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 |
Environment's New Menace - Discarded Cellphones |
Hand-phone waste is becoming a serious problem. By 2005, some 65,000 tonnes/year of phones, batteries and chargers will be discarded in the US alone. |
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2 |
Municipal Incinerators In France To Be Closed By Year's End |
France plans to close all municipal incinerators that fail to comply with stringent air pollution standards by end 2002. |
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II. Subject Area: Waste Management |
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3 |
Clear 'Fridge Mountain' Or Face Fines - British Government |
UK's Environment Agency has given 60 days to local companies to destroy ozone-depleting substances from a stockpile of fridges by an environmentally acceptable technology. |
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III. Subject Area: Environmental Technology |
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4 |
Honda Unveils At-Home Natural Gas Refueling System |
American Honda Motor Co. will be the first US company to mass-market a system that connects to a home's natural gas supply line to refill natural gas vehicles. |
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5 |
Carbon Sequestration Seen As An Effective Way To Fight Against Global Warming |
The British Geological Survey has found a practical way to fight global warming by burying industrial carbon dioxide in spent undersea gas and oil fields. |
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6 |
University Of Florida Develops New Desalination Method |
A University of Florida mechanical and aerospace engineering professor has devised a low cost method for producing freshwater from the waste heat given off by fossil fuel power plants. |
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7 |
Food Scraps To Power Bacteria-Driven Battery |
Researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE) have developed a microbial fuel cell that can be powered by organic household waste. |
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I V. Subject Area: General Environmental News |
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8 |
Climate Change Is Estimated To Cost $150 Billion A Year If Unabated |
A US research firm reported that more frequent and devastating storms caused by climate change could cost US$150 billion a year within the next ten years. |
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9 |
Dirty Air Fuels Global Warming |
Fine suspended particles from burning of coal, wood and diesel may be the biggest single contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. |
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SUMMARY REPORT
Period Covered: 7 Oct to 13 Oct 2002
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Item 1 |
Environment's New Menace - Discarded Cellphones |
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Summary |
A study conducted by Inform and financed by USEPA has indicated that the growing amount of hand-phone waste is becoming a serious problem. The chemicals from the discarded phones accumulate and persist in the environment. The study proposed that companies act to eliminate waste by creating 'take-back' programme that offer discount on new phones or phone service in exchange for returned equipment. This will enable producers to have the incentive to make products that generate less waste and easier to recycle. Apart from the take-back programme, a follow-up study is being carried out to examine the effectiveness of reusing and recycling hand-phones. |
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Reference |
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Item 2 |
Municipal Incinerators In France To Be Closed By Year's End |
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Summary |
France will close all municipal incinerators that fail to comply with stringent air pollution standards by the end of 2002 in view of the growing prominence in recent years of the issue of dioxin contamination in the food chain. It is also prepared to adopt the new, tighter standards that will be introduced in the European Union by 2005 that will limit dioxin emissions from incinerators to 0.1 nanogram per cubic metre of air. |
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Reference |
International Environment Reporter, Vol 25 No 20, page 909 |
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Item 3 |
Clear 'Fridge Mountain' Or Face Fines - British Government |
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Summary |
The UK Environment Agency took its first enforcement action on a freight firm, Brittania Import Export Ltd, for a violation of a European law on removing ozone-depleting gases from refrigerators before they are junked. Brittania faces the possibility of a fine by the agency if it is unable to make any progress in disposing of its pile of more than 150,000 refrigerators within 60 days. Under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, CFCs and HCFCs in refrigerator foam are classified as hazardous waste and must be disposed of by an environmentally acceptable technology. UK currently lacks facilities for degassing old refrigerators safely. |
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Reference |
International Environment Reporter, Vol 25 No 20, page 911 |
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Item 4 |
Honda Unveils At-Home Natural Gas Refueling System |
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Summary |
FuelMaker Corp, a Toronto-based company, has unveiled a prototype model of its natural gas vehicle home refueling appliance at the World NGV 2002 show. It will be the first company to mass-market a system that allows natural gas vehicles to be fueled up at home using the home's natural gas supply line. The pump, called Phill, can be tapped into a natural gas line and left to fuel a car overnight. The system will be on sale end 2003 for US$2,000 and is expected to be lowered to US$1,000 when mass production reaches 20,000 to 40,000 units. |
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Reference |
http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/10/10092002/ap_48646.asp |
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Item 5 |
Carbon Sequestration Effective In Fight Against Global Warming |
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Summary |
Following a successful experiment by Esso and the Norwegian company, Statoil to bury huge amounts of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) in the North Sea, the British Geological Survey (BGS) reported that it would be possible to fight global warming by burying industrial carbon dioxide in spent undersea gas and oil fields. The two companies successfully injected more than 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into airtight storage depots in a project that has been running in the North Sea since 1996. The gas that would normally escape into the atmosphere, has been locked beneath half a mile of impervious rock. BGS reported that carbon sequestration could be useful as an interim measure in reducing atmospheric emissions until alternatives to burning fossil fuels are found and global warming is reduced to meet Kyoto Protocol targets. |
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Reference |
International Environment Reporter Vol 25.No 20, pg 905 |
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Item 6 |
University Of Florida Develops New Desalination Method |
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Summary |
A researcher from the University of Florida has devised a method to produce freshwater from the waste heat given off by fossil fuel power plants, cheaply. It is estimated that "diffusion towers" used in the system could pump out 18 million gallons of freshwater per day at a 100-megawatt plant using essentially free waste heat. Such diffusion towers could replace the cooling towers many power plants currently use. The towers cool off steam leaving their turbines, using the heat to produce clean water. The energy used for the system is basically free, which would otherwise be thrown away. Traditional desalination plants produce drinkable water from seawater by quickly evaporating it or pumping it through special filters - a costly process that uses lots of energy. |
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Reference |
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Item 7 |
Food Scraps To Power Bacteria-Driven Battery |
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Summary |
Researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol have developed a microbial fuel cell about the size of a mobile phone that could be powered by organic household waste. The researchers who used the cell to run a small light-sensitive robot, said that a series of the cells could be connected to run domestic appliances. The bacteria-driven cell, costing about $15, directly converts biochemical energy into electricity. It uses E.coli bacteria to break down carbohydrates and release hydrogen atoms. The cell also contains chemicals that drive a series of reduction and oxidation reactions, stripping electrons from the hydrogen atoms and delivering them steadily to the fuel cell's anode. This creates a voltage that can be used to power a circuit. |
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Reference |
http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/10/10112002/reu_48654.asp |
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Item 8 |
Climate Change Is Estimated To Cost $150 Billion A Year If Unabated |
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Summary |
A UN-backed report warned that more frequent and more devastating storms caused by climate change could cost $150 billion a year within the next ten years. This could potentially bankrupt financial services firms as the worldwide economic losses from natural disasters appear to be doubling every ten years. The report called for action to decrease the emission of greenhouse gases particularly carbon dioxide. The report also called on financial services companies to raise awareness of the problem of climate change and to lead by example in corporate environmental management. They should also provide products and services that support adaptation and mitigation of climate change. It said governments should commit to emissions reductions measures that put a price on carbon dioxide and stimulate demand for products in the emissions trading market. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.org/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=18087 |
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Item 9 |
Dirty Air Fuels Global Warming |
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Summary |
Fine suspended particles, or aerosols, from burning of coal, wood and diesel may be the biggest single contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Dr David Suzuki of the David Suzuki Foundation warns that soot in the air is having a significant effect on regional climate. Dr Suzuki quoted a recent study published in the journal Science that soot emissions from China and India may be responsible for increased droughts in northeast China and floods in the southeastern parts of that country. Northeast China has suffered from increasingly severe dust storms that may be due to a combination of poor land-use practices (such as overgrazing and forest destruction) and the effects of soot on the area's climate. Soot and other particles in the air are also thought to be blocking sunlight, reducing photosynthesis and lowering crop yields. Last year, a plume of soot and dust from Asian storms actually found its way across the pacific to North America. |
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Reference |
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2002/10/10082002/s_48618.asp |