TABLE OF CONTENTS
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S/N |
Title |
Synopsis |
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I. Subject Area: Environmental Pollution |
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1 |
'Car-sharing' plan to curb vehicular emissions |
The Italian Ministry of Environment would be spending $8.6 million on a trial "car-sharing" program to reduce vehicular emissions. |
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2 |
France to stiffen indoor air quality |
A French study, which finds that concentrations of benzene inside buildings are than outdoors, prompts the French government to consider tougher regulations to improve indoor air quality. |
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II. Subject Area: Energy Conservation |
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3 |
New technology enhances energy efficiency in light bulbs |
Scientists at the Sandia National Laboratories developed a new technology to improve the energy efficiency of conventional light bulbs. |
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III. Subject Area: Waste Management |
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4 |
Old mobile phones pose growing waste issue |
US environmentalists urged federal and state governments to create more effective ways of recycling old mobile phones to reduce the volume of waste containing dangerous pollutants. |
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5 |
German waste recycling programme a success |
A study of recycling in Germany revealed that approximately 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide were saved last year through the recycling of 2.3 million tonnes of packaging waste such as aluminium and plastics. |
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IV. Subject Area: Environmental Technology |
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6 |
New method quickly detects bacteria in water and food |
Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology developed a new method that could detect bacteria in water and food samples from a variety of media quickly and accurately. |
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7 |
GM demonstrates first gasoline-fed fuel-cell vehicle |
GM's fuel-cell research facility demonstrated the world's first drivable fuel-cell vehicle, an altered Chevrolet S-10 pickup. |
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V. Subject Area: Environmental Policy and Regulation |
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8 |
Canada adds three chemicals to CEPA list of toxic substances |
Environment Canada finalised the designation of ethylene oxide, formaldehyde and N-Nitrosodimethylamine as toxic substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). |
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VI. Subject Area: General Environmental News |
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9 |
US weather experts predicts weaker El Niño than in 1998 |
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that this year's looming El Niño, will be much weaker than it was in 1997-98 |
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10 |
Canada set to reject Kyoto Protocol |
U nder heavy pressure from its energy industry, Canada seems set to join the US in reneging on the Kyoto protocol on climate change. |
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SUMMARY REPORT
Period Covered: 6 May to 12 May 2002
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Item 1 |
'Car-sharing' plan seeks to curb emissions |
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Summary |
The Italian Ministry of Environment is spending $8.6 million on a trial "car-sharing" program that provides energy efficient cars to drivers at subsidised rates. This program aims to reduce automobile emissions by cutting down on the rate of car ownership and reducing the use of higher-pollution vehicles. The cars used in the program are more efficient and less polluting than the average vehicle. By offering subsidised rates to drivers for the use of the more efficient vehicles, the Ministry seeks to reduce the incentive for some people to purchase cars and reduce the number of cars on the roads. With less number of and more efficient cars on the roads, it anticipates a reduction in emissions. Environmentalists, on the other hand, said that the outcome of the program remains uncertain as such an attractive program might simply give people who otherwise would not drive a reason to use a car and defeats the original purpose of the program. |
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Reference |
International Environment Reporter, Vo. 25, No. 9 pg. 444-445 |
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Item 2 |
France to stiffen indoor air quality |
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Summary |
Results of initial findings of the French Housing Ministry's study of indoor air quality show higher concentrations of benzene inside buildings than outdoors. As a result, the French Government is considering to beef up existing regulations to clean up indoor air quality, including stiffer minimum ventilation requirements, increased building maintenance standards, and clearer labelling of construction and home cleaning products that contain potentially dangerous chemical compounds. French researchers are also concerned with the presence of various microbiological toxins, including bacteria and toxic moulds, as well as physical contaminants like asbestos and the impact of human activities. A much wider study on more than 800 residential and educational complexes to look into the real impact of indoor air quality on human health is being planned. |
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Reference |
International Environment Reporter, Vo. 25, No. 9 pg. 426 |
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Item 3 |
New technology enhances energy efficiency in light bulbs |
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Summary |
Conventional tungsten-filament light bulbs generate more heat than light, making them energy inefficient. Scientists at the Sandia National Laboratories developed a new technology to improve these conventional light bulbs to increase their energy efficiency. The scientists created microscopic tungsten lattices to replace the filaments in conventional light bulbs. This advances the energy efficiency of the light bulbs from the current 5% to greater than 60%. According to the research scientists, it is cheap and easy to fabricate the new energy-efficient bulbs as the fabrication of the microfilaments could be performed with well-known technologies. |
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Reference |
http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=20635&image1=2 |
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Item 4 |
Old mobile phones pose growing waste issue |
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Summary |
According to a report by an environmental research group, US consumers would throw out more than 500 million mobile phones by 2005. It reported that mobile phones were commonly discarded like any general garbage because of its small size. However, due to the large amount of highly polluting metals including lead solder used on the internal circuit boards and arsenic and cadmium present in the cellular phones, the disposals created a huge pile of waste containing dangerous pollutants. Moreover, the mobile phones would also result in the release of toxic dioxins when incinerated. In view of the potential hazards arising from the mobile phone disposal, environmental groups called on federal and state governments and the industry to create more effective ways of recycling old phones. The environmental groups would like the government to provide financial incentives to phone makers to encourage recycling. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15901/story.htm |
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Item 5 |
German recycling programme a success |
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Summary |
Last year, Germany avoided the emission of approximately 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide through the recycling of 2.3 million tonnes of packaging waste. According to the German recycling organisation, Duales System Deutschland AG, this is equivalent to amount of carbon dioxide generated by 64,000 households a year by burning 2,000 litres of heating oil each. As a result of improved automatic sorting equipment and processes, recycling of plastic packaging increased by 10% in 2001, and, for the first time, more recycled plastic was used in manufacture than raw material. |
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Reference |
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Item 6 |
New Method quickly detects bacteria in water and food |
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Summary |
Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology developed a new method that could detect bacteria in water and food samples from a variety of media quickly and accurately. Unlike current tests that could obtain results only in a few days, the new technology used the genetic material in bacteria to provide precise identification of bacteria and strains within one to three hours. According to the researchers, the system relied on bacterial DNA sequences that could contain non-coding information. These DNA sequences differed in each bacterial strain and provided a way to "fingerprint" each strain for easy detection. The researchers would fill each bacteria strain identity in a database, making it easy for others around the world to identify specific bacterial strains. |
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Reference |
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Item 7 |
GM demonstrates first gasoline-fed fuel-cell vehicle |
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Summary |
General Motors Corp. is making headway towards commercially viable and publicly acceptable fuel cell vehicles with the demonstration of the world's first drivable fuel-cell vehicle, an altered Chevrolet S-10 pickup. The truck is equipped with a processor that reforms low-sulphur gasoline though a series of chemical reactions to produce hydrogen. Gasoline-fed fuel cells are viewed as a transitional technology, as automakers, suppliers and researchers work toward vehicles that run on pure hydrogen. Mass-produced, affordable fuel-cell vehicles are not expected to be available until at least 2010. |
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Reference |
http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/05/05032002/ap_47119.asp |
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Item 8 |
Canada adds three chemicals to CEPA list of toxic substances |
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Summary |
Environment Canada has finalised the designation of ethylene oxide, formaldehyde and N-Nitrosodimethylamine as toxic substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). The three substances would be the subject of public consultations on the development of regulations or other instruments to prevent or control their release into the environment. Although the three substances were not entering the environment in quantities or concentrations that posed long term dangers to the environment and biodiversity, they could pose a danger to human health. Thus, the three substances had to be regulated to reduce human's exposure to them. Ethylene oxide is associated with the formation of tumors and harm is likely at any level of exposure. Formaldehyde is considered to pose a danger to human respiratory systems and tumor formation. N-Nitrosodimethylamine poses a danger to human health because of its carcinogenicity.
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Reference |
International Environment Reporter, Vol. 25, No. 9, pg. 438 - 439 |
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Item 9 |
U.S. predicts weaker El Niño than in 1998 |
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Summary |
US weather experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predict that this year's looming El Niño, the weather anomaly blamed for devastating droughts and floods, will be much weaker than it was in 1997-98. El Niño is an abnormal warming of waters in the eastern Pacific that distorts wind and rainfall patterns around the world, causing floods and droughts. It usually occurs every four to five years and can last up to 18 months. Meteorologists observed that the rapid warming patterns in the last few months along the coasts of Ecuador and northern Peru have weakened. |
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Reference |
http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/05/05102002/reu_47187.asp |
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Item 10 |
Canada set to reject Kyoto protocol |
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Summary |
Under heavy pressure from its energy industry, Canada seems set to join the US in reneging on the Kyoto Protocol. In a meeting with EU ministers in Madrid, Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien said he was "not in a position to ratify until some elements are clarified". These elements are believed to be Canada's demand to gain credits under the protocol for exporting natural gas and hydroelectric power to the US. Canada claims that the gas will replace coal in US power stations. Because burning gas produces less carbon dioxide than burning coal, that would reduce the US's contribution to global warming, it argues. The protocol requires Canada to cut its emissions by six per cent from 1990 to 2010 - a tall order since its emissions in 2000 were 20 per cent up. To come into force, the Kyoto protocol requires the ratification of countries responsible for 55 per cent of the emissions of all industrialised nations. The EU, Japan, Russia, Ukraine and Poland have indicated that they would ratify the protocol in June 2002. |
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Reference |