Chemically Green
We’re All Getting a Lump of Coal This Xmas
Picture Credit:Avotius
EU Puts Brakes on Green Policies
In the wake of the financial crisis, some EU member states are reassesing the union’s CO2 reduction goals. To prevent a complete economic meltdown and fianancial crisis from turning into economic calamity, the European Union has pulled the emergency brake on green policies.
At last month’s EU summit in Brussels, seven eastern and central European countries, together with Italy, threatened to veto the Union’s climate pact. The rebel governments claimed that the originally agreed goal of cutting the EU’s CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 was too expensive; economic turmoil and rising unemployment meant that implementing the CO2 goal was no longer affordable. Great Britian is poised to expand its coal mining industry, despite fears that the move will lead to a rise in climate change, increase in CO2 emissions, as well as harm the environment. The news that Britain is about to return to the age of coal is no surprise to anyone who’s been following energy developments in this country or even globally.
“The coming energy crisis is going to dwarf the financial crisis”, says the head of Shell Oil.
Coal is a dirty word in the U.S. because of its impact on the environment including CO2 emissions, mercury contamination, and other pollutants. The environmental movement has fought against new coal plants being constructed in the U.S. as well as keeping newly constructed coal plants from starting up and producing electricity. Just recently, the feds put a hold on constructing new coal fired plants and new coal plants already constructed cannot fire up and produce electricity until further notice.
Last March, a hold on government financing for all rural coal plants was implimented. Billings, Mont. - “The federal government is suspending a major loan program for coal-fired power plants in rural communities, saying the uncertainties of climate change and rising construction costs make the loans too risky.”
Picture Credit: davipt
Even with the U.S. keeping a tight rein on coal usage, it appears that other nations including China are bucking the green movement and going their own way ignoring global warming, CO2 and air pollution. China, the world’s number one polluter, will continue to have their air pollution problems because of their continued use of dirty coal, even though China is using modern up to date coal fired plants to produce electricity. From a previous Chemically Green post: China May Be The Death of the Environmental Movement is becoming more true than ever before.
China Moves Ahead With Using Coal
While US activists prepare for a battle against the notion of ‘clean coal’, China’s coal industry continues to boom. A recent MIT report estimates that China’s power sector has been expanding at a rate roughly equivalent to three to four new coal-fired, 500 megawatt plants coming on line every week.
The real danger is not just the carbon emissions, but the wrong assumptions and perception that incremental solutions, protests, or stricter carbon regulations can somehow shift China’s current direction. Why worry? The gap continues to widen between what activists want to happen with the global coal industry, versus the reality of coal’s expanding role as the world’s fastest growing source of energy.
China is hungry for energy. Oil, yes. But mostly electricity. And despite its potential to become a cleantech manufacturing hub, it is likely to rely primarily on coal for the next thirty years as The People’s Daily Online reports that geologists have confirmed a massive 23 billion ton coal reserve deposit in the country’s Turfan Basin. ‘The coal mine occupies an area of over 300 square kilometers with a thickness of 169.69 meters, and a coal bearing ratio of 29%’. This is the second major reserve confirmed in the last six months.
The Reality of the Above scenario is that Coal Use Is Growing! The US Energy Information Agency Annual Report on 2008 reveals the brutal facts of coal’s use in the world’s energy sector.
The US is almost certain to confront the challenges of coal emissions, but no country is more important to this conversation than China. The US can probably absorb higher costs associated with cleaner uses of coal, but not China. As soon as the global economy comes out of this slump, China will once again fire up its coal plants. What will this mean? More pollution coming from China to the U.S. even though the U.S. maybe using clean coal if the technology is perfected. Source: The Energy Road Map
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Want to Save the Planet? Stop Flushing!
A Classic Australian Dunny, Picture Credit: MurfoMurf
Are we all really doing our part to save the planet? Not according to Mr. Jack Sims, founder of the World Toilet Organisation at a recent World Toilet Summit in Australia as he said “the concept of flushing is not sustainable.”
Mr Sims also said “a culture where people flushed their loos but disregarded the thousands of liters of wasted drinking water each year was one of sanitation’s greatest challenges. This ‘flush and forget’ attitude creates a new problem which we have to revisit.”
Last Friday was World Toilet Day. I have never heard of this day. I wondered if everyone took the day off from or for their toilets?
Experts call for the end of flushing on World Toilet Day.
As the world celebrates World Toilet Day, sanitation experts have called for the end of the flushing dunny to save water and provide fertilizer for crops.
Leading health advocates have called for the use of “dry” toilets which separate urine from feces and remove the need to flush. There have already been calls by Australian experts to reduce the amount of water wasted through toilet flushing with a proposed new toilet tax. Householders would be charged for the amount of water they flushed down the drain under a radical new blueprint to cut consumption. The scheme would replace the current regime which sees sewerage charges based solely on a home’s value and not its waste water output. Source: News.com.au
Toilet facts:
- The average person spends three years of their life on the “john”.
- The average person flushes a toilet about 2500 times a year, while using about eight sheets of toilet paper per day.
- An estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to proper toilet facilities, particularly in rural areas of China and India.
- Lack of suitable toilets and sanitation kills approximately 1.8 million people a year, many of them children.
- According to Jack Sims, a further 500 million toilets are needed to bridge the gap in sanitation.
- The first flushing toilet was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harrington, a British noble and godson to Queen Elizabeth I. He only invented one, as he was ridiculed by his peers, but he still used it for himself.
- Most toilets flush in the key of E flat.
- On average, a person will use 22 litres of drinkable water every day flushing a toilet.
If you are really not into a back to nature toilet system or want to move beyond conventional flushing, the “Integrated Personal Cleansing System” is just for you. Just What A Crappy Economy Needs: a $5000.00 flusher.
Your comments would be appreciated on using less water by flushing less.
Jatropha Curcas Seeds Can Kill
Jatropha Toxica, Picture Credit: Laaboratorioen Movimieto
As important as Jatropha Curcas oil has become as a biodiesel fuel, the plantations that are growing and developing Jatropha will have to have a safety protocol for Jatropha nuts and seeds. The one draw back or negative characteristic for Jatropha Curcas is the seeds are poisonous.
Unfortunately, deaths have occurred, especially in children that have eaten Jatropha seeds, usually by mistake thinking they were other nuts like cashews. Not only death, but serious illness has occurred when children have consumed Jatropha seeds.
In the past few weeks alone, five children have died from eating Jatropha seeds.
Lucknow, Nov 4 (IANS):
“Five children were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnore district after eating Jatropha seeds, mistaking them for cashew nuts”, an official said Tuesday.
“The children, who were playing in the fields, probably mistook Jatropha seeds for cashew nuts and ate them,” chief medical officer S.P. Singh told IANS on phone.
The incident took place in Mandwar village of Bjinore district, over 250 km from Lucknow.
Read the Complete Story, Source: SindhToday.net
Dangerous Dairy from China
Got Melamine? Picture Credit:fear_a_gnome
Chinese Food Products (Containing Chinese Milk) and Chinese Milk Products Banned by FDA from Entering the U.S.
China must not think much of its trading partners as the U.S. purchases billions of dollars per year of Chinese goods and food products. Imported foods containing Chinese milk products are hazardous to our health, as we are seeing more and more cases of Melamine in dairy products. Melamine is a hazardous chemical: harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage, eye, skin and respiratory irritant.
MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet for Melamine) Note information printed on top paragraph of MSDS:has been used (illegally) to boost apparent protein content of milk powders.
A chronological list of events leading up to the FDA ban on Chinese dairy and dairy containing products:
September 25, 2008, Washington, DC: Letter sent to FDA from Food and Water Watch. FDA Letter:
As the scope of the contaminated milk scandal in China continues to grow, national consumer group Food & Water Watch today called on the Food and Drug Administration to stop the import of dairy products and milk-derived ingredients from China, and urged food manufacturers to test any milk-derived ingredients they have already purchased.
“It is now clear that China has exported dairy products like powdered milk and milk protein products around the globe and we know that some of them came to the United States,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “This year the United States has already imported 2 million pounds of powdered milk protein ingredients like casein. It is time for FDA to take this issue seriously and stop the import of dairy products from China until this situation is under control.”
“The pet food scandal last year should have taught FDA and U.S. food manufacturers the importance of sourcing ingredients from places with a record of safe production practices,” said Hauter. “The discovery that more than 50,000 children have been made sick from tainted infant formula is yet another tragic example that the Chinese food safety system is not capable of protecting consumers in China or their export markets.”
Read the entire article, Source: Food and Water Watch, NewsRoom
October 17, 2008, Washington, DC (ENS):
Chinese cookies found in Alabama stores have tested positive for high levels of the plastic melamine, triggering a demand from consumer organizations for a federal government ban on all food products from China containing milk proteins.
The recent deaths of four infants and the illnesses of 53,000 other children in China linked with the consumption of infant formula containing melamine have not resulted in a ban in the United States, although individual products, such as White Rabbit candy and Mr. Brown drinks, have been recalled.
The chemical is used in plastics manufacturing and as an illegal additive in foods to simulate protein and it was linked to massive pet food recalls across the United States in 2007.
Two weeks ago the U.S. Food and Drug Administration set “acceptable” levels for melamine in human food, but this measure has not kept contaminated products out of U.S. stores.
On Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Agriculture announced that Koala’s March brand cookies found in Alabama stores have tested positive for melamine with levels that exceed the FDA’s stated safe levels of exposure.
Melamine Tainted Chinese Baby Formula Picture Credit:g-yulongi. More details
FDA Finally Begins Stopping Chinese dairy and dairy-based products from being imported into the U.S.
November 12, 2008, From the FDA, IMPORT ALERT IA9930, Read more here The Food and Drug Administration has begun stopping imports of Chinese dairy and dairy-based products from entering the country in an effort to keep out food contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. The amount of products on the FDA list is mind staggering.
Melamine is the chemical at the heart of the Chinese infant formula scandal that has killed at least two infants and sickened more than 50,000. Scraps of melamine, which is used to make plastic and fertilizer, were added to milk as a way of boosting the milk’s protein content in order to pass quality tests. The same thing was done with wheat gluten, which was then used to make pet food and sparked a wave of recalls last year after thousands of pets died.
FDA officials, who had been spot checking markets for melamine-tainted foods and recalling select products, said they expanded their import advisory in part because of intelligence from overseas counterparts.
Under the hold and test policy initiated Thursday, FDA stops products at the border, then requires the importer to test it and prove it doesn’t have melamine before allowing it to be distributed.
Read the entire article, Source: Washington Post
The Chinese merchants have used an old trick taken from the cattle feed industry. Urea is added to cattle feed to boost the protein analysis when it is quality checked. The urea does not make cattle sick nor does it cause death. Melamine is used in Chinese milk products to boost protein analysis, but has caused sickness and even death in some individuals.
How many people in the U.S. and other parts of the world have become sick from Chinese melamine tainted milk products while thinking that they only had a virus or eaten some spoiled food?
The FDA needs to continue the hold and test policy initiated last Thursday on all Chinese food products from now on. Such policies are the best way to hit China’s pocketbook and hopefully allow China to clean up their act.
Jatropha Curcas Takes Flight With Rolls Royce
Jatropha Curcas Biodiesel will be flying high as Rolls Royce Completes Testing on Jatropha Based Biodiesel before upcoming Air New Zealand Test Flight.
747-400, Picture Credit: The _Skunk_Works 2
Thu 6 Nov 2008 – The jatropha-based jet biofuel to power one of the four engines on the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400 test flight set to take place next month has passed preliminary testing at the Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, UK. The exact date of the flight is to be confirmed once the fuel has completed a rigorous testing process to further validate its specifications. The airline also reports it has recently completed its first Required Navigation Performance (RNP) enabled A320 flight between Sydney and Queenstown, saving fuel and carbon emissions as well as reducing noise levels. (Read on …)
Will Corn Ethanol Flunk EPA Emissions Requirements?
In 2007, increased ethanol use was mandated by EPA and U.S. Congress as the fuel of choice to help America cut its appetite for oil. Is ethanol really the answer? There has been a ongoing discussion on whether or not ethanol can meet current EPA emission standards to reduce greenhouse gases. What good are mandates and subsidies if ethanol will not be able to meet these emission standards?
Will taxpayer money continue to be thrown after corn ethanol, or will Congress cave in to the ethanol lobbyists and give special concessions / lower the emission standard? Unfortunately, the answer will probably be the latter.
Top Ethanol Producer Bailout? Seriously?
Last week, VeraSun, the #2 producer of ethanol in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy. You would think they would shut the doors and end up selling their assets. This won’t be the case thanks to the millions of dollars North Dakota citizens have paid in special incentives and taxes for VeraSun.
From the North Dakota Policy Council:
VeraSun,The Sioux Falls, S.D. – based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last week. The Fargo Forum reported in its Sunday issue that the company has $1.9 billion in debt and nearly $3.5 billion in assets. VeraSun’s biggest creditor is Wells Fargo Bank with $447.4 million in bond debt.
What this means is that Wells Fargo Bank could wind up with the short straw. However, taxpayers could be right there with them. (Read on …)
Has the Ethanol Boom Run Out of Gas?
VeraSun files for bankruptcy!
News Flash: VeraSun, one of the largest ethanol producers announces filing for bankruptcy protection. From the Los Angles Times: VeraSun Energy Corp., the second-largest U.S. ethanol producer, filed for bankruptcy protection after making bad hedging bets on corn, a raw material used to make the fuel. The petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Wilmington, Del., listed both assets and debt of more than $1 billion. The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based producer and seller of ethanol, which was formed in 2001, has 16 production facilities in eight states and an annual capacity of about 1.64 billion gallons of ethanol, according to its website. (Read on …)