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Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 02/23/2007

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:

Beneath the Skin: Hidden Liabilities, Market Risk and Drivers of Change in the Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Industry
Researchers convert heat to electricity using organic molecules, could lead to new energy source
Pesticide poisoning of farm workers–implications of blood test results from Vietnam
Green Roofs
Climate Change: Design Approaches for a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program
Integrated product policy and environmental product innovations: An empirical analysis
Green limo line at Oscars gets longer and sexier
Green chemistry can boost nanotech
Air Contaminants Databases Ease Healthy Homes Planning
New product line can be used for cable jackets

1. Beneath the Skin: Hidden Liabilities, Market Risk and Drivers of Change in the Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Industry

AUTHOR Little, Tim; Lewis, Sanford; Lundquist, Pamela

SOURCE Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN)

DATE 2007

ABSTRACT There is good reason, as investors as well as consumers, to be concerned about potentially harmful chemicals in cosmetics. The cosmetics and personal care industry is uniquely vulnerable to consumer backlash as health issues emerge related to the use of their products. Already the evidence has been mounting of health risks associated with commonly used ingredients such as phthalates. Now, new nanotechnologies are being widely deployed in cosmetics products, despite evidence of serious potential health risks. Moreover, the physical application of some of the nanotechnologies to the body in cosmetics makes these uses uniquely prone to skin penetration, inhalation and ingestion of the nanotech materials. Wall Street is littered with the fallen angels of companies that did not adequately respond to consumer fears. Arguing whether the fears are well-grounded or not and persuading customers to return is a lot harder, and more expensive, than maintaining customer trust and loyalty in the first place. This report profiles some of the principal areas of potential risk that have been identified by health researchers, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It tracks the growing wave of consumer concern, regulatory initiative and shareholder interest, and suggests that investors should consider the potential effects of these growing drivers of industry change. It closes with an analysis of the advantages to the industry of reformulating product to remove unhealthy or questionable ingredients, and recommendations for how investors can respond to these new challenges. These recommendations include support for greater disclosure of potential risks, reports on opportunities to reformulate products to reduce or eliminate toxics, and closer monitoring of international and U.S. regulatory trends.

WEB LINK http://iehn.org/filesalt/IEHNCosmeticsReportFin.pdf

2. Researchers convert heat to electricity using organic molecules, could lead to new energy source

AUTHOR Yang, Sarah

SOURCE UC Berkeley News, February 15, 2007

ABSTRACT Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have successfully generated electricity from heat by trapping organic molecules between metal nanoparticles, an achievement that could pave the way toward the development of a new source for energy. The discovery is a milestone in the quest for efficient ways to directly convert heat into electricity. Currently, the dominant method of power generation involves burning fossil fuels to create heat, often in the form of steam, to spin a turbine that, in turn, drives a generator that produces electricity. An estimated 90 percent of the world's electricity - from power plants to car engines - is created through this indirect conversion of heat. In the process, a great deal of heat is wasted and released. Anyone who has ever had a car engine fail because of a malfunctioning radiator has experienced firsthand this excess heat. "Generating 1 watt of power requires about 3 watts of heat input and involves dumping into the environment the equivalent of about 2 watts of power in the form of heat," said Arun Majumdar, UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering and principal investigator of the study. "If even a fraction of the lost heat can be converted into electricity in a cost-effective manner, the impact it would have on energy can be enormous, amounting to massive savings of fuel and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions." Unfortunately, the temperature at which the heat is released is too low to be effectively used by traditional heat engines. For the past 50 years, utilizing this wasted heat has been a major focus of research into thermoelectric converters, which employ a simpler, more direct method of generating electricity. Such converters rely upon the Seebeck effect, a phenomenon in which a voltage is created when the junctions of two different metals are kept at different temperatures. However, such thermoelectric generators operate at a paltry 7 percent efficiency, compared with the 20 percent efficiency rate for traditional heat engines. Moreover, such converters are made up of exotic, expensive metal alloys, such as bismuth and tellurium, making them too costly and impractical for widespread use. The researchers coated two gold electrodes with molecules of benzenedithiol, dibezenedithiol or tribenzenedithiol, then heated one side to create a temperature differential. For each degree Celsius of difference, the researchers measured 8.7 microvolts of electricity for benzenedithiol, 12.9 microvolts for dibezenedithiol, and 14.2 microvolts for tribenzenedithiol. The maximum temperature differential tested was 30 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit). "The effect may seem quite small now, but this is a significant proof of concept, and the first step in organic molecular thermoelectricity," said Pramod Reddy, a graduate student in UC Berkeley's Applied Science and Technology Program and co-lead author of the paper. "We are going down the road of cheap thermoelectric materials." The next step for the researchers includes testing different organic molecules and metals, as well as fine tuning the assembly of the structure. Majumdar said the field of organic thermoelectricity could open doors to a new, inexpensive source of energy. "The use of inexpensive organic molecules and metal nanoparticles offers the promise of low-cost, plastic-like power generators and refrigerators," he said.

WEB LINK http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/02/
15_heatelectricity.shtml

3. Pesticide poisoning of farm workers–implications of blood test results from Vietnam

AUTHOR Dasgupta, Susmita; Meisner, Craig; Wheeler, David; Xuyen, Khuc; Lam, Nhan Thi

SOURCE International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, v210 n2, 7 March 2007, pp121-132

ABSTRACT Information on the health impacts of pesticides is quite limited in many developing countries, with many surveys relying solely on farmer self-assessments of their health status. To test the reliability of self-reported data, an acetyl cholinesterase enzyme (AChE) blood test was conducted for 190 rice farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Results reveal a high prevalence of pesticide poisoning by organophosphate and carbamate exposure, where over 35% of test subjects experienced acute pesticide poisoning (a reduction of AChE >25%), and 21% chronically poisoned (>66% AChE reduction). Using the medical test results as benchmarks, we find that farmers’ self-reported symptoms have very weak associations with actual poisoning. To investigate the possible determinants of pesticide poisoning, a probit model was constructed with pesticide amount, toxicity, training, and the use of protective measures as explanatory variables. The results indicate that although the absolute amount of pesticides used does not increase the probability of poisoning, a 1% increase in the use of highly hazardous pesticides (WHO Ia or Ib) increases the probability of poisoning by 3.9% and an increased use of protective measures decreases the probability of poisoning by 44.3%. We also find significant provincial differences in poisoning incidence after we control for individual factors. The provincial effects highlight the potential importance of negative externalities, and suggest that future research on pesticide-related damage should include information on local water, air and soil contamination.

4. Green Roofs

SOURCE Library of Congress Science Tracer Bullets Online

DATE 2006

ABSTRACT Green roofs, widely implemented in Germany, Switzerland, and other European countries, as well as in Canada, are becoming increasingly well known in the United States. Green roofs can help to counteract the effect of impervious surfaces in urban areas. Impervious surfaces, including sidewalks, roads, rooftops, parking lots, and runways, are usually constructed of impenetrable materials such as asphalt, concrete and stone, which repel water and prevent precipitation from seeping into soil. Because approximately 40 percent of the impervious surface area in our cities is located on rooftops, vegetated rooftops can have an important beneficial impact on the urban environment by reducing and controlling stormwater runoff. Green roofs act as filters for both air and water. They can also play an important role in reducing energy consumption for both heating and cooling, and in reducing the effects of urban heat islands. In addition, green roofs can contribute public green spaces to cities. This guide is not intended as a comprehensive bibliography, but highlights selected works and resources about green roofs.

WEB LINK http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/greenroofstb.html

5. Climate Change: Design Approaches for a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program

AUTHOR Parker, Larry

SOURCE Congressional Research Service, January 16, 2007

ABSTRACT With the passage of the 2005 Sense of the Senate climate change resolution calling on the Congress to enact a mandatory, market-based program to slow, stop, and reverse the growth of greenhouse gases, the issue of related costs has taken on increased importance. Indeed, the resolution itself states that the program should be enacted at a rate and in a manner that “will not significantly harm the United States economy” and “will encourage comparable action” by other nations. Facets of the cost issue that have raised concern include absolute costs to the economy, distribution of costs across industries, competitive impact domestically and internationally, incentives for new technology, and uncertainty about possible costs. In general, market-based mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the most important being carbon dioxide (CO2), focus on specifying either the acceptable emissions level (quantity) or compliance costs (price), and allowing the marketplace to determine the economically efficient solution for the other variable. For example, a tradeable permit program sets the amount of emissions allowable under the program (i.e., the number of permits available limits or caps allowable emissions), while allowing the marketplace to determine what each permit will be worth. Likewise, a carbon tax sets the maximum unit cost (per ton of CO2 equivalent) that one should pay for reducing emissions, while the marketplace determines how much actually gets reduced. In one sense, preference for a carbon tax or a tradeable permit system depends on how one views the uncertainty of costs involved and benefits to be received. Market-based mechanisms attempt to address the cost issue by introducing flexibility into the implementation process. The cornerstone of that flexibility is permitting sources to decide for themselves their appropriate implementation strategy within the parameters of market signals and other incentives. That signal can be as simple as a carbon tax or comprehensive credit auction that tells the emitter the value of any reduction in greenhouse gases, to a credit marketplace that is constrained by a ceiling price (safety valve) and includes incentives for new technology. As illustrated here, the combinations of market mechanisms are numerous, allowing decision makers to tailor the program to address specific concerns. In a sense, the options discussed here represent a continuum between alternatives focused on the price side of the equation (e.g., carbon taxes) through hybrid schemes (e.g., safety valves) to alternatives focused on the quantity side (e.g., banking and borrowing). They are tools to assist in the assessment of potential greenhouse gas reduction approaches, leaving any policy decision on balancing the price-quantity issue to the ultimate decision makers.

WEB LINK http://opencrs.com/rpts/RL33799_20070116.pdf

6. Integrated product policy and environmental product innovations: An empirical analysis

AUTHOR Rehfeld, Katharina-Maria; Rennings, Klaus; Ziegler, Andreas

SOURCE Ecological Economics, v61 n1, 15 February 2007, pp91-100

ABSTRACT In recent times, the European Commission has been placing an emphasis on promoting the so-called Integrated Product Policy (IPP) that aims to support the realisation of environmental product innovations in order to achieve a broad reduction of all environmental impacts along a product's life cycle. Based on a unique firm level data set of the German manufacturing sector, this paper empirically examines the relationship between environmental organisational measures that are considered IPP-measures by the European Commission and environmental product innovations. According to the econometric analysis, the certification of environmental management systems has a significantly positive effect on environmental product innovations. Measures concerning waste disposal or take-back systems of products seem to be an even more important driver for environmental product innovations. The econometric analysis also shows that other factors that have been suggested in the literature such as environmental policy, technology push and market pull as well as specific other firm characteristics have a significant positive influence on environmental product innovations. According to the descriptive analysis of environmental product innovators, not soft factors but economic aspects (i.e., higher prices) seem to be major obstacles to the commercial exploitation of environmental products and thus also to environmental product innovations.

7. Green limo line at Oscars gets longer and sexier

AUTHOR Milliken, Mary

SOURCE Reuters, February 21, 2007

ABSTRACT From a plug-in hybrid car to the sexy electric Tesla Roadster, celebrities wanting to make a green statement on the way to the red carpet of the Oscars will have plenty of environment-friendly rides this Sunday. Global Green USA has lined up 30 cars to shuttle the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Davis Guggenheim, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary on global warming "An Inconvenient Truth", to the star-studded ceremony in Hollywood. The environmental group began the green limousine campaign five years ago at the Oscars to raise awareness among the tens of millions of viewers worldwide about alternative fuel cars, energy independence and solutions to global warming.

WEB LINK http://today.reuters.com/news/
articlenews.aspx?type=winterOlympics&storyID=
2007-02-22T031215Z_01_N21333889_RTRUKOC_0_US-OSCARS-GREEN.xml

8. Green chemistry can boost nanotech

SOURCE University of Oregon, February 18, 2007

ABSTRACT The safest possible future for advancing nanotechnology in a sustainable world can be reached by using green chemistry, says James E. Hutchison, a professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon. "Around the world, there is a growing urgency about nanotechnology and its possible health and environmental impacts," Hutchison said in his talk Feb. 18 during a workshop at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "There is a concern that these issues will hinder commercialization of this industry." Nanotechnology refers to research on materials that are nanometer in size - or about 1 billionth of a meter and applicable to virtually every technology and medicine. The field of nanoscience, Hutchison said, is still in the discovery phase, in which new materials are being synthesized for testing for very specific physical properties. During such work, there often are unintended properties of material that potentially can be hazardous to the environment or human health but are, for now, an acceptable risk in secured research environments, he said. In an earlier session, Vicki Colvin, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at Rice University in Houston, had echoed similar comments but concluded that nanotechnology can be safe by proceeding with an approach she called "safety by design." Barriers to engineering safe nanoparticles, she said in her topical lecture, include testing for toxicity of materials already produced built around a policy to manage risks and doing fundamental basic research to address such things as purification of nanomaterials and surface areas where nanoparticles and proteins come together. She said extensive libraries of nanoparticles are needed to help assure safety. As nanoparticles decrease in size, Colvin said, they have special unique properties. "At what point does size become a barrier?" she asked. Another safety issue is in the exposure to nanoparticles through inhalation and skin contact. In his talk, Hutchison focused on what he called a proactive approach to advancing from the current discovery phase in the creation of nanomaterials into a production phase that is efficient and reduces waste. He suggested a green framework for moving the industry forward. Now is the time, Hutchison said, for scientists to "seriously consider the design of materials, processes and applications that minimize hazard and waste, and this will be essential as nanoscience discoveries transition to the products of nanotechnology." Green chemistry, he argues, can sharply reduce the use of toxic solvents and produce safer products with reduced chances for unintended consequences. It also can provide opportunity for new innovations. "Green chemistry allows us to think about new space and new parameters," Hutchison said. "We have the opportunity to develop the technology correctly from the beginning, rather than trying to rework an entrenched technology." Such an approach, he said, contributed to public opposition to genetically modified crops. Colvin, in her talk, also referred to the backlash against genetically modified organisms, as well as the unintended impacts of DDT (toxicity to animals), some pesticides (cancer in humans) and refrigerant (ozone destruction). Hutchison is developing diverse libraries of nanoparticles, such as those called for by Colvin. In his UO lab, Hutchison said, "We systematically bury the structural parameters and use in vivo and in vitro assays to determine the relationship between biological response and structural parameters." One such library covers gold nanoparticles for use in basic research. By studying these nanoparticles, he said, researchers can get an idea of what kinds of new electronic, optical and pharmaceutical products eventually may come to market. Hutchison received a patent in 2005 for his synthesis of gold nanoparticles using green chemistry. Hutchison told the AAAS gathering that he recently published a technique for purifying nanoparticles that uses membranes with nanopores so small that only impurities pass through – a green approach that allows the purification of particles rapidly without using organic solvents. "Before this accomplishment, purifying the material used up 15 or so liters of solvent per gram of particles," he said. "If solvent is the density of water, that's 15,000 times more mass used to purify it than we get out of it." The nanotechnology industry, Hutchison said, has reached an important moment in time. "There is an opportunity to stay ahead of the curve," he said. "We should commit ourselves to design these materials and processes to be green from the beginning, and this will provide a lot of freedom from layers of regulation to researchers and companies, allowing for more innovation."

WEB LINK http://www.uoregon.edu/newsstory.php?a=2.19.07-
Green-Nano-Hutchison-AAAS.html

9. Air Contaminants Databases Ease Healthy Homes Planning

AUTHOR Baum, Michael (ed.)

SOURCE NIST Tech Beat, February 15, 2007

ABSTRACT Air pollution sources are everywhere in the home, from the bacon and eggs frying in the kitchen, to the woodburning stove in the family room, the newly painted hallway, and even the carpet in the living room. To help estimate the seriousness of these and other indoor pollutant sources as well as to devise ways to reduce possible health impacts, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed searchable databases of relevant product emission studies. NIST researchers also have created a software tool called ContamLink that can transfer selected information from the databases into CONTAM, an indoor air quality modeling software program that predicts airflows and contaminant concentrations in multizone building systems. Together—the electronic databases, ContamLink, and the CONTAM program—should significantly accelerate our understanding of indoor air pollution. The new databases allow investigators to access immediately information that previously was available in scientific literature, but required significant time to locate. The databases include emission rates for consumer products, cooking and combustion appliances (such as gas stoves); and data on contaminant transport mechanisms, including particle deposition, contaminant sorption and different ventilation systems filters. Two of the five databases are from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Research Council of Canada. Researchers can download the databases, and with ContamLink, selectively obtain relevant information for inclusion in CONTAM or other indoor air quality models. Database entries are not intended to be all-inclusive, but rather representative of the literature. Researchers and other practitioners are encouraged to expand the databases with their own data using the data entry format provided. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Healthy Homes Initiative supported NIST’s development of the databases and software tool. Information on both are available in NISTIR 7364, Database Tools for Modeling Emissions and Control of Air Pollutants from Consumer Products, Cooking and Combustion available on the CONTAM Web site: www.bfrl.nist.gov/IAQanalysis/software/.

WEB LINK http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2007_0215.htm#contam

10. New product line can be used for cable jackets

SOURCE Wire Journal International, v40 n2, February 2007, p70

ABSTRACT Polymer-Additives Group (PAG) reports that its new line of combined flame retardants/smoke suppressants can be used for applications such as wire and cable, specifically for jacketing. The non-toxic products, which are being sold under the Charmax FS name, use technology from Addenda Corporation. The process deposits a few nanolayers of smoke suppressant onto the surface of several of the company's flame retardants, such as Hydrax (ATH). Smoke suppressants currently in use for this new application are based on molybdate and stanate chemistries.

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 March 02 2007

TURI - Toxics Use Reduction Institute

Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 02/23/2007