TABLE OF CONTENTS
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S/N |
Title |
Synopsis |
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I. Subject Area: Environmental Policy and Regulation |
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1 |
EU Issues New Ship Emissions Bill |
The European Commission has proposed a new bill to reduce the sulphur content of marine fuels from the current 2.7% to 1.5% for all seagoing vessels in designated areas. An even lower, 0.2%-sulphur fuel would be imposed on ships while at berth in EU ports. |
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II. Subject Area: Recycling |
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2 |
New Tyre Devulcanization Technology |
An Israeli company, Levgum Ltd has invented a clean and low cost technology for recycling tyres. The process breaks down sulphur links across polymer chains in vulcanised rubber allowing the rubber to be used again. |
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3 |
New Technique On Glass Recycling In UK |
A UK company, Dryden Aqua has found a new way of glass recycling. Glass bottles and other glassware are ground into tiny particles, which are then used to replace sand in sand beds for water purification. |
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4 |
Delaware Starts Pilot Project To Collect Junk Mail For Recycle |
The Delaware Solid Waste Authority in the US has recently announced a pilot programme to collect junk mail from its community with an aim to divert the waste to a paper mill for recycling. |
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III. Subject Area: Environmental Technologies |
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5 |
Wireless Transmission In Earth's Energy Future |
The Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University is exploring the use of a wireless system for energy transmission. Electricity generated by a power station would be converted to microwaves, beamed over long distance by satellite, and then converted back to electricity. |
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6 |
Removal Of Mercury From Waste Incineration Plant Stack Emission |
Merck, a leading pharmaceutical products and services company in the US, has developed a new mercury vapour removal technology. The technology has been shown to remove 99% of mercury from stack emissions of waste incineration plants. |
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IV. Subject Area: General Environmental News |
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7 |
World's First Hydrogen Energy Station Opens In Las Vegas |
The US Department of Energy has opened the world's first hydrogen energy station featuring the co-production of hydrogen fuel for vehicles and clean electric power using fuel cells, in Las Vegas. |
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8 |
Fuel Cell Use Jumps On Car And Building |
A study carried out by a London-based organization, "Fuel Cell Today" has found a significant increase in the use of fuel cell technology to power vehicles and buildings. The increase was 58% for vehicles and 12% for buildings. |
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9 |
Cosmetics Industry Approves Controversial Chemicals |
The US Cosmetics Ingredients Review Panel has approved the continued use of phthalates in cosmetics despite the move in EC to phase out some phthalates in cosmetics. Critics said that the panel's decision would leave women at risk of exposure to chemicals that may be linked to birth defects. |
SUMMARY REPORT
Period Covered: 18 Nov 2002 to 24 Nov 2002
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Item 1 |
EU Issues New Ship Emissions Bill |
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Summary |
The European Commission has proposed a bill to reduce air pollution from ships. The bill, which requires the approval of EU governments and the European Parliament, is aimed at cutting sulphur and other emissions from ships operating in European waters in order to reduce acid rain and smog pollution. The bill's main thrust is to reduce the sulphur content of marine fuels from the current average of 2.7% to 1.5% for all seagoing vessels in the North Sea, English Channel and Baltic areas. Elsewhere in the EU, the 1.5%-sulphur limit would apply only to ships operating regular passenger services. An even lower, 0.2%-sulphur fuel would be imposed on ships while at berth in EU ports in order to reduce sulphur dioxide and particulate matter in populated areas where the emissions can contribute to serious respiratory illness. Ships could switch to 1.5%-sulphur fuel, from a different tank, when they leave port. According to the European Commission, there would be a 45% premium for the 1.5% sulphur fuel, adding 50 euros per tonne to the current price of 110 euros for heavy fuel oil. The overall increase in capital and running costs for the shipping industry would be between 3% and 14%. |
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Reference |
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18735/story.htm |
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Item 2 |
New Tyre Devulcanization Technology |
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Summary |
An Israel company, Levgum Ltd has invented a new process for recycling tyres. The process breaks down sulphur links across polymer chains in vulcanised rubber allowing the rubber to be used again. The new process, which does not emit any hazardous gases or generate waste products, is able to maintain 80% of the rubber's original properties. It also costs less than other tyre recycling processes and could result in millions of dollars of savings annually for large producers of rubber products. The recovered devulcanized rubber could be blended with virgin and synthetic rubber material to form new products. Hence, the manufacturers could recycle up to 100% of their rubber waste, thereby saving significant costs on disposal fees and purchase of raw material. |
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Reference |
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Item 3 |
New Technique On Glass Recycling In UK |
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Summary |
A UK company, Dryden Aqua has found a new way for recycling glass. Glass bottles and other glassware are ground into tiny particles of size less than a tenth of a millimeter and used to replace sand in sand beds for water purification. The conventional sand filter bed used in water purification has inherent problems. While the pits and grooves in the sand particles help to filter out bacteria and algae, they cause the particles to clump together as they become rapidly populated by microbes. This causes the filter to choke. Hence, more frequent, intensive flushing is required to clean the filter. On the other hand, the tiny glass particles have very smooth surfaces. The grinding process breaks molecular bonds of the glass and leaves spare electrons on the surface resulting in a net negative electrical charge that enables them to attract particles. Furthermore, metals like chromium and iron present in coloured glass have catalytic activity. They can split oxygen molecules into single, highly reactive oxygen "radicals". As a result in filters made from coloured glass grains, microbes are first drawn to the surface of the grains electrostatically and, once there, are zapped by oxygen radicals, which kill them. |
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Reference |
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=353349 |
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Item 4 |
Delaware Starts Pilot Project To Collect Junk Mail For Recycle |
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Summary |
The Delaware Solid Waste Authority in the US has recently announced a pilot programme to collect junk mail and, school and office paper for recycling. Junk mails such as credit card solicitations, mail-order catalogues and store flyers, account for more than 30% of Delaware's paper waste. Under the programme, specialised junk-mail containers will be provided at designated collection centres. The paper wastes will be collected and processed at a paper mill. The authority hopes to divert the junk mail and other paper wastes from the state's landfills to the paper mill for recycling. |
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Reference |
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Item 5 |
Wireless Transmission In Earth's Energy Future |
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Summary |
The Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University is exploring the use of a wireless system for energy transmission. To meet the world's growing appetite for energy without environmental damage, electricity would be converted to microwaves, beamed over long distances by satellite, and then reconverted back to electricity. Instead of exporting oil in giant tankers, oil producing nations could use their own oil and gas to produce electricity locally and then beam it by satellite to other countries' receivers attached to local power grids. This arrangement has the great benefit of reducing potential catastrophic oil spills, managing pollution more locally, and eventually opening up new energy sources such as solar panels in the Earth's orbit. The long-term goal would be to beam down solar energy from space to remote sites all over the world. This technology would provide an affordable source of base load electricity without producing either carbon dioxide or nuclear proliferation. |
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Reference |
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Item 6 |
Removal Of Mercury From Waste Incineration Plant Stack Emission |
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Summary |
Merck, a leading pharmaceutical products and services company in the US, has developed a new mercury vapour technology for use in an environmental remediation process. In recognizing that its use could have wide reaching environmental benefits in applications such as municipal waste and medical waste incineration, Merck decided to license the technology out to Superior Adsorbents, a specialty sorbents manufacturer. Superior Adsorbents will further develop the technology for use with existing flue gas emissions control equipment to reduce mercury emissions into the atmosphere. Superior aims to market the technology to waste incineration companies for them to control mercury emission from their stack emissions. Merck's mercury vapour technology uses a sorbent powder that adsorbs mercury vapour at high temperatures when injected into a flue gas stream. The sorbent/mercury complex is then removed from the stream utilizing a bag filter and is subsequently disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. Merck's technology has been shown to remove 99% of mercury from stack emissions. |
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Reference |
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Item 7 |
World's First Hydrogen Energy Station Opens In Las Vegas |
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Summary |
The world's first hydrogen energy station featuring the co-production of hydrogen fuel for vehicles and clean electric power using fuel cells has been opened in the City of Las Vegas. The station offers an attractive future business case for the sale of hydrogen and electric power. The fueling station is located at the City of Las Vegas vehicle maintenance and operation service center. It is capable of dispensing hydrogen, hydrogen-enriched natural gas and compressed natural gas. It consists of an on-site hydrogen generator, compressor, liquid and gaseous hydrogen storage tanks, dispensing systems and a stationary fuel cell. The cost for the US$10.8 million project was split evenly between the Department of Energy and the Air Products team. |
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Reference |
http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=23063&image1=2 |
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Item 8 |
Fuel Cell Use Jumps On Car And Building |
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Summary |
According to a study carried out by the London-based organisation "Fuel Cell Today", the use of fuel cell has increased 58% this year with nearly 4,000 having been operated worldwide. Fuel cells, which use hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, are expected to double in the next two years. Fuel cell vehicles emit only heat and water as by-products, whereas carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel vehicles is considered to contribute to global warming. The use of larger fuel cells to provide power for buildings is also expected to grow but at a slower rate of 12% per year. At present, they are nearly 600 fuel cell systems with output over 10 kilowatts for powering buildings. |
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Reference |
http://www.planet.ark.com.au/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18631/newsDate/18-Nov-2002/story.htm |
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Item 9 |
Cosmetics Industry Approves Controversial Chemicals |
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Summary |
The U.S. Cosmetics Ingredients Review panel has, on 20 Nov 2002 approved the continued use of phthalates in cosmetics, concluding that the chemicals are safe as currently used. Many health groups, women's rights advocates and environmentalists warn that exposure phthalates have been linked to birth defects in animals, and criticize the marketing of phthalate containing cosmetics to women of childbearing age. They warn that the presence of phthalates in consumer products may lead to dangerous levels of exposure for pregnant women and other vulnerable groups. Phthalates are a family of chemical compounds developed over the last century and used in a wide range of beauty products such as nail polish and perfume to prolong the life of fragrances. They are also used in a variety of consumer products such as flexible plastics, adhesives, caulking and paint pigments. The European Commission has on 7 Nov 2002, banned the use of two of the most controversial phthalates - di-(2-ethylhexy) phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) - in cosmetic and personal care products. Europe had already banned both phthalates from children's toys that are likely to be put in the mouth, such as teething rings. |
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Reference |