Environmental News Network

Radical Engine Redesign Would Reduce Pollution, Oil Consumption
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have created the first computational model to track engine performance from one combustion cycle to the next for a new type of engine that could dramatically reduce oil consumption and the emission of global-warming pollutants. "We're talking about a major leap in engine technology that could be used in hybrid cars to make vehicles much more environmentally friendly and fuel stingy," said Gregory M. Shaver, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. >> Read the Full Article
Environmental Disasters Reduce the Likelihood of Pro-Green Votes by Members of Congress
Los Angeles - Conventional wisdom holds that environmental disasters lead Congress to toughen regulatory standards. But a new study has found that members of Congress were less likely to take pro-green positions on legislation in the wake of such disasters than at other times during the same calendar year. >> Read the Full Article
Insiders Story: Greening China, Cutting Carbon
Zhang Fubin, who works at the Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute in China, is constantly being interrupted by his mobile phone. Since the institute successfully developed new technology to generate energy from the waste gases emitted during cement making, he has barely had time to himself. "My colleagues and I are busy running between cement plants to update their facilities with this new technology," he says. >> Read the Full Article
Stalk Burning Fuels China Pollution Woes
A new study published in the August issue of the Chinese Science Bulletin, scientists estimate that farmers burning stalks produced 210.2 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2000, the most recent year for official figures on China's total carbon dioxide emissions. This was 6.1 per cent of China's total emissions that year. >> Read the Full Article
Controversy Over GMO Corn Approval In Brazil
Brazil's biosafety committee has approved two sets of guidelines governing the use of genetically modified (GM) corn, despite criticism from within its ranks. The Brazilian National Biosafety Technical Committee (CTNBio), which oversees the use of GM organisms in the country, last week (16 August) approved plans for monitoring and coexistence. >> Read the Full Article
Recycled, But Not Disinfected, Chopsticks The Latest China Scare
BEIJING - A Beijing factory recycled used chopsticks and sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of Chinese food and product safety scares. Counterfeit, shoddy and dangerous products are widespread in China, whose exports have been rocked in recent months by a spate of safety scandals, ranging from pet food to medicine, tires, toothpaste and toys. >> Read the Full Article
Coal Dependency Seen Braking China's Climate Drive
China will have trouble cutting its dependence on coal despite growing pressures to fight global warming, a leading Chinese official told an international panel of experts on Wednesday on an Arctic island. >> Read the Full Article
Prosecutors Open Criminal Case in Fire at World Trade Center Site
Prosecutors in New York opened a criminal investigation into the blaze that killed two firefighters at a ground zero skyscraper as it was slowly being dismantled. A broken water supply system pumped thousands of gallons into the building's basement, leaving firefighters without enough water to fight the fire. >> Read the Full Article
Texas Man Sentenced to Five Months in Jail for Environmental Crimes
Dennis Rodriguez of El Paso, Texas, has been sentenced to five months imprisonment for environmental crimes related to the operation of his company, North American Waste Assistance. >> Read the Full Article
UK Asks Farmers To Help Improve Water Quality
London - Britian's government news agency asked farmers to help improve water quality by making changes to their farming practices to provide a "base line of protection for waters from nitrate and phosphate pollution." The government wants to reduce nitrogen from manure and fertiliser getting into surface or groundwater. >> Read the Full Article