·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Today, EPA is seeking comment on an Information Collection Request (ICR) that will be used in a detailed study of unused pharmaceutical disposal methods by hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices and veterinary hospitals. EPA is seeking more information on the practices of the health care industry to inform future potential regulatory actions, and identify best management and proper disposal practices. This is one of several actions the agency is taking to strengthen its understanding of disposal practices and potential risks from pharmaceuticals in water.

“The agency’s work to increase industry stewardship and scientific understanding of pharmaceuticals in water continues,” said Benjamin H. Grumbles, EPA’s assistant administrator for water. “By reaching out to the National Academy of Sciences and requesting information from the health care industry, EPA is taking important steps to enhance its efforts.”

The agency is also commissioning the National Academy of Sciences to provide scientific advice on the potential risk to human health from low levels of pharmaceutical residues in drinking water. The National Academy of Sciences will convene a workshop of scientific experts Dec. 11-12, to advise the agency on methods for screening and prioritizing pharmaceuticals to determine potential risk.

Other actions the agency is taking include: expanding a recent fish tissue pilot study to sample nationally to determine whether residues from pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) may be present in fish and waterways; developing a methodology to establish water quality criteria to protect aquatic life; and conducting studies to examine the potential occurrence of PPCPs in sewage sludge and wastewater. To facilitate these efforts, the agency has developed state-of-the-art analytical methods capable of detecting various pharmaceuticals, steroids and hormones at very low levels.

EPA also is participating in an international effort with the World Health Organization to study appropriate risk assessment methods for pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants. All these actions reflect advice the agency sought from a broad range of stakeholders including environmental and public health groups, drinking water and wastewater utilities, state water and public health agencies, and the agricultural community.

EPA’s four-pronged approach for PPCPs in water is aimed at strengthening scientific knowledge; improving public understanding; building partnerships for stewardship; and taking regulatory action when appropriate.

EPA will accept public comments on the Health Care Industry ICR for 90 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

More information on EPA’s research and response to PPCPs in the environment: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/ppcp/

Read the full story in E The Environmental Magazine.

Online carbon calculators show the relative size of one’s carbon footprint and how simple lifestyle choices — say, switching to high-efficiency lightbulbs or taking mass transit — can dramatically decrease your contribution to climate change.

Read the full story at News.com.

Calls for safe disposal and recycling of electronics are growing louder in the United States.

This week, the international environmental group Greenpeace issued a report detailing the massive flow of electronic waste, or e-waste, to the west African country of Ghana. There, much like in China and India, unprotected workers including children are exposed to hazardous chemicals like mercury and lead while burning electronics in the search for copper and aluminum to resell.

Greenpeace urged the largest electronics manufacturers including Philips and Sharp to phase out toxic chemicals and introduce global recycling programs to tackle the problem.

Congress also appears headed toward introducing new e-waste legislation. Last week, U.S. Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, introduced a resolution that calls for the United States to ban the export of toxic e-waste to developing nations. The resolution, met with some initial praise, could signal groundswell support for government regulation in 2009, industry watchers say.

Why all the momentum, even though it’s been an issue for years? Environmental advocates say that e-waste is getting harder and harder to ignore because of consumers’ increasing appetite for new TVs, iPods and laptops–and the ever-shrinking lifespan of those electronics. (Americans alone own an estimated 3 billion gadgets.)

Read the press release.

As motorists across the country struggle with $4 per gallon gasoline costs and search for ways they can reduce their impact on the environment, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is offering 10 Keys to “Green” Driving – useful tips that drivers can use to cut down on fuel use and save money.

Register now for MEEA’s 2009 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference: Delivering Progress at Chicago’s Intercontinental Hotel January 7-9. Attended by nearly 300 top-level energy leaders, this year’s conference program includes general plenary overviews of current energy efficiency policy initiatives, as well as more focused break-out sessions highlighting current program opportunities to increase energy efficiency advancements nationally, regionally and on a state-by-state basis. The conference provides both structured and informal opportunities to network with people significant to your work and business.

Also be sure to register for this year’s Inspiring Efficiency Awards gala and dinner to honor those individuals and organizations who have delivered groundbreaking advancements in the industry. Nomination applications are due on Friday, August 22, 2008.

Read the full commentary by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, who outlines the three phrases of climate change:

• “Just a few years ago …”
• “I’ve never seen that before…”
• “Well usually …but now I don’t know anymore.”

He also uses the term “global weirding”, which I really like and have now seen twice in the last two days (see yesterday’s post entitled “Local gardeners do their part to record possible ‘global weirding’” summarizing a story from the Chicago Tribune.)

In a 2007 column, Friedman credits Hunter Lovins with coining the term (”The People We Have Been Waiting For” New York Times, December 12, 2007). According to The Double-Tongued Dictionary, global weirding is:

“an increase in severe or unusual environmental activity often attributed to global warming. Global weirding includes an increase in average temperatures, heat waves, cold spells, hurricanes, blizzards, plant and animal die-offs and population explosions, and new animal migration patterns.”

Thus ends the Environmental News Bits Word of the Day lesson. :-)

The latest issue of Renewable Energy Weekly is now available. Highlights include:

• MIT Researchers Discover New Energy Storage Solution
• Pulp and Paper Industry Poised to Take Center Stage in Global Bioenergy Arena
• Miscanthus Shows Great Potential as Ethanol Feedstock
• The Global Need for University / Industry Cleantech Transfer
• Utilities And Solar Marketing Programs
• Wind Energy Could Provide 28% of EU Electricity by 2030
• Urban PV up-scale: Implementation of photovoltaics in urban developments

Read the full story at News.com.

After a rash of negative publicity, biofuels backers say that advanced technologies will reshape the industry, making ethanol from sustainably grown sources cost-effective within a few years.

General Motors on Friday convened a panel of experts from cutting-edge ethanol companies that described different technologies–acid hydrolysis, specialty microbes, and genetically engineered energy crops–which they say will bring back biofuels’ faded luster.

The key technology transition, already under way, is shifting from corn to other feedstocks for making ethanol from plant cellulose. With the right technologies and policies in place, the U.S. could meet one-third of its transportation fuel needs by 2030, said Candace Wheeler, a technical fellow at GM’s research and development center.

Read the University of Colorado press release.

In an aggressive effort to recycle, eliminate waste and cut even more carbon emissions, the University of Colorado at Boulder today announced the “Ralphie’s Green Stampede” zero-waste and carbon-reduction program at Folsom Field.

The goal is to move toward zero-waste at Folsom Field during the football season and invest in local carbon-reduction projects to match energy used to power the stadium, for team travel and other football-related energy use, said school officials. Officials anticipate recycling or composting at least 90 percent of the waste generated at Folsom Field this year.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

Utah’s Aug. 4 implementation of a four-day work week could result in higher job satisfaction and lower levels of work-family conflict, according to a Brigham Young University (BYU) study. Those benefits translate into higher productivity, researchers say.

Rex Facer and Lori Wadsworth of BYU’s Romney Institute of Public Management examined the outcome of a Utah city’s transition to a schedule in which most employees worked four 10-hour days a week. Their paper appears in the June issue of Review of Public Personnel Administration.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

The first study to compare the performance of different types of green roofs has been completed by The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and suggests that buyers shouldn’t assume these roofs are created equal.

Interest in vegetated roofs has increased as water and energy conservation becomes more important to property owners. Yet the study of six different manufacturers’ products found the green roofs varied greatly in capabilities such as how much they cooled down a building’s interior and how much rainwater they captured during downpours.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

Six months after launching its voluntary reporting program for nanomaterial producers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made virtually no information public about the limited number of submissions it has received. As a result, the public can have little confidence that the program is providing the information the agency will need to protect citizens, consumers, workers, and the environment from the potential risks of nanotechnology, according to a July 28 press release from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Read the EERE Progress Alert.

Through its Save Energy Now initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) has helped U.S. manufacturing plants identify potential savings of more than $807 million in energy costs and 77.1 trillion Btu of natural gas—the amount consumed by more than 1 million single-family homes. The goal of Save Energy Now is to drive a 25% reduction in U.S. industrial energy intensity by 2017.

Three new Save Energy Now case studies, highlighted below, reveal the specific energy savings recommendations identified by DOE, and how companies are taking steps to reduce their energy use and save money. These three companies are saving a combined total of $1.5 million per year, so far, after implementing some of these measures.