Greenlist Bulletin 10/09/2009
This is the weekly bulletin of the TURI Library at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Greenlist Bulletin provides previews of recent publications and websites relevant to reducing the use of toxic chemicals by industries, businesses, communities, individuals and government. 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:
- State green economy profiles
- OSHA finally brings GHS to America
- Inventors offer ecofriendly substitutes for polystyrene
- Nanomaterial research strategy
- Making water count
- XPS: a tool for the chemical characterization of coatings and interfaces
- Buying green can be license for bad behaviour, study finds
1. State green economy profiles
Source: National Governors Association, September 29, 2009
As governors across the country look at ways they can help build a green economy in their state, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) has commissioned Collaborative Economics Inc. (CEI) to prepare a profile of each state’s "green" economy. This data is designed to provide a detailed, empirical account of each state’s existing assets across multiple green sectors and serve as a foundation for identifying future growth areas and related needs. The profile is based on a methodology presented by CEI at the NGA Center’s Green Economy State Roundtable in April.
As with all economic, workforce, and energy development strategies, the NGA Center encourages states to start with a careful analysis of their existing capabilities and strengths and build on those. The profile analyzes the scope of green business activity in each state from 2000 to 2007 (the latest year data is available) and patent activity from 1994 to 2008. Such an analysis can reveal areas of comparative advantage, targets for workforce development, and opportunities for building partnerships within and across green industry segments. This information also helps reveal the extent to which a state’s business base can meet the coming demand for things such as highly efficiency appliances, renewable energy generation systems, high-efficiency building products, and low-emission fuels.
2. OSHA finally brings GHS to America
Source: Occupational Health & Safety, September 30, 2009
Calling it the first major health rulemaking of the Obama administration, OSHA yesterday announced it is proposing a rule to align the agency's Hazard Communication standard with provisions of the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). OSHA also said the proposal, published in today's Federal Register, is the first of many steps in the months to come that will demonstrate the agency's renewed commitment to an aggressive regulatory agenda.
OSHA's current HazCom standard requires chemical manufacturers and importers to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import and provide information to subsequent users. The standard requires all employers to have a hazard communication program for workers exposed to hazardous chemicals, and for the program to include materials such as container labels, safety data sheets, and employee training.
A number of countries, including the United States, international organizations, and stakeholders participated in developing the GHS to address inconsistencies in hazard classification and communications. The GHS was developed to provide a single, harmonized system to classify chemicals, labels, and safety data sheets with the primary benefit of increasing the quality and consistency of information provided to workers, employers, and chemical users. Under the GHS, labels would include signal words, pictograms, and hazard and precautionary statements. Additionally, information on safety data sheets would be presented in a designated order--specifically in a standardized 16-section format. The idea is that such standardization will enhance worker comprehension, ensure appropriate handling and use of chemicals, and reduce chemically related fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.
3. Inventors offer ecofriendly substitutes for polystyrene
Source: Agricultural Research Service, September 17, 2009
Rigid, custom-fit foam pieces like those that keep computer monitors firmly in place inside cardboard boxes during shipping could be made with eco-friendly starch from potatoes, wheat or corn, instead of from petroleum, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research plant physiologist Gregory M. Glenn. Opting for starch in place of petroleum-derived polystyrene would lessen America's dependence on petroleum.
Glenn works at the ARS Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif. For nearly two decades, he has been developing and patenting innovative, "green" techniques for transforming commonplace plant starches—like the silky white cornstarch kept in kitchen cupboards everywhere—into convenient, biodegradable foamed goods like shipping liners, dinnerware and more.
Co-inventor Simon K. Hodson collaborated with Glenn in developing two recent technologies. Both approaches yield strong, durable, and versatile biofoams that look like familiar polystyrene foam goods. Like those conventional foams, the biofoams can be manufactured to a range of densities and can be die-cut or molded into a seemingly limitless array of shapes, sizes and thicknesses.
Both patent-applied-for technologies for making biofoams rely on an extruder—a standard piece of equipment—to heat and mix starch and other all-natural compounds. With one option, the extruder squeezes out long strings, called "thermoplastic melt," that are later cut into small beads about half the size of a marble.
At various points in the process, the beads puff and expand, such as when they are put into the cavity of a heated mold to press them into the desired shape. Expanded beads eventually touch one another, creating a strong matrix that's much like the bead matrix of polystyrene foams.
The biofoams aren't waterproof, but a moisture barrier, made from plant sources such as corn, can be added, ensuring that the finished foam is still derived exclusively from renewable, biodegradable resources.
4. Nanomaterial research strategy
Source: USEPA, June 2009
With the use of nanotechnology in the consumer and industrial sectors expected to increase significantly in the future, nanotechnology offers society the promise of major benefi ts. The challenge for environmental protection is to ensure that, as nanomaterials are developed and used, unintended consequences of exposures to humans and ecosystems are prevented or minimized. In addition, knowledge concerning how to sustainably apply nanotechnology to detect, monitor, prevent, control, and clean up pollution is needed.
The purpose of the Nanomaterial Research Strategy is to guide the EPA’s Office of Research and Development’s program in nanomaterial research. The strategy builds on and is consistent with the foundation of scientific needs identified by the Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications Working Group (NSTC, 2008), and in the EPA’s Nanotechnology White Paper (EPA, 2007).
The purpose of EPA’s nanotechnology research program is to conduct focused research to inform nanomaterial safety decisions that may be made under the various environmental statutes for which EPA is responsible. EPA recognizes that the information generated through its research program is also likely to have use in areas beyond the Agency’s purview. EPA will collaborate across the government, industry, and the international community to implement this strategy. EPA’s in-house research program will leverage results from EPA grant programs, as well as collaborate with grantees to address the many challenging research issues outlined in this strategy.
EPA’s strategy focuses on four areas that take advantage of EPA’s scientific expertise as well as fi ll gaps not addressed by other organizations. The four research themes are: Identifying sources, fate, transport, and exposure; Understanding human health and ecological effects to inform risk assessments and test methods; Developing risk assessment approaches; and Preventing and mitigating risks
5. Making water count
Source: Paper360, September 2009
Author: Paul Wiegand
The concept of sustainability has become an essential component of environmental management programs at virtually all forest products companies. Water -- along with fiber and energy -- is a primary feedstock for pulp and paper manufacture, so it is not surprising that it is also considered to be an environmental performance indicator, both within the industry and by third-party advocates of improved environmental performance. However, it is widely recognized that water use by itself reveals little about sustainable manufacturing. This has led to a surprisingly large number of initiatives designed to quantitatively assess sustainable water use in manufacturing. Read more...
6. XPS: a tool for the chemical characterization of coatings and interfaces
Source: PCI Paint & Coatings Industry, August 2009
Authors: John Wolstenholme and Richard G. White
XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) is a powerful method for the quantitative chemical characterization of thin films and solid surfaces. In this paper the XPS process and instrumentation will be described briefly, followed by examples that illustrate the power of the technique in the analysis of coated surfaces. Read more...
7. Buying green can be license for bad behaviour, study finds
Source: University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management, October 6, 2009
Just being around green products can make us behave more altruistically, a new study to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science has found.
But buying those same products can have the opposite effect. Researchers found that buying green can lead people into less altruistic behaviour, and even make them more likely to steal and lie than after buying conventional products. Buying products that claim to be made with low environmental impact can set up “moral credentials” in people’s minds that give license to selfish or questionable behavior.
“This was not done to point the finger at consumers who buy green products. The message is bigger,” says Nina Mazar, a marketing professor at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and a self-admitted green consumer. “At the end of the day, if we do one moral thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean we will be morally better in other things as well.”
Mazar, along with her co-author Chen-Bo Zhong, an assistant professor of organizational behaviour at the Rotman School, conducted three experiments. The first found that people perceived green consumers to be more cooperative, altruistic and ethical than those who purchased conventional products. The second experiment showed that participants merely exposed to products from a green store shared more money in a subsequent experimental game, but those who actually made purchases in that store shared less. The final experiment revealed that participants who bought items in the green store showed evidence of lying and stealing money in a subsequent lab game.
But are people conscious of this moral green washing going on when they buy green products and, more importantly, the license they might feel to break ethical standards? Professors Mazar and Zhong don't know – and look forward to exploring that in further research.
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://library.turi.org for greater topic coverage.
This page updated Friday October 09 2009