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The New York Times has a multi-bombshell piece on natural gas fracking, “ Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers .” CP has done a great many pieces on the potential benefits of fracking — and the potential dangers (see “ Getting to the bottom of natural gas fracking and links below). But while unconventional natural gas might be an energy and climate game changer (over the near term) if it can be developed in an environmentally responsible fashion, the NYT piece itself may be a game changer. Over the past nine months, The Times reviewed more than 30,000 pages of documents obtained through open records requests of state and federal agencies and by visiting various regional offices that oversee drilling in Pennsylvania. Some of the documents were leaked by state or federal officials. You can find “t he most significant documents … with annotations from The Times” by clicking here . Here are some excerpts from the story: But the relatively new drilling method — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas. With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground.
The volume of waste going to landfills in the UK has declined dramatically since 2001, from more than 50 million tonnes to just over 30 million tonnes today. However, this amount of waste represents a potential source of 1.5 gigawatts of energy — enough to power 750,000 homes, plus as much again as heat or other energy in the form of fuel gases or transportation energy. That means the location, timing and type of facilities for waste processing in the UK has now assumed critical proportions, which is both a threat and an opportunity for the country.
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Waste to energy: Both threat and opportunity
Some folks are stockpiling light bulbs in anticipation of the future phase-out of standard incandescents, according to USA Today . It seems hoarders are doing it for one or two reasons: cost and/or lighting concerns. But these shouldn’t be concerns. With a little bit of math (initial cost + operating cost) and an understanding of basic lighting terms (lumen, watt, color accuracy, color temperature), I think the switch is a no-brainer. So here’s a five-step program for the hoarder: Step 1: Recognize the Potential Standard incandescent bulbs provide great light at the flip of a switch, but they don’t last long and use a lot of energy. They run hot, too. By hoarding these lights, you’re ignoring technological advancement in favor of a few factors — initial cost and light quality — to the exclusion of other factors — operating life and energy efficiency. You might as well tattoo your forehead with the term “laggard,” tell everyone you’re proud of it, and then explain why the world is still flat. Why not go for a light that maximizes your needs for low initial cost, low operating cost, high light quality, and high efficiency? Step 2: Understand the Options Incandescents are usually cheaper to buy, but they’re also more expensive to operate , according to the Department of Energy. So, what are your other options? CFLs, LEDs, halogens, ESLs, etc.
The rest is here:
How to Give Up Incandescent Light Bulbs
85% of oyster reef ecosystems have been lost A survey of oyster habitats around the world has found that the succulent mollusks are disappearing fast and 85% of their reefs have been lost due to disease and over-harvesting. Most of the remaining wild oysters in the world, or about 75 percent, can be found in five locations in North America, said the study published in BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences…. “Oyster reefs are at less than 10 percent of their prior abundance in most bays (70 percent) and ecoregions (63 percent),” said the study. “They are functionally extinct — in that they lack any significant ecosystem role and remain at less than one percent of prior abundances in many bays (37 percent) and ecoregions (28 percent) — particularly in North America, Australia and Europe.” By averaging the loss among all regions, the researchers came up with an estimate that 85 percent of oyster reef ecosystems have been lost, but said that figure was likely low because some areas lacked historical records for comparison …
Today, we publish our fourth State of Green Business report , GreenBiz.com ‘s annual effort to take the pulse of what and how the world of sustainable business is doing. It’s an interesting time to take this accounting, to say the least. In society, environmental issues seem to have faded from view, at least in the U.S., thanks in large part to the recession. “Saving the earth” has taken a back seat to simply saving the day
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The State of Green Business 2011