Environment Report 9 Sep 2002 to 15 Sep 2002

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S/N	Title		Synopsis
I. Subject Area: Environmental Policy and Regulation
1	USEPA readies first off-road vehicle emission rules		The U.S. Environment Protection Agency was set to issue standards to limit air pollution from snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles.
2	California's implemented water efficiency standards law for washing machine		California will require all residential washing machines to be at least as water efficient as commercial washers starting in January 2007.
3	Britain appoints new committee to boost recycling		The UK has appointed a new Advisory Committee to advise the government on how to boost current recycling rates and how to ensure greater manufacturer responsibilities towards the environment.
II. Subject Area: Environmental Technology
4		New plant turns waste into building blocks	The University of East London is operating a research plant to produce lightweight aggregates from incinerator bottom ash, dredge sludge and sewage.
5		Ionising air conditioners 'zap flu'	Sharp claimed that its air conditioning technology could inactivate viruses as well as potentially deadly bacteria.
III. Subject Area: Environmental Pollution and Health
6		Indoor plants improve office air quality	Sydney researchers have found that indoor plants improve the air quality of rooms with little or no airflow.
IV. Subject Area: General Environmental News
7		Rich soil good for trapping carbon dioxide	U.S. scientists found that a sticky protein, glomalin, shed by fungi living on plant roots is responsible for absorbing and storing sizable amounts of carbon dioxide.
8		New USEPA conservation program and projects announced	The USEPA announced the "Resource Conservation Challenge" to encourage Americans to take more responsibility for their individual environmental impact.
9		Inject CO₂ emissions into earth's crust	A British Geological Survey scientist said that carbon dioxide sequestration, though costly, is technically feasible and is an interim measure to mitigate greenhouse gas emission while renewable energy sources are developed.

SUMMARY REPORT

Period Covered : 9 Sep 2002 to 15 Sep 2002

Item 1	USEPA readies first off-road vehicle emission rules
Summary	The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) was set to issue standards to limit air pollution from snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles. The new rules will take 2 million tonnes of smog and other unhealthy substances out of the air every year, and save US$8 billion in health-related costs by 2030, when older engines now in operation should be fully phased out. The rules apply to over a million estimated U.S. conveyances, ranging from yachts and cruisers to forklifts, motorbikes, airport support equipment and other gasoline-powered vehicles.
Reference	http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/17773/story.htm

Item 2	California's implemented water efficiency standards law for washing machine
Summary	From Jan 2007, California will require all residential washing machines to be at least as water efficient as commercial washers. The California law is expected to translate into consumers paying higher initial costs for the more environmentally friendly washing machine models but lower operating costs in the long run. The San Diego Water Authority estimated that a water-efficient washing machine would use about 7,000 less gallons of water per year. This would add up to almost 1 billion gallons saved annually, enough to supply 6,000 households for a year. The Federal Trade Commission said that front-loaders typically used less water, from one-third to one-half the amount that top-loaders required.
Reference	http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/09/09112002/ap_48396.asp

Item 3	Britain appoints new committee to boost recycling
Summary	UK's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs restructured the Advisory Committee on Packaging to take on a more operational role. The committee advises the government on how to boost current recycling rates and how to ensure greater manufacturer responsibility towards the environment. Britain is trailing the European environmental league tables, recycling an average of just 11.0 percent of household waste, well below the 49.7 percent achieved by Switzerland and Austria or the 48.0 percent recorded in Germany. Last year, the UK has grappled to comply with tough new environmental legislation from the European Union aimed at cutting the amount of waste sent to landfill through raising recycling rates and requiring greater responsibility from the manufacturers of anything from refrigerators, to mobile phones to motor vehicles.
Reference	http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/17722/story.htm

Item 4	New plant turns waste into building blocks
Summary	A pilot plant to turn waste into building materials has begun operation at the University of East London. The research plant will produce lightweight aggregates from incinerator bottom ash, dredge sludge and sewage, and will run on energy generated from the waste. The industrial scale plant will act as a research center for engineers to develop designer aggregates from waste material. Known as the Manufactured Aggregate Research Center (MARC), the plant has the latest thermal processing techniques and uses energy produced by the waste to 'roast' materials into coated pellets destined for the construction industry.
Reference	http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=22049

Item 5	Ionising air conditioners 'zap flu'
Summary	Sharp claimed that their "plasmacluster ion air purification" system generates positive and negative ions, which react with microparticles, including microbes. Their survey indicated that this was the first time an electronics manufacturer had scientifically proved a certain technology was effective in inactivating viruses and bacteria. The positive and negative ions from Sharp's plasmacluster are attracted to charged microparticles, including influenza virus, Coxsackie viruses and MRSA. When exposed to the air-con ions, Sharp claimed 99 per cent of these bugs were eliminated from lab samples.
Reference	http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992786

Item 6	Indoor plants improve office air quality
Summary	Scientists from the University of Technology in Sydney have found that common indoor potted plants improve indoor air by reducing levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) up to 100 per cent over 24 hours in a closed environment. The researchers tried seven species of common indoor potted plants in 200-litre sealed chambers and found that the pollutants were removed from the air predominantly by the metabolic activities of soil microorganisms associated with the plant roots. Preliminary findings indicated that this method could remove between 10 and 20 percent of pollutants in areas with flow-through air. VOCs include compounds such as benzene and hexane, and are known to be toxic to humans at high levels. They are present at low levels in many indoor environments. Some, like benzene, make their way inside buildings through pollution from traffic outside. Others are present as a result of their use in paints, carpeting, and furniture fabric, especially in new or recently refurbished buildings.
Reference	http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRepublish_660596.htm

Item 7

Rich soil good for trapping carbon dioxide

Summary

Farmland and forests around the world are seen as valuable to offset carbon emissions from cars and industrial plants, offering the potential for carbon credit emission trading.

U.S. Agriculture Department scientists said a sticky protein shed by fungi living on plant roots is responsible for absorbing and storing sizable amounts of carbon dioxide. The protein, glomalin, glues soil particles and organic matter together which stabilizes soil and keeps carbon from escaping into the atmosphere. It lasts between 7 to 42 years in soil, depending on conditions.

Tests showed that the glomalin stored nearly one-third of the carbon absorbed by soil, an amount far greater than humic acid which had been thought to store the most carbon.

Reference

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/17668/story.htm

Item 8

New USEPA conservation program and projects announced

Summary

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced the "Resource Conservation Challenge", a new effort to encourage Americans to take more responsibility for their individual environmental impact. The Resource Conservation Challenge is made up of 68 projects characterized by their flexibility, partnership, and innovation.

The Challenge aimed to boost national recycling rate from the current 30 percent to at least 35 percent and to curb generation of 30 harmful chemicals typically present in hazardous waste by 50 percent by 2005. The USEPA will support actions that help reach the Challenge goals through efforts to:

establish partnerships and alliances with industry, states and environmental groups;

provide businesses, governments and citizen groups with training, tools, and technology assistance; and

encourage participation of the general public, especially youth and minority groups through outreach and assistance.

To help meet the targets, USEPA also introduced 12 innovative new projects to test resourceful ways of reducing waste, recovering energy, recycling, and revitalizing land.

Reference

http://www.earthvision.net/ColdFusion/News_Page1.cfm?NewsID=22245&start=1

Item 9	Inject CO₂ emissions into earth's crust
Summary	A geophysicist with the British Geological Survey said that CO₂ sequestration is one of the most powerful tools of reducing CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere and the technique to pump CO₂ back into the earth in a way that prevent it from reentering the atmosphere had been applied and perfected at the Sleipner gas field in the North Sea over the past few years. Some five million tonnes of CO₂ have been injected into a saline aquifer about one kilometer below the seabed. Time delayed, three-dimensional seismic surveys had shown the CO₂ was spreading gradually through the vast subterranean reservoir where it was being contained by an impermeable cap of shale and clay. Use of one percent of the aquifer's storage volume to store CO₂ would be equivalent to sequestrating one year's output of CO₂ from 900 coal-fired or 2,300 gas-fired 500 megawatt power stations. However CO₂ sequestration could be only viewed as an interim measure for the next 50-60 years to effect the major cuts need to achieve while renewable energy sources were developed.
Reference	http://www.planeark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/17718/story.htm

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