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 at Green, Inc.
This fall, a raft of environmentally-themed films, from all perspectives, are premiering, and several are tying their launch to Climate Week N.Y.C., which is holding events around New York City this week.
Via Docuticker.
Improving the Energy Performance of Buildings: Learning from the European Union and Australia
Source: RAND Corporation
From press release:The United States can become more energy efficient and create more “green” jobs by adopting some of the strategies used by the European Union and Australia to rate and disclose the performance of commercial and government-owned buildings, according to a new RAND Corporation study issued today.
The study finds that wealthier countries use more than a third of their energy to heat, cool and illuminate buildings, but not always efficiently. Recent steps taken by the European Union and Australia to inspect, rate and publicly disclose the energy efficiency of buildings indicate the buildings use less energy and are worth more when sold or leased.
The buildings sector has unique characteristics that make design of energy efficiency policies particularly challenging: transactions are infrequent, capital costs are high, and the variablility of design and siting makes energy efficiency comparisons difficulty. Often, owners must bear the costs of efficiency improvements while costs savings are obtained by tenants.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change has launched a new online portal for companies looking for help in developing energy efficiency strategies.
The Corporate Energy Efficiency website is part of a larger Pew Center project focused on sharing corporate energy efficiency best practices related to internal operations, supply chains, products and services.
Via GreenBiz.
This report outlines the U.S. EPA’s list of best practices for companies that dispose of unwanted electronics; these guidelines can also be used as a procurement tool for companies seeking environmentally friendly electronics recyclers.
From the introduction to the report:
Customers want a simple means of verifying that an electronics recycling company is forthright and responsible about how it manages used and end-of-life electronic equipment. At the same time, responsible electronics recyclers want a means of highlighting their values and performance to customers.
The purpose of this document is to take a first step in addressing this situation –- to develop a commonly accepted set of R2 practices for the electronics recycling industry. Accredited certification programs — by verifying an electronics recycler adheres to these R2 practices — will enable customers to make better informed decisions and have increased confidence that their end-of-life electronic equipment will be dealt with in a responsible manner.
The R2 practices set forth herein are not legal requirements and do not replace electronics recyclers’ legal obligations. Electronics recyclers that adhere to this set of R2 practices are doing so on a voluntary basis. If a requirement of this document conflicts with an applicable legal requirement, the recycler must adhere to the legal requirement.
Read the full story at GreenerComputing.
Green IT may be on the rise, but most IT professionals are not yet looking at the best ways of reducing computing’s impact: According to Gartner’s survey of IT managers, only 52 percent are actively measuring their data centers’ energy use.
In a speech today at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced core principles that outline the Obama Administration’s goals for legislative reform of this country’s chemical management law, the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, TSCA. In parallel with this legislative initiative, Administrator Jackson also announced plans for a major effort to strengthen EPA’s current chemical management program and increase the pace of the agency’s efforts to address chemicals that pose a risk to the public.
In her remarks at the Commonwealth Club, Administrator Jackson said:
“…as more and more chemicals are found in our bodies and the environment, the public is understandably anxious and confused. Many are turning to government for assurance that chemicals have been assessed using the best available science, and that unacceptable risks haven’t been ignored.
Our oversight of the 21st century chemical industry is based on the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act….over the years, not only has TSCA fallen behind the industry it’s supposed to regulate – it’s been proven an inadequate tool for providing the protection against chemical risks that the public rightfully expects.
Today I’m announcing clear Administration principles to guide Congress in writing a new chemical risk management law that will fix the weaknesses in TSCA.”
A copy of Administrator Jackson’s remarks as prepared for delivery can be found online at epa.gov/newsroom.
With the leadership of Senators Barbara Boxer and Frank Lautenberg and Representatives Henry Waxman and Bobby Rush, legislation strengthening TSCA is expected to be introduced shortly. The Obama Administration’s “Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation” are intended to aid Congress during the legislative process. The principles, listed below, present the administration’s goals for legislation that will give EPA the mechanisms and authorities to expeditiously target chemicals of concern and promptly assess and regulate new and existing chemicals in commerce:
Although legislative reform is necessary for an effective chemicals management program, EPA is committed to strengthening the performance of the current program while Congress considers new legislation. This enhanced plan includes the development of chemical action plans which will outline the agency’s risk management efforts on those chemicals of greatest concern. EPA has identified an initial list of chemicals for possible risk management action and anticipates completing and posting an initial set of four action plans in December. It will complete and post additional chemical action plans in four-month intervals thereafter.
An additional focus will be accelerating efforts to gather the critical information from industry that the agency needs to make chemical risk determinations. This will include filling the current gaps in health and safety data on high production volume chemicals; enhanced, transparent, and more current reporting of use and exposure information; and a number of requirements for increased reporting on nanoscale chemical materials. In addition, EPA is reviewing how nanoscale materials are managed under TSCA. EPA is also reviewing ways to increase the public’s access to information about chemicals.
Prioritizing chemicals for future risk management action is the final component of this effort and EPA intends to formally engage stakeholders and the public in this discussion in the coming months.
The “Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation” can be found at:
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/principles.html.
Detailed information on EPA’s enhanced chemical management program, including information on specific components of this effort, an initial list of chemicals under consideration for Action Plan development, new hazard characterization for 100 chemicals, and risk management actions recently announced on lead and EPA’s plans for banning the use of mercury in certain products, can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/index.html.
Read the full story from Mother Nature Network.
Last week Google launched a first — a method to visualize the projected impacts of climate change on series of Google Earth layers. Climate Change on Google Earth currently provides two data layers — temperature and rainfall. But the program will roll out subsequent layers including sea level rise, water shortages, and polar ice melt.Google Earth partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Danish government, which is hosting the much-anticipated Climate talks in December, to create the application which they hope will help both global climate experts and the general public to gain a more visceral understanding of just what will happen if we do not succeed in limited our global greenhouse gas emissions.
Read the full story in the Washington Post.
In no segment of the electronics industry is the new supplanting the old faster than for boob tubes. Last year, 91 percent of the 37 million TVs sold in the United States had flat screens, according to the market research firm DisplaySearch. The number of tube TVs sold has fallen spectacularly, from 15.6 million in 2006 to 3.1 million last year. Asking a Best Buy salesman where the tube TVs are is a fail-safe way to induce giggles. The chain doesn’t sell them anymore.
As new TVs enter the home, many people hide the old ones in basements, garages or closets. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 99 million TVs were stored this way two years ago. But many TVs are simply tossed. In 2007, 27 million units were discarded, and 77 percent of them were tossed out with the trash (most of the rest are recycled).
Responding to potential landfill contamination, 18 states, including Virginia and Maryland, require manufacturers to help pay for electronics recycling. Montgomery County’s recycling program took in 122 tons of TVs in July, more than double the load in July of last year.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
A new scorecard slated for release this month rates different types of plastics based on their lifecycle impacts and hazards in an effort to advance sustainable raw material choices, greener chemistry and closed loop systems.
The Plastics Scorecard will be unveiled by not-for-profit group Clean Production Action and consultancy Pure Strategies on Sept. 30 at the Biopolymer Symposium 2009 in Chicago.
Read the full story in Scientific American.
Construction material entrepreneurs discussed efforts to create more environmentally friendly cement and other building products at a conference in California.
Read/listen to the full story at NPR.
More than 20 years ago, an international treaty known as the Montreal Protocol phased out a group of chemicals that were destroying the Earth’s ozone layer.
But since then, scientists have discovered that some of the chemicals developed to replace those destructive compounds might be contributing to another problem: global warming.
These new chemicals are known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, and they’re used as coolants in refrigerators. HFCs have largely replaced older refrigerants, such as CFCs. These replacements are nonflammable and don’t hurt the ozone.
But when it comes to global warming, HFCs aren’t so good, says Kert Davies of Greenpeace.
“We call them the super greenhouse gases,” Davies says. “They’re the global warming threat that no one has really heard about.”
Read the full commentary in E The Environmental Magazine.
Last year, Earth Day took some heat by online green scorekeepers (particularly the eco-mag Grist, which launched a “Screw Earth Day” campaign), but this year it’s reasserting its prominence. Earth Day turns 40 this year, and while that brings with it some generational divide (Grist, at 10, is still a kid), it has also allowed the Earth Day Network, which promotes green initiatives year ‘round, to leverage its experience into real, on-the-ground activism and creating sustainable schools. Out of that first Earth Day in 1970 — celebrated by 20 million — came the Environmental Protection Agency, established by President Nixon the same year. Now, says Jeani Murray, the Global Director of Earth Day 40, the nonprofit has moved far beyond fighting early concerns like smog and acid rain to push for climate change legislation, to encourage green jobs and to leverage its influence to enact real commitment from world leaders at the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December.
Via the RFF Library Blog.
Belfer Center, Kennedy School, Harvard University Policy Brief / by Morgan Bazilian
http://tinyurl.com/yacakdu[Abstract] This brief considers the technology negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) within the wider context of low-carbon energy technology. In doing so, it focuses on how technology issues can be effectively embedded within a potential agreement at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen. The paper asserts that the negotiations must be conducted with cognizance of national decision-making processes and competing priorities. It puts forth a series of framing topics in order to more explicitly explore the large technology “ecosystem”. It concludes that the most appropriate area for international cooperation on technology under the UNFCCC lies in the direct provision of human and institutional capacity building with a focus on the least developed countries.
The City of Berkeley and the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, have released a guide for local governments on energy efficiency and renewable energy financing districts. This report is designed for local government officials, local government decision makers, state policy makers, and civil society groups interested in establishing an Energy Financing District (EFD) program in their region. The guide provides case studies of the experience from trailblazing communities such as Berkeley and Palm Desert in California; Boulder County, Colorado; and Babylon, New York. The guide describes the process of setting up an EFD program, including administrative, legal, and financial issues.
EFDs were first proposed by the City of Berkeley, California, in 2007 and have received increasing attention as a mechanism for financing residential or commercial clean energy projects, including energy efficiency, solar photovoltaic, or solar thermal systems. EFDs enable local governments to raise money by issuing bonds to fund these clean energy projects. For local governments, an EFD provides an opportunity to address climate change locally, to support residents’ environmentally friendly building improvements at low cost to government, and to strengthen the local economy in energy efficiency retrofitting and solar installation. Because the loans are secured by property liens, an EFD program provides virtually no risk to the local government’s general fund.
For more information and to download the report, please visit
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=44262
The guide may also be accessed at:
http://rael.berkeley.edu/files/berkeleysolar/HowTo.pdf
Read/listen to the full story at NPR.
For one day each year, residents transform parking spaces across San Francisco into miniature parks.
Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.
Stakeholders now have until Oct. 8 to submit comments on additional approaches to analyzing data related to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s preliminary regulatory determination for perchlorate.
The agency expects that these comments will ensure that it has considered all the potential options for evaluating whether there is a meaningful opportunity to reduce human health risks to perchlorate through a national primary drinking water rule.
To submit comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0297, follow the online instructions at www.regulations.gov, mail to Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. or hand deliver during normal operating hours to Water Docket, EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, D.C.
Read the full story in Mother Jones. They also rate the environmental impact of other bottled water brands in the same issue. See H2Uh-Oh.
Obama sips it. Paris Hilton loves it. Mary J. Blige won’t sing without it. How did a plastic water bottle, imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become the epitome of cool?
Thanks to Jennifer Deluhery for the heads-up.
Includes links to classroom resources, an online petition, and information about their Students Speak contest. From the ePals web site:
ePals and Team Earth are joining forces to tackle five of the biggest issues facing our planet: climate, water, food, health and waste.
Read the Green, Inc. analysis of EPA’s new report, Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices, which I posted about last week.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Electronic devices are the fastest-growing source of power demand in the world, but there is resistance to efficiency.
Via GreenBiz. This is an incredibly useful database.
Established in 1995, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), primarily through the Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis (PBA). The site is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
The DSIRE web site provides information about renewable energy and energy efficiency incentives and policies in effect in the United States. Relevant incentives and policies established by the federal government, state governments, local governments, electric utilities and non-profit organizations are included in DSIRE.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a series of steps that building owners and school administrators should take to reduce exposure to PCBs that may be found in caulk in many buildings constructed or renovated between 1950 and 1978. The agency is also conducting new research to better understand the risks posed by caulk containing PCBs. This research will guide EPA in making further recommendations on long-term measures to minimize exposure as well as steps to prioritize and carry out actions to remove the caulk to better protect public health.
Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are man-made chemicals that persist in the environment and were widely used in construction materials and electrical products prior to 1978. PCBs can affect the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system and endocrine system and are potentially cancer-causing if they build up in the body over long periods of time.
“PCBs have been banned for the last 30 years for most uses,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “But unfortunately high levels of PCBs are present in many buildings and facilities constructed prior to the PCB ban, including most recently some schools. We’re concerned about the potential risks associated with exposure to these PCBs and we’re recommending practical, common sense steps to reduce this exposure as we improve our understanding of the science. For building owners and administrators who want to take added and more aggressive immediate steps, EPA is providing additional guidance to help them identify the extent of potential risks and determine whether mitigation steps are necessary. Local communities and governments have constrained resources that make this a particularly challenging and sensitive situation.”
The agency has created a website, http://www.epa.gov/pcbsincaulk, with updated information on this issue. Concerned parties can also call an EPA hotline toll free at 1-888-835-5372.
Although Congress banned the manufacture and most uses of PCBs in 1976 and they were phased out in 1978, there is evidence that many buildings across the country constructed or renovated from 1950 to 1978 may have PCBs at high levels in the caulk around windows and door frames, between masonry columns and in other masonry building materials. Exposure to these PCBs may occur as a result of their release from the caulk into the air, dust, surrounding surfaces and soil and through direct contact. EPA has calculated prudent public health levels that maintain PCB exposures below the “reference dose” – the amount of PCB exposure that EPA does not believe will cause harm. Those levels vary depending on the age group and use assumptions about potential PCB exposures from other sources, such as diet.
Although this is a serious issue, the potential presence of PCBs in buildings should not be a cause for alarm. If buildings were erected or renovated between 1950 and 1978, EPA recommends that owners implement steps to minimize exposure to potentially contaminated caulk in the following ways:
EPA also recommends testing peeling, brittle, cracking or deteriorating caulk directly for the presence of PCBs and removing the caulk if PCBs are present at significant levels. Alternately, the building owner can assume the PCBs are present and proceed directly to remove deteriorating caulk.
Building owners and facility managers should also consider testing to determine if PCB levels in the air exceed EPA’s suggested public health levels. If testing reveals PCBs in the air above these levels, building owners should be especially vigilant in implementing and monitoring ventilation and hygienic practices to minimize exposures. Owners and managers are encouraged to retest PCB levels in air to determine whether these practices are reducing the potential for PCB exposures. Should these practices not reduce exposure, caulk and other known sources of PCBs should be removed as soon as practicable.
There are several unresolved scientific issues that must be better understood to assess the magnitude of the problem and identify the best long-term solutions. For example, the link between the concentrations of PCBs in caulk and PCBs in the air or dust is not well understood. The agency is doing research to determine the sources and levels of PCBs in buildings in the U.S. and to evaluate different strategies to reduce exposures. The results of this research will be used to provide further guidance to building owners as they develop and implement long-term solutions.
Where buildings were constructed or renovated between 1950 and 1978, EPA recommends that PCB-containing caulk be removed during planned renovations and repairs (when replacing windows, doors, roofs, ventilation, etc.). It is critically important to ensure that PCBs are not released to the air during replacement or repair of caulk in affected buildings. EPA is recommending simple, commonsense work practices to prevent the release of PCBs during these operations. More information can be found at http://www.epa.gov/pcbsincaulk
EPA will work directly with owners and managers facing serious problems to help them develop a practical approach to reduce exposures and prioritize the removal of caulk.
Anyone seeking technical guidance should contact the EPA at 1-888-835-5372.
More information on PCBs in caulk: http://www.epa.gov/pcbsincaulk
More information on PCBs in the U.S.: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh or http://www.cdc.gov/atsdr
Read the full story in the National Journal.
By almost any measure, this is the greenest White House in history, one that is rapidly reinvigorating federal environmental policy in a quest to deliver on the president’s campaign promises. How many promises ultimately get kept will hinge in large part on the level of pushback from Congress, the courts, and industry. But, no matter how strong the headwinds, long gone are the days when the Environmental Protection Agency was performing a vanishing act — failing, according to its many critics, to live up to its name.
Read the full op-ed piece by Paul Krugman in the New York Times.
Saving the planet won’t come free (although the early stages of conservation actually might). But it won’t cost all that much either.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Philips has the first entry in an Energy Department contest to build a more efficient 60-watt light bulb.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
A closer look at the case of Alan Carlin, a global warming contrarian at the E.P.A., paints a more complicated case than has been widely publicized.
Read the full story in Domestic Fuel.
The Renewable Fuels Association today released comments to be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding proposed regulations to implement the expanded renewable fuel standard (RFS) program enacted by Congress in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) in 2007.
Read the full story at Domestic Fuel.
A study commissioned by the National Corn Growers Association finds that proposed regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement the expanded Renewable Fuel Standard would cost the ethanol industry as much as $420 million a year.
The study found that the up-front cost to the ethanol industry for compliance with the new regulations could total $30 million, with annually recurring compliance costs reaching up to $420 million.
Read the full post at Green Car Congress.
US Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from going ahead with regulations that would include indirect land use change (ILUC) effects in implementing the renewable fuel standard.
Read the full story at Domestic Fuel.
Oregon is the latest state to look to garbage for energy. Waste Management and McMinnville Water & Light will soon use everyday garbage to power thousands of homes. The $10 million plant will be sited next the landfill west of McMinnville. This plant is the first for Yamhill County and is expected to be operational by mid-2010. Once completed, the energy created will be used to power 2,500 homes.
Read the full story from Environmental Health News.
Household dust is an important source of exposure to a lesser known – but ubiquitous and potentially toxic – flame retardant, reports a study from Belgium. Exposure to dust contaminated with hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), a flame retardant used to prevent polystyrene insulation and textiles from catching on fire, was strongly correlated with blood concentrations in people. This study is the first to examine the relationship between dust, diet and serum concentrations of HBCDs. Results are consistent with studies of other better known flame retardants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and suggest that indoor sources may contribute most to exposure to these chemicals.
Read the full post at Green, Inc.
As my colleague Jad Mouawad and I write in an article in Sunday’s Times, virtually no electronic gadgets in American households — including televisions and computers — are subject to energy efficiency requirements.
Via Docuticker.
EPA Releases Reports on Dam Integrity Assessments at 17 Coal Ash Impoundments
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyAs part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing national effort to assess the management of coal combustion residuals, EPA is releasing the final contractor reports assessing the structural integrity of 17 impoundments and similar management units containing coal combustion residuals, commonly referred to as coal ash, at nine facilities. These 17 impoundments have a “high” or “significant” hazard potential rating. A high hazard potential rating is not related to the stability of those impoundments but to the potential for harm should the impoundment fail. A significant hazard potential rating means impoundment failure can cause economic loss, environmental damage, or damage to infrastructure.
The assessments have rated the structural integrity of seven impoundments as “satisfactory,” nine units as “fair,” and one unit as “poor.” None of the units assessed received an “unsatisfactory” rating. According to dam safety experts, only impoundments rated as unsatisfactory pose immediate safety threats.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Farm waste, the biggest polluter of American rivers, is largely unregulated by many of the laws designed to prevent pollution and protect drinking water.
Read the full post at Lifehacker.
With flu season approaching—on top of everyday Oh-God-I-don’t-think-he-washed-his-hand-after-using-the-restroom moments—we’re all a bit more wary of germs lately. Keep the nasty illness spreaders away with this DIY hand sanitizer.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Working with 11 education and environmental groups, the U.S. Green Building Council has formed the Coalition for Green Schools to launch the third year of its campaign to make America’s classrooms more eco-friendly and healthier for students and teachers.
Read the full post at GreenBiz.
Corporate America’s embrace of sustainability has more than doubled in strength in the past three years with 76 percent of the largest U.S. firms reporting efforts and commitments that exceed those required by law, according to a new study from Siemens Building Technologies Inc. and McGraw-Hill Construction.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Health care company Abbott reduced the amount of plastic in its infant formula containers by 15 percent last year, just one of more than 40 packaging initiatives aimed at cutting Abbott’s overall packaging weight by 5 percent by 2013.
Many of the projects are already in place or in the process of launching, and cover products that come out of Abbott’s nutrition, medical products and pharmaceutical businesses.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Stakeholder engagement is a critical, yet often overlooked or under-prioritized aspect of many organizations’ sustainability efforts. The Sustainability Stakeholder Engagement (SSE) conference offered insights and practical ways to build effective relations with stakeholders, from customers, employees and investors, to suppliers, NGOs and communities. SSE gave considerable attention to social media, a topic near to our hearts (Beth is putting the final touches on a white paper on this subject to release next week). The panel on engaging consumers offered perhaps the most lively conversation with the audience.
Read the full post at Green, Inc.
As large parts of the American West continue to experience drought, waterless car washes have been catching on. A new company in Austin, Tex., called WaterSmart, for example, washes cars with a coconut-based soap, according to an article in The Austin American Statesman.
Read the full post at Green, Inc.
When Alasdair and Charlotte Large decided to open the Keystone Brewery in Tisbury, England, they decided, unlike big brewers, to mature their ale in the cask using traditional ingredients.
Mr. Large likens his suds to wine.
“I’m not an industrial brewer trying to iron out every bit of character,” he said. “It’s cheaper and quicker to do things big, but that’s a commodity rather than a product.”
Keystone is a product the Larges keep very close to home. The brewery is minutes from the family house and, for the most part, Keystone won’t distribute farther than Bath, 35 miles away.
Read the full post at Dot Earth.
The Sloan Management Review at M.I.T. and the Boston Consulting Group have surveyed 1,500 corporate leaders and found that pledges of a shift toward sustainable business practices are often not backed up by substantial actions.
Via Docuticker.
Disney Ranks Dirtiest, Holland America Best in First-Ever Cruise Ship Environmental Report Card from Friends of the Earth
Source: Friends of the EarthToday Friends of the Earth issued the first-ever Cruise Ship Environmental Report Card, an assessment of the environmental and human health footprint of cruise lines and ships operating in the United States.
Millions of Americans take cruise vacations every year. Travelers may not realize that taking a cruise is more harmful to the environment and human health than many other forms of travel.
“For the first time, vacationers can decide which cruise to take based on a ship’s environmental and human health impacts,” said Marcie Keever, Clean Vessels Campaign Director at Friends of the Earth. “Typically, cruise ship passengers are attracted to cruise vacations with pictures of pristine waters and promises of unspoiled scenery and abundant wildlife, but these passengers are never told that their vacation could leave a dirty mark on the places they visit. This is something travelers should pay close attention to: half of the cruise lines we evaluated earned grades of C- or below.”
Cruise ships carrying up to 7,000 passengers and crew are like floating cities that release substantial amounts of pollution into the air and water. Cruise ships have the potential to despoil the very areas they visit and passengers often ask whether there are any cruise lines or ships that are environmentally friendly.
Friends of the Earth’s report card ranks 10 major lines—Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Cunard Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Int’l, and Silversea Cruises—according to three environmental criteria: sewage treatment technology, air pollution reduction, and water quality compliance in Alaskan waters. Holland America, Norwegian and Princess come out on top, and Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney are rated the worst.
+ Full Report (PDF; 289 KB)
Via Docuticker.
CO2 Regulations and Electricity Prices: Cost Estimates from Coal-Fired Power Plants
Source: Stanford Graduate School of Business Research PapersThis study examines the changes in electricity prices that are likely to result if in the future coal-fired power plants are regulated for their CO2 emissions. We focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that new power plants may adopt either because of a direct regulatory requirement or because the market price of CO2 emission permits is sufficiently high. Our analysis takes explicitly into account that in some jurisdictions the supply of electricity at the wholesale level (generation) is organized competitively, while in other jurisdictions a regulated monopolist (utility) provides both generation and distribution services. We find that for both the competitive and the regulated monopoly scenario an emission price in the range of $25-30 per tonne of CO2 would make it advantageous for coal-fired plants to adopt CCS capabilities rather than buy emission permits. The resulting increases in the retail price of electricity are projected to be near 25%. In contrast to the competitive power supply scenario, these price increases materialize only gradually, in fact almost linearly, over 30 years for the scenario of a regulated utility. This delay in price increases reflects that for regulated firms prices are principally based on historical cost rather than current cost.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 414 KB)
Read the full story in Scientific American.
President Obama’s top climate diplomat acknowledged today that Capitol Hill delays over global warming legislation will likely push international negotiations to work beyond a December summit in Copenhagen on a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
Read the full story in Science News.
Scientists are racing to learn as much as they can about penguins in the hopes of saving them from an uncertain future.
See also the following resources for teachers to use in the classroom:
Read/listen to the full story at NPR.
A survey of fish in rivers and streams around the country shows that a large percentage of male bass have acquired feminine characteristics.
Scientists say it’s the biggest survey of this gender-bending condition in U.S. waters. And while they can’t be sure of the cause, they suspect industrial and pharmaceutical chemicals are the culprit.
Read the full story at GreenerComputing.
Today’s data center is going through a constant state of flux in an attempt to keep up with current demands. The data landscape grows exponentially, and with that growth comes the need to expand current storage and data center infrastructures. This expansion is a fact businesses in every vertical have come to accept, but it comes with a price.
Read the full story at GreenerDesign.
Consumers are generally not deterred from buying products packaged in mixed-color recycled glass, according to a new U.K. study.
Read the full story at GreenerDesign.
More than 50 common purses and some 100 pet toys and accessories contain high levels of lead, and numerous school supplies are made with a wide range of chemicals of concern, according to new website HealthyStuff.org.
The site, launched today, was created by the Michigan-based Ecology Center, which also runs HealthyToys.org, and lists the amount of lead, mercury, chlorine (PVC), bromine and arsenic found in more than 900 school supplies, purses, car seats, automobiles and pet products.
