Environmental News

Source: Biomass Magazine, 5/28/13

The University of Illinois-Urbana will begin construction this fall on a new bioprocessing laboratory to research biomass-derived biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol. Source: Biomass Magazine, 5/31/13

At the end of EDF Climate Corps' fifth year of giving specially trained graduate students a mandate to uncover energy inefficiency in organizations, they have learned some valuable lessons. Source: GreenBiz, 5/30/13

One day events will be held in Richton Park, Morris, and Galesburg. Source: Illinois EPA, 5/31/13

The Illinois Recycling Association has selected its award recipients for outstanding recycling programs throughout the state. The awardees will be honored at a luncheon at the Illinois Recycling Association's annual conference, "Growing Green in '13" being held on June 4 at noon at the Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. Source: Environmental News Bits, 5/31/13

FORTUNE -- If anyone can bring some bite to Apple's green programs, it's Lisa Jackson. Trained as a chemical engineer, Jackson revamped the declawed version of the Environmental Protection Agency that she inherited in 2009. Sure, Congress shot down her proposed carbon cap and trade program, but she was able to pass emissions regulations that are changing the shape of the U.S. energy landscape. Now, she's headed to Apple (AAPL). CEO Tim Cook announced at All Things D's tech conference on Tuesday that Jackson would soon head its environmental efforts, though he didn't mention her exact title. In fact, he didn't relay much of anything, according to Fortune writer Adam Lashinsky. Source: Fortune, 5/29/13

The Consumer Electronics Association, Arlington, Va., has released the results of a national survey on cathode ray tube (CRT) glass management conducted by the Northeast Recycling Council. The CEA says that while ample markets and downstream vendors appear to exist for recycling CRT glass, about 20 percent of recyclers report difficulties and are seeking solutions to avoid stockpiling this material. Source: Recycling Today, 5/28/13

URBANA, Ill. -- Two University of Illinois scientists have developed an environmentally friendly and more economical way of pretreating Miscanthus in the biofuel production process. "We pretreat the biomass with switchable butadiene sulfone in the presence of water to break down the plant cell wall, which consists of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, the source of biofuels and value-added products," says Hao Feng, a University of Illinois professor of food science and human nutrition who also has extensive research experience with biofuels. The new technique is a green alternative to current industry practices because butadiene sulfone can be recovered at potentially high yields since the solvent's decomposition gases are also the raw materials for its production. This means that butadiene sulfone can be re-used after pretreatment, he says. The commercial availability for both production and recovery of this chemical should allow for a transfer of these operations into a biorefinery, Feng says. Source: AgWeek, 5/28/13

Lack of communication (and much-needed funding) often prevents water providers from efficiently and cost-effectively managing their energy use. Source: Water Efficiency, 5/22/13

Establishing a color-coding system through symbolization is a simple way to practice resource reduction and promote sustainable operation. Source: Cleaning & Maintenance Management, 5/17/13

A building energy labeling program that allows the industry to zero in on opportunities to lower building operating cost and make informed decisions to increase value has been expanded to include an As Designed label. Source: CleanLink, 5/24/13

St. John's Hospital in Maplewood, MN, is constantly seeking ways to improve its infrastructure in the most cost-effective ways. And when the stimulus-funded Commercial and Industrial Grant Program from the Minnesota Department of Commerce came along, it made energy efficiency easy. Source: CleanTechnica, 5/25/13

Sustainable packaging encompasses multiple initiatives, including producing effective solutions with minimum resources, protecting the product, transport efficiency and effective end of life management. What's encouraging is that each of the aforementioned can be accomplished one step at a time. Source: Environmental Leader, 5/23/13

Last week, TCO Development granted Samsung's Galaxy S4 the organization's first ever sustainability certification for smartphones. Source: Triple Pundit, 5/22/13

Policies are being crafted that will impact Renewable Portfolio Standards, the farm bill and green power financing. Here's how you can support these measures. Source: GreenBiz, 5/28/13

The world's largest real estate firm is running pilot tests of a solar-powered EV station and plastic waste compressor. Source: GreenBiz, 5/28/13

The Sustainable Purchasing Council is creating a framework for sustainable purchasing mirroring the LEED system for green buildings. Source: GreenBiz, 5/23/13

The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable's MVP2 awards are designed to recognize outstanding and innovative pollution prevention and green chemistry projects and programs. The application deadline for the 2013 MVP2 Awards is Monday, July 1, 2013. Source: National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, 5/24/13

Controversial electronics recycling fees in Ontario, Canada, have industry groups pushing for legislation reforms. Ontario Electronic Stewardship, the organization that oversees electronics recycling in the province, introduced a new model for applying recycling fees to electronics purchases May 1. Currently, OES collects so-called "eco fees" from the electronics manufacturers, retailers and distributors in the province, based on the amount of products they put into the market each month. The fees are then used to pay the companies responsible for collecting, transporting and processing used electronics, said Jonathan Spencer, executive director of OES. The eco fees are passed on to the consumer in the form of an increased point-of-sale cost. Last year OES collected about $58 million in fees and spent $83 million on recycling and refurbishing, intentionally running a deficit to eat up an existing surplus. The new funding model was designed to be based primarily on the actual cost of processing used electronics, and will be updated each year based on the previous year's costs. Formerly, fees were based on estimate. Under the new model, fees for some items decrease, while fees for other items increase. Many of the fees are a few dollars or less. A controversial point has been the significantly higher fee for large-screen display devices like televisions. The recycling fee for display devices smaller than 30 inches remained the same at $12.25. But the fee for devices larger than 30 inches jumped from $27.60 to $39.50. The higher fee is intended to cover the cost of recycling the televisions getting replaced, likely several years old and containing cathode ray tubes, which are expensive to process responsibly. Source: Waste & Recycling News, 5/23/13