TABLE OF CONTENTS
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S/N |
Title |
Synopsis |
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I. Subject Area: Environmental Policy and Regulations |
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1 |
New York to set rules on diesel generator emissions |
New York's Department of Environmental Conservation would be establishing emission standards for emergency generators. |
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2 |
Japan calls for more use of natural gas |
Japan aims to reduce carbon dioxide emission by promoting more use of natural gas and reduce coal usage. |
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3 |
Australia defers ruling on MTBE fuel additive ban |
Australia deferred the decision to ban the sale of petrol containing MBTE as part of the new clean fuel standards. |
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II. Subject Area: Environmental Technology |
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4 |
Polluted Hong Kong looks to winds for cleaner power |
Hong Kong is monitoring wind data to assess whether it is viable to use wind to generate electricity. |
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III. Subject Area: Environmental Pollution and Health |
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5 |
Petroleum refiners agree to spend $400 million to reduce air emissions |
A consortium of three petroleum refiners in the US have agreed to spend an estimated US$400 million to reduce air emissions from nine refineries by nearly 60,000 tons per year. |
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6 |
EU launches three-year probe to get cleaner air |
The European Commission had launched a three-year probe on how air quality can improve and reduce pollution-induced health problems. |
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IV. Subject Area: General Environmental News |
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7 |
Green Seeds : A passionate, innovative group of architects is creating homes and offices that show off the benefits of eco-living. |
A passionate, innovative group of Asian architects is creating homes and offices that show off the benefits of eco-living. |
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8 |
Less incineration waste was produced in Switzerland in 2000 |
The amount of incinerable waste produced in Switzerland declined slightly in 2000, but the total still exceeds the country's incineration capacity. |
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SUMMARY REPORT
Period Covered : 7 May 2001 to 13 May 2001
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Item 1 |
New York to set rules on diesel generator emissions |
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Summary |
New York's Department of Environmental Conservation said it will establish emission standards for the diesel generators used to bolster the tight energy supplies this summer when air conditioning pushes demand to annual peaks. Current state regulations allow emergency generators to be operated only when the usual source of power is interrupted, as in a transmission outage or blackout. The regulation would temporarily permit the use of up to 150 MW of emergency generators when power supplies drop below a certain level. Generators would be required to use ultra low-sulphur fuel, reducing the amount of particulates, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that would otherwise be emitted by these units. In addition, these generators would be capped at a maximum of 200 hours of annual operation. |
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Reference |
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Item 2 |
Japan calls for more use of natural gas |
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Summary |
To help it keeps its commitment against global warming Japan aims to promote more use of natural gas and reduce coal usage to curb carbon dioxide emissions. It targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5 million tonnes by 2010. It is also considering tax measures to support the use of LNG for power generation. |
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Reference |
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Item 3 |
Australia defers ruling on MTBE fuel additive ban |
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Summary |
Australia will be phasing in new fuel quality standards from 2002. The new fuel standards will halve emissions of benzene from petrol and also phase in lower sulphur levels for petrol and diesel. The Australian government had however deferred the decision on standards for Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) and olefins while it examined environmental issues and the availability of olefin/MTBE petrol in the region. MTBE is an oxygenate that could be used to meet improved octane standards for Australian fuel but its use is being phased out in US due to environmental concerns. Importers said a ban on MTBE fuel would limit their ability to source fuels for Australia while domestic refiners feared allowing MTBE additive fuel imports would undermine investments of A$1.3 billion required to produce cleaner fuels. |
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Reference |
http://www.planet.ark.com.au/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10753&newsDate=9-May-2001 |
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Item 4 |
Polluted Hong Kong looks to winds for cleaner power |
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Summary |
A wind monitoring station was commissioned by Hongkong Electric Co Ltd to monitor wind speed and direction. The wind monitoring station was set up by the environment group Friends of the Earth at Po Toi. The group would collect wind data to compile a "wind atlas" of Hong Kong. If the data indicates that it is feasible and economically viable, wind could be used to light up and power Po Toi in two years. It may not be viable to use wind power on a large scale throughout hilly Hong Kong, as it requires 20 times as much land to produce the same power generated by a conventional coal-fired generator. |
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Reference |
http://www.planet.ark.com.au/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10720&newsDate=7-May-2001 |
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Item 5 |
Petroleum refiners agree to spend $400 million to reduce air emissions |
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Summary |
A consortium of three petroleum refiners have agreed in a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to spend an estimated $400 million to reduce air emissions from nine refineries by nearly 60,000 tons per year. The consortium has agreed to install at each of the refineries up-to-date pollution control equipment, which is expected to cut emissions of nitrogen oxides by an estimated 8,000 tons per year, sulphur dioxide by more than 49,550 tons per year and particulate matter by 1,300 tons per year. The settlement is part of an ongoing effort by DOJ and EPA to reduce harmful air pollution released illegally from petroleum refineries. Many petroleum refiners have made major modifications to their facilities, increasing capacity and air emissions, without installing the pollution control equipment required by law. |
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Reference |
http://www.pollutiononline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID={FB063AAE-43D8-11D5-A770-00D0B7694F32} |
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Item 6 |
EU launches three-year probe to get cleaner air |
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Summary |
The European Commission had launched a three-year probe on how air quality can improve and reduce pollution-induced health problems. A "Clean Air for Europe" (CAFE) programme is introduced which could lead to new legislative proposals in 2004. As EU anti-pollution laws had already made major progress in areas such as reducing acid rain, one of the focuses of the CAFE strategy would be the lesser-known respiratory problem of particulate matter - tiny particles that can cause respiratory problems from lung irritation to cancer. A wide variety of emission sources could be affected by the measures EU eventually decides to adopt against particulates. Any combustion process can generate particulates, including traffic, industry and domestic heating systems. CAFE will also look at the problems of ground-level ozone related to traffic emissions and on-going efforts to tackle acidification and the over-nitrification of water courses caused by agricultural pollution. |
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Reference |
http://www.planet.ark.com.au/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10743&newsDate=8-May-2001 |
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Item 7 |
Green Seeds : A passionate, innovative group of architects is creating homes and offices that show off the benefits of eco-living. |
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Summary |
Although environmental considerations rate pretty low on the agenda of most Asian developers, there is a group of passionate, innovative group of architects who are creating homes and offices that show off the benefits of eco-living. Soontorn Boonyatikam, a Thai architect has built a spacious 3-bedroom house for himself which recycles water so efficiently that just half the building's needs are drawn from the city's supply. Household waste is used to generate cooking gas. Thanks to power from an array of solar panels, electricity bills remain negligible, despite having the air-conditioner on all day. En Nakamura of Japan won a Japan Architects' Institute environmental award in 1998 for creating a complex which features effective insulation, use of non-toxic materials, and a layout that meshed the local climate and site conditions. To design the four-year-old Business Environmental Council Building in Hong Kong, architect Simon Kwan drew inspiration from the doughnut shape of Hakka Chinese fortified villages and then applied some eco-ingenuity. An atrium brings natural light into the center of the building, reducing the need for artificial illumination. This structure also aids circulation: Fresh air enters via the ground floor and is drawn up as hot air escapes through vents at the top of the hollow core. Double-skinned external walls rely on a similar updraft to prevent heat build-up indoors, thus slicing the bills for air-conditioning. |
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Reference |
Asiaweek, May 11, 2001, Vol 27, No 18, Page 83 |
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Item 8 |
Less incineration waste was produced in Switzerland in 2000 |
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Summary |
Incineration-bound waste (generally household waste) generated last year fell to 3.15 million tons, down from 3.17 million tons in 1999, the Swiss Federal Office for Environment, Forests and Landscape (FOEFL) said. But the 2000 total still exceeded Switzerland's waste incineration capacity by 380,000 tons. FOEFL said in a statement that it expects waste generation to remain stable or to decline slightly over the near future. Since 1 Jan 2000, Switzerland has banned the dumping of waste which could be incinerated. However, the lack of incineration capacity has meant that Swiss regions located far away from authorized incineration centers have been unable to implement the ban. |
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Reference |
International Environment Reporter, Vol 24, No 9, Page 331. |