New York Methodist and Mount Sinai Hospitals, along with New York Medical College, were each presented a plaque in recognition of their energy efficiency projects that will significantly reduce load demand during peak summer hours. The projects included the installation of two new, high efficiency dual-stage absorption chillers (New York Methodist), a lighting retrofit (Mount Sinai), and the installation of three high efficiency electric chillers and consolidating the air distribution system (New York Medical College). Combined, the three hospitals will save over $1 million a year in operating expenses and reduce electric consumption by over 7 million kilowatt hours per year.

LC Associates, NES Energy, and Con Edison Solutions were each presented awards for their work in numerous cooling, motor, and lighting projects.

Read the full NYSERDA press release online.

This new Sector Resource is a work in progress, so subscribe to the RSS feed or check the web site frequently for updates. If you have suggestions for resources to include, please email them to Joy Scrogum.

A draft Strategy is now available for public comment at http://glrc.us/initiatives/toxics/drafthgphasedownstrategy.html, through October 27, 2007. We invite comments on the Strategy itself and on how best to move forward with implementation, as well as commitments from stakeholders to implement components of the Strategy.

A copy of the draft document was first distributed to government agency experts for technical review, then revised and distributed to a limited group of industry and environmental group stakeholders. A summary of comments that were received and incorporated can also be found at the above web link.

Please send comments electronically to Debra Jacobson at djacobso@wmrc.uiuc.edu. When sending comments by e-mail be sure to put the words “Great Lakes Mercury Strategy Comments” in the subject line.

If you have questions please contact Debra Jacobson at djacobso@wmrc.uiuc.edu or (630) 472 – 5019 (Phone).

Thanks to Deb Jacobson for submitting this information.

We appreciate feedback on P2 Search. Our thanks go out to Harmony Madill of Environment Canada’s Canadian Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse (CPPIC), who contacted us recently after trying out P2 Search and noticing that some documents available on CPPIC weren’t showing up in the search results, even though they were showing up in the results of a standard Google search. Laura Barnes did some investigating and discovered that P2 Search was looking at the index of the English version of the CPPIC site (it’s available in English and French, of course), rather than the more generic http://www.ec.gc.ca/cppic (sometimes you can be too specific). Laura remedied the situation by broadening P2 Search to include the entire Environment Canada domain. Nice catch, Harmony!

You can add P2 Search to your own web site or to your customized Google homepage (iGoogle) by following the links and instructions available in the lower right hand corner of the P2 Search homepage. Code is provided for adding the tool to your web site, so if you’re not technically savvy or not authorized to alter your organization’s web site, you’ll need to provide this to your webmaster. If you do this, tell us about it to help us get a feel for how many people are using this option. Happy searching!

• Rx for the Environment: Hospitals are reporting tenfold increases in costs for managing pharmaceutical waste. Prevention options are helping some facilities reduce drug waste and costs.
• Pharmaceutical Waste Workshops: MnTAP is sponsoring three pharmaceutical waste workshops to help hospital-based pharmacies keep in regulatory compliance.
• Minnesota Health Care Facilities Win Honors: Three Minnesota health care facilities were recognized at the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment’s Environmental Excellence Summit.
• Disposing of Drug Waste at Home: Tips on how to manage unwanted medications from your home.
• Lou-Rich Cuts Water: This contract metal manufacturer reduced water used in cleaning and cooling operations by 8.9 million gallons per year, saving $42,100 annually—with assistance from a MnTAP intern.
• Non-contact Cooling Water: Evaluate your facility’s use of non-contact cooling water to identify opportunities to reduce water use and cost.
• Where’s Your Waste–MnTAP Interns: Nine MnTAP interns are reducing waste across the Minnesota. Join us on August 23 to hear about how their companies are working to reduce waste.
• Vacuum Bagging and Infusion Demonstration: Carstens Industries will share its process for vacuum bagging and infusion in Melrose on September 12.
• Lean and Green Seminar: Manufacturers Alliance is hosting the educational seminar “The New Scene is Lean & Green” on August 9. Three manufacturers will present their experiences.
• Minnesota Materials Exchange: A materials exchange program lists one company’s unwanted material and makes it available for use by another company. The listings in Source are examples of available and wanted listings, and successful exchanges from the Minnesota Materials Exchange.
• Calendar: MnTAP posts trainings and events related to manufacturing process improvement, waste management and environmental, health and safety.

Sign-up for a free subscription of the MnTAP newsletter. You can receive the newsletter via e-mail. Minnesota businesses and organizations can choose to receive a hardcopy in the mail, ideal for routing to colleagues.

Archived past issues of Source are available on the MnTAP web site.

Thanks to Evin Guy for notifying GLRPPR about this resource.

The contents of this edition of Symbiosis include:

• Letter from the Director
• Health in the News: Pharmaceutical Pollution
• Green Pharmacy: Preventing Pharmaceutical Pollution
• Pharmaceutical Pollution: Ecology and Toxicology Considerations
• Christian Daughton and the Ecology of PPCPs: An Integral Vision
• Water Quality: Key to Many Doors in the 21st Century, by Christian Daughton, PhD
• The 4 T’s: Assessing Exposure to Multiple Chemicals
• Green Pharmacy: Preventing Pollution with Sustainable Medicine
• Facts on Pharmaceuticals and the Environment
• Ecological Economics and the Drug Life Cycle: The True Cost of Drugs
• Pollution Prevention Partner: PharmEcology, LLC
• Unused and Expired Medicines: A National Pandemic
• Pollution Prevention Partner: Physicians for Social Responsibility
• Spotlight on Green Pharmacy: Stockholm County Council
• Website Review: Environmental Protection Agency: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) as Environmental Pollutants
• Book Review: Macroshift: Navigating the Transformation to a Sustainable World
• Support Green Pharmacy!!

All articles are available online in PDF format at the link above.

Thanks to Evin Guy of the Teleosis Institute for sharing this information.

For more information on the P2Rx Topic Hubs, and to see a complete list of available Topic Hubs, see the GLRPPR web site.