·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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The latest issue of Renewable Energy Weekly is now available. Highlights include:

• Tax Credits Extended: Renewable Energy Industry Breathes Sigh of Relief
• National Solar Tour Puts Solar Energy On Display Across America
• PV’s “Moore’s Law” Required To Drive Increased Material Efficiency
• Solar Updraft Towers: Variations and Research
• Five Cleantech Senate Candidates to Watch
• Perilous Times Call for Transformational Thinking, and Action
• Guide to Cow-powered Biogas Energy Released
• Through Thick and Thin

Major manufacturing and business sectors are improving environmental performance to cut waste, improve economic competitiveness and gain other important benefits. Steel recycling in the United States reached an all-time high in 2005. Chemical manufacturers cut air emissions in half from 1995 to 2006. During the same decade, cement manufacturers reduced their waste per unit of production by one quarter. These environmental trends are highlighted in a new EPA report released today on some of the nation’s most important economic sectors.

“America’s leading industries are not just making beverages and manufacturing chemicals – today they are also producing real environmental results,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “They are proving that smart environmental performance is smart business.”

EPA’s 2008 Sector Performance Report provides environmental profiles of 12 major sectors of the U.S. economy: cement manufacturing, construction, ports, chemical manufacturing, colleges and universities, food and beverage manufacturing, forest products, iron and steel, metal casting, oil and gas, paint and coatings, shipbuilding and ship repair. The third in a series of sector-based environmental performance reports, today’s update shows the location and concentration of sector facilities across the country, and provides expanded analyses of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

The report shows each sector’s environmental impact, including air emissions, water discharges, and waste disposal. It also gives a 10-year portrait of performance trends for the nine industrial sectors: for example, air emissions per unit of production fell from four percent to 67 percent from 1996 to 2005, representing more than 300 million pounds fewer air emissions each year. Using government and industry data and case studies, the report also shows areas of progress and highlights where targeted efforts are still needed.

The 12 sectors represent more than 856,000 entities employing more than 12.6 million people, and contributing more than $2.5 trillion annually to the U.S. economy. These sectors also represent nearly 15 percent of total domestic energy consumption, more than a quarter of U.S. air pollutant emissions, and more than 75 percent of the hazardous waste generated in this country.

EPA works with business and industry sectors to find effective ways to improve environmental performance and resource management. The 2008 report can be used by government agencies, business associations, individual companies, communities, and other entities to fully understand sector impacts and then set priorities for action.

To view the report and learn more about EPA’s work with business and manufacturing sectors, go to: epa.gov/sectors/.

Read the press release.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), MMA Renewable Ventures, a subsidiary of Municipal Mortgage & Equity, LLC (OTC: MMAB.PK), and SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB), today joined with local officials in unveiling a one megawatt (MW) solar power system at Gap Inc.’s West Coast distribution center campus. The installation, one of the largest in Northern California, features a ground-mounted solar tracking system on a five-acre site, and is expected to offset 2.5 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions

Read the full story in the Washington Times.

A grade school metric system error cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars extra for the first purchase of carbon offsets for the House of Representatives’ “Greening of the Capitol” initiative, a program designed to counter greenhouse gas emissions created on the government campus.

Via Docuticker.

First Metro Green Jobs Report Projects 4.2 Million Jobs by 2038 (PDF; 175 KB)
Source: U.S. Conference of Mayors

According to a groundbreaking study establishing a national Green Jobs Index, the U.S. economy currently generates more than 750,000 green jobs—a number that is projected to grow five-fold to more than 4.2 million jobs over the next three decades. The report, released today by The U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayors Climate Protection Center, is the first calculation of its kind to measure how many direct and indirect jobs are in the new and emerging U.S. green economy.
…
Prepared by Global Insight, Inc, the report found that over half (419,000) of current green jobs were found in the category of Engineering, Legal, Research and Consulting, highlighting the important role supportive or “indirect” jobs play in moving the economy toward energy independence. The second largest category was Renewable Power Generation (127,000 jobs), followed by Agriculture and Forestry providing a significant contribution of 57,500 jobs.

Under assumed scenarios and with government commitment and investments, the report projects Green Jobs could contribute 10% of new jobs through 2038, representing the fastest growing job segment in the U.S. economy. By 2038, the report forecasts that renewable electricity production will create 1.23 million jobs; alternative transportation fuels 1.5 million jobs; engineering, legal, research and consulting positions will be more than 1.4 million; and commercial and residential retrofits at 81,000 jobs, for a total of 4.2 million.

Current green jobs are well distributed across the country. Approximately 85% are located in metropolitan areas, while the remaining are found in non-metro counties.

+ Key Findings (PDF; 59 KB)
+ Full Report (PDF; 788 KB)

Via Docuticker.

FDA Issues Interim Safety and Risk Assessment of Melamine and Melamine-related Compounds in Food
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued the results of its interim safety and risk assessment of melamine and melamine-related compounds in food, including infant formula.

A safety/risk assessment is a scientifically based methodology used to estimate the risk to human health from exposure to specified compounds. It is based on available data and certain scientific assumptions in the absence of data. The purpose of the FDA interim safety/risk assessment was to identify the level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in food which would not raise public health concerns. The interim safety/risk assessment evaluated the melamine exposure in infant formula and in other foods.

The safety/risk assessment, prompted by reports of melamine contamination of milk-derived ingredients and finished food products containing milk manufactured in China, was conducted by scientists from FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Center for Veterinary Medicine. The FDA reviewed scientific literature on melamine toxicity. The FDA is in the process of identifying a group of experts that would be charged with the task of reviewing the risk assessment and providing guidance regarding the current gaps in scientific knowledge relating to the toxicity of melamine and its analogues.

+ Interim Safety and Risk Assessment of Melamine and its Analogues in Food for Humans

Via Docuticker.

Climate-Change Policy and CO2 Emissions from Passenger Vehicles (PDF; 155 KB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office
From CBO Director’s Blog:

Discussions about addressing climate change (e.g., through a cap-and-trade program or a carbon tax) often focus on the transportation sector. The brief argues, however, that most of the reduction in CO2 emissions would occur in other sectors (e.g., the electricity sector) and that the effects on vehicle emissions would be modest, especially in the shorter run.

To be sure, a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax would raise the price of gasoline, encouraging consumers to drive less and to buy more fuel-efficient cars– but the magnitude of these effects would be relatively small. For example, CBO has estimated that a price of $28 per metric ton of CO2 in 2012 would lead to a reduction of about 10 percent in total U.S. emissions compared with a no-action scenario. Vehicle emissions, though, would remain relatively constant in the short run, and even over time they would decline only by around 2.5 percent — much less than the 10 percent reduction in overall emissions.

Several factors account for the relatively small influence that a price on CO2 emissions would have on passenger vehicles and driving behavior. First, a CO2 price of $28 per metric ton would raise gas prices by about 25 cents per gallon, far less of an increase than consumers have recently born with little behavioral result. (Between 2003 and 2007, gas prices increased from $1.50 to more than $3.00 per gallon. Vehicle miles driven, driving speeds, and the purchase of larger vehicles have all responded only modestly despite the dramatic increase in prices.) An increase in gas prices of 25 cents or so per gallon is unlikely to generate massive changes in driving behavior.

Green Affordable Housing:  HUD Has Made Progress in Promoting Green Building, but Expanding Efforts Could Help Reduce Energy Costs and Benefit Tenants.  GAO-09-46, October 7.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-46
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0946high.pdf