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 |
California plans boost in renewable portfolio |
California governor supported the legislation that requires the state's three investor's owned utilities to increase the percentage of energy generated from renewable sources to 20 percent by 2010. |
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II. Subject Area: Recycling and Green Energy |
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2 |
Germany introduces deposit on one-use cans and bottles |
The German government passed a measure that calls for compulsory deposits on disposable drink cans and bottles starting from 1 Jan 2003. Users can earn their money back if they dispose of the bottles and cans in special recycling machines. |
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3 |
Automaker tests parts from recycled plastics |
DaimlerChrysler, one of the car manufacturers in Europe, used recycled plastics to make vehicle parts. |
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4 |
DOE seeks alternative energy at federal sites |
The US Department of Energy awarded contracts to five energy service companies to promote renewable energy use at federal facilities. |
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5 |
Cooking oil to fuel buses and heat homes |
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is working with private company and transportation agency to promote environmentally friendly alternatives to diesel and home heating oil in the Buffalo Niagara Region. |
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III. Subject Area : Environmental Pollution and Health |
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6 |
Fetuses take air pollution to heart |
Epidemiologist from the University of California at Los Angeles found that pregnant women exposed to carbon monoxide and ozone have a higher risk of giving birth to babies with heart deformities. |
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IV. Subject Area : Climate Change and Global Warming |
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7 |
Climate change costs southern ocean oxygen |
Scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia found that climate change has caused the oxygen content in the southern ocean to decline. |
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8 |
Western Canada warmer and ocean level rising |
Researchers from the University of Victoria warned that global warming could result in the loss of glaciers in British Columbia, Canada's western province, and also changes the fish breeding habits. |
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V. Subject Area: General Environmental News |
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9 |
Group requests permit for oceanic carbon injection project |
An international consortium petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency for a permit to test a marine carbon sequestration process. |
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10 |
BP says to cut UK emissions of greenhouse gases |
BP, one of the major oil companies, pledged to cut its UK emissions of greenhouse gases by over 350,000 tonnes over the next five years. |
SUMMARY REPORT
Period Covered: 18 Mar to 24 Mar 2002
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Item 1 |
California plans boost in renewable portfolio |
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Summary |
California governor supported the legislation that requires the state's three investor's owned utilities to increase the percentage of energy generated from renewable sources to 20 percent by 2010. Energy from the wind, sun, geothermal sources, biomass, and water now provides about 12 percent of the state's electricity supply. The legislation would almost double the amount of electricity produce from renewable energy sources in California and ensure that renewables remained a critical part of the energy future. The governor said that the California Power Authority (CPA) working with the private sector has the financing ability to make the requirement of reaching 20 percent renewable energy by 2010 a reality. CPA has signed letters of intent with renewable developers for about 2,500 megawatts of new power sources. |
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Reference |
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Item 2 |
Germany introduces deposit on one-use cans and bottles |
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Summary |
The German government passed a measure that calls for compulsory deposits of 25 cents for smaller disposable containers and 50 cents for cans and bottles above 1.5 litres starting from 1 Jan 2003. Users can earn the money back if they dispose of the bottles and cans in special recycling machines. The measure is necessary because the percentage of recyclable cans and bottles has fallen below a minimum target level set up in 1997. The 1997 law requires that 72 percent of all beverage containers sold be returnable, but the target was no longer being met. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15135/newsDate/21-Mar-2002/story.htm |
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Item 3 |
Automaker tests parts from recycled plastics |
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Summary |
DaimlerChrysler, one of the car manufacturers in Europe, used recycled plastics to make vehicle parts. Working with two recycling companies and 26 suppliers, the automaker made 54 plastic parts for a Jeep Grand Cherokee out of plastic recycled from cars, dishwashers and even old gloves from its own plants. The company estimated that it could save $10 to $20 per vehicle if the process went into regular use, and that the industry as a whole could save $320 million a year. Chrysler aimed to convince a major recycler to build a plastic center capable of supplying plastic auto parts to the car manufacturers in sufficient volume. Once built, the plastic could show up in vehicles within two to three years. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15133/newsDate/21-Mar-2002/story.htm |
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Item 4 |
DOE seeks alternative energy at federal sites |
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Summary |
The US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded contracts to five energy service companies from across the country to help reduce energy use, promote renewable energy use and cut cost at federal facilities by using biomass and alternative methane energy sources. Biomass energy is produced from crops and trees that are grown expressly for energy production, agricultural crop residues, aquatic plants, wood and wood residues, animal wastes and other organic waste materials. Alternative methane fuel is produced from landfill gases, wastewater treatment plants and coalbeds. The selected companies would be responsible for developing, financing and implementing projects that will introduce biomass and alternative methane energy to and guarantee cost-savings related to energy use at federal facilities. In addition to introducing biobased energy technologies at federal facilities, the companies would also look into retrofitting lighting, motors, heating and ventilation, and air conditioning systems with energy efficient technology. |
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Reference |
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Item 5 |
Cooking oil to fuel buses and heat homes |
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Summary |
In an effort to promote environmentally friendly alternatives to diesel and home heating oil, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is working with private company and transportation agency to develop biodiesel fuel for home heating and for transportation industry in the Buffalo Niagara Region. The first project would focus on developing biodiesel fuel for the trucks and buses. Biodiesel is manufactured by combining any of a variety of natural oils, including soybean, cottonseed, corn, peanut and canola oils, or animal fat byproducts, including lard, tallow and used restaurant cooking oil, with alcohols such as ethanol and methanol. Biodiesel is renewable and biodegradable and can be substituted for or blended into conventional petroleum diesel fuel to improve petroleum diesel's environmental performance. The second project is aimed at identifying domestic fuels created from cooking oils, soaps and other consumer items that can be blended with oils traditionally used for home heating to create an affordable alternative. These blended heating oils would help lower nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions and hopefully also lower the cost of heating homes during winter months. |
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Reference |
http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=19958&image1=2 |
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Item 6 |
Fetuses take air pollution to heart |
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Summary |
Epidemiologist from the University of California at Los Angeles collected daily air pollution measurements from 30 locations around LA and correlated them to local birth registries. She found that for women living in areas with the highest levels of carbon monoxide and ozone, the risk of having a child with certain heart malformations and valve defects was triple that of women living in less polluted neighbourhoods. Normally, two children in a thousand are born with heart defects but in the most polluted areas, the incidence jumped to six per thousand. In moderately polluted areas, the risk was double. According to the epidemiologist, carbon monoxide is principally an indicator of car exhaust and nearly every urban centre in the country has exhaust levels that would be dangerous to pregnant women. |
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Reference |
Discover, April 2002, Page 12 |
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Item 7 |
Climate change costs southern ocean oxygen |
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Summary |
Scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia found from their expeditions that climate change due to the build up of greenhouse gases has resulted in the oxygen content in the southern ocean to decline. The findings were consistent with their simulations, which predicted a decrease in oxygen content in the ocean at depths of 500 to 1,500 metres. Limited work in the north Pacific also showed declining oxygen content, which was consistent with model simulations. The scientists are now collecting samples south of Tasmania to widen their database and the readings would be used for fine tuning predictions of severe weather events, including floods and rising sea level. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15038/newsDate/18-Mar-2002/story.htm |
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Item 8 |
Western Canada warmer and ocean level rising |
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Summary |
Researchers from the University of Victoria found that the average temperature in coastal British Columbia, Canada's western province is 0.6 degrees Celsius higher than in 1985, while the interior region is 1.1 degrees warmer and the northern areas 1.7 degrees hotter. On the coast, sea levels now range between 4 and 12 centimetres higher than in 1909. The study also showed that water temperatures of the Fraser River, which runs hundreds of miles from northern British Columbia to the Pacific at Vancouver, is 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in the 1950s. Ice in a junction between two major rivers, the North Thompson and South Thompson is disappearing at the end of winter up to 24 days earlier than it did in 1946. The researchers predicted from climate models that the trends would continue this century, with the average annual temperature in British Columbia rising between 1 and 4 degree Celsius. With the higher temperatures, the researchers warned that some glaciers in the southern region of the province might melt away completely and some rivers would dry up in the summer months. The breeding habits of salmons in British Columbia's snow-fed rivers would also change. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15039/newsDate/18-Mar-2002/story.htm |
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Item 9 |
Group requests permit for oceanic carbon injection project |
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Summary |
An international consortium petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a permit to conduct an experiment to test the marine carbon sequestration process. The consortium member agencies or organisations include the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, Australia's Division of Marine Research, Canada's Office of Energy Research and Development, Japan's Global Environmental Technology Department, the Research Council of Norway, and ABB Corporate Research of Switzerland. The project would take place about four nautical miles offshore from Nawiliwili, Kauai, and involve the injection of 20 metric tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide over a period of two weeks. The consortium wants to use the data collected from the project to validate computer modeling of what happens to the carbon dioxide after it is injected into the ocean. The experiment is part of a larger effort to evaluate options for managing the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and to slow the potential global greenhouse effect. The small-scale experiment is expected to have minimal adverse impacts on the marine environment including temporary short-term increases of seawater acidity in the proposed research zone. However, the US EPA stated that the research permit would not be issued until the proposed activities have been determined to comply with the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Essential Fish Habitat Act. EPA would also require the researchers to monitor potential environmental impacts. |
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Reference |
http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=19951&image1=2 |
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Item 10 |
BP says to cut UK emissions of greenhouse gases |
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Summary |
BP, one of the major oil companies, pledged to cut 353,500 tonnes of greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide, over the next five years. The company was one of the 34 organisations that bid in an auction for 215 million pounds of government incentive money to cut the cost of complying with the United Nation Kyoto Protocol on global warming. According to the BP chief executive, the company had reduced its global greenhouse emissions by nine million tonnes or 10 percent on 1990 levels at no net cost to the company and is eight years ahead of its target. BP planned to peg its net future emissions at the current 80 million tonnes a year level for the next decade despite production growth plan of 5.5 percent. Half of this would be done through greater energy efficiency with the other half offset by carbon credits gained from a shift to lower carbon products such as natural gas and cleaner motor fuels. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15109/newsDate/21-Mar-2002/story.htm |