Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 01/26/2007
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 them:
- How Business Saw the Light
- Tox
- Polyurethane Dispersion Process by Hydrophilic Monomer Dissolution
- College Sustainability Report Card 2007: A Review of Campus & Endowment Policies at Leading Institutions
- Children's Health and the Environment: A Video Introduction for State Policy Makers
- Connecting the Drops Toward Creative Water Strategies: A Water Sustainability Tool
- Hydrogen-Powered Lawnmowers? New design could open door to small-scale fuel cells
- Counterintuitive Toxicity: Increasingly, scientists are finding that they can't predict a poison's low-dose effects
- How to Design a Healthy Building
- Aquatic Toxicity of Nine Aircraft Deicer and Anti-Icer Formulations and Relative Toxicity of Additive Package Ingredients Alkylphenol Ethoxylates and 4,5-Methyl-1H-benzotriazoles
1. How Business Saw the Light
AUTHOR Walsh,
SOURCE Time, v169 n3, January 15, 2007, p56
ABSTRACT When an industry leader like
WEB LINK
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/
0,9171,1574166,00.html
2. Tox
SOURCE National Library of Medicine
WEB LINK http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/
3. Polyurethane Dispersion Process by Hydrophilic Monomer Dissolution
AUTHOR Manea, Mircea; Clausson, Anders; Svensson, Lennart
SOURCE PCI Paint & Coatings Industry, v23 n1, January 2007, pp30-40
ABSTRACT According to the experimental data presented in
this paper, the hydrophilic monomer is no longer used as containing a precursor
ionic group, but as an ammonium salt. This allows the easy dissolution of the
hydrophilic monomer in the reaction blend and ensures a mono-phase system,
which gives shorter reaction times, no crystallization hazards, and more
uniform distribution of the hydrophilic moieties on the polymer chain. The
process differs from the commonly accepted by the fact that the ionisation
phase precedes the reaction of the isocyanate with the macro-diols and the
hydrophilic monomers. The hydrophilic monomer is no longer used as containing a
precursor ionic group, but as an ammonium salt to produce PUR prepolymers for
anionic PUDs. This allows an early mono-phase system, which gives shorter
reaction times and requires less or no solvent at all in the prepolymer phase.
The presented examples "of the solubilized BisMPA" are completely
compatible to all industrial processes complying with the requirements of the
melt dispersion process, the acetone process and the solvent free process when
the solubilizing phase is the macrodiol itself.
4. College Sustainability Report Card 2007: A Review of Campus & Endowment Policies at Leading Institutions
DATE 2007
SOURCE Sustainable Endowments Institute
ABSTRACT Most popular evaluations of colleges and universities highlight academic achievements, admissions selectivity, financial aid equity, and alumni donation rates. For the most part, the focus has not been on how schools, as institutions, manage their resources in relation to their campus facilities and their endowment investments. To assess progress in this sphere, the Sustainable Endowments Institute has researched the policies and programs of 100 leading colleges and universities. These schools hold more than $258 billion—approximately 75 percent of all higher education endowment investments. When it comes to sustainability, the key questions about these institutions are: How do sustainability factors shape policies about the use of their resources? How can schools learn from each other’s experiences and adapt sustainability policies that work? In response to these questions, the first annual College Sustainability Report Card summarizes and grades college sustainability programs and policies in seven main categories: climate change and energy, green building, food and recycling, administration, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement.
WEB LINK
http://www.endowmentinstitute.org/sustainability/
CollegeSustainabilityReportCard.pdf
5. Children's Health and the Environment: A Video Introduction for State Policy Makers
SOURCE National Conference of State Legislatures
ABSTRACT This 18 minute video (viewable online) presents policymakers with latest information on important science and policy issues in the area of children's health and the environment. The video discusses the unique vulnerability and susceptibility of children to environmental factors, looks at the potential links between the environment and the rising rates of some childhood diseases, and provides examples of state policy efforts in this area. These issues are particularly relevant to today's policymakers, given the growing challenge states face in dealing with the rising cost of treating chronic diseases such as developmental disabilities and asthma.
WEB LINK
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/environ/
envHealth/CEHvid2.htm
6. Connecting the Drops Toward Creative Water Strategies: A Water Sustainability Tool
SOURCE Global Environmental Management Institute (GEMI)
ABSTRACT There are emerging signals that the business case is building for companies to develop more coordinated, forward-looking, and sustainable water strategies. Businesses, communities, and ecosystems everywhere depend on clean freshwater to survive and prosper. Global demand for freshwater, however, continues to grow, while many water sources are showing signs of stress. Companies that understand the trends shaping the global business environment will be better positioned to identify new market opportunities, mitigate risk, develop sustainable water strategies, and create shareholder value. GEMI has developed this website—the Water Sustainability Tool—to assist individual companies and other organizations to better understand what emerging water issues might mean for them, given their operations, needs, and circumstances. The tool is designed to help individual companies build a business water strategy. The tool encourages businesses to: * Conduct a systematic assessment of their relationship to water * Identify specific opportunities and risks associated with this relationship * Assess the business case for action * Tailor a water strategy that addresses specific needs and circumstances of the organization * Ensure that water-related opportunities and risks are tracked and managed effectively into the future using a continual improvement framework The website contains a general discussion of the signals leading to a growing business case for pursuing coordinated, sustainable water strategies. It also includes background to help companies understand the water trends that are shaping the global business environment. As companies begin to develop strategies to respond to water challenges, they may face common difficulties in moving forward on a sustainable path. This website also includes tips for overcoming misperceptions and public policy disincentives.
WEB LINK http://www.gemi.org/water/index.htm
7. Hydrogen-Powered Lawnmowers? New design could open door to small-scale fuel cells
DATE 2007
SOURCE National Science Foundation (NSF)
ABSTRACT In a breakthrough that could make fuel cells
practical for such small machines as lawnmowers and chainsaws, researchers have
developed a new mechanism to efficiently control hydrogen fuel cell power. Many
standard fuel cell designs use electronics to control power output, but such
designs require complex systems to manage humidity and fuel recovery and
recycling systems to achieve acceptable efficiency. The new process controls
the hydrogen feed to match the required power output, just as one controls the
feed of gasoline into an internal combustion engine. The system functions as a
closed system that uses the waste water to regulate the size of the reaction
chamber, the site where the gasses combine to form water, heat and electricity.
National Science Foundation (NSF) awardee Jay Benziger of
WEB LINK
http://www.nsf.gov/news/
news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=108293&org=NSF&from=news
8. Counterintuitive Toxicity: Increasingly, scientists are finding that they can't predict a poison's low-dose effects
AUTHOR Raloff, Janet
SOURCE Science News Online, v171 n3, January 20, 2007
ABSTRACT For decades, researchers largely assumed that a
poison's effects increase as the dose rises and diminish as it falls. However,
scientists are increasingly documenting unexpected effects—sometimes disproportionately
adverse, sometimes beneficial—at extremely low doses of radiation and toxic
chemicals. Consider the environmentally ubiquitous plastic-softening agent,
di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). A German team recently found that in newborn
male rats, the lowest DEHP doses tested suppressed the brain activity of an
enzyme critical for male development. This was a surprise because higher DEHP
doses stimulated that enzyme's action. Anderson J.M. Andrade and his colleagues
at Charité University Medical School in Berlin note that the enzyme's
suppressive action would have been missed if they had done what most
toxicologists do—project low-dose impacts from high-dose tests. The low dose
that suppressed aromatase in the rodents was comparable to exposures occurring
in the general human population. Other toxic agents have unexpectedly
beneficial effects. X-rays and gamma radiation are well-recognized carcinogens.
Data collected over decades have shown that exposures to 1 gray (Gy)—the dose
from perhaps 100 computerized tomography scans—typically increase an
individual's lifetime risk of cancer by 5 percent. However, a growing body of
animal data now indicates that lower radiation exposures can defend against
cancer-inducing biological changes. "The little dose is turning on some
kind of protective mechanisms so that when a big dose comes along, it's not as
damaging," says radiation biologist J. Leslie Redpath of the
WEB LINK http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070120/bob8.asp
9. How to Design a Healthy Building
AUTHOR Loftness, Vivian; Hakkinen, Bert; Adan, Olaf; Nevalainen, Aino
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, EHP-in-Press, Online 25 January 2007
ABSTRACT Background. The elements that contribute to a healthy building are multifactorial and can be discussed from different perspectives. Objectives. Three viewpoints of designing a healthy building are presented: the importance of sustainable development, the role of occupants for ensuring indoor air quality, and ongoing developments related to indoor finishes with low chemical emissions and good fungal resistance. Discussion. Sustainable design rediscovers the social, environmental and technical values of pedestrian and mixed-use communities, using existing infrastructures including "main streets" and small town planning principles, and recapturing indoor-outdoor relationships. It introduces non-polluting materials and assemblies with lower energy requirements, and higher durability and recyclability. Building occupants play a major role in maintaining healthy indoor environments, especially in residences. Contributors to indoor air quality include cleaning habits and other behaviors; consumer products, furnishings, and appliances purchases, as well as where and how the occupants use them. Certification of consumer products and building materials as low-emitting products is a primary control measure for achieving good indoor air quality. Key products in this respect are office furniture, flooring, paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, wall coverings, wood products, textiles, insulation, and cleaning products. Finishing materials play a major role in the quality of indoor air as related to moisture retention and mold growth. Conclusions. Sustainable design emphasizes the needs of infrastructure, lower energy consumption, durability and recyclability. To ensure good indoor air quality, the product development for household use should aim to reduce material susceptibility to contaminants such as mold, and should adopt consumer-oriented product labeling.
WEB LINK http://www.ehponline.org/members/2007/8988/8988.pdf
10. Aquatic Toxicity of Nine Aircraft Deicer and Anti-Icer Formulations and Relative Toxicity of Additive Package Ingredients Alkylphenol Ethoxylates and 4,5-Methyl-1H-benzotriazoles
AUTHOR Corsi, Steven R.; Geis, Steven W.; Loyo-Rosales, Jorge E.; Rice, Clifford P.
SOURCE Environmental Science & Technology, v40 n23, December 1, 2006, pp7409-7415
ABSTRACT Characterization of the effects of aircraft deicer and anti-icer fluid (ADAF) runoff on aquatic organisms in receiving streams is a complex issue because the identities of numerous toxic additives are proprietary and not publicly available. Most potentially toxic and endocrine disrupting effects caused by ADAF are due to the numerous additive package ingredients which vary among manufacturers and types of ADAF formulation. Toxicity investigations of nine ADAF formulations indicate that endpoint concentrations for formulations of different manufacturers are widely variable. Type IV ADAF (anti-icers) are more toxic than Type I (deicers) for the four organisms tested (Vibrio fischeri, Pimephales promelas, Ceriodaphnia dubia, and Selenastrum capricornutum). Acute toxicity endpoint concentrations ranged from 347 to 7700 mg/L as ADAF for Type IV and from 1550 to 45 100 mg/L for Type I formulations. Chronic endpoint concentrations ranged from 70 to 1300 mg/L for Type IV and from 37 to 18 400 mg/L for Type I formulations. Alkylphenol ethoxylates and tolyltriazoles are two known classes of additives. Nonylphenol, nonylphenol ethoxylates, octylphenol, octylphenol ethoxylates, and 4,5-methyl-1H-benzotriazoles were quantified in the nine ADAF formulations, and toxicity tests were conducted with nonylphenol ethoxylates and 4,5-methyl-1H-benzotriazoles. Toxicity units computed for glycol and these additives, with respect to toxicity of the ADAF formulations, indicate that a portion of ADAF toxicity can be explained by the known additives and glycols, but much of the toxicity is due to unidentified additives.
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://greenlist.turi.org/ for greater topic coverage.
Compiled by the TURI Library, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 2007
This page updated Friday February 02 2007