Auto Repair: GLRPPR Sector Resources

News: Honda first to recycle hybrid car batteries

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 20:33:31 GMT

In a report released yesterday, the Japanese car manufacturer stated that it will be starting to recycle rare earth materials from Nickel-Metal-Hydride batteries found in the company's range of hybrid cars. Honda's Environmental Annual Report 2012 laid out the company's plans for reducing CO2 emissions, as well as other harmful gases, lowering the amount of waste created by company and increasing levels of recycling.

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News: IARC: Diesel Exhaust Carcinogenic

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:37:19 GMT

After a week-long meeting of international experts, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), today classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer.

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News: Old Electric Car Batteries to Find Second Life on the Power Grid

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:18:21 GMT

Electric car batteries have up to 70% capacity remaining after 10 years of use. This allows them to be used beyond the lifetime of the vehicle for applications, and smart grids can take advantage of their capacity to store intermittent renewable energy.

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Training: Air Quality Training

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:54:05 GMT

Six training sessions dealing with a wide variety of air quality topics.

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Resource: Toxics Use Reduction Case Studies

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:55:28 GMT

Case studies from a wide variety of industries and processes.

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News: Agilyx Turns Plastics Back into Crude Oil

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:33:45 GMT

When Lew Feucht sees a bag of potato chips, he doesn't see the salty snack inside the bag. He sees black gold, Texas tea, pure crude oil. Feucht is an account manager for Agilyx, a start-up company that is turning waste plastic into crude oil to be sold to a refinery. Agilyx has designed a system to take shredded plastic, heat it to the point that it becomes a liquid, and then gasify it. The gas is brought back to a liquid in a condenser and turned into a mixture of water and crude oil. The process can take a 1,000-pound batch of plastic and turn it into crude oil in five hours. The system is efficient, he said; it makes five BTUs worth of energy for every one BTU of energy used to process the material. The company's small industrial facility in Tigard, Ore., can process 10 tons of waste plastic a day. A tanker picks up 9,000 to 10,000 gallons of crude oil every seven to 10 days. While the system can take all types of plastics, Feucht said the company likes to avoid polyethylene terephthalate (PET or plastic code one) and high density polyethylene (HDPE or plastic code two) in favor of plastic codes three through seven, which are harder to recycle. There are all different types of streams that work in the system, including leftover plastic from car shredding, commonly referred to as auto fluff. The leftover plastic from electronic waste can be run through the system as well.

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Resource: P2 Data Collection Tools

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:16:30 GMT

NEWMOA developed this online resource to enable P2 and environmental assistance programs to share their P2 data collection tools. The overall purpose of this effort is to provide a way for programs to share these tools so that they can learn from each other and not have to reinvent them. P2 data collection tools include surveys, worksheets, self-certification forms, protocols and standard operating practices (SOPs) for follow-up to P2 technical assistance visits, quality management plans (QMPs), and/or checklists that P2 programs use to collect information from their clients. These data collection tools are used to understand the behavioral, environmental, and financial results from site visits, workshops or training events, and in response to an email, phone inquiry, or other social media technology. Users can customize their Search based on the relevant sector or topic, type of P2 activity, or type of P2 data collection tool used. They can also Add their own data collection tools to the system.

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News: IL: Aurora Recognized for "Green" Fleets

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:26:00 GMT

The city of Aurora has received another recognition for its efforts to go green. The city was honored by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency this week for replacing lead wheel weights on city vehicles and equipment. The City's Equipment Services Division launched a campaign to cut down on the amount of lead automotive balancing wheel weights by using new, environmentally friendly steel weights. The division replaced wheel weights on 360 fleet vehicles resulting in 138 pounds of lead removed during a 17-month period. The city replaced the wheel weights during scheduled maintenance services and tire repairs.

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News: Dow, Lehigh Partner on (More) Sustainable Tires

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:09:53 GMT

Chemical giant Dow and green materials manufacturer Lehigh Technologies said on Tuesday that they would collaborate on more sustainable materials for tires. The partnership combines Dow's polymer chemistry with Lehigh's sustainable, micronized rubber powders, or MRPs. The Tucker, Ga.-based startup's proprietary manufacturing process takes tire and other post-industrial rubber material and up-cycles it into powders that are compatible with customers' existing formulations.

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News: IL: Applications now being accepted for 2011 Illinois Governor's Sustainability Awards

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:13:01 GMT

ISTC is now accepting applications for the 2011 Governor's Sustainability Awards. The application deadline is May 27, 2011.

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