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davido T

Frequent Questions about Recycling and Waste Management | Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) |... - 0 views

  • In 2000, recycling resulted in an annual energy savings of at least 660 trillion BTUs, which equals the amount of energy used in 6 million households annually. In 2005, recycling is conservatively projected to save 900 trillion BTUs, equal to the annual energy use of 9 million households.
    • davido T
       
      source?
  • What effects do waste prevention and recycling have on global warming?
  • What materials are most commonly recycled in the United States through collection programs? US recycling rates for commonly recycled consumer goods in 2006 are listed below: Newspapers: 87.9% Corrugated Cardboard Boxes: 72.0% Steel Cans: 62.9% Yard Trimmings: 62.0% Aluminum Beer and Soft Drink Cans: 45.1% Magazines: 40.5% Tires: 34.9% Plastic HDPE Milk and Water Bottles: 31.0% Plastic Soft Drink Bottles: 30.9% Glass Containers: 25.3% EPA's annually updated report, Municipal Solid Waste in the US: 2006 Facts and Figures, describes the national MSW stream based on data collected since 1960. The historical perspective provided is useful for establishing trends in the types of MSW generated and the ways in which it is managed.
davido T

US EPA - High GWP Gases: Science - 0 views

  • In addition to having high global warming potentials, SF6 and PFCs have extremely long atmospheric lifetimes, resulting in their essentially irreversible accumulation in the atmosphere once emitted (see below).
  • The definition of a GWP for a particular greenhouse gas is the ratio of heat trapped by one unit mass of the greenhouse gas to that of one unit mass of CO2 over a specified time period.
  • While the most current estimates for GWPs are listed in the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (TAR), EPA analyses use the 100-year GWPs listed in the IPCC's Second Assessment Report (SAR) to be consistent with the international standards under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (IPCC, 1996
    • davido T
       
      any political reason too?? doubtful b/c ICLEI uses SAR too.
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  • Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) HFCs are man-made chemicals, many of which have been developed as alternatives to ozone-depleting substances (ODS) for industrial, commercial, and consumer products.
  • The global warming potentials of HFCs range from 140 (HFC-152a) to 11,700 (HFC-23).
  • The atmospheric lifetime for HFCs varies from just over a year for HFC-152a to 260 years for HFC-23.
  • Most of the commercially used HFCs have atmospheric lifetimes less than 15 years; e.g., HFC-134a, which i sused in automobile air conditioning and refrigeration, has an atmospheric life of 14 years.
  • Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) Primary aluminum production and semiconductor manufacture are the largest known man-made sources of two perfluorocarbons – CF4 (tetrafluoromethane) and C2F6 (hexafluoroethane).
  • The GWP of CF4 and C2F6 emissions is equivalent to approximately 6,500 and 9,200 tonnes, respectively. PFCs are also relatively minor substitutes for ozone-depleting substances (ODSs).
  • PFCs have extremely stable molecular structures and are largely immune to the chemical processes in the lower atmosphere that break down most atmospheric pollutants. Not until the PFCs reach the mesosphere, about 60 kilometers above Earth, do very high-energy ultraviolet rays from the sun destroy them. This removal mechanism is extremely slow and as a result PFCs accumulate in the atmosphere and remain there for several thousand years.
  • The estimated atmospheric lifetimes for CF4 and C2F6 are 50,000 and 10,000 years respectively.
  • Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) The global warming potential of SF6 is 23,900, making it the most potent greenhouse gas the IPCC has evaluated.
  • SF6 is used for insulation and current interruption in electric power transmission and distribution equipment, in the magnesium industry to protext molten magnesium from oxidation and potentially violent burning, in semiconductor manufacturing to create circuitry patterns on silicon wafers, and as a tracer gas for leak detection.
    • davido T
       
      semiconductors (i.e. electronics) not exactly clean-tech!
  • Like the other high GWP gases, there are very few sinks for SF6, so all man-made sources contribute directly to its accumulation in the atmosphere. Measurements of SF6 show that its global average concentration has increased by about 7% per year during the 1980s and 1990s, from less 1 ppt in 1980 to almost 4 ppt in the late 1990’s (IPCC, 2001).
  • HFC-134a has an atmospheric lifetime of about 14 years and its abundance is expected to continue to rise in line with its increasing use as a refrigerant around the world.
  • The only significant emissions of HFCs before 1990 were of the chemical HFC-23
    • davido T
       
      wow!! all since 1990
  • Between 1978 and 1995, HFC-23 concentrations have increased from 3 to 10 parts per trillion (ppt), and continue to rise. Since 1990, when it was almost undetectable, global average concentrations of HFC-134a have risen significantly to almost 10 ppt (parts per trillion).
yc c

Real World Visuals - 0 views

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    Real World Visuals specialise in data visualisation for contemporary environmental and humanitarian topics and challenges, turning unseen numbers and volumes into relatable imagery. We have helped clients communicate a range of subjects such as air pollution, ozone, carbon capture, waste disposal, water and resource use to their audiences. Our team are able to accurately transform your data into images, animations and interactives that convey meaningful volume, scale and perspective. We are always keen to work with new methods and topics so feel free to contact us about your project.
davido T

Special Broadcast: Past Shows - January, 2008 - 0 views

  • Thursday, January 31st, 2008KPFA brings you a day-long broadcast from the largest teach-in in US history, from the campus of San Francisco State University.
    • davido T
       
      10:10-11:00 Business and climate change Peter Melhus, Management, SFSU; Bryan Cole, Clif Bar; Wendy Pulling, PG & E; Susan Cholette, Decision Sciences, SFSU 11:10-11:55 The "Big Picture": war, capitalism and climate change 'War and Climate Change', Carlos Davidson, ENVS, SFSU; Antonia Juhasz, Institute for Policy Studies
  • Thursday, January 31st, 2008KPFA continues its day-long broadcast from the campus of San Francisco State University. Focus the Nation is the largest teach-in in US history.
    • davido T
       
      12:05-1:00 Policymaker Roundtable Wade Crowfoot, Director of Climate Protection Initiatives, Office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom; Ross Mirkarimi, San Francisco Supervisor, Dictrict 5; Bob Twomey, District Director, Office of Assemblymember Fiona Ma, 12th Assembly District; Tom Lantos, Congressman, California's 12th District 1:10-2:00 Creative responses to climate change "Serpentine," Douglas Johnson, SFSU ENVS Student; Fashion for Change, Connie Ulasewicz, Consumer & Family Studies, SFSU; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi live web chat with SFSU students
  • Thursday, January 31st, 2008KPFA continues its day-long broadcast from the campus of San Francisco State University. Focus the Nation is the largest teach-in in US history
    • davido T
       
      2:10-3:00 Climate change and social justice II 'Making climate solutions equitable in the U.S.', Nia Robinson, Director, Environmental Justice and Climate Change; 'Climate change and global justice', Paul Baer, EcoEquity
tomrain

Effects Of Various Environmental Calamities - 0 views

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    Environment : Our mother nature's beautiful gift to us. Air, water, soil, plants, animals everything around us has a major role to play in this world. Everything is dependent on the other. We had such an marvelous environment that depicts a heaven on earth. Are we really treasuring it?
davido T

Governor to sign global-warming bill / Why Sept. 27, 2006 will be a day to remember - 0 views

  • Governor to sign global-warming bill Why Sept. 27, 2006 will be a day to remember Daniel M. Kammen
  • More important than the target, which is itself dramatic, is the fact that California will establish emission controls on the largest industrial sectors, including utilities, oil refineries and cement manufacturing, and will use market mechanisms -- emissions trading -- to find the economically most-efficient ways to reduce global warming.
  • AB32, introduced by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, calls for a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions statewide, and a 25 percent reduction by 2020.
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  • In California, AB32 is economy-wide and would result in 174 million tons of emissions reductions.
  • Instead of opposing AB32, the market-based flexibility that the bill embraces has convinced the giant Northern California utility, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), to support the bill, as do a wide range of Silicon Valley companies and venture capitalists, that have been investing heavily in the clean and renewable energy sector. In fact, studies from my research group at UC Berkeley, as well as macroeconomic models of the state economy prepared for the California Environmental Protection Agency, both find that an investment in clean energy will likely bring economic benefits to the state in the form of significant numbers of new jobs and export opportunities for what is becoming known as the ''clean tech'' sector.
  • AB32 will have a transforming effect on power generation and greenhouse-gas emissions far beyond California. Power providers, that sell into the huge California market, will be subject to the cap-and-trade provisions through the utilities, including PG&E, that sell their energy. California has thus effectively utilized market forces to not only find the most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions and inefficient uses of energy, but also to encourage innovation to bring solar, wind, clean bio-fuels and other forms of renewable energy into the market.
  • Daniel M. Kammen is the Class of 1935 distinguished professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley. He co-directs the Berkeley Institute of the Environment and is founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL). He has appointments in the Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy.
yc c

Games - 0 views

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    Bigfoot is an interactive program in the EcoLogic exhibition and playable on this site. It estimates the size of your ecological footprint from your answers to 15 questions. Bigfoot is the first ecological footprint calculator to use Australian data and terminology. Ecotown is an interactive program in the EcoLogic exhibition and playable on this site. It demonstrates the use of sustainability indicators at a community level. A sustainable indicator provides information on how far a community is from its goal of sustainable development. Discussion is needed over what the community really values.
yc c

PlanetHazard: United States that emit hazardous air pollutants. - 0 views

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    Shows US most polliting compagnies: lists, maps and chemicals
davido T

Saving For The Future, Seed By Seed, Seed Banks Helping Protect Rare And Endangered Pla... - 0 views

  • Many plants have been the source for medicine that cures disease. Take the rosy periwinkle, which is native to Madigascar. Before its properties were discovered, only 10 percent of children with leukemia lived. But from the plant, scientists created a compound that helped increase the survival rate. "With the compound, the rate has now gone up to 95 percent,” Raven says. “Who knows what else is out there in nature's pharmacy.”
    • davido T
       
      "nature's pharmacy"--the only reason to save species?? (well, the most marketable b/c most clearly communicatable anthro-benefit)
  • "We will have 10 percent of the world’s seeds by 2010 and we would like to go on and have a quarter of the world’s species by 2020,” says Paul Smith, director of the Millennium Seed Bank Project.
  • One in six of all wild plants are used for medicine. One in 10 are used for food, especially in developing countries.
davido T

Waste Home - Life-Cycle of Waste Image and Description | Climate Change - What You Can ... - 0 views

  • Landfilling, the most common waste management practice, results in the release of methane from the anaerobic decomposition of organic materials. Methane is 21 times more potent a GHG than carbon dioxide. However, landfill methane is also a source of energy, and some landfills capture and use it for energy. In addition, many materials in landfills do not decompose fully, and the carbon that remains is sequestered in the landfill and not released into the atmosphere.
  • The image above illustrates the four main stages of product life-cycles, all of which provide opportunities for GHG emissions and/or offsets. These stages are: raw material acquisition, manufacturing, recycling, and waste management.
davido T

ICLEI US: ICLEI USA staff - 0 views

shared by davido T on 01 May 07 - Cached
  • Margarita Maria Parra > Senior Program Officer, CCP Global Coordination >
  • Currently, Margarita is part of the international team and leads new initiatives within the CCP, such as the Local Renewables Network and supporting the development of the HEAT software.
davido T

"Life on the Ethanol-Guzzling Prairie" - NY Times 2007-02-11 - 0 views

  • What is happening here is a vision that many in rural America see as their salvation: high-performance moonshine from amber fields of grain, and a “grass station” in every town. It may be a chimera. It may drain precious water from the arid plains and produce less energy that it uses. But it has the undeniable power of an idea in ascendancy.
  • The vision of a decentralized ethanol industry is taking shape, albeit an industry aided by tax breaks and government mandates. There are now 113 American ethanol plants and an additional 77 under construction, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, the industry trade group. Most of them are right in the middle of the Farm Belt, in counties that have been losing people since the Depression.
  • Archer Daniels Midland, once the dominant force, is less of a player, controlling about 22 percent of the market. But roughly 40 percent of the new biorefineries are locally owned, representing the sweat and capital of farmers, retired schoolteachers and small-town bankers.
yc c

eco'tude - 0 views

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    The eco'tude calculator asks you questions about your school and uses your answers to make an estimate of your school's ecological footprint - the total amount of land disturbed by activities at your school.
davido T

Calculations and References | Clean Energy | US EPA - 0 views

  • In 2005, the weighted average combined fuel economy of cars and light trucks combined was 19.7 miles per gallon (FHWA 2006).
  • The average vehicle miles traveled in 2005 was 11,856 miles per year.
davido T

Despite lower carbon dioxide emissions, diesel cars may promote more global warming tha... - 0 views

  • The state of California is implementing an even more restrictive standard in 2004, allowing only 0.006 grams per kilometer [0.01 grams per mile] of particulate emissions.
  • Even if the California standard were introduced worldwide, says Jacobson, diesel cars may still warm the climate more than gasoline cars over 13 to 54 years.
  • Jacobson says that new particle traps being introduced by some European automobile manufacturers in their diesel cars appear to reduce black carbon emissions to 0.003 grams per kilometer [0.005 grams per mile], even below the California standard.
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  • But, he says, "diesel vehicles emitting at this level may still warm the climate more than gasoline over a 10 to 50 year period, not only because of black carbon emissions, but also because the traps themselves require addition fuel use.
  • Gasoline/battery hybrid vehicles now available not only get better mileage than the newest diesels but also emit less black carbon."
  • In practice, less than 0.1 percent of light vehicles in the United States run on diesel fuel, whereas more than 25 percent do in Europe. (Almost a third of new European cars in 2000 were diesel powered.)
  • In both the United States and Europe, virtually all heavy trucks and buses are diesel powered, and American diesel consumption rates for all modes of ground transportation combined are about 75 to 80 percent of those in Europe.
    • davido T
       
      source?
davido T

Democracy Now! | Carbon Trading: Practical Solution to Global Warming or Corporate Gree... - 0 views

  • Despite the US government’s opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, California, New York and New Jersey embraced carbon trading Tuesday as they joined European governments, Canadian provinces, and New Zealand to launch a forum known as the International Carbon Action Partnership.
Philippe Scheimann

Interview with David Price regarding wave, visual debate and climate change - 1 views

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    David Price is the co-founder of Debategraph and member of WAVE project , an eParticipation project using visual debate techniques for climate change regulations in Europe
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    blog on the portal of Momentum
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