Triangle Clean Cities Coalition - 2003 Biofuels Program Awardees
Triangle Clean Cities Coalition - 2003 Biofuels Program Awardees: "Duke University Transportation Services

Duke University was awarded $28,120 to switch 31 campus transit buses and 14 other sanitation and recycling vehicles to run on B20. Together, these vehicles travel 2,800 miles daily and over 1,000,000 annually. The switch to biodiesel is part of a larger University move to more sustainable operations."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 6:11 PM (0) comments

 
Grassolean.com :: Home of the Biodiesel Station
Grassolean.com :: Home of the Biodiesel Station

Emissions and Related Effects of Using 100Pure BioDiesel


Atmosphere
*Biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions from 75 to 100 percent
*Biodiesel lowers sulfate emissions (primary cause of acid rain) by 100 percent.
*Biodiesel lowers particulate matter by 40 percent
*Biodiesel lowers polluting hydrocarbons emissions by 93 percent.


Environment
*Biodiesel is as biodegradable as sugar and poses no risk to water quality.
*Biodiesel can be grown year after year, giving farmers work.
*Biodiesel is derived from renewable and recycled resources.
*Biodiesel crops recycle the atmospheric carbon created when biodiesel is burned.
*Biodiesel emissions result in a closed loop CO2 cycle.
*Biodiesel has the highest energy balance of any alternative fuel. For every one unit of fossil energy needed to produce biodiesel, 3.2 units of energy are gained.


Human Health
*Biodiesel is non-toxic (it has a toxicity that falls between that of table salt and maple syrup)
*Biodiesel particulate matter has 80 percent less cancer-causing potential than standard diesel fuel.
*Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have passed all Clean Air Act Health Effects testing.
*Biodiesel lowers poisonous carbon monoxide emissions by 50 percent
*Biodiesel reduces air toxins by up to 90 percent.
*Biodiesel is free of carcinogenic benzene


Biodiesel exposure produces:
NO pronounced toxicity at any exposure level
NO mortality, clinical abnormality, neurotoxins or internal pathologic response
NO adverse effect on fertility and reproductive systems and far less mutagenic activity


***Below are results adapted from a study, authored by the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Program (Sponsored by Harvard University, Ford Motor Company, HGCI, and UOS), that examined the emissions of passenger vehicles using alternative and conventional fuels. Complete study can be found at http://www.greencampus.harvard.edu/green_projects/afvp/rec/bus.pdf

* B100 produces significantly less CO2 than any other alternative or conventional fuel
Gasoline Engine Emissions as Compared to Diesel Engines running on pure Biodiesel (B100)
* Gasoline produces 460 percent more Poisonous Carbon Monoxide Gas than B100
* Gasoline produces 225 percent more Toxic Volatile Organic Compounds than B100
* Gasoline produces 105 percent more Green House Gasses than B100
* Gasoline produces 15 percent less Particulate Matter than B100 (Particulate matter from B100 is of a less toxic nature than that from petroleum products)
* Gasoline produces 50 percent less Smog Producing Nitrogen oxide Gasses than B100

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 1:52 PM (0) comments

 
Group warns on resource consumption
Group warns on resource consumption

Humanity's reliance on fossil fuels, the spread of cities, the destruction of natural habitats for farmland and over-exploitation of the oceans are destroying Earth's ability to sustain life, the environmental group WWF warned in a new report Thursday.

The biggest consumers of nonrenewable natural resources are the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Kuwait, Australia and Sweden, who leave the biggest "ecological footprint," the World Wildlife Fund said in its regular Living Planet Report.

Humans currently consume 20 percent more natural resources than the Earth can produce, the report said.

"We are spending nature's capital faster than it can regenerate," said WWF chief Claude Martin, releasing the 40-page study. "We are running up an ecological debt which we won't be able to pay off unless governments restore the balance between our consumption of natural resources and the Earth's ability to renew them."

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 1:37 PM (0) comments

 
Green Halloween part 2
Green Halloween - Organics

For children, Halloween is one of the most thrilling days of the year—chock full of goblins, ghouls, witches, and all manner of sweet confections. But by the time the masks come off, the over-indulgences of the day may well have taken a toll on your kids—and on Mother Earth. This year, why not take a few small steps toward ensuring a healthier, “green” Halloween for all?


Consider taking the environmentally friendly step of offering organic treats to the fearsome creatures that come knocking at your door. Rest assured, certified organic products won't leave your pocketbook as empty as a ghost town. Most are available now at natural foods supermarkets or may be ordered (or sourced) online. And never fear: they all come safely wrapped.

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 4:28 PM (0) comments

 
Have a Green Halloween
Environmental Defense.

(21 October, 2002 - New York) As Halloween approaches, Environmental Defense reminds ghosts and goblins not to say "boo" to wise environmental choices. Following are several ideas for trick-or-treaters and treat-givers to add more green to the orange and black holiday.

"Whether they are dressed as Harry Potter or SpongeBob SquarePants, children should carry canvas bags or pillow cases to tote treats instead of disposable bags. Using durable bags is a great idea any time of year, especially at Halloween when disposable bags can tear and lead to unhappy trick-or-treaters," said Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense executive director.

"Another idea to protect the environment is to make a costume from old clothes at home, instead of buying a disposable one from a store. This way you can scare your neighbors without spooking Mother Nature," said Krupp.

"When planning a Halloween monster bash, use reusable utensils, plates, napkins and tablecloths instead of disposable ones. Also, when you are shopping for Halloween goodies, buy candy that uses the least amount of packaging. Kids may clamor for chocolate and candy corn, but after Halloween's over, wrappers may be as common as tummy aches look for the recycled content in items you buy and carry reusable bags to put your groceries in," Krupp said.

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 4:27 PM (1) comments

 
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon 'reaching danger levels'
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon 'reaching danger levels': "Professor Sir David King told a London audience the world had to adapt to prepare for significant changes ahead, and also to reduce greenhouse gases.

He said climate change was 'the most serious issue facing us this century and beyond', needing global solutions.

On present trends, Sir David said, the world was just 60 years from triggering an irreversible climate disaster.

Sir David, the government's chief scientific adviser, was delivering the annual Greenpeace business lecture, entitled Global Warming: The Science Of Climate Change - The Imperatives For Action.

'Tipping point'

He said measurements of atmospheric CO2 taken at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii, and published earlier this year, were significant.

They showed that while carbon levels had increased in recent years by an average of 1.5 parts per million (ppm) annually, in 2002 and 2003 the increase had been more than 2ppm.





It's a damned good thing we put the London Thames Barrier up. A flood would knock out the City of London and cost about £30bn




Sir David King


Levels had risen by 2.08ppm in 2002 and 2.54 the following year. Sir David said: 'This is taking us up into relatively dangerous levels of CO2 for our planet.'

If warming temperatures one day melted the Greenland ice cap, he said, that would mean global sea levels would ultimately rise by 6-7m (19-22ft).

'Is there a point where the melting becomes irreversible?' he asked. 'Yes, there is. When the temperature around Greenland is 2.7C above the pre-industrial level - that is the tipping point."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 8:38 PM (0) comments

 
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Tyne/Wear | UK chemists seek hydrogen store
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Tyne/Wear | UK chemists seek hydrogen store: "Hydrogen has zero greenhouse emissions when 'burned' in the novel car engines now under development - but being a gas it is expensive to compress or liquefy.

Now, Newcastle and Liverpool University teams have shown how to store large quantities in super-porous materials based on carbon and nickel.

They describe their work in the journal Science.

The teams say it is proof of concept research which requires many more years of active study. But their approach adds yet another possible solution to the hydrogen storage problem."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 8:37 PM (0) comments

 
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Introduction: Planet under pressure
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Introduction: Planet under pressure: "We are a successful breed. Our advance from our hominid origins has brought us near-dominance of the world, and a rapidly accelerating understanding of it.

Scientists now say we are in a new stage of the Earth's history, the Anthropocene Epoch, when we ourselves have become the globe's principal force.

But several eminent scientists are concerned that we have become too successful - that the unprecedented human pressure on the Earth's ecosystems threatens our future as a species.

We confront problems more intractable than any previous generation, some of them at the moment apparently insoluble.

From population to cars to forests - graphs of the increasing pressures on our planet

BBC News Online's Planet under Pressure series takes a detailed look at six areas where most experts agree that a crisis is brewing:

Food: An estimated 1 in 6 people suffer from hunger and malnutrition while attempts to grow food are damaging swathes of productive land.

Water: By 2025, two thirds of the world's people are likely to be living in areas of acute water stress.

Energy: Oil production could peak and supplies start to decline by 2010

Climate change: The world's greatest environmental challenge, according to the UK prime minister Tony Blair, with increased storms, floods, drought and species losses predicted.

Biodiversity: Many scientists think the Earth is now entering its sixth great extinction phase.

Pollution: Hazardous chemicals are now found in the bodies of all new-born babies, and an estimated one in four people worldwide are exposed to unhealthy concentrations of air pollutants."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 7:20 PM (0) comments

 
Flashlight - no batteries
NightStar from Applied Innovative Technologies, Inc.: "Simply shake to recharge...30 seconds of shaking provides more than 20 minutes of light!"

I saw one of these in the store the other day.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 7:18 PM (0) comments