Indoor Air Quality
| US carbon emissions on rise again. Pressure on the US government to pass legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions is set to increase, after the release of official government figures warning that carbon emissions will bounce back this year. |
| Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars Arrive Hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars are now in the hands of consumers, with more on the way. These custom-made cars from Chevrolet, Honda and BMW are paving the way for production models of the future.  |
| Study raises big questions about worker protection in nanotech labs Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.When it comes to chemical exposures, workers are on the front line. Workers are usually the most likely to be exposed to harmful levels of chemicals, because they are the ones producing, processing, handling, sampling and measuring, transferring and transporting chemicals in larger and more concentrated quantities. Throughout history, workers [.] |
The Kite Wind Generator It’s an expert estimation that the total energy stored in wind is 100 times higher than actually needed by humans on this earth. The catch is that we have to learn and devise ways to trap this wind power blowing across the planet earth. Experts tell us one more thing that most of the [.]Posted in: Inventions, Wind Power, Wind Turbines |
| Indoor Air Quality How to make your home a healthy place Smog in urban areas often makes the news. But truth be told, air quality is often much worse inside our homes than outside. Thats because tens of thousands of chemicals, some synthetic and some found in nature, are used to make products commonly found in buildings. Many of these chemicals are benign, some are highly toxic, and most fall in that wide gray area in between. When it comes to indoor air contamination, the biggest culprit in our homes is VOCs, a large class of chemicals that can evaporate, or offgas, from stuff thats all around us, like particle board, carpet, paint, cleaning products, and materials treated with stain-resistant and wrinkle-resistant chemicals. |
| Parking Lot Problems Coal tar based seal coat, which is the black, shiny substance sprayed or painted on many parking lots, driveways, and playgrounds, has been linked to higher concentrations of the contaminants polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in house dust. Apartments with adjacent parking lots treated with the coal-tar based seal coat have house dust with much higher concentrations of PAHs than apartments next to other types of parking lots according to new research released today on-line by Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T). The main purpose of using a quality sealer is that the sealer coats the asphalt surface protecting it from harmful ultra violet as well as road salts and engine oils which dissolve the asphalt and create soft spots. If untreated areas are ignored, deterioration will occur and you will end up spending much more money trying to patch and repair the asphalt than if you properly maintain it. |
| Religion and Climate Change The president of a religious institution isn't the first person you think of as a likely EDF spokesperson. But in a recent television ad sponsored by EDF, Dr. Dan Boone, the president of Trevecca Nazarene University in Tennessee, made an impassioned plea for Congress to pass climate change legislation. "Please somehow find a way to [.] |
Biofuels from Engineered Tobacco Plants? A biofuel is tricky to define because the usual fossil fuel we use, is in a way biofuel too. But we can safely say that most of the biofuels dont add up their quota of carbon dioxide to the environment. The biofuels are therefore considered to be “CO2 neutral.” Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation [.]Posted in: Biofuels, Future Energy, Industry |
| Ahmedabad’s BRT System wins 2010 Sustainable Transportation Award Ahmendabad's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System, already busy. Photo courtesy of Madhav Pai. Ahmedabad, India now joins past winners Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, Mayor Betrand Delanoe of Paris, and Mayor Ken Livingston of London as a recipient of the coveted Sustainable Transport Award given by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. The [.] |
| Earth’s growing nitrogen threat. It helps feed a hungry world, but it’s worse than CO2. It washes into lakes, rivers, and the sea, causing rampant algae growth. It billows from power-plant smokestacks until it settles as acid rain. Still other nitrogen gases remain in the atmosphere consuming the ozone layer. |