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Nissan To Build Electric Cars
May 16, 2008 09:02 AM - , Earth 911
Nissan Motor Co. announced Tuesday it will mass produce electric cars within the next five years, according to NPR. Zero-emission electric cars will be available in two years for government fleets in the U.S. and Japan, Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told NPR. By 2012, the cars will be in mass production.
Brazilian Companies Announce Global Warming Game Plan
May 16, 2008 08:56 AM - , The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
The Brazil Greenhouse Gas Protocol Program was launched today and its 12 founding corporate members have voluntarily agreed to report their global-warming emissions. “The program provides options for sound measurement and allows members to take action to reduce their GHG emissions,” said Thelma Krug, secretary of climate change, Brazil Environment Ministry, at the launch event here in the IBAMA Auditorium.
China quake may cut carbon offset supply
May 15, 2008 09:29 AM - Reuters
China's deadliest earthquake in decades could cut by up to 5 percent the country's supply of carbon offsets under the Kyoto Protocol over the next 12 months, a market China dominates, Lehman analysts estimated on Thursday. Rich countries can meet Kyoto greenhouse gas limits by investing in emissions cuts in developing countries, earning carbon offsets in return.
UPS Running on CNG and Hybrid
May 15, 2008 09:01 AM - , Earth 911
Did you know that UPS trucks have a “No Left Turn” policy on deliveries? The company has taken another step toward energy conservation by ordering 500 more hybrid and compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery vehicles. UPS calls its trucks the Green Fleet, and is expanding from 50 hybrid electric trucks to 250 (the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company). The CNG-run fleet will increase from 800 to 1,100 as well.
Greenhouse gases highest for 800,000 years
May 15, 2008 08:15 AM - Reuters
Greenhouse gases are at higher levels in the atmosphere than at any time in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of Antarctic ice on Wednesday that extends evidence that mankind is disrupting the climate. Carbon dioxide and methane trapped in tiny bubbles of air in ancient ice down to 3,200 meters (10,500 ft) below the surface of Antarctica add 150,000 years of data to climate records stretching back 650,000 years from shallower ice drilling.
IdleAire: Reducing Trucker's Environmental Impact
May 14, 2008 09:07 AM - , Triple Pundit
If you've ever been on a road trip, you've probably seen this sight at a rest stop: one, or many big rig trucks, just...idling. Not going anywhere. What is this, like a computer on "sleep," ready to go? No. The answer may surprise you. At least in the US, truck drivers are required to rest 10 hours for every 11 driven. A reasonable thing, but this often necessitates them sleeping in their cabins. And that requires power for the heating or cooling, and other comforts of "home" on the road. Power that comes from a running truck.
Study sees threat from big-particle pollutants
May 14, 2008 08:15 AM - Reuters
On days when there is a lot of dust and other large-particle pollutants in the air, slightly more elderly people go to hospital emergency rooms with heart problems, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. There was also an increase in hospital visits by elderly patients complaining of respiratory illnesses when "coarse," or large, particle pollution was plentiful, although the rise was not significant, the researchers said.
Stop the Presses
May 13, 2008 09:16 AM - , Earth 911
An article in the San Jose Mercury News tells us that it takes a gallon of oil just to make a toner cartridge. That wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t discard 8 empty cartridges a second in the U.S. And if it didn’t take 450 years for one to decompose.
Carbon monoxide aids shift from active infection to a drug-resistant dormant TB infection
May 13, 2008 09:04 AM - University of Alabama at Birmingham
A toxic gas present in air pollution and tobacco smoke plays a significant role in triggering tuberculosis infection, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The UAB study focused on carbon monoxide (CO), a colorless, odorless gas present in tobacco smoke, and vehicle and manufacturing plant emissions. Also, CO is produced naturally in brushfires and volcanic gas.
Clearing the Air on Liquid Natural Gas (Updated)
May 12, 2008 09:08 AM - , Triple Pundit
Every month when I see the magazine Seed in my mailbox I can’t wait to sit down and read it. This month I found a DVD inside the magazine with the oil company Shell’s short movie, Clearing the Air on it. My attention peaked, and I watched the movie. Clearing the Air is a fictional account of the development of gas to liquid (GTL) or liquid natural gas (LNG). The California Energy Commission defines LNG as “fuels that can be produced from natural gas, coal, and biomass using a Fischer-Tropsch chemical reaction process.” However, in the movie LNG is used to refer to converting natural gas into liquid for fuel.