. have joined forces to offer software that will help companies better manage their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Canada Bans New Dirty Coal Plants After 2012
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55716
Canada banned new dirty coal power plants beginning in 2012, and will force oil sands companies to capture and store carbon. The government introduced the new rules as a way to help the country meet its greenhouse gas emissions goals: a 20 percent reduction by 2020.
Investors Want Companies to Disclose Climate Change-Related Impacts
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55696
U.S. investors filed nearly twice as many shareholder resolutions with companies that will likely encounter business impacts from climate change.
U.K. Green Budget Hits Gas Guzzlers and Plastic Bags
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55724
Wide range of environmental taxes and targets increase pressure on firms to cut emissions from transport and buildings, but renewables and green investment sectors left disappointed.
Merrill Lynch, Carbon Disclosure Project Form Partnership to Expand Project’s Reach
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55747
Merrill Lynch & Co. and the Carbon Disclosure Project have created a three-year partnership to expand and improve the Project throughout the world.
Clean Energy Market to Hit $254 Billion by 2017, Says Study
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55707
Global clean-energy markets are expanding rapidly, according to a new study. Just four sectors are projected to more than triple over the next decade, growing to $254.5 billion by 2017.
Will the U.S. Become a Climate Change Leader?
By GLOBE-Net
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55728
The United States, which for a long time stood defiant and largely alone on climate change issues, is now on the verge of becoming a climate change leader in the international community.
Coal Power’s Deja-Meltdown
By Denis Du Bois, Energy Priorities
http://climatebiz.com/sections/news_detail.cfm?Page=1&NewsID=55721
The government’s futuristic “clean coal” power project has joined the long list of scuttled coal plants. The death spiral of coal energy is reminiscent of the 1980s popular blockade of nuclear plant construction. Investors and even the Bush administration are backing out. Was “An Inconvenient Truth” the “China Syndrome” of coal?
Running Out of Time: New U.S. EPA Power Plant Data Shows Greenhouse Gases Rising
Steadily
http://climatebiz.com/sections/toolsresources_detail.cfm?LinkAdvID=97504
This analysis of U.S. EPA data makes the case for retiring older, coal-fired power plants and taking steps to reduce electricity demand throughout the country.
Read the full story in Technology Review.
Boulder, CO, should soon boast the world’s smartest– and thus most efficient–power grid, thanks to a $100 million project launched last week by Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy.
Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.
Copper and other metals may reduce the toxicity and bioavailability of estrogenic and endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in sewage treatment plant effluents. This reduction can lead to less exposure of aquatic species and can lessen the presence of such compounds in drinking water. This finding is published in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Read the full story in Nature.
Global energy consumption is expected to grow by 50% by 2030, squeezing already scarce water resources. Mike Hightower and Suzanne A. Pierce recommend ways to integrate water and energy planning.
Read the full story in Nature.
Climate change, growing populations and political concerns are prompting governments and investors from California to China to take a fresh look at desalination. Quirin Schiermeier wades in.
Lexington Insurance Company, an American International Group company, has announced Upgrade to GreenSM Commercial, insurance that allows commercial property policyholders to rebuild the insured building and replace personal property with products that embrace sustainability principles and reduce the overall impact of the building on the environment.
Read the full story in the McMorrow Report.
Now that the design process is recognized as a major tool of sustainable practices in facilities, we should turn our attention to existing facilities. With over five million commercial buildings in the United States, the potential for greening our building stock is tremendous. The requirement to do so is becoming critical. The energy savings, productivity increases, reduction in waste stream, and water conservation and other sustainable facility benefits in existing buildings far outweigh the potential benefits from sustainable new construction.
Read the full story in Popular Science. See also the summary from Consulting & Specifying Engineer.
Want to see a model for successful and rapid environmental action? Don’t look to the federal government– check out your own town. Here, our list of the 50 communities that are leading the way. Does yours make the cut?
Chicago was #9 and Springfield was #29. They are the only Illinois cities to make the cut.
Read the full story in Consulting & Specifying Engineer.
Last year, more than 1,400 commercial buildings and plants earned the Energy Star certification–a rise of more than 50%. More than 4,100 buildings now have the Energy Star label, with Energy Star buildings in every state.
Read the full story in the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Lake Tahoe Unified School District’s master plan has a green component with the proposed South Tahoe High School Green Academy project.
The academy would focus on teaching students trades in green construction, auto mechanics and technology. The proposal includes a new three-story building, an area for construction workshops and covered parking for four vehicles.
Read the full post at HBR Green.
Executives who still think of environmental stakeholders as pesky activists that can easily be ignored are in for a rude awakening. Today, it’s big investors — pension funds, state controllers, institutional investors, and even their investment bankers — that are putting pressure on companies to change their tune when it comes to the environment.
Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.com.
In Boston, a new code requires all new construction over 50,000 square feet be LEED certifiable (note the suffix), which is a little like saying that buildings must be greenish. The code’s stipulation of certifiable is a missed opportunity, a weak gesture by city leaders to promote sustainable development in Boston.
On Saturday, April 19, 2008 1-800-GOT-JUNK? invites you to get rid of electronic waste the green way. They will be out in numerous communities across North America offering free e-waste collection (some cities will impose a collection fee). There are currently events listed in Crystal Lake and Orland Park, IL.
Wednesday April 9, 2008
7:00 – 9:00 PM
Faith United Methodist Church
1719 S. Prospect Ave
Champaign, IL 61820
Keynote speaker: Dr. Janice Spears
Former Cuba Illinois School District Superintendent
