Water


Texas Passes First Fracking Disclosure Bill

Last night, Texas lawmakers passed passed its version of House Bill 3328, which requires natural gas drillers to disclose the chemicals used during the fracking process.

EPA, DOT Unveil Revamped Fuel-Efficiency Labels for New Cars

Spurred by a desire to increase sales of fuel-efficient cars, The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation announced an overhaul of the fuel-efficiency labels affixed to windows of new cars starting in 2013.

EPA Removes Unregulated Chemicals from Demolished Wabbaseka School

The chemicals removed included flammables, oxidizers, corrosive acids, corrosive bases, toxics, and non-regulated materials.

Study: North American Utilities Most Concerned about Regulation, Infrastructure, Workforce, Pricing

According to a survey of more than 100 senior executives in the U.S. and Canadian electric and natural gas industries, the five most critical challenges facing the North American energy industry, in order of importance, are: environmental regulation, aging infrastructure, non-environmental regulation, an aging industry workforce, and the need for new pricing mechanisms.

Voraxial Named Finalist in X PRIZE Competition to Engineer Oil Spill Cleanup Technology

Enviro Voraxial Technology Inc. announced that its company team, Team Voraxial, will move forward to the final phase of the $1.4 million Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE, which was launched in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

World's Most Environmentally Friendly Skyscraper to be Built in Pittsburgh (With Video)

The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. plans to construct the world’s most environmentally friendly skyscraper in Pittsburgh.

Groundbreaking Study Details Viable Pathway to Develop Sustainable Aviation Biofuels Industry in Northwest (With Video)

Creating an aviation biofuels industry will depend upon securing early government policy support to prioritize the aviation industry in U.S. biofuel development.

Report: U.S. Can Curb Carbon Emissions While Boosting Domestic Oil Production

A report from MIT and The University of Texas at Austin urges the United States to accelerate efforts to pursue carbon capture and storage in combination with enhanced oil recovery, a practice that could increase domestic oil production while significantly curbing emissions of carbon dioxide.



European Commission Funds Large-Scale Bioproducts-from-Algae Project

Nine partners from seven countries have joined in a project to show that ethanol, biodiesel and bioproducts can be produced from algae on a large scale.

Schools Recycle More than 2.3 Million Cans, Raise More than $34,000 in National Competition

Schools across America recycled more than 2.3 million aluminum beverage cans through a new national recycling competition sponsored by the can industry. The recycled cans, totaling more than 68,000 pounds, generated more than $34,000 for school activities and other uses.

Professor Comes Up With Way to Neutralize Radioactive Iodine – In the Microwave

A University of Sheffield professor has found a way of locking up iodine radioisotopes in a durable, solid material suitable for ultimate disposal, such as lead iodovanadinite(Pb5(VO4)3I).

Beyond the Barn: Keeping Dairy Cows Outside is Good for the Outdoors

Computer simulation studies by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests that a dairy cow living year-round in the great outdoors may leave a markedly smaller ecological hoofprint than its more sheltered sisters.

EPA Funds 10 Small Businesses to Develop Environmental Technologies

This year’s innovative projects include reducing toxic chemicals from landfills, producing an environmentally friendly adhesive, reducing methane emissions by converting dilute methane waste gas streams into useful fuel, and designing a real-time environmental water monitoring sensor.

FarmVille Fans Team Up With Dreyer's to Plant Real Crops

Dreyer's Fruit Bars and Zynga's wildly popular FarmVille game are packing their shovels and leaving their virtual farms behind as they head to rural Farmville, Va., to plant an actual fruit orchard for the community.

Victory for the Environment: Beer Grant Recipients Clean Water Initiative

Victory Brewing Co. donates a portion of proceeds from Headwaters Pale Ale to Guardians of the Brandywine to promote individual responsibility for clean water.

Fairtrade and Forest Stewardship Council Aim to Reinvigorate Economy in Depressed Region of Chile

The once degraded forests in the Curacautin Valley in Chile have now recovered sufficiently, after hard work over the last decades, to be able to help provide a sustainable living to the people in the area, based on fair trade and responsible forest management principles.

Research Tackles Effects of Dredging on Fish and River Habitats

Melinda Daniels, associate professor of geography, and Keith Gido, associate professor of biology, are collaborating on a project that involves habitat and fish sampling on the Kansas River, which stretches across northeast Kansas.

Santa Clara University Partners with Ayllu to Create Map of Off-Grid Energy Solutions

The map provides detailed graphs and analysis of 40 social enterprises in 16 countries that are overcoming vast hurdles in their respective markets to bring electricity or alternative fuel to 500 to 500,000 people apiece.

SUNY Researchers Evaluate Biobutanol as a Vehicle Fuel

Researchers in the college’s department of paper and bioprocess engineering are experimenting with different strains of bacteria that can ferment sugars extracted from wood into biobutanol that can be pumped into automobile gas tanks. They believe that biobutanol — more efficient than ethanol in producing energy and easier to add to the existing gasoline distribution infrastructure — could be the emerging biofuel of the future.

Lichens May Help Fight Deadly Chronic Wasting Disease in Wildlife

Certain lichens can break down the infectious proteins responsible for chronic wasting disease, a troubling neurological disease fatal to wild deer and elk and spreading throughout the United States and Canada, according to U.S. Geological Survey research published in the journal PLoS ONE.