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 Environmental Science and Technology.
A new study of more than 1000 Maryland streams finds that as climate patterns change, urban sprawl can pollute water with more nitrate than previously thought.
Read the full post at Green Car Congress.
Among the projects of Argonne National Laboratory’s Transportation Technology R&D Center is the development of the “omnivorous engine“. The project seeks to combine in-cylinder measurement technology and advanced controls to optimize spark timing, the quantity, and the timing of injected fuel to produce an engine that will be able to run on any liquid spark ignition fuel with optimal efficiency and low emissions.
Read the full story at Biopact.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) introduces a new database on the world’s soils which improves knowledge of the current and future land productivity as well as the present carbon storage and carbon sequestration potential of the world’s soils. It helps to identify land and water limitations, and assist in assessing the risks of land degradation, particularly soil erosion risks.
Read the full story at Seacoastonline.com.
It all begins one municipality, one school district at a time.
That’s the theory behind Green Start, a new statewide nonprofit organization based in Portsmouth that is working to make biodiesel for vehicles so commonplace in New Hampshire that it will be found at the local gas station.
Read the full story in the Dallas Morning News.
John Oldner drives his diesel truck daily, but he hasn’t stopped at a commercial service station in more than a year.
He powers his pickup with used cooking oil that is processed into biodiesel fuel. He pays $2.55 a gallon – about half what others shell out for diesel.
Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.
With his blue button-down shirt, neat khaki pants and rimless glasses, Mike Lewis doesn’t look like much of an evangelist.
But that’s what he is: an advocate for alternative fuels — and their profit-pumping potential.
Lewis is co-owner of Pearson Fuels, a gas station on El Cajon Boulevard just east of Interstate 15 that sells biodiesel, two kinds of natural gas, vehicle-grade propane and ethanol alongside the usual pumps for gasoline and diesel. Pearson also has six bays for charging electric cars, but they have been little used since 2004, after major automakers pulled the plug on electric vehicles.
Read the full story in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
Standing atop the four-story hospital, bathed in sunlight and surrounded by power-soaking crystalline silicon panels, Larry Barrett said it felt good to be first.
Read the full story in the Tallahassee Democrat.
Last Thursday’s editorial (”Greening TMH: Hospital promotes healthy environment, business”) missed an opportunity to reveal changes being made by the health-care industry related to environmental sensitivity. The focus was only on TMH. Based on actions set in place for months and even years, Capital Regional Medical Center could be considered the leader in going “green” in our health-care community.
Via DOE Pulse. A longer description of the research is available in a press release.
Researchers at DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory are studying the co-gasification process in which various types of coal and biomass are combined and converted into synthesis gas for use in producing electricity, hydrogen, chemicals and liquid transportation fuels. The biomass includes energy crops such as wheat straw, corn stover, switchgrass, mixed hardwood and distillers’ dried grains with corn fiber, and even algae. Using coal in co-gasification provides a steady supply that can be supplemented by biomass whenever available. The researchers are examining how best to couple the coals and biomasses that makes sense geographically. They are using a small-scale gasification system to evaluate various products.
Read the full story in Sustainable Industries Journal.
What goes around, comes around, when the wind blows. An investment made in 2004 on what was then a relatively unknown technology and company is now beginning to pay off for an Oregon tribe. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) earlier this month received the first installment of pay backs on an investment they made with Vancouver, Wash.-based Columbia Energy Partners on the Rattlesnake Road wind farm in 2004. According to Columbia Energy Partners, the company delivered a check for $125,000 to the tribe in July.
Read the full story in Sustainable Industries Journal.
During the 1980s, East Coast cities efforts to deal with trash could have been a comedy of errors if they weren’t such a serious problem. In one story still told in waste management circles today, a barge filled with more than 3,000 tons of trash sailed between New York City and Belize for more than six months while city officials tried to find a landfill to take the waste.
Things are different now. Although the amount of waste the United States generates each day rose by about one pound per person between 1980 and 2006, increased recycling and recover rates meant the amount headed to landfills decreased by about a pound as well. Still, 138.2 million tons of waste are sent to the nation’s 1,754 operating landfills annually. Seattle alone sends a mile-long train filled with garbage to Oregon every day.
On the West Coast, there’s an estimated1.5 million tons of capacity left in the region’s landfills, which currently accept 64 million tons of waste annually. That’s enough to last about 24 years.
However, landfill operators are now finding new ways to increase landfill capacity — and also limit environmentally and financially costly problems after a landfill is closed — by turning to waste-to-energy technologies that have finally come of age.
Read the full story in Discover Magazine.
In the central North Pacific, plastic outweighs surface zooplankton 6 to 1.
Read the full story in Discover Magazine.
While many cattle are stuffed full of grain, grass-fed cattle have been heralded as a greener way to get beef because it diminishes the need to feed the animals antibiotics and has a smaller carbon footprint, not to mention that it yields beef with less saturated fat. Those of us lucky (or wealthy) enough to feast on grass-fed beef can rest easy knowing we have taken a step toward protecting planet Earth — or so we thought. It turns out there’s a hitch: Cow burps, which send methane into the atmosphere, may increase global warming.
Read the full story at ENN.
Researchers must address the lack of knowledge about risks posed by nanotechnology in the health sector to provide appropriate input to policymakers, cautions a leading expert of the European Commission.
More risk assessment studies are needed to understand what exactly defines toxicity due to nanoparticles, and what kind of regulations the sector needs, said Hermann Stamm, head of nanotechnology and molecular imaging at the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection in the European Commission’s Joint Research Council.
Read the full story at ENN.
An organization called the Sustainable Investment Research Analysts Network has just issued a report that says more than half of America’s largest publicly traded companies now report on their sustainability effort. Over a third integrate elements of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines. The GRI guidelines establish a standard for what should be in a sustainability report.
This demonstrates the extent to which sustainability initiatives have graduated out of Environmental Health and Safety departments into the corporate boardroom. Companies are being watched for their efforts to become sustainable.
Read the full story at ENN.
Want to watch a video comparing the fuel economy of a Prius and a Smart Car? Arnold Schwarzenegger answering questions about his climate policies? How about a children’s video illustrating the importance of recycling?
Launched last month, GoGreenTube allows citizens to view and share videos about the environment, green technologies, news and products. The goal of the site is to spread environmental knowledge.
Read the full story at ENN.
At this year’s Media that Matters Film Festival, the winning video in the environment category was an animated film illustrating the impact of electronic waste on both humans and the environment.
The video, entitled E-Waste, was one of 12 films honored in the Eighth Annual Media that Matters Festival. Screenings of this year’s festival will be held in various locations throughout the summer, including Washington D.C. on July 23.
Read the full story in Environmental Science & Technology.
The challenge of tracking a common detergent breakdown product in the environment may have just gotten a lot more complicated. New research published in ES&T (DOI es-2008-00577a ) indicates a substantial risk that bacteria can selectively degrade the hundreds of isomers in nonylphenol into a more estrogenic brew. Current regulations do not take this complexity into account, according to many scientists.
Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.
Over the past few years, the issue of whether Deca BDE, the only PBDE flame retardant currently used in North America, breaks down in the environment has become a key issue to scientists researching the controversial compound. Klaus Rothenbacher, a toxicologist with the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, an industry group, reignited the debate at the Fifth International Workshop on Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR 2008) held June 3−4 in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). In his conference presentation, Rothenbacher contended that although scientists can “force” Deca BDE to debrominate in the laboratory, it is unlikely to happen in the environment.
Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.
The UN reports record-setting growth in green-energy investment last year.
Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.
Researchers are finding alternatives to conventional plasticizers that may alleviate health concerns.
Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.
The country has a chance to continue on its environmental path, beyond the Games and the borders of its capital.
Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.
Agricultural practices have modified global water flows, causing large-scale and often unpredictable changes in ecosystems.
Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.
Around the world, pockets of land lie fallow that could help meet the world’s ever-growing energy demands. Some of this former agricultural land was once pasture grazed by cattle, and some was cropland that was abandoned for greener fields or because of changing needs. Now, research published in ES&T (DOI 10.1021/es800052w ) maps abandoned agricultural land worldwide and finds enough available to grow crops for ethanol or other energy uses to meet up to 8% of the world’s current energy demand. Most importantly, planting these crops would not take away land now used to grow food and would not contribute to deforestation.
Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.
As a first step in assessing whether pharmaceutical compounds might be harmful, researchers compare gene targets that humans share with other animals and plants.
Read the full story in Grist Magazine.
There’s no getting around it: One day, we’re all gonna die. And while most of us won’t have much control over the circumstances of our deaths, there are things you can do before you go to ensure that your funeral and earthly remains are as light on the planet as you’ve tried to be in life.
If you think about it, there are almost as many ways to green your funeral as there are ways to meet your end. (OK, maybe not that many, but there are quite a few.) And since you never truly know when you’re going to kick the compost bucket or start pushing up the organic daisies, it’s best to consider your options sooner rather than later.
Read the full story in Grinst Magazine.
Journalist Elizabeth Royte drinks tap water, but she spends a lot of time thinking about the bottled kind. In her new book, Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It, Royte investigates the causes and consequences of the bottled-water industry’s astounding growth.
Read the full story from Grist Magazine.
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to waste we go.
Nope, those aren’t the lyrics the Disney dwarves belted out en route to the daily grind, but in today’s world they’re right on the money. Most skyscrapers, offices, and cubicles are eco disaster areas, squandering massive amounts of energy, water, and paper while spewing out toxins and trash. It’s enough to make a person downright weepy (not to mention grumpy and wheezy).
You’re probably thinking there’s not much you can do to help, short of swearing off computers and jobs altogether — right? Wrong. With a few simple steps, every paycheck jockey on earth can help promote a healthier environment, inside the office and out. If the boss complains, point out (gently) that greening the workplace is a proven way to boost morale, productivity, and profits. Just call it the ultimate investment, with future returns that include, well, having a future.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Samsung is hoping to steal a little of the Olympic spotlight in Beijing on Thursday as it unveils its latest “eco-phone.” The E200 Eco is the third phone Samsung has introduced this year with parts made from bioplastics — materials extracted from corn. It is the first, however, in which the entire case is bioplastic.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Chrysler plans to spend $1.8 billion retooling a Detroit factory that builds Jeeps so that it can start making a more fuel-efficient, car-based crossover vehicle there.
Demonstrating its commitment to adopting renewable power sources that deliver both environmental and business benefits, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) today announced plans for solar and wind power projects that will supply electricity to 10 stores and one distribution center. The pilot projects represent the next step for JCPenney in its efforts to leverage new technologies and engage its 155,000 Associates in innovative energy programs. In conjunction with these initiatives, JCPenney also announced plans to obtain ENERGY STAR certification for at least 200 stores.
For a full-color, graphic version of this newsletter, go to http://www.greenercomputing.com/enewsletter.
Green IT, Telepresence Among Hot Tech Trends: Gartner
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news/2008/08/13/green-it-among-hot-tech-trends
The research group’s “2008 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies” report singles out five trends that are growing in popularity and impact; green IT, cloud computing and video teleconferencing make the cut.
Microsoft Tests Its Data Center Energy Use as EPA Begins Energy Star Tests
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news/2008/08/12/microsoft-epa-test-data-center-energy-use
Microsoft has added 2,000 sensors for temperature and humidity in some of its data centers as a way of gauging their energy use; at the same time, the EPA’s pilot program for an Energy Star rating for data centers will report its first findings this month.
WEEE Leads to Toxins in Ghana, Greenpeace Finds
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news/2008/08/12/weee-leads-toxins-ghana-greenpeace
Toxic chemicals are leaching into soil at scrap yards in Ghana as a result of electronic waste sent to the country from the developed world, according to a Greenpeace investigation.
Dell, Lenovo, Apple Named Among Year’s Greenest Computers
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news/2008/08/07/dell-lenovo-apple-among-greenest-computers
Based primarily on energy efficiency and reduction of hazardous materials, but also including power supply efficiency, recyclability and packaging, ten computers were selected as the greenest computers of the year by MetaEfficient.
Verdiem, Microsoft Partner to Trim Computer Energy Use
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news/2008/08/08/verdiem-microsoft-trim-energy-use
Verdiem this week unveiled Edison, a free version of its Surveyor energy-management software designed to spread energy efficiency beyond large companies; Microsoft is urging PC users to save energy by adding Edison to their systems.
Green IT Takes Root in India
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news/2008/08/06/green-it-takes-root-india
According to research firms and reports from OEMs, the country — long a market for IT of all types — has begun addressing excessive energy use and its environmental footprint
2008 Data Center Energy Forecast Report
http://www.greenercomputing.com/resources/resource/2008-data-center-energy-forecast
This study from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and others explores case studies of real-world ways that companies can achieve up to 55 percent energy reductions in total data center energy use.
