Scientists at Cambridge University have developed a new LED light, that one will cost under $10.
This new LED – smaller than a U.S. penny – will last for 60 years, well beyond the lifespan of standard light bulbs or even compact florescents (CFL’s), and will retail for $3.00 each.
With the ever-growing popularity of LED lighting – from street lamps to Christmas decorations to commercial outdoor lighting – a team led by Colin Humphreys has discovered a way to produce white LED’s from gallium nitride. Available for decades, this semiconductor has until now been expensive to produce as it’s grown on wafers of sapphire. Humphreys’ team has found a way to [...]
Coming Soon – Affordable Consumer LED’s
FDA Knew about Mercury in Your Sweetener
More details on the government’s knowledge about contaminated corn syrup are coming to light. The FDA, the watchdog for consumer food safety, knew high fructose corn syrup could contain toxic mercury as early as 2005 and didn’t reveal the problem to the public.
An FDA scientist co-authored a study in 2005 discovering this serious health concern. Yet the FDA still allowed an advertising campaign touting corn syrup as “natural” to go forward.
The Corn Refiners Association is running an extensive TV campaign attempting to negate the findings. Information on their website
http://www.hfcsfacts.com – featuring a large ear of corn with authoritative statements from experts, including one from the American Medical Association – are [...]
Environmental Politics or Forward Movement?
A caucus of 35 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have formed the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, its purpose to create new jobs and encourage clean energy technology innovation, development of renewable energy.
Co-chaired by Representatives. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and Steve Israel, D-N.Y, the group met with Carol Browner, new assistant to President Obama for discussions on energy and climate policy.
The alliance has also been working to strengthen the terms of the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, the $825 billion stimulus program under debate in both the House and Senate.
Posturing or getting down to work? Time will only tell, but Americans are hoping that our politicians are finally [...]
New Environmental Articles
Be sure to check out new articles posted on the Writer’s Notebook page!
Corn Syrup Shown to Contain Mercury
Mercury – considered hazardous waste – has been steadily phased out of use in consumer products due to its toxicity.
Yet a new study shows that traces of this silvery metal have shown up in a common food sweetener. High fructose corn syrup – a known risk factor in type 2 diabetes – is used in a variety of consumer food products like soda, juices, candy, cough syrup, cereal and snack food (see http://tinyurl.com/ajlzg for a more complete list) . Now this prevalently-used sweetener is showing signs of containing mercury, said peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health, published on January 26th.
It’s believed the mercury’s source is the caustic soda and hydrochloric acid solution used by manufacturers [...]
Cup ‘o’ Java To be More Green
With the green movement spilling light into all the corners of consumerism, the cup of coffee has undergone a lot of scrutiny.
First came the shift from styrofoam to disposable paper coffee cups. But what to do about those darned lids? Made of thin plastic, they can’t be recycled or even reused very well.
A Boulder, Colorado company seems to have created a solution.
Eco-Products, Inc. has created the world’s first commercially compostable coffee cup lid. Made from a biopolymer by NatureWorks, LLC., this amazing lid will premier in April. Paired with a biodegradable hot cup, it will create a complete compostable hot cup system.
Submitted to the Biodegradable Products Institute for certification, Eco-Products’ [...]
Shopping Malls to see Water Conservation
With water tables steadily falling across the country, consumers and businesses alike are beginning to look at water conservation measures as a way to insure future water needs are met. A Petaluma, California company, HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc., developed their WeatherTRAK Smart Water Management system as an effective tool for water conservation and lawn care maintenance. (see http://tinyurl.com/dbyhex)
HydroPoint recently announced that Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers Corporation (NYSE: REG) will be installing the Smart WeatherTrak system at thirty of their shopping centers across the U.S.Regency began a water conservation campaign in late 2008, centering on 36 of its shopping centers, 27 of which are in California, 2 in Oregon and 1 in [...]
Decreased Air Pollution Equals Longer Life
The average life expectancy of Americans is directly related to the amount of air pollution we live with.
A report in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that decreased pollution particles from cars, diesel engines, coal-fired plants and steel mills have increased Americans’ longevity as much as 2.72 years, or 15 percent, since the 1980’s.
Two other large factors attributed to this increase are changed smoking habits and improved socioeconomic environment, researchers said. Clean air quality, however, was by far the largest factor.
In large urban areas where air particle counts declined by 13 to 15 micrograms, longevity increased by 43 weeks.
See http://tinyurl.com/atmbwg for more details more of this report.
This is yet another indicator [...]
PepsiCo begins establishing it’s Carbon Footprint
Pepsi/Co, Inc., the Purchase, NY-based beverage company, has partnered with the Carbon Trust to begin establishing the carbon footprint of their products.
The first product to be measured is their standard 64 oz. Tropicana Premium Orange Juice container. Carbon Trust reviewed the scientific data and has determined and certified its carbon footprint is 1.7 kilograms.
This breaks down to 60 percent of its CO2 emissions coming from the growing and processing oranges, 22% from transporting and distribution, 15 percent from packaging, and the final 3% comes from consumer use and disposal.
Neil Campbell, President of Tropicana Products North America, says they’ll use this information to help reduce Tropicana’s carbon footprint.
Environmental impact awareness is [...]
Colleges Compete to Become Recycling King
Recycling’s up all across the country. But the recycling market is down, creating a difficult and concerning dilemma.
After several years of steady marketing efforts to consumers and the continued expansion of Waste Management’s and others recyclers’ curbside recycling programs, consumers across the country properly disposing their “paper, plastic, aluminum” more than ever before.
Now the about to be launched annual RecycleMania at college campuses across the country will add to the recycling conundrum. RecycleMania – begun in 2001 – has over 500 colleges vying to be named the top recycler in the pack.
So if we’re increasing not only our awareness of the need to recycle but our success in this, what happens to [...]