Category: News

New TRI Data Now Available!

Posted: July 21, 2014
Source: US EPA TRI

TRI – it’s your right to know. For more information about EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory:  http://www.epa.gov/tri

The 2013 Toxics Release Inventory preliminary dataset containing the most current TRI data is now available.

You can find out:

  • What toxic chemicals a particular industrial facility is using
  • How much is being released into the environment
  • Whether the facility is recycling or treating any of the toxic chemical waste, or burning any of it for energy recovery
  • Whether a facility initiated any pollution prevention activities in the most recent calendar year

You can access the data through Envirofacts or downloadable data files on the TRI website. With the Envirofacts TRI Search, it’s simple – just enter a facility name, location, industry sector, or chemical name.

New to TRI? Why not get familiar with some common TRI terms before you start using the data? Or, you can explore a TRI facility to learn about how and where TRI chemicals are used in one type of industry.

One-Third of Food Produced Is Wasted, Study Says

Posted: July 17, 2014
Source: Environmental Leader.com

More than one-third of all food produced in the US is wasted, according to a survey of consumers’ attitudes conducted by Sealed Air.

The company whose product lines include Bubble Wrap, Cryovac and Diversey commissioned the report to evaluate Americans’ food habits, sustainability practices, and overall awareness of food waste issues.

The study’s key findings show that while there is growing concern and awareness of how much food is wasted in the US, most American consumers still don’t consider their own households to be wasteful or a part of the problem: 67 percent say food waste is a concern; yet only 33 percent say food waste in their home is a concern.
Continue reading One-Third of Food Produced Is Wasted, Study Says

How Burning Man inspired a solar surge in Nevada

Posted on July 2, 2014
Source: Mother Earth News.com By: Sami Grover

After the 2007 Burning Man, volunteers repurposed a solar array for a local school. That installation led to many, many more.

From the tiny houses of Burning Man to its ‘Burn Clean’ initiative, the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert has some significant eco-credentials (though it has a significant carbon footprint too!). But perhaps one of its most important legacies is the birth of Black Rock Solar, a nonprofit providing solar energy installations to organizations in need. NationSwell has a fascinating, inspiring account of how the group got started:
Black Rock Solar was a tiny nonprofit back then, cobbled together by a dozen volunteers after the 2007 “burn,” the week long event held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where thousands of artists, musicians and creative types gather each August. That year, a solar installation was donated to Burning Man, and the leave-no-trace ethic behind the gathering meant that the volunteers had to find a home for the array once the festival ended. They did — at a local school in Gerlach, Nevada, on the edge of the desert 10 miles from the festival.
That installation was to be the first of many. Armed with fresh experience and knowledge of the state’s rebates and incentives, Black Rock started looking for community organizations that might benefit from low cost, sustainable energy. They also pushed Nevada’s Public Utility Commission to remove a cap limiting incentives to solar installations smaller than 30 kilowatts, opening the door for larger, more visible installations.

Continue reading How Burning Man inspired a solar surge in Nevada

Report: Vampire equipment sucking power and draining wallets

Posted on July 2, 2014
Source: Fuel Fix.com

WASHINGTON — The price people pay for always-on, around-the-clock Internet connections with modems, cell phones and laptops may be higher than they think.

According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, all of those networked electronic devices are sucking up a whole lot of electricity — mostly just to maintain their Internet connections — generating $80 billion worth of wasted power in 2013.

For the average household, the bill runs to “many tens of dollars per year, per device,” said Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the Paris-based IEA. “This may not sound like much, but in 2013, the cumulative impact of 14 billion such devices was … unnecessary operation of over 130 mid-sized coal plants producing around 400 terawatt hours of electricity and all the pollution and carbon emissions that goes with it.”

Power vampires: Household items draining power
Continue reading Report: Vampire equipment sucking power and draining wallets

Help Your Business By Understanding Hazardous Waste Treatment

Posted: July 2, 2014
Source: Environmental Leader.com

The EPA’s definition of waste treatment can be confusing and potentially costly, so it is important that hazardous waste generators be clear as to what activities might be considered as treatment of hazardous waste, according to Pollution Engineering.

Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, treating a waste means changing the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of it. Examples of these types of change might be:

  • Making a waste less corrosive or toxic
  • Reducing a waste’s volume through evaporation
  • Burning waste to obtain energy from it
  • Leaving waste paint in the open to let volatile organic compounds in it vaporize
  • Adding an acid or alkaline into a waste stream to reduce its corrosivity
  • Doing something to waste to make it easier or less costly to transport or store

Continue reading Help Your Business By Understanding Hazardous Waste Treatment

Hazardous Waste Compliance a Balancing Act at the Retail Level

Posted: July 1, 2014
Source: Continue reading Hazardous Waste Compliance a Balancing Act at the Retail Level

NV Energy Sure Bet Incentive Program

nve-surebet

Did you know NV Energy has a program that provides cash incentives and technical assistance to help small businesses in northern Nevada invest in energy efficiency and conservation?

From restaurants to retailers, manufacturers to municipalities and hotels to hospitals, NV Energy Sure Bet incentives can help commercial customers save energy and money. The program helps by sending out engineers – at no cost – who will come out to assess a company’s energy use and make recommendations for efficiency improvements. Better still, NV Energy can also line up qualified contractors to install the recommended upgrades AND will help pay for the installation costs; making it so projects can pay for themselves very quickly through utility bill savings, even if your business is in a leasing situation.

  • Incentives are available for NV Energy’s commercial electric customers in northern Nevada and NV Energy commercial gas customers in the Reno-Sparks area. Customers can select a project from a prescriptive list of measures or work with an energy assessor to propose a custom project with verifiable energy savings. Incentives are available for new construction, major renovation and existing facility improvement projects.
  • Prescriptive measures range from lighting to refrigeration and commercial kitchen equipment to heating and cooling to variable speed drive pumps and fans and more.
  • Program staff can help identify energy efficiency opportunities.

If you are interested in tapping this incentive program to find where the opportunities for energy efficiency are in your business, contact Chris Lynch, the director of the Nevada SBDC’s Business Environmental Program and he will get you lined up with NV Energy’s Sure Bet program. Chris can be reached at 775.834.3687.

EPA Proposes Approval of New Climate-Friendly Refrigerants

Posted: June 27, 2014

Proposal supports president’s Climate Action Plan by curbing emissions of potent greenhouse gases

WASHINGTON – In support of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to increase the options for refrigerants in the United States that offer better climate protection without harming the ozone layer. This is the agency’s first action that addresses refrigerants under the Climate Action Plan, which calls on EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program to identify and approve additional climate-friendly chemicals.

Under the authority of the Clean Air Act, EPA’s SNAP Program evaluates substitute chemicals and technologies that are safe for the ozone layer. This proposed action would expand the list of SNAP-approved substitutes to include more low-global warming potential (GWP) alternatives that can replace both the ozone-depleting substances and high-GWP hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

“Last June, President Obama introduced a broad set of initial steps designed to slow the effects of climate change, including reducing potent greenhouse gases,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “This proposal is a great example of how businesses and EPA can foster innovation by working together to identify refrigerants that better protect our environment.”
Continue reading EPA Proposes Approval of New Climate-Friendly Refrigerants