Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 01/11/2008
This is the weekly bulletin of the TURI Library, reporting a selection of recently published titles we have acquired. Our pledge is to keep the bulletin relevant to your work and brief -- no more than 10 titles. You are welcome to send a message to jan@turi.org if you would like more information on any of the articles listed here.
Titles here, abstracts below:
- Clean Tech: an agenda for a healthy economy
- Green IT specs now required
- Evaluation and control of occupational health risks from nanoparticles
- University of Washington selects shared electric bicycle system from Intrago
- New Jersey issues perc phaseout plan
- The survival and long-term reliability of lead-free PCBs
- Final Report: Green the Capitol Initiative
- More flame retardants found in house dust
- Environmentally friendly goods buzz at CES [podcast]
- Bioengineering for pollution prevention through development of biobased materials and energy: state of the science report
1. Clean Tech: an agenda for a healthy economy
Source: Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, 2007
Abstract: Massachusetts can be a leader in the global shift to a clean tech economy. While clean technology activity is robust in many parts of the world, the only country that has developed an overall plan to reorient its economy and economic competitiveness towards clean technologies is Germany. No U.S. state to date has developed a similar plan. But Massachusetts has the strengths and leadership to be the first in the nation based on initial findings of Clean Tech: An Agenda for a Healthy Economy, a project spearheaded by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
The purpose of the Clean Tech project is to identify specific opportunities and benefits of making Massachusetts a leader in a range of clean technologies that serve the world, and recommend a path to get there. The ultimate goal is to create an identity for Massachusetts that makes it an international magnet for the innovation and adoption of technologies that minimize harms and help restore our health and our environment.
WWW: http://sustainableproduction.org/downloads/UMLCleanTechDec2007.pdf
2. Green IT specs now required
Author: Mosquera, Mary
Source: Federal Computer Week, January 7, 2008, p9
Abstract: Going green is not only the right thing to do; it is what agencies must do. Two recent policy actions formalize a requirement that agencies must buy environmentally friendly technology products and look for opportunities internally to expand their environmental and energy-saving efforts.
Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council members agreed to change the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require use of the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool when acquiring PC products. EPEAT is a set of performance criteria developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to help purchasers compare and select computer products based on their environmental attributes.
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy published a proposed policy letter that outlines agency responsibilities for acquiring green products and services, including information technology. The companion actions establish steps that agencies must take to implement President Bush’s environmental executive order issued Jan. 26, 2007.
WWW: http://www.fcw.com/online/news/151216-1.html
3. Evaluation and control of occupational health risks from nanoparticles
Author: Schneider, Thomas
Source: Nordic Council of Ministers, 2007
Abstract: Rapid growth in the nanoparticle industry is anticipated in the Nordic countries owing to highly focused national research and investment initiatives. Knowledge on consequences for occupational exposures to engineered nanoparticles and appropriate technical control levels is still limited. This report explores existing knowledge on exposure risks and technical control approaches. The report concludes that data are too limited to allow general conclusions to be drawn regarding risks of exposure to engineered nanoparticles. Engineering techniques for controlling nanoparticle exposure can build on the current knowledge and approaches to control exposure to, for example, welding fumes and carbon black. There is a need for improving the quality of information provided in Material Safety Data Sheets.
WWW: http://norden.org/pub/miljo/miljo/sk/TN2007581.pdf
4. University of Washington selects shared electric bicycle system from Intrago
Source: The Green Workplace, December 18, 2007
Abstract: The Intrago (pronounced Intra-Go) Corporation, together with the University of Washington and other partners, has been awarded funding for a shared electric vehicle system at the University’s Seattle campus. This system was funded by the Washington State Department of Transportation through a program that fosters innovation to help reduce automobile trips into congested areas such as urban university campuses. The campus network of self-rental electric bicycles aims to reduce the number of automobile commute trips in the region.
The system is addressing the unmet need for on-demand personal mobility that is clean, right-sized, and enjoyable to use for short-distance trips around university and corporate campuses as well as high-density urban and public transit locations. Users may select any vehicle at a station and then return it to the same or a different location.
WWW: http://www.thegreenworkplace.com/2007/12/university-of-washington-selects-shared.html
5. New Jersey issues perc phaseout plan
Author: Murphy, Ian P.
Source: American Drycleaner, December 12, 2007
Abstract: New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is issuing a plan to phase out perchloroethylene use in drycleaning, with a full ban effective in 2021.
Under the proposal, drycleaners would have until Jan. 1, 2010 to install fourth-generation, nonvented perc units to limit airborne emissions of perc, or retrofit their current equipment with vapor barriers.
Perc plants in residential buildings, or “colocated” facilities, would be banned completely on June 27, 2009. And on Jan. 1, 2021, the proposal says, all perc use would be eliminated. About 1,600 plants in New Jersey use perc today.
WWW: http://www.americandrycleaner.com/article.cfm?articleID=17471
6. The survival and long-term reliability of lead-free PCBs
Author: Engelmaier, Werner
Source: Printed Circuit Design & Fab, January 2008
Abstract: Significant attention and a great deal of effort have been expended on understanding the reliability of lead-free solder joints. However, difficulties posed by lead-free soldering as it relates to the reliability of PCB interconnect structures is perhaps more significant. Problems with PCB viability after the assembly process comes primarily from one source – the temperatures required to attach components during the lead-free assembly soldering process. These reliability issues required the development of a White Paper from which the materials in this article were taken.
With SnPb soldering, PCB reliability was typically not an issue, but in our brave new lead-free world, this is no longer the case. PCBs now need to be designed and specified to be fully compatible with lead-free soldering. Unless these changes are included in the specification of a PCB, this will not happen, because PCB fabricators will build based on lowest possible cost. To carry out the changes needed to assure lead-free assembly success often comes with an increase in manufacturing cost.
WWW: http://pcdandf.com/cms/cms/content/view/4091/95/
7. Final Report: Green the Capitol Initiative
Author: Beard, Daniel P.
Source: Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, U.S. House of Representatives, 2007
Abstract: On March 1, 2007, the Speaker and the Majority Leader directed the Chief Administrative Officer of the House to develop a “Green the Capitol Initiative” that would demonstrate leadership to the nation by providing an environmentally responsible and healthy working environment for employees.
This report on the “Green the Capitol Initiative” meets the directives set out in your letter. “We cannot ask the American people to address global warming and climate change issues,” you noted, “without first carefully examining ways to reduce our own energy consumption and develop sustainable workplace practices.” This report, and its recommendations, will enable the House to be a leader in sustainable operations.
WWW: http://cao.house.gov/greencapitol/green-the-capitol-final-report.pdf
8. More flame retardants found in house dust
Author: Betts, Kellyn
Source: ES & T Online News, December 19, 2007
Abstract: New research published in Environmental Science & Technology (ES & T) identifies for the first time a flame retardant known as HCDBCO (hexachlorocyclopentadienyldibromocyclooctane) in the environment and shows that it can be found at high levels in Canadian homes. A second paper published in ES&T reports that a U.K. home contains the highest concentrations ever documented in residential dust of another more well-known flame retardant, HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane). Together, the papers suggest that people in the developed world may be exposed to significant concentrations of flame retardants beyond PBDEs in their homes.
A team of Canadian researchers led by Jiping Zhu of Health Canada discovered HCDBCO in archived samples collected from Ottawa homes in 2002 and 2003. The compound's unusual composition made identification a real challenge, Zhu says. "This is the first flame retardant detected in the environment that contains both chlorine and bromine," he points out.
In the second study, led by Stuart Harrad of the University of Birmingham (U.K.), researchers looked for HBCD in dust from 31 homes in the U.K., 13 in the U.S., and 8 in Canada. Although the concentrations of the contaminant in each country's dust were statistically indistinguishable, one U.K. home harbored outlier levels of 110 µg/g.
HBCD is used in polystyrene insulation and textiles. Toxicology studies have suggested that the compound can alter the uptake of neurotransmitters in rat brains, affect thyroid hormone function in rats, and induce cancers in humans, according to Harrad and his colleagues. However, a spokesperson from EBFRIP disputes this assessment of the toxicological data and argues that "recent evidence . . . indicate[s] that the thyroid effects observed in rats are not expected to occur in humans.
WWW: http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/dec/science/kb_hbcddust.html
9. Environmentally friendly goods buzz at CES [podcast]
Author: Sydell, Laura
Source: NPR, January 11, 2008
Abstract: A big theme at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is environmentally friendly products. Some of the latest gadgets boast using less packaging, recycling metals, and putting a message on phone screens that tells consumers to unplug the power pack once the phone is fully charged.
WWW: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18017078
10. Bioengineering for pollution prevention through development of biobased materials and energy: state of the science report
Author: Ahmann, Dianne; Dorgan, John R.
Imprint: United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2007
Abstract: Petroleum-based fuels and related materials are central to the economies of developed and developing countries around the world. However, these resources are finite and expected to enter a period of diminishing availability within the next several decades.
To move economies based on petroleum and its feedstocks to fuels and materials that are renewable, environmentally friendly, and of greater availability, the science and engineering communities worldwide are exploring many options. Principal alternative energy resources that scientists have been exploring are wind, solar radiation, hydropower, geothermal power, coal combined with carbon sequestration, hydrogen, and biomass. In addition, biomass and biologically-generated polymers are attractive renewable feedstocks as energy-producing materials. It appears likely that no single resource will offer the versatility of petroleum in the future. As a result, several complementary technologies are being explored to meet the world’s diverse needs for energy and resource materials.
Biologically based transformations have several potentially favorable attributes. They typically operate on renewable resources, at low temperatures, in aqueous environments, and produce few byproducts because of the specific nature of enzymatic catalysis. These attributes make industrial biotechnology inherently consistent with the principles of Green Chemistry and promise industrial commodity production with less environmental impact.
In this document, the application of industrial biotechnology to the important commodity classes of fuels and plastics is reviewed. Where applicable, those areas that have been advanced under funding from the joint EPA and National Science Foundation (NSF) program, Technology for a Sustainable Environment (TSE), are highlighted. Promising areas for future exploration and development are identified as well.
WWW: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/publications/statesci/bioengineering.pdf
You are welcome to send a message to jan@turi.org if you would like more information on any of these resources. Also, please tell us what topics you are particularly interested in monitoring, and who else should see Greenlist. An online search of the TURI Library catalog can be done at http://slk060.liberty3.net/turi for greater topic coverage.
This page updated Friday January 11 2008