·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Status of GSA’s Implementation of Selected Green Building Provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.  GAO-09-111R, October 31.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-111R

Aviation and the Environment:  Initial Voluntary Airport Low Emissions Program Projects Reduce Emissions, and FAA Plans to Assess the Program’s Overall Performance as Participation Increases.  GAO-09-37, November 7.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-37
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0937high.pdf

Energy Efficiency: Potential Fuel Savings Generated by a National Speed Limit Would Be Influenced by Many Other Factors. GAO-09-153R, November 7.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-153R

EPA is now accepting nominations for the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. These awards recognize innovative chemical technologies that incorporate green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use — and that have broad applications in industry.

Nominated technologies should reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances from a chemical product or process. Any individual, group or organization, both nonprofit and for-profit, including academia and industry, may nominate a green chemistry technology for these awards. Self-nominations are welcome and expected. Each nominated technology must have reached a significant milestone within the past five years in the United States. Typically, awards are given each year in five categories: Greener Synthetic Pathways; Greener Reaction Conditions; Designing Greener Chemicals; Small Business; and Academic.

Nominations must be sent no later than Dec. 31 to be eligible for the 2009 awards, which will be presented on June 22, 2009. For more information on the nomination and awards process see: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/howto.html. You can link directly to the 2009 nomination package at: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/docs/nomination_package_for_2009_awards.pdf. For examples of last year’s nominations and award winners, see: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html.

If you have questions about the nomination process or awards, please write to EPA at: greenchemistry@epa.gov.

To subscribe to the Green Chemistry list serve and to receive the periodic Green Chemistry Newsletter with reminders and updates, send an email to lyris@lists.epa.gov with the subject line “subscribe green_chemistry FirstName LastName.” Substitute your first and last name into the subject line. You will receive a confirmation email.

For more information:
http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/docs/nomination_package_for_2009_awards.pdf

Via Docuticker.

Republican Energy Report Calls for Policy Addressing Realities of Global Economy, Climate Change, and National Security
Source: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Domestic Policy (minority)

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-VA) and Domestic Policy Subcommittee Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) today released a report examining challenges and opportunities for the United States amidst changing realities in the global energy economy and debate over climate change. The report affirms that any effective energy solution must take an “all-of-the-above” approach to different methods of achieving energy independence and also warns that energy security and global environmental challenges cannot be effectively addressed separately.

+ Full Report (PDF; 468 KB)

Read the press release from the Basal Action Network.

The Basel Action Network and the Electronics TakeBack Coalition joined today with 32 electronics recyclers in the United States and Canada to announce that the e-Stewards program, which identifies the most responsible recyclers in North America, is soon to be fully accredited and certified.

The e-Steward Certification will be the continent’s first independently audited and accredited electronic waste recycler certification program. It will forbid the dumping of toxic e-waste in developing countries, local landfills and incinerators; the use of prison labor to process e-waste; and the unauthorized release of private data contained in discarded computers.

Read the press release from the American Society for Horticultural Science.

To combat parasites like root-knot nematodes without the use of chemical pesticides, scientists are focusing more research on developing new, parasite-resistant varieties of vegetables. Dr. Judy Thies, a research plant pathologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, was part of a team of scientists who developed the Charleston Belle variety of bell pepper, the first nematode-resistant bell pepper.

In a study published in the February issue of the American Society for Horticultural Science’s journal HortScience, Dr. Thies and her colleagues tested the stability of two types of bell peppers, Charleston Belle and Carolina Wonder. Thies explained, “These two types of pepper cultivars are the only nematode-resistant varieties available to commercial growers and home gardeners. Since a large percentage of bell pepper production in the U.S. occurs in the Southeastern U.S., and in particular Florida, we tested the peppers for resistance to nematodes in sub-tropical climates to determine if the cultivars were stable when grown in Florida under high soil temperatures. It is important to know whether the peppers’ resistance to parasites breaks down when peppers are grown in hot climates.”

Read the full story in EE Times.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is co-developing a collaborative Web site aimed at establishing standard methods for minimizing the environmental, health and safety risks of nanotechnology.

Nanoscale materials have alternatively been shown to offer promising new cancer therapies while at the same time causing cancer when not properly handled. Those concerns prompted NIST and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to create a Wikipedia-style community to establish safe nanotechnology development techniques.

Read the full article in Environmental Health Perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Hypospadias is one of the commonest urogenital congenital anomaliesaffecting baby boys. Prevalence estimates in Europe range from 4 to 24 per 10,000 births, depending on definition with higher rates reported from the United States. Relatively little is known about potential risk factors, but a role for endocrine disrupting chemicals has been proposed.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate risk of hypospadias associated with occupational exposure of the mother to endocrine disruptor chemicals, use of folate supplementation during pregnancy, and vegetarianism.

DESIGN: Case-control study of 471 hypospadias cases referred to surgeons, and 490 randomly selected birth controls, born 1 January 1997 to 30 September 1998, south-east England. Telephone interview of mothers, including information on folate supplementation during pregnancy and vegetarianism, and a job exposure matrix to classify occupational exposure.

RESULTS: In multiple logistic regression analysis, there were increased risks for self-reported occupational exposure to hairspray (exposed vs non exposed OR 2.39 95% CI 1.40, 4.17), and phthalate exposure obtained by a job exposure matrix (OR 3.12 95% CI 1.04, 11.46). There was a significant protective effect of folate use during the first three months of pregnancy (OR 0.64 95% CI 0.44, 0.93). Vegetarianism was not associated with hypospadias risk.

CONCLUSIONS: Excess risks of hypospadias associated with occupational exposures to phthalates and hair spray suggest that anti-androgenic endocrine disrupting chemicals may play a role in hypospadias. Folate supplementation in early pregnancy may be
protective.

Get TURI Technical Report No. 59.

During 2007 and 2008, the Institute worked with representatives from Benchmark Electronics, Brooks Instrument, and Emerson Process Management to conduct and document a lead-free electronics implementation for a high reliability electronics product that is exempt from the European RoHS Directive. The research information provided by the New England Lead-free Consortium, as well as the information contained in this case study, is of high value to companies that need to transition to lead-free electronics for their high reliability products. The Institute’s university research program continues to fund research efforts to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in the electronics industry.

Another special report from Time Magazine, this time on the problem of climate change and what the U.S. can do to help solve it.

This special report by Time Magazine profiles people they define as “eco-pioneers fighting for a cleaner, greener future.”

Read the full story in Time Magazine.

Thanks in part to a new tax credit put into place by Congress in October, owning your own wind turbine could be the next green trend. While it’s true that wind power has taken off in the U.S.–adding more in new capacity to the electrical grid last year than any other power source–most of that increase comes from utility wind farms, vast fields of turbines more than 300 ft. (90 m) tall. For homeowners seeking renewable-energy sources, however, better-known solar power has always dominated. Home solar power currently generates 12 times as much energy as small-wind power, which is defined as turbines that have a capacity of 100 kW or less (though most household turbines will produce 10 kW at most). That’s partly due to the fact that residential wind turbines require space and sky–at least half an acre of open land–to get access to consistent winds. Still, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), some 15 million homes in the U.S. fit that definition–and small turbines, unlike large wind farms, can be productive in weaker breezes, which puts more of the country in play, though the best areas are still windy spots like the Midwest or West Texas.

Read the full story in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette.

The environmental measures initiated by students at the READY Program – turning off lights when no one is in the room, laminating hall passes to save paper, recycling whatever they can – are probably saving the school some pennies.

But they’ve also brought in some real money to the school and the students.

The six-student team was chosen a winner in the Lexus Eco Challenge competition, which asks middle and high school students to design and implement environmental programs to make a difference in one of three categories: land, water, or air/climate.

The prize – $10,000, with $7,000 of that to be split among the students. The school – an alternative-education program run by the Regional Office of Education – gets $2,000, and English teacher Shannon Olison, whose class entered the challenge, gets $1,000 to spend on educational programs or school supplies.