Cool Mist Humidifier. Humidify your room with cool mist humdifier will help you to maintain your healthy
Price: $49.99
Crane Personal Cool Mist Humidifier
Cool Mist Humidifier. Humidify your room with cool mist humdifier will help you to maintain your healthy
UV lamps are a recognised treatment for dealing with contaminants
Many homes are vulnerable to pollution of the air. This is the bad news. The good news is that UV light in your home HVAC system to help combat this problem and greatly improve your indoor air can be installed.
That eliminate UV light
At any given time, a variety of air carried by organic contaminants in your home. The micro-organisms, bacteria and viruses mold spores and pet dander are UV light to target. By reducing these harmful elements, be the health of household members, enhance especially if they suffer from respiratory illnesses or allergies.
How UV light
All Lounger or beach bum will attest, the human body radiation can be damaged. Fortunately, we have ways to protect us. Airborne organisms can not protect themselves from the effects of UV radiation. When these bacteria are exposed to UV radiation, breaks their cell structure, eliminate them quickly and safely. While all organic particles in your will not eliminate home air with UV-light systems, these systems will significantly reduce its presence.
These systems to place
UV light systems are induct or evaporator coil depending on by your installing home HVAC Setup. This allows them to work with your cooling and heating to obtain equipment to maximum effect. When the system is switched on - only the fan passes air zirkulierende micro-organisms through your tube under ultraviolet light, target and eliminate most of them.
It is important to note, however, that UV light systems remove inorganic particles from air in the room will not. You will therefore need more effective filtration and may be an Air Purifier working in tandem with the UV light.
Filtrete Air Cleaning Replacement Filter - Replacement Filter, 4 1/4 x 10 1/4
Filtrete air cleaning filters snap easily into place. Replace filter every three months for maximum performance. Captures allergens like dust, smoke, smog, mold spores and pet dander from the air passing through the filter. Built-in activated carbon filter helps reduce odors. Filter Type: Activated Carbon Filter Filtration Type: Activated Carbon Filter Filtration For: DustMold SporesOdorsPet DanderPollenSmog ParticlesSmoke.Unit of Measure : Each
Price: $ 5
Their high efficiency a/c: affect 4 installation considerations, performance
Is winter behind us now, and warmer months ahead, it is time to think about your a/c start. Consider if you install a highly efficient a/c in your home Denver Metro area have, now is the best time to move forward with your plans.
But first you need to consider four installation considerations that affect the performance of your new highly efficient a/c system:
Adequate air circulation - when correctly, your forced-air a/c system airflow all ensures energy savings of around 10 percent. If your home is too small or the layout is restrictive, sufficient ventilation will not occur. Other elements are looking to have a non-matching air handler and blocked grilles or registers, which can also adversely affect the performance.
Refrigerant free of charge - the unfortunate reality is that the majority of systems are either overwhelmed or undercharged with refrigerant. The correct refrigerant free to can leave both the design of your home and what kind of system is used (fixed aperture flow control when compared to thermal expansion valve). Make sure that you want to get to work with your contractor, the proper charge.
Channels with a narrow canals - if holes in your system power supply occur, your high-efficiency air conditioner performance, resulting in a decrease of the cooling capacity of less than 35 percent. The air ducts in your home Denver Metro area must be closely associated and sealed to prevent this. But don't forget that duct insulation is important to the efficiency, as also to ensure.
The right size - it is a simple fact that many a/c units are oversized. The theory is that the derived months can prevent unnecessary service calls from inefficient cooling during the warmer. The problem with this idea is that oversized units negatively affect your unit performance, resulting in more energy consumption, more wear on a/c-parts and unbalanced cooling. To prevent this, you can discuss your concerns with the professional, HVAC, you your House specific sizing needs advice.
The heat pump in your new home: Work with your contractor to maximize efficiency
Work with your contractor to ensure that the heat pump is optimal in your new home runs to ensure your comfort, and to lower energy costs help you reach. Building a House offers many possibilities, as efficiently as possible to make the House as energy. A smaller heat pump allows more insulation and an airtight seal to reduce energy costs and reducing your CO2 footprint.
Ask your Builder or contractor to develop the home so that it complies with energy star standards. This federal program developed guidelines for insulation and air to penetrate. Qualification for the coveted energy star often requires a blower-door test before is to certify high-efficiency standards of this home.
Are using a protocol called manual J HVAC contractor, which calculates the size of the heat pump, which need your home based on the size of the home and a variety of other factors, including insulation, window efficiency, and air to penetrate. A highly efficient home not so great need a system for heating and cooling load will be lower. The next step is the pipe system for high-efficient performance with manual D. Design.
Another advantage of cooperation with the supplier or generator to the heat pump into your new home is that you can select the efficiency and the features that you want. Heat pumps do separate efficiency for cooling and heating - or the Seer (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) and HSPF (heating seasonal performance factor). The minimum standards for heat pumps are sold in the United States 13 Seer and HSPF of 7.7.
Here are some of the updated features for the heat pump itself to look at:
Desuperheater. Our summers are warm to hot, and a Desuperheater takes the waste heat from the heat pump cooling and uses three times more efficiently than a standard water heater to heat your water.
Scroll compressors. These extract more heat in the winter and offer air from 10 to 15 degrees warmer than a heat pump with a piston compressor.
Graco Humidifier Replacement filter for 1.5 Gallon
Graco Humidifier Replacement Filter
Graco Humidifier Replacement Filter is an easy-to-replace drop-in filter that can be changed in just a minute. Remove pollutants for easy baby breathing.
Why You'll Love It: It prevents baby from breathing potentially irritating bacteria or mold.Features
- 1.5 gallon daily output
- Fast and easy replacement
- Drops right into place
- Package contains one filter
- Replace filter when it becomes hard to the touch or shows discoloration (caused by mineral deposits or mold/mildew buildup)
Price: $7.99
Air Conditioner Tune Up
There is nothing quite misery as an air conditioning breakdown in the middle of the front range in summer. Waiting for repair during this busy time is bad enough, but the costs for the repair or replacement of the appliance can be prohibitive. Annual air conditioning maintenance performed before the cooling begins season will help to prevent problems with your system during the hottest days of the year. It will also always down cooling costs make sure that your system efficiently throughout the season-long runs. A complete tuneup your air conditioner by a qualified HVAC technician includes following important tasks:
Pull the electrical Verbindungen.Schmieren to prevent the moving parts to friction.Check blower Assembly and strap on Abnutzung.Testen the system controls, to ensure that your air conditioner properly Zyklen.Reinigen and adjust the thermostat to Genauigkeit.Operativen temperatures and pressures to check.Refrigerant level check and adjust if necessary. If the level is low, check the system for leaks to and fix it.Check the voltage and the current in the Motor.Reinigen the condensing outdoor unit. check the channels for damage and loose joints. flush the condensate drain to avoid standing water.Examine the start and run capacitors and relays. check for optimal air flow.It is important to continue to maintain your air conditioner for your tuneup. Here are the essential DIY maintenance tasks, keep your system humming efficiently during the air conditioning season:
Check your air filter monthly to and change when it is dirty. A clean filter ensures optimal air flow and prevents your outdoor unit overheating and damage to Staubschichten.Schlauch down regularly to remove dust and dirt.Keep your outdoor unit free from debris such as grass clippings and Unkräuter.Pflegen to prevent the area around your indoor unit that dust to build up in your system.Make sure that your power supply and re conspicuous register are free of obstacles such as furniture and curtains, which can reduce the air flow and obstruct your system performance.More expert advice about the air conditioning maintenance or to schedule a tuneup, please contact us at Coffman and companies (303-366-1112). We serve the Denver Metro area a high degree of customer satisfaction.
Have you planned maintenance have your heat pump?
The difference can be as high as 25 per cent in the area of energy efficiency between a well-maintained heat pump and one that is neglected. Maintenance save hundreds dollars on annual bills planning a routine heat pump. Also, regular inspections guarantee the HVAC maintenance of the heat pump heating and cooling of the components in perfect condition. This can prevent heat problems in Denver in the summer. Spring, is maintenance before beginning of the cooling season heating up, a good time to plan, your heat pump. Get another tune-up, before the winter also makes sense.
The sooner potential problems identified and treated, the better. If during a routine heat pump maintenance the technician:
Do an inspection of the filters, pipes, blowers and indoor coils. Any dirt/debris that is found, are removed.Check that the air ducts are properly sealed.Check whether the air flow enough, based on precise measurements. for refrigerant leaks, check and make sure that refrigerant levels are sufficient.Check the electrical terminals. All loose fittings are to be tightened.Lubricate all bands for wear check, and engines.Check whether the electrical controls are set correctly.Check to make sure that the thermostat is working properly.Depending on of the HVAC maintenance plan you have, filter replacement, regular maintenance and certain repairs can be recorded, the cost for your service call.
If you use whole home energy efficiency priorities, they are also heat pump efficiency prioritize. Here are some things that you can do to get your heat pump between the scheduled maintenance. These include:
Keep your thermostat set to the lowest setting of the winter and highest summer setting, you can remain comfortable.Verify that all registers and vents freely through curtains, furniture, carpets and other items.Keep your air filter clean and changing it regularly according to the manufacturer's recommendations.
GH2190 Ultrasonic Car Humidifier Mini Air Humidifier with Car Charger,CE/ROHS
GH2190 Ultrasonic Car Humidifier Mini Air Humidifier with Car Charger,CE/ROHS
Price: $ 25
A sump pump: If you have tried to keep everything to your basement dry
Even at low air humidity we have here on the front range, wet basement can be a problem. Need for chronic water problems or occasional cleanup due to flooding caused by extreme weather conditions to keep you dry a sump pump to your basement.
If your basement is built into the soil oozes with natural or a high water table or your landscaping don't offer melt water from storms or spring snow melt, you could have water in your basement of any time of the year. A wet basement can cause structural damage to studs, drywall, ceiling beams and flooring tiles. Lingering moisture can cause health problems for your family if it promotes mildew.
A sump pump is located in a sump pit can keep water in your basement floor from the natural water table at a level below your Foundation. A sump pump can get also an influx of rainwater in your home. With a float switch or other switches, automatic detection of water in the sump work pit pumps automatically, to keep the water level below the basement floor. For emergency backup in case of failure, which makes mistakes or you can use a battery-powered backup pump install, with alarm, so you know that the primary system no longer works.
Your House can pit in the basement was built in a swamp, or you need to have a put. Since the work will affect digging through your Foundation, expert hire a trusted plumbing contractor or drain, to find the best location for the mine and do the work for you.
Filtrete Air Cleaning Replacement Filter - Replacement Filter, 11 x 14 1/2
Filtrete air cleaning filters snap easily into place. Replace filter every three months for maximum performance. Captures allergens like dust, smoke, smog, mold spores and pet dander from the air passing through the filter. Built-in activated carbon filter helps reduce odors. Filter Type: Activated Carbon Filter Filtration Type: Activated Carbon Filter Filtration For: DustMold SporesOdorsPet DanderPollenSmog ParticlesSmoke.Unit of Measure : Each
Price: $ 25
Let not these problems a/c get this summer
Air conditioners are usually robust, long-life machines, relatively good working conditions in the imperfect. Improper installation, improper use or insufficient maintenance can include still common a/c health Denver homeowners. Here are five problems that may occur this summer and the recommended updates.
Refrigerant leakage: If your A/C is low refrigerant, it was either undercharged during the installation or it is leaking. A qualified technician can correctly calculate test for leaks, a repair and the system the system for peak performance and energy efficiency.
Dirty coil: A / CS have a thickening outdoor unit and indoor evaporator coil, both are to carry out dirty and bad. Not just dirty coils work efficiency, but they can also the compressor or fans are failing prematurely cause. The solution to these and other problems of the a/c is to plan annual preventive maintenance. During a visit to spring a trusted contractor will help examine the entire system and pass now throughout the summer adaptations.
Electrical error: Fans and compressors wear the process but eventually an a / c a and switch off again accelerated. This is common in homes with oversized A / cs. There is no immediate solution to this problem, but make sure that you have your next unit correct size.
Sensor problems: Room air conditioners are often in the Denver Metro area. Have one or more, may be trouble, if the thermostat sensor position is tapped. To correct this, and enjoy cold air blows out again, adjust the sensor is so the device in the vicinity of the evaporator coil but do not touch. A technician can help this delicate adjustment, if you need help.
Drainage problems: Sure the condensate drain is not blocked you make, and that is draining to avoid at home to water damage. Window must be A / CS backwards slightly tilted to drain properly. A technician has the necessary tools for a blocked condensate drain if necessary to help the jumps.More tips and tricks to the common a/c problems please contact us at Coffman and companies in Denver by visiting our website or call us at 303-366-1112.
Generalaire GA19 Humidifier Evaporator Pad- 1 pad
This is for 1 Genuine replacement Water Panel Evaporator pad for Generalaire model humidifiers. #GA19.
Water Panel Evaporators are the heart of your humidifier and the component which generates the important humidity to keep you comfortable during the heating season. The water panel slides into the scale control insert and the water distribution tray sits on top of it to evenly deliver water to the water panel.
This water pad fits :
Generalaire Elite series models 900 & 1000
Size: 12" x 9-7/8" x 1-1/2"
Price: $ 155
A Room-by-Room Guide to Optimal Air Quality in Your Home
Your home is your haven, a place where you should always feel the highest level of comfort and safety. Maintaining optimal air quality in your home is important to your overall well-being. Every room in your home presents its own set of challenges when it comes to air quality.
Your kitchen contains some natural pollutants due to the use of appliances. Gas stoves, for instance, can emit nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas caused by combustion. Poorly vented or unvented gas stoves create a risk of releasing high levels of nitrogen dioxide. Exposure can lead to irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, as well as respiratory issues such as bronchitis. Bathrooms are by nature full of dampness, which can cause mold. Properly vented bathrooms reduce this risk. Plumbing should be maintained to avoid leaks.Probably low on your list of rooms with hazards to your optimal air quality are your living room and bedrooms. However they pose some hidden dangers that you need to protect against. The good news is that most of the irritants in these rooms can be controlled with a little housekeeping. Cleaning air vents throughout your house reduces pollutants in the air. Every home has allergy-inducing dust mites that breed in carpets, upholstery, furniture and even stuffed toys. But there are ways to reduce their numbers:
Bed linens should be washed regularly.Dust with a damp clothVacuum carpets weeklyDuring the summer, control humidity indoors with a dehumidifier. Use a portable model for rooms or areas with higher humidity than the rest of the house.Your basement is one of the most susceptible rooms when it comes to optimal air quality issues. Due to the damp nature of the basement, it is prone to mold, which can cause respiratory issues. Probably the most dangerous air quality issue is the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Heating and cooling units that are defective can produce this deadly gas. Keep to annual maintenance schedules for your heating and cooling appliance. Always have a HVAC certified specialist perform any repairs or installations.
Air conditioning replacement: Can squeeze 1 more summer, or is it time to go shopping to start?
Decide when it best with an air conditioning replacement approach includes education about new technologies of air conditioning, as well as to know the signs of a/c before an impending failure. Here is what you need to know to repair the decision or to replace an air conditioning.
HVAC systems have a life expectancy of about 15 years, give or take the influence this number with several major factors. For example, if you have maintained the unit faithfully over the years not, it probably reach the upper end of the life expectancy. If it have waited a year, experts agree that more than tack five years his life on can. And of course the a/c will play only the simple factor how often you use a large role, how long it takes.
Other factors contribute to the air conditioning system replacement decision, such as how much your energy costs are and whether the system of your home is comfortable to hold.
Often, when homeowners start think it is time to replace your air conditioner, it is likely that the system requires to run more cost frequent repairs, and is home to not like it used to cool. In this scenario, which replace the air conditioning system provides several important benefits:Reliability.You must not cross your fingers and hope, that runs the system over the summer, and you must not pay at the most inopportune time for a costly repair.
Lower utility bills.Instead, thoughts about how much it will cost to the air conditioner run when temperatures rise, you can confidently switch the a/c on, knowing full well, that you a high degree of cooling performance for the current number you forever.
Money back.Buying a high-efficiency system with seasonal energy efficiency (seer) rated 16 or above and you may qualify for a tax credit of $300. The system must be installed by end of 2013.
Guarantee.An air conditioner replacement to buy and get the guarantee the system should collapse, something no longer has your existing system. On the other hand a/c will not work with a new high-performance, probably you need to consider the warranty for a very long time.
Comfort.You can again to include future system of your home cooling load and boost of comfort in all life Räume.Coffman and companies is happy, greater Denver area homeowners to help with cooling, installations, repairs and maintenance. Call us today to 303-366-1112 or visit our website for more information about an air conditioner replacement.
Pair your split air conditioner: why only the perfect match will
Summer will be here before you know it, and here in the area, Metro Denver have an energy-efficient air conditioning is essential for comfort. Frequently split air conditioning system used an outdoor unit used, commonly referred to as the capacitor and an indoor unit, the evaporator coil. Sometimes be in order to save investment costs, home and homeowners outdoor unit is simply replace when you upgrade your system. This is not always the wisest course however. Mismatched units often don't work together in harmony and a/c efficiency and performance decreases.
When replacing the outdoor unit and the indoor unit is not the ultimate cost could be much higher than the first savings of just buying an indoor unit.
• Best case scenario, are new units not as energy-efficient, as expected, and the additional cost of operating your split air conditioner in advance could exceed savings.
• Highly likely that the mismatched evaporator/indoor air handler is unnecessary burden on the new outdoor condenser and cause ovarian failure.
• If you have bought a new system uses an environmentally friendly refrigerant, replace both devices with the new system ovarian failure caused.
Have checked your system by a trusted professional. With matching indoor and outdoor units in a split system not only you get the highest output for the most energy efficiency, you can also prevent mishaps in future as well as a reduced system life.
Contact us for more information about a split air conditioner or for all of your home comfort needs at Coffman and companies or call us at 303-366-1112. We take care of Aurora and Denver-U-Bahn area for over 30 years.
LM-002 Mini Ultrasonic Air Humidifier for Car Office &Home Air Purifiers-Pink
LM-002 Mini Ultrasonic Air Humidifier for Car Office &Home Air Purifiers-Pink
Price: $ 155
Living in a material world
A new report by researchers at MIT and elsewhere finds that the global manufacturing sector has made great strides in energy efficiency: The manufacturing of materials such as steel, cement, paper and aluminum has become increasingly streamlined, requiring far less energy than when these processes were first invented.
However, despite more energy-efficient manufacturing, the researchers found that such processes may be approaching their thermodynamic limits: There are increasingly limited options available to make them significantly more efficient. The result, the team observed, is that energy efficiency for many important processes in manufacturing is approaching a plateau.
The researchers looked at how materials manufacturing might meet the energy-reduction targets implied by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has suggested a 50 percent reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions by 2050 as a means of avoiding further climate change. Meanwhile, economists have estimated that global demand for materials will simultaneously double.
To reduce energy use by 50 percent while doubling the output of materials, the team — led by graduate student Sahil Sahni and Tim Gutowski, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT — studied whether manufacturing processes could improve in efficiency by 75 percent. The researchers identified the five most energy-using materials produced, and outlined scenarios in which further energy may be saved in manufacturing. But even in the most aggressive scenario, the team found it was only able to reduce energy use by about 50 percent — far short of its 75 percent goal.
“What we’re saying is, when you look really big, at global targets for limiting climate change, we think this appears to be beyond what industry can do by itself,” says Gutowski, who leads MIT’s Environmentally Benign Manufacturing research group. “If industry can’t meet these goals, we may need bigger cuts in other sectors.”
The researchers published their results in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Their co-authors are Julian Allwood and Michael Ashby, of Cambridge University, and Ernst Worrell of Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Even an optimistic scenario is not enough
To assess the potential for energy reduction in manufacturing, Gutowski and his colleagues first identified the five materials whose production consumes the most energy. These materials — steel, cement, paper, plastics and aluminum — represent roughly half of energy used and more than half of carbon dioxide emitted in the manufacturing sector. The researchers then identified the most energy-intensive processes involved in manufacturing each of these materials, and looked for ways in which these processes might be made more efficient.
For example, the team looked for the best available technologies associated with materials manufacturing. According to Gutowski, “There is a distribution of how efficient these operations are around the world.” Some facilities may adopt the most efficient (and expensive) equipment, while others retain older, energy-inefficient processes.
“These are huge facilities, and very capital-intensive,” Gutowski says. “When you build one, you don’t want to scrap the whole thing and build a new one. So they stay in place for a long time.”
The researchers drew up an optimistic scenario in which every manufacturing facility adopts the best available technologies. The team disregarded cost — in reality, often a huge barrier to installing energy-efficient processes. Instead, the researchers looked for any solution that may improve energy efficiency by 75 percent — but found they were unable to reach even half of that value
The team then tried another tactic, looking to reduce energy-intensive processing through wider adoption of recycling; it requires far less energy to recycle a material than it does to manufacture it from scratch. However, they found limits in the supply of recyclable materials, particularly in developing countries that are growing at high rates.
What about substituting materials such as concrete for steel, or steel for aluminum? The team observed that such changes might save money, as less energy-intensive materials are often also cheaper. But the properties of the substituted materials differ, leading to very different designs, so the comparisons are not straightforward. And in general, Gutowski notes, the trends are actually in the opposite direction: “We are substituting more energy-intensive materials for the less energy-intensive.”
In the end, the group found that the manufacturing sector as a whole would only be able to reduce its energy use by about 50 percent. A major constraint, Gutowski says, is the materials’ thermodynamic limit: the minimum energy required to manufacture a material from raw inputs. Manufacturers have already made great strides and the best available technologies are now approaching these limits, particularly for the five materials studied — making it difficult, and costly, to achieve further gains.
Making strides without hurting too much
Despite these limitations, Gutowski says these gains should be pursued and that there remain additional ways to reduce energy consumption. For example, materials can be made to last longer, or to serve more people. Both scenarios may serve to reduce demand, and hence energy use and carbon emissions.
John Sutherland, a professor of environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University, sees the group’s results as a necessary reality check.
“Just trying to be more efficient in terms of manufacturing is not going to have the impact needed to meet the long-term energy-reduction goals,” says Sutherland, who did not participate in the research. “A fundamental paradigm change does offer promise, [such as] dematerialization — meeting needs through services rather than with material-intensive products.”
Gutowski says societal actions also play a part in reducing energy use. People may choose to carpool, or take the train, rather than driving their car to work — choices that would improve material efficiency from a broad perspective.
To date, he says, society hasn’t made as many improvements in energy efficiency as industry. The incentive for industry is to reduce costs; for society to make the same cuts in energy use, different incentives may be needed.
niceEshop(TM) Mini USB Home Office Car Cup Air Humidifier Moist Filter
Condition: Brand new
Size: 11cm X 9cm X 9cm
Weight: 0.2Kg
Material: ABS + Electronic Components
Colour: as pictures
Notice: Color of pictures may vary by different monitor setting. All pictures are real stock photos.
Package Included:
1 x USB Humidifier
Price: $ 150
Programs for green cities
In cities across the country, bike-sharing plans, tree-planting initiatives, and other programs aimed at enhancing urban sustainability are becoming increasingly popular. As mayors consider how to design and implement their own programs, they can turn for guidance to a series of MIT assessments of what kinds of programs have worked — and not worked — in other cities and why. The MIT director of the assessment project is now developing a systematic, user-friendly method of presenting this information as well as a protocol that will permit easy or even automatic updating of the content. Her next task: determining the environmental benefits that actually accrue from specific urban sustainability programs.
At one time, cities were seen as dark, dirty hubs of consumption, degrading to both people and the environment. But recently, environmentalists have recognized that dense, compact cities are, in many ways, environmentally friendly. For example, people reside in relatively small spaces and close together; shared walls and short travel distances make for efficient energy use. What is more, urban leaders have stepped in where national-level politicians have been unwilling to act. As a result, cities are now leaders in the pursuit of sustainability.
More than 1,000 mayors have signed the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, vowing to meet the targets of the Kyoto Protocol. While that agreement was initially a response to federal inaction on climate change, city leaders have since realized that "being green" has multiple benefits: It makes cities more sustainable, enhances their livability, and attracts new residents, drawing people back into urban areas that are inherently more efficient. "By the mid-2000s, U.S. cities were competing to see who could be the most green," says Judy Layzer, associate professor of environmental policy and head of Environmental Policy and Planning in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
Many U.S. cities are now devising and implementing sustainability programs aimed at everything from increasing bicycle use to expanding renewable power generation to cleaning up and conserving water. In 2008, Layzer became intrigued with such urban programs. Supported by a seed grant from the MIT Energy Initiative, she began to develop the first systematic assessment of ongoing sustainability programs — a source of integrated information that city leaders interested in sustainability will find invaluable. "Imagine that you're a mayor and you want to start a bike-share program," says Layzer. "If it fails, you don't get to try it again. Politics is very unforgiving." To design the best possible program, you would read case studies, search the Internet, and call your mayoral counterparts in other cities. But that is a scattershot way to gather information. When Layzer's work is finished, you will instead consult a website created by her group and find a systematic analysis of how different approaches have led to different results in different settings or contexts.
Gathering data
To begin, Layzer assembled a team of students to assess five types of programs: tree-planting, light-rail systems, green stormwater infrastructure, urban parks, and composting. Each assessment started with a careful selection of U.S. cities to target — some that have effective programs, some that have less-effective programs, and some that have tried and failed. The students then reviewed relevant documents and performed in-depth interviews to get details about the design of each city's program; the political and social factors that may have affected its implementation; how program officials overcame any obstacles (if they did); and the program's actual operation. After more than a year's work, the students are now finalizing their assessments and thinking about how best to present the information they gathered.
Two examples demonstrate what a city leader can learn from the assessments. Suppose you want to start a tree-planting program — a good way to improve local air quality, reduce the need for cooling, and enhance the livability of your city. You face two big problems: inadequate funding and finding places to plant thousands of new trees. Giving away seedlings at public events might seem an effective and popular way to deal with both of those problems — but the MIT assessment of tree-planting initiatives shows that others have run into trouble with such programs. In Los Angeles, for example, a tree giveaway elicited a public outcry and unfavorable press citing the irresponsibility of giving away trees that would end up in people's apartments or trash or — if they were actually planted — left to die untended. Portland required recipients to pay a small fee to show their commitment to planting and maintenance, but then there were few takers. One place to watch is Philadelphia, which has been piloting various tree-giveaway models to test what works and what doesn't before initiating a large-scale effort. Several cities are undertaking demonstration plantings at publicly controlled sites such as libraries to show people the benefits of trees and build community support.
Tree-siting methods and strategies for success:
Use sparinglyTest pilot modelsCharge small fees to boost commitmentUse more established treesPiggyback on street tree effortCollect contact informationConduct follow-ups via emailConduct 10% random sample site visitsAdvertise widely through community partners, libraries, recreational centers, etc.User opt-out strategies instead of opt-inDevelop educational and public engagement projects through community partners in target neighborhoodsFocus initial program resources on replacement planting and public sites to build community supportPlant with contractual maintenanceProvide incentives to large private landownersForm planting agreements with other municipal landholdersLook for project synergies with other agencies.
Now consider a program to install a light-rail system — a move that could help relieve highway congestion, expand commuting choices, reinvigorate urban centers, and more. You know that getting voter approval to fund and implement the new light-rail line will be difficult. According to the MIT assessment, you can increase your odds of success by having a referendum that addresses multiple transportation modes rather than just light rail. But your best bet is to use existing funds to build a demonstration line and then present a referendum to fund future expansion. In Dallas and Salt Lake City, for example, people who initially opposed light-rail construction in their communities saw the success of the initial line elsewhere and subsequently lobbied for an extension into their areas. To improve your chances of winning over voters, you should place your new line on a corridor with many potential riders, avoid delays and cost overruns during construction, and involve the affected community in the design process.
General advice for planners
What general messages can mayors glean from the work to date? According to Layzer, a critical first step is to know your city. "The part I find fascinating that's not often discussed or researched is all the ways that implementation can fail because you didn't think about some aspect of the target — the entity whose behavior you're trying to influence," she says.
One key variable is a city's attitude toward environmental action. San Francisco, Austin, Boulder, and Minneapolis, for example, are thought to have a strong environmental ethic, which may contribute to those cities' ability to adopt aggressive sustainability policies. Indeed, in some cases, environmental ethic may trump other seemingly obvious influences, such as climate. Minneapolis, for instance, has cold, snowy winters and yet is a leader in bicycle programs; when winter comes, the bike-share stations are simply removed until spring.
The propensity to accept or resist rules may also influence the form of a city's programs. New York, for example, has a culture of rules, fines, and compliance. In 2009, New York City instituted a rule prohibiting retail establishments that are running air conditioners from propping their doors open on hot days. Few stores complied — until the city began fining stores and issuing warnings, and compliance began to rise. "If you tried that approach in San Diego or Houston, you might get a lot more pushback," says Layzer. In such cities, successful environmental programs are more likely to take the form of incentives or education than mandates.
In the end, different variables and city attributes matter for different kinds of programs — a complicating factor that the MIT teams try to address in their assessments. "One thing we talk about is that for this policy area, these kinds of city attributes can really matter," says Layzer. "So it may be in the realm of, say, bike planning, New York can learn from Minneapolis but not from Chattanooga." And while putting values on such attributes as environmental ethic may seem subjective, Layzer believes that long-term residents have a "pretty accurate sense" of their city's culture and what would work and what would not.
Continuing work
Layzer and her team are now grappling with how best to present the assessment information so that people can use it and learn from it. Her goal is to produce a series of web-based tools that gives the visitor easy access to relevant, action-oriented analyses incorporating prose, graphics, and links to detailed supporting information. When those tools are available, she will ask various sustainability organizations to post them so that others can use, refine, and expand them.
She is also seeking a means of constantly updating the data so as to generate new assessments and analyses every few years. Her original concept was to have cities and students collaborate. "Cities have no money, but there are lots of universities with students who want real-world experience," says Layzer. But as her own experience has shown, students have many demands on their time, and progress can be slow — and that is a problem for urban planners. "Wait too long and the political moment will have passed," notes Layzer. She is hoping to speed the process by incorporating methods of automated data collection. "While the time-consuming, labor-intensive interviews would still be necessary, certain types of data could be collected automatically that could tell you a lot about a city," she says.
Once she's finished "inventing the method" and others are using and improving it, she plans to move onto the next piece: determining whether urban programs actually make a difference. It may seem obvious that they would — but perhaps not always. For example, if people get appliances that are more energy-efficient, they might use them more, causing overall energy use to increase rather than decrease. Similarly, the energy and environmental gains from requiring new buildings to be green may be less than predicted if those buildings are not used as efficiently as possible. Layzer recognizes that establishing a clear link between sustainability programs and measurable environmental impacts will be tricky. "You have to be clever about what you measure and how you figure out whether it was the program that caused the outcome or not," she says. "It'll be a totally different kind of challenge, but I think it's worth a try."
Sunpentown SD-65E Energy Star 65-Pint Dehumidifier
Designed to remove excess moisture from your home quietly and efficiently. A necessity for those suffering from dust mite, allergies or simply for those who wants to keep their indoor humidity at a comfortable level. Air that is too damp can cause itchy skin and nasal passages, condensation on windows, water damage to materials, mold growth and rotting of wood materials in your home. SPT dehumidifiers remove moisture from the musty air so you can enjoy year-round comfort in your home or office. Humidity level for this unit can be set as low as 35% with Normal or Turbo fan speed. Features a retractable lifting handle, washable air filter and casters for easy mobility.
Price: $295.00
The case of the missing gas tax
Vehicle efficiency standards have long been considered vital to cutting the United States’ oil imports. Strengthened last year with the added hope of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the standards have been advanced as a way to cut vehicle emissions in half and save consumers more than $1.7 trillion at the pump. But researchers at MIT find that, compared to a gasoline tax, vehicle efficiency standards come with a steep price tag.
“Tighter vehicle efficiency standards through 2025 were seen as an important political victory. However, the standards are a clear example of how economic considerations are at odds with political considerations,” says Valerie Karplus, the lead author of the study and a researcher with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. “If policymakers had made their decision based on the broader costs to the economy, they would have gone with the option that was least expensive – and that’s the gasoline tax.”
The study, published this week in the March edition of the journal Energy Economics, compares vehicle efficiency standards to a tax on fuel as a tool for reducing gasoline use in vehicles. The researchers found that regardless of how quickly vehicle efficiency standards are introduced, and whether or not biofuels are available, the efficiency standards are at least six times more expensive than a gasoline tax as a way to achieve a cumulative reduction in gasoline use of 20 percent through 2050. That’s because a gasoline tax provides immediate, direct incentives for reducing gasoline use, both by driving less and investing in more efficient vehicles. Perhaps a central reason why politics has trumped economic reasoning, Karplus says, is the visibility of the costs.
“A tax on gasoline has proven to be a nonstarter for many decades in the U.S., and I think one of the reasons is that it would be very visible to consumers every time they go to fill up their cars,” Karplus says. “With a vehicle efficiency standard, your costs won't increase unless you buy a new car, and even better than that, policymakers will tell you you’re actually saving money. As my colleague likes to say, you may see more money in your front pocket, but you’re actually financing the policy out of your back pocket through your tax dollars and at the point of your vehicle purchase.”
Along with being more costly, Karplus and her colleagues find that it takes longer to reduce emissions under the vehicle efficiency standards. That’s because, with more efficient vehicles, it costs less to drive, so Americans tend to drive more. Meanwhile, the standards have no direct impact on fuel used in the 230 million vehicles currently on the road. Karplus also points out that how quickly the standards are phased in can make a big difference. The sooner efficient vehicles are introduced into the fleet, the sooner fuel use decreases and the larger the cumulative decrease would be over the period considered, but the timing of the standards will also affect their cost.
The researchers also find that the effectiveness of the efficiency standards depends in part on the availability of other clean-energy technologies, such as biofuels, that offer an alternative to gasoline.
“We see the steepest jump in economic cost between efficiency standards and the gasoline tax if we assume low-cost biofuels are available,” Karplus says. “In this case, if biofuels are available, a lower gasoline tax is needed to displace the same level of fuel use over the 2010 to 2050 time frame, as biofuels provide a cost-effective way to displace gasoline above a certain price point. As a result, a lower gas tax is needed to achieve the 20 percent cumulative reduction.”
To project the impact of vehicle efficiency standards, Karplus and her colleagues improved the MIT Emissions Predictions and Policy Analysis Model that is used to help understand how different scenarios to constrain energy affect our environment and economy. For example, they represent in the model alternatives to the internal combustion engine based on the expected availability and cost of alternative fuels and technologies, as well as the dynamics of sales and scrappage that affect the composition of the vehicle fleet. Their improvements to the model were recently published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Economic Modelling.
Nest Learning Thermostat - 2nd Generation T200577
The 2nd Generation Nest Learning Thermostat has a new, slimmer design, is enclosed by a solid stainless steel ring, and works with 95% of low voltage systems. The Nest Learning Thermostat learns what temperatures you like, turns itself down when you're away and can be controlled from anywhere over Wi-Fi. By programming itself, the Nest thermostat can save up to 20% on your heating and cooling bill. You just have to teach it well.
Price: $249.00
Students witness science policy in action
Last month, the United Nations Environment Programme agreed on the first major environmental treaty in over a decade, with a focus on reducing mercury pollution. In attendance at the event in Geneva, Switzerland were 10 MIT students and their instructor Noelle Selin, a researcher with the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and an assistant professor of atmospheric chemistry and engineering systems.
The group had UN observer status and was able to attend all of the negotiations, breakout sessions and meetings. The students also revealed their latest scientific information about mercury through a poster presentation, and shared their experiences and observations via a blog and Twitter feed.
Back on the MIT campus, Selin and the students hosted a panel discussion on Feb. 6 in which they shared their experiences and lessons learned from witnessing international environmental policy-making in action.
Selin kicked off the event by describing the problem of mercury pollution and why an international treaty was essential to curbing the environmental and public health effects. She explained that mercury levels in the Earth have increased greatly due to the burning of fossil fuels, cement production and more. Mercury then rains down into oceans, where it contaminates fish as toxic methylmercury.
“The health risks to consumers of fish include neurological effects, particularly in the offspring of exposed pregnant women,” Selin explained. “Over 300,000 newborns in the U.S. each year are at risk of learning disabilities due to their elevated mercury exposure.”
Mercury is an element that cycles in the environment, meaning that once it’s released into the atmosphere it can take decades to centuries for mercury to make its way back to ocean sediments.
“This becomes a global issue, this becomes a long term issue, and thus an issue for international cooperation,” Selin said.
During the trip, five student teams covered topics including governing institutions, products and processes, emissions, waste/trade/mining, and finance. A member from each team gave a presentation at the Feb. 6 panel and shared thoughts and observations on the international negotiation process.
Philip Wolfe, a PhD candidate in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, discussed the institutions and policy process of the negotiations. He explained that the treaty has to work on two levels: globally and domestically.
“Individual countries engage in regional, domestic or bilateral agreements and they’ll only really sign on to a global convention if it also meets their own domestic goals,” Wolfe said.
The treaty, if nations decide to sign it, would require tightly controlling emissions — a major area of discussion during the negotiations.
Leah Stokes, PhD candidate in environmental policy and planning, discussed the challenges with regulating emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and artisanal small-scale gold mining. She explained that when individuals want to mine gold and don’t have any equipment, they use mercury because it binds with gold. When burned together, the mercury burns first, leaving gold behind. This process is estimated by the United Nations to be the largest global contributor of mercury emissions.
“We also come into contact with mercury through a lot of the products we use,” explained Ellen Czaika, a PhD candidate in the Engineering Systems Division.
Examples of products with mercury that will be phased out under the treaty include some types of compact fluorescent light blubs, dental fillings, pesticides, thermometers and batteries. There were important discussions at the conference about weighing the benefits of some of these products versus their mercury risks, Czaika said.
Mercury mining is another source of concern, and a major piece of the treaty. Danya Rumore, a PhD student in environmental policy and planning, explained that this was expected to be a big area of contention, but an agreement was reached that gave time for a ban to come into effect over a 15-year period.
Julie van der Hoop, a PhD student in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Joint Program, followed financial and technical assistance issues at the negotiations. She discussed how the strength and effectiveness of the treaty will be shown through the technology transfer programs, a new funding mechanism for developing nations and implementation plans.
Ultimately, she said, “We’re looking for a treaty to be effective… If you make a treaty and it’s not effective then what’s the point?”
Many of the panelists said that the treaty has relatively weak requirements, but that this is still a historic and impactful international environmental treaty. Selin recognized that it had to be an agreement that all 140 countries would be able to sign on to and that any limits on mercury will have long-term impacts because of the nature of the mercury cycle.
“This isn’t a thing that ends today,” Stokes said. “This is just something that keeps going and going and going. Even though we have a treaty — really, we’re going to decide everything [about implementation] at the next meeting.”
The students attended the conference as part of a National Science Foundation grant that aims to train a cohort of graduate students for science policy leadership through a semester-long course and an intensive policy engagement exercise.
LR-005 Lovely Frog Mini Ultrasonic Air Humidifier for Car Office &Home Air Purifiers
LR-005 Lovely Frog Mini Ultrasonic Air Humidifier for Car Office &Home Air Purifiers
Price: $ 300
The case of optimism about the future of renewable energy
Professor Eric Martinot, senior director of research with the Institute for sustainable energy policies in Tokyo, told students and teachers at a seminar on April 18 that renewable energies have become "mainstream" and are "an important part of our energy system".
Martinot has just completed a two-year project entitled Global renewable energy futures report, a collection of 170 personal interviews conducted with industry executives, the CEOs of companies in renewable energy, the utility leaders, officials and researchers.
"Still we are thinking in the future of renewable energies such as 1990 or as it is the year 2000," said Martinot. "Our thinking is right behind the reality that renewable energies are today and where to go based on the trends of technology, cost and market finance."
Martinot gave an overview of various scenarios and projections of the oil industry, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and environmental groups. The data show that investment in renewable energy is a key example of the current growth and predicted path. Investment in renewable energy is predicted to double, if not 2020, then 2040.
"During the last three years, from 2010, the global investment in renewable energies exceeded investments in fossil fuels and nuclear power generation capacity. That's very striking that most of the people,"he said.
Despite this growth, Martinot said: "the existing sources of finance will not allow us to achieve high levels of renewable energy. Loans of the Bank and the financial balance of utility are the two main mechanisms of current finance and going to miss." In the future it will have to wait to see new sources of investment, pension funds, oil companies and Community funds.
Renewable energy currently supply around 20% of the world's electricity - with hydroelectric energy of about 15 percent of that and all other renewable energies (wind, solar, geothermal and biomass) that make up five per cent. Martinot sees potential in the expansion of renewables for heating and cooling in the near future.
"We have all the technologies that we need now, we don't have to wait for the high shares of heating and cooling from renewable energy technology, but this will involve huge changes in building construction, architecture and building materials, the construction industry," he explained. "It may take decades for that to change."But we can do it."
Integration of renewable energies in the network, buildings, houses and vehicles is where he sees the greatest opportunities of investment, infrastructure and research.
"Electricity grids have been operated and designed for the past 100 years on the basis of two things: first, energy storage is impossible, and number two, who has offered to meet the demand," said. Due to the variability of renewable energy, the integration and management of storage and demand are needed.
Martinot believes that we are on the way to the fight against these challenges. "We're seeing both turned them on its head because it has become a practice of energy storage and is working on a commercial basis in a number of projects." We are also seeing the so-called "demand response" where demand has really can be adjusted to meet supply, rather than the other way around. "
Utilities in Denmark and Germany, for example, are using new tools to manage the variability of wind and solar, and are able to switch to natural gas and heat when necessary.
The construction sector is another opportunity to integrate renewable energy current with the demands of the typical House of the family. Martinot described houses of the future that use solar energy for heating and water hot, electric vehicles with batteries for the home page for the power and energy storage, storage of passive heat in the construction of buildings and geothermal heat pumps to power homes.
"If you were able to standardize this type of construction in architectural practices in the world could reduce the cost and make if more common in the homes of the people", said.
Admitted Martinot is bullish on renewables and has high hopes that we can reduce carbon emissions and provide affordable energy.
His research shows that we can be optimistic about the future of renewable energy sources, such as Governments, utilities and energy companies are expanding investment, research and development across a variety of sectors-renewable energy.
LR-004 Lovely Pig Mini Ultrasonic Air Humidifier for Car Office &Home Air Purifiers
LR-004 Lovely Pig Mini Ultrasonic Air Humidifier for Car Office &Home Air Purifiers
Price: $ 155
Southwest Mission: Minas, agua y rocas
This photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled. Editor's note: The following piece was written by first-year students and members of Terrascope Rhine Yunis, Emily Shorin and Judy Pu. The students recently returned from a trip to the American Southwest, where they and their classmates visited active mines to learn about extraction and use of strategic minerals, including lithium and the rare earth elements. The Terrascope program sponsors an annual field trip over spring break focused on the year's theme.
While many students either escaped to a beach or went home to see family, a group of 24 MIT undergraduates and 10 adult mentors headed to two states in the American Southwest for spring break. The group comprised of first-year students who had been part of the fall Terrascope class 12,000 (known as Mission 2016), undergraduate teaching assistants, graduate students, professors, Terrascope staff and alumni mentors who had advised the class two.
The annual trip is part of the Terrascope full learning experience; an attempt to put into context the problem that the students had worked to solve in the fall. The subject of this year's class was the "Future of Strategic Natural Resources," which addressed the limited supply and increasing demand for resources such as rare earth elements, phosphorus and lithium that are needed for the production of many modern technologies and consumer goods. To see where the minerals they had studied in 2016 Mission came from, the group visited a series of mines in California and Nevada, including the Rockwood Lithium mine, Searles Valley Minerals Trona Facility, Rio Tinto borax mine, Oceanview Pegmatite Mine and Simplot silica mine.
Mine trekking
Rockwood and Searles Valley are both in-situ mines that pump brine from underground aquifers. While Rockwood Lithium use evaporation ponds to concentrate and then precipitate out their products, Searles Valley is more industrialized and uses a vast system of pipes, pumps and facilities where the effluent is processed. By contrast, Rio Tinto is an open-pit mine, mining minerals that are part of the 20-million-year-old lake deposits. Simplot's silica mine is also open-pit and produces high quality silica sand, mostly used in glass production.
The Oceanview mine stood out from the rest as an underground gem mine notable for the size of the minerals in the rocks. Several of their giant gems are now on display in museums worldwide, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. A brief stop was made at Mountain Pass, a rare earth mine currently operated by Molycorp that is the location of the largest rare earth deposit in the United States.
At Death Valley and Zion National Park, the focus was on the area's geology. Death Valley is a perfect example of Nevada completo basin and range system, the largest of its kind in the world. To basin and range system occurs along dipping faults, where the crust is extended by as much as 100 percent to form low basins. Volcanic activity occurs due to the thinned lithosphere and crust. Cinder cones formed by basaltic magma eruptions are a common feature. Death Valley is the lowest of all these valleys (basins) at 282 feet below sea level, although an 11 000-foot peak hovers above it.
Rockwood Lithium is located in Clayton Valley, another basin. Dwight Bradley, a United Stages Geological Survey (USGS) geologist who accompanied the group there, have examined why lithium is concentrated only in the Clayton Valley area and a few particular closed playa lakes. The current theory involves tectonic activity, which would facilitate the migration of lithium and other minerals from hydrothermal fluids deeper in the earth. Many of the outcrops visited on the trip had obvious signs of tectonic activity, a result of the proximity to the Pacific and North American plate boundary.
Zion National Park shows evidence of tectonic activity, but with completely different results. The park is part of the Grand Staircase, an exposure of a block of layered sedimentary rocks pushed up at intervals between the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park. Zion is in the middle, with its lowest (oldest) layer being the top layer of the Grand Canyon, and Zion's topmost rock layer is Bryce's bottom layer.
The canyon, carved by the river still flowing at its bottom, has many rock layers, some containing dinosaur foot prints, petrified wood and petroglyphs - markers that help geologists access and reconstruct the history of the zone. In some areas, huge stretches of sandstone with cross-stratification are exposed, recording the migration of ancient dunes and wind directions, and providing onlookers with a glimpse of past climates. Both of these parks are stunning examples of the tectonic forces shaping the Southwest, creating the mineral deposits exploited by mines in the area as well as their natural beauty.
Water wars
The group visited Hoover Dam and water treatment facilities in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nev., to see the full cycle of water conservation and use in the Southwest. Recycling and distribution rights are highly contested issues and vital for survival in the desert. Ninety percent of water used in Las Vegas is recycled. However, more and more water is being used as the population grows, and the Colorado River alone cannot provide all that is needed. Las Vegas is looking elsewhere for rivers to divert and for vast, still untapped aquifers to the north that it can exploit.
The demand for water in the southwestern United States has been going on for a long time. A vivid example of this expansion is Owen completo Lake, located near Death Valley, which once received all the water from the Owens River before it was diverted to fuel a growing Los Angeles in 1913. Today the lake has dried up and become a beach, but in the past the Owens River valley was rich agricultural land with large farms and orchards, as well as a number of nearby mines. Water and its careful allotment and use in this part of the Southwest is an example of a scarce and essential resource being managed in as sustainable a manner possible, similar to the sustainable approach 2016 Mission attempted to provide for a variety of scarce resources element.
The groups' visit to Hoover Dam was one of the last stops on the trip. The building of the dam - an incredible feat of civil engineering that uses the Colorado River as a source of hydroelectric power - created Lake Mead, which flooded the Colorado River canyon, including settlements and towns that had formed along the river. Receding lake levels due to prolonged drought, a great source of concern, have exposed some ghost towns previously covered by Lake Mead.
This trip could not have been better engineered to supplement the Terrascope curriculum and give freshmen a hands-on learning experience about the fragility of many of the world's natural resources. Back at MIT, these students can apply their new perspective to their studies, in particularly those students who are in the two Terrascope spring programs: Terrascope Radio and Communicating Complex Environmental Issues: Building Solutions and Communicating Ideas. Although students may have thought they had already learned about these areas, everyone took away something new from the trip. As Ana Vasquez put it: "Soon we will leave, but the Southwest will keep our gazes, questions and echoing steps steady."
Researchers reveal strategies for mercury reduction in time for negotiations
International negotiators will come together next week in Geneva, Switzerland for the fifth and final meeting to address global controls on mercury. Ahead of the negotiations, researchers from MIT and Harvard University are calling for aggressive emissions reductions and clear public health advice to reduce the risks of mercury.
The researchers’ commentary, published this week in the journal Environmental Health, is in response to a study on the costs associated with mercury pollution in Europe. That study showed that as many as two million children in European Union nations are born each year with long-term IQ deficits due to unsafe levels of mercury exposure. These lower IQs can have spiraling effects on the earning potential of those impacted down the road, resulting in as much as 9,000 million euros in lost revenue a year.
But the authors of the commentary, Elsie Sunderland of Harvard and Noelle Selin of MIT, say mercury’s impact — and that of its toxic form methylmercury — extends far beyond the EU.
“Mitigating the harm caused by methylmercury requires global-scale cooperation on policies and source reductions,” Sunderland says.
Fish and other species, such as polar bears, can be harmed by mercury exposure. Once entered into the food chain, this exposure harms humans. In the near term, the public health community can advise changes in seafood consumption to control the risks, the researchers say. The critical action, however, comes in making significant progress in reducing mercury emissions to prevent an even greater increase in cycling “legacy” emissions.
“Most analyses forecasting mercury levels underestimate the severity of the situation because they don’t take the entire picture into account when looking at future mercury levels,” says Selin, an assistant professor of engineering systems and atmospheric chemistry.
Selin and Sunderland explain in their commentary that most mercury exposure comes from eating fish. Coal-fired power plants and other sources such as industrial activities emit mercury to the atmosphere. This mercury eventually rains down to the land and sea. In the ocean, mercury can convert to toxic methylmercury, and accumulate in the marine food chain. Mercury pollution settles deep within the ocean and circulates for decades and even centuries, continuously posing dangers to humans and the environment.
When considering future emissions, these “legacy” emissions are often not taken into account, but should be, the researchers say, because they make up a substantial amount of future emissions and could make already-dangerous levels of mercury even more threatening.
For example, mercury in the North Pacific Ocean — a large player in the global seafood market — is expected to double by 2050, from 1995 levels, due to new emissions. With the substantial “legacy” emissions that will circle back into the atmosphere, that amount is much greater. This increase in mercury could have dire impacts on fish from the Pacific Ocean.
“Not only will we see these ‘legacy’ emissions circle back up,” Selin says. “But with energy demands growing worldwide, we’ll see more new mercury entering the atmosphere, unless we act now to control this mercury at its source — and that’s largely coal-fired power plants.”
Sunderland and Selin say the United Nations Environment Program’s negotiations represent a sure step in the right direction. The question is: Will the talks produce real results?
In an interview with MIT News just prior to the first negotiating session in 2010, Selin said U.S. domestic politics would likely be a challenge to international cooperation on mercury. But last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that require coal-fired power plants to install scrubbing technology that will cut 90 percent of their mercury emissions by 2015. With these standards — now the most stringent mercury standards of their kind in the world — Selin says the country has proven its leadership and provided some hope.
Tanboo Snowman House Design USB 2.0 Mist Humidifier
Cute house shapeUltra quiet design150% spraying rate of ordinary humidifiersDurableEquipped with built-in cleaning devicesPowered by USB interfaceHelps to reduce the computer radiation damage to the eyesKeeps your skin and eyes moistDC 2.5 interface to USB 2.0Helps to keep the air moist and pleasant for you to breathe
Price:
Tackling a global warming conundrum
There’s a tricky chemical trade-off at work in our skies. As greenhouse gases provide their famous warming effect to Earth’s surface, aerosol pollution in the atmosphere actually partly counteracts it. Aerosols are tiny particles suspended in the air, both natural and industrial, including sea salt, mineral dust, ash, soot, sulphates, nitrates, and black carbon. They hang around in the air for around 10 days, scattering and absorbing radiation from the sun. Aerosols also provide nuclei for water droplets, boosting cloud formation, thus decreasing the amount of energy reaching the ground and providing a net cooling force. In short, greenhouse gases warm the surface; aerosols cool the surface.
This trade-off creates an interesting dilemma in parts of Asia, considering China and India’s coal burning creates an aerosol problem far worse than the United States or Europe ever had — even before the Clean Air Act of 1970 (in America) and before the collapse of the Eastern Block’s dirty economy reduced aerosol emissions dramatically. In principle, if China and India were to begin fixing their aerosol problem, which kills hundreds of thousands every year, they might actually contribute to global warming (if they don’t also cut greenhouse gas emissions); the cooling effect of aerosols would be removed, leaving greenhouse gases to warm the globe unimpeded.
This “Faustian bargain,” as NASA climate scientist James Hansen terms it, is a big problem for climate scientists and policy makers. Predicting how the trade-off will affect both global mean and local temperatures is one of the tasks of the century, as made clear in research by a multinational team of researchers, including John Marshall at MIT, published this week in the early online release of the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences.
“It’s about quantification,” says Marshall, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Oceanography. “One of the biggest challenges of climate science is to quantify the relative role of aerosols and oceans in cooling the planet’s surface vs. the greenhouse gases warming it. Just knowing the trade-off happens isn’t enough to make useful predictions and inform policy makers.”
Rong Zhang PhD ’01, lead author and oceanographer in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab at NOAA, became curious about a climate model used by a United Kingdom research group at the Met Office Hadley Centre. The group argued in the journal Nature that anthropogenic aerosols are a prime driver of 20th-century North Atlantic climate variability, even influencing peaks in hurricane activity and the Sahel drought. Zhang and her colleagues decided to look deeper.
They found that the simulations of the group’s “HadGEM2-ES” climate model could not replicate the actual observations of the North Atlantic in the 20th century: Substantial warming trends in the heat content of the upper ocean have been observed in most ocean basins since 1955, yet the group’s model ocean is much colder. Zhang’s team discovered that the discrepancy in ocean heat content is influenced and largely caused by modeled aerosol cooling effects on ocean temperature.
Indeed, aerosols, via clouds, reduce energy reaching the ocean, contributing a net cooling effect to both the surface and subsurface ocean temperature. In the U.K. model, the aerosol’s cooling effect is so strong it even cancels out any greenhouse gas-induced warming. However, actual observations show a much warmer ocean. “The aerosol effect in their model is overestimated,” Zhang says. She notes that there is probably an issue with how the model handles the exact way in which aerosols affect radiation.
One very difficult problem with modeling the cloud-mediated aerosol effect is cloud formation itself. The small-scale process of cloud formation in nature is notoriously difficult to model. “The HadGEM2-ES model and most state-of-the-art climate models used for the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change only have about 100-km horizontal resolution in the atmosphere, which is not enough to resolve the cloud process,” Zhang says. “The simulation of cloud cover and its effect on radiation using coarse-resolution model grids is one of the leading uncertainties in climate modeling efforts.”
It’s not just the Met Centre that’s having trouble modeling aerosol effects on climate variability — everyone is. “We simply don’t have sufficient constraints on the history, spatial distribution and microphysics of anthropogenic aerosols,” says Gavin Schmidt, climatologist and climate modeler at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. “Like many seemingly stark dichotomies, the eventual answer is going to be that there is some variability in the ocean circulation and some effect from aerosol and other forcings. But getting an accurate handle on the exact percentage is going to be hard.”
And thus we are left with the knowledge that action to address the greenhouse gas versus aerosol problem will likely have to proceed without precise quantification of their respective temperature effects. One geoengineering project, currently under consideration, would involve the intentional injection of aerosols, specifically sulphate particles, into the stratosphere (essentially replicating the effect of volcanic eruptions). “If you put aerosols into the stratosphere,” Marshall says, “it will certainly cool the planet’s surface, but there will be other consequences, many unforeseen, for example, to the hydrological cycle and polar caps.” Even if aerosol release worked as intended, continuing to spew carbon dioxide would have worsened other direct consequences of increased levels of the gas, mainly ocean acidification.
Instead of exaggerating the greenhouse gas versus aerosol balancing act — playing one off against the other and attempting to create a precise cooling effect by manipulating the most uncertain part of our climate system — we could just cut greenhouse gas emissions. But, you already knew that.
The Voice Book: Caring For, Protecting, and Improving Your Voice
More than 30 million Americans rely on their voices for their jobs--from teachers, religious leaders, and entertainers to lawyers, executives, salespeople, and doctors. A controlled voice increases self-confidence and enhances charisma, approachability, and trustworthiness. Yet an astounding 30 percent of professionals develop preventable vocal problems that could ruin their careers. And most do not know that both the quality and tone of one’s voice can be changed.
The Voice Book: Caring For, Protecting, and Improving Your Voice is a one-of-a-kind reference that will save and improve your voice, your job, and your personal life. With dozens of vocal exercises and a detailed guide to the anatomy and physiology of voice, the book covers the full range of vocal health, from protecting against hoarseness and laryngitis to expanding speaking range and enhancing voice tone and quality.
Illustrations, photographs, FAQs, and an accompanying CD make The Voice Book the first vocal self-help book of its kind and a must-read for anyone who wants a dependable, strong, and engaging voice.
Price: $16.95
Susan Solomon wins international climate award
The fifth BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the climate change category has been awarded to MIT's Susan Solomon for her work on determining how human action alters the composition of the atmosphere and how, in turn, these changes affect Earth's climate. The award citation states that Solomon "has contributed, through her research and leadership, to the safeguarding of our planet."
Solomon's work over 30 years has succeeded in establishing and drawing together links between three key climate change variables: human activity, a profound and comprehensive understanding of the behavior of atmospheric gases, and the alteration of climate patterns globally.
According to the award citation, "her early research, fundamental to the understanding of stratospheric chemistry, led to the strengthening of the Montreal Protocol to curb the use of ozone-destroying substances." In recent years, the citation adds, "her contributions and leadership within the IPCC and other forums is a role model of science for the public good."
In the words of Bjorn Stevens, the BBVA jury chairman: "Her research has really shown how basic science can shape policy decisions and social actions. She is not an activist; she is very much a basic scientist, but she has this knack of picking up topics and developing new understanding which then influences the public debate. Probably there is no other scientist in the field whose results have had such a big impact on one of the key social questions of our time."
Carlos Duarte, the jury secretary and director of the Oceans Institute at the University of Western Australia, added during the announcement event that Solomon "has formulated a general theory of climate system response to perturbations in atmospheric composition."
On receiving news of the award, Solomon, the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Science, declared herself "thrilled. It is a fantastic award and also a great honor to join these very distinguished past recipients."
A precocious scientist and a vital discovery
Solomon was won over to science at an early age by watching TV nature programs such as The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Her passion for atmospheric chemistry was already apparent in high school, where she won a prize with a project measuring the amount of oxygen in gas mixtures.
After earning her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, with an atmospheric chemistry project alongside future Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, Solomon started work in the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). It was the early 1980s, and news was coming in of a drastic reduction in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Although the ozone-destroying power of the gases known as CFCs — chlorofluorocarbons, used in refrigeration and aerosols — was already known to science, the hunt was still on to find the causes of the hole opening up in the Antarctic ozone layer.
Why a hole over Antarctica, so far from where CFCs were in regular use? And, why was depletion happening so fast? Susan Solomon solved the mystery by elucidating the chemical reactions that take place on the surface of the ice crystals present in the stratosphere over both poles. But not content with constructing an explanatory model, she was determined to test her theory on the ground. In 1986 and 1987, Solomon led two expeditions during the Antarctic winter — with its permanent nights and temperatures as low as -50 degrees C — to gather data on atmospheric composition at the time and place when the hole was forming. The evidence obtained would vindicate her theory.
Science had already established that a lack of ozone led to an increase in the ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth, but it was Solomon who proved, in later research, that these changes in stratospheric composition also impacted on climate. In particular, the ozone hole has a clear effect on wind and rain patterns in the Southern Hemisphere.
This was the first time a link had been found between the ozone hole and climate. As Solomon explains: "the ozone hole is such an incredible perturbation of the entire atmosphere, it just rocks the planet."
Her research has produced such tangible results as the ban on CFC gases in the Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987. "What's encouraging about the ozone hole is that it shows that people can understand that we can change our global environment in ways that are not safe, but we can also make choices to decide that we don't want to do that," Solomon says. "And is it not amazing that virtually every country in the world has signed the Montreal Protocol?"
Combating climate change
Another of Solomon's findings highlights the slowness with which the atmosphere recovers. Despite this, Solomon insists, "it is important to know that it's not too late to stop turning up the thermostat."
"My discovery really increases the importance of making good choices about how much more carbon dioxide we want to put into the atmosphere, because we need to understand that what we are doing cannot be easily undone," she says.
Solomon has no doubt that innovation is one of the best ways to combat climate change. "There is a tremendous amount of technical work and engineering to find alternative ways to produce energy, or to get the carbon back in the ground," she says. "I am a strong believer in technology, and I see tremendous and encouraging changes happening."
In 2002, she joined the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where she co-chaired Group One, tasked with writing the watershed climate report published in 2007.
"What is really great about scientists is that you can have 10 scientist in the room and it doesn't matter if their native languages are different," Solomon says. "They look at the data and are able to talk to each other in a very constructive way. That's truly incredible and it's also the reason I love being a scientist."
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, spanning eight prize categories, recognize research and creative work of excellence as embedded in theoretical advances, technological developments, or innovative artistic works and styles, as well as fundamental contributions in addressing key challenges of the 21st century.
The Baby Book, Revised Edition: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Sears Parenting Library)
The classic guide of the post-Dr. Spock generation has been revised to include the latest information on virtually every aspect of infant and baby care. THE BABY BOOK is unrivaled in its scope and authority, and presents a practical, contemporary approach to parenting that reflects the way we live today. Focusing on the essential needs of babies--eating, sleeping, development, health, and comfort--it addresses the questions of greatest concern to parents. The Searses acknowledge that there is no one way to parent a baby, and they offer the basic guidance and inspiration you need to develop the parenting style that best suits you and your child. THE BABY BOOK is a rich and invaluable resource that will help you get the most out of parenting--for your child, for yourself, and for your entire family.
Price: $21.99
The right’s resistance to regulation
James Watt, who served as Secretary of the Interior from 1981 to 1983, is remembered primarily for a short, business-friendly tenure that ended with his resignation soon after an ill-judged remark about women, minorities and the disabled. And yet, as MIT professor Judith Layzer observes in her new book about environmental politics, “Open for Business,” there is good reason to regard Watt’s impact differently.
For one thing, Watt, among others on the political right, managed to cut government funding for conservation efforts. For another, he installed staff members who emphasized the development of natural resources, rather than just the protection of land. In so doing, Watt was one of many Republicans who instituted fundamental changes in U.S. environmental policy.
“I will build an institutional memory that will be here for decades,” Watt once said of his department, as Layzer recounts.
These kinds of under-the-radar changes, Layzer argues, are one of two ways conservatives have dramatically altered environmental politics since the 1970s, when environmentalists probably reached the high point of their political influence.
The other, says Layzer, an associate professor of environmental policy at MIT, is ideological and rhetorical: Conservatives have gained enormous traction by touting “the virtues of the market system and the horrors of regulation,” thus limiting public backing for stricter government-imposed controls on natural resources. By arguing that the market economy, when left alone, is effectively self-policing and morally sound, conservatives have put environmentalists on the defensive, making them tentative about arguing for environmental protections as a good in themselves. So whereas President Richard Nixon once green-lighted the Environmental Protection Agency, today’s political debates often touch on the necessity of opening further federal lands for oil exploration.
“The set of conservative ideas has really pushed the framing of issues to the point where many people today aren’t even aware of the [older] alternatives,” Layzer says. “Only if you’d been involved or lived through this history would you know it hasn’t always been thus.”
Subtly effective
“Open for Business,” published last month by MIT Press, takes a chronological look at the last seven presidential administrations, starting with that of Gerald Ford, and examines four in depth, starting with that of Ronald Reagan. Layzer regards the Reagan years as shifting American policy, on the environment and many other areas, toward a greater free-market orientation. And yet, as she observes, the administration stumbled at times on environmental policy due to overreach; Congress rebuffed efforts to change the Clean Air Act, for example.
“In the Reagan administration, there were people who were direct about gutting laws, and that didn’t work,” Layzer observes. “The movement evolved to be more subtle and creative, as it became clear [it] couldn’t go straight at these laws.” Still, the administration did manage to stall legislation on acid rain, among other conservative causes.
After an initial couple of years in which President George H.W. Bush appeared more welcoming to environmentalists than Reagan had been, Layzer says, “the conservative voices gained ascendancy” within the GOP for good by the late 1980s. “The George H.W. Bush administration … was where the struggle within the Republican Party was fought and won by conservatives,” Layzer says. The anti-government ideology of the Republicans became stronger still after the party gained control of the House of Representatives in 1994.
By the George W. Bush administration, as Layzer sees it, the GOP was committed to a fully pro-business agenda on the environment, but had become far more strategic about it: In her confirmation hearings, Gale Norton, Bush’s Secretary of the Interior from 2001 to 2006 and a former Watt protege, disavowed her previous statements criticizing the Endangered Species Act and denying the presence of a scientific consensus on climate change. She then moved aggressively to open up even more federal lands for resource extraction, calling such actions “partnerships” with local authorities.
Over three decades, Layzer asserts, the outcome of all this conservative activism both weakened existing laws — the Endangered Species Act, for instance, is more difficult to enforce than it once was — and prevented new ones from being passed. Climate-change legislation stalled in Congress during President Barack Obama’s first term, perhaps due to concerns about limiting business activity during economic hard times. Only 41 percent of the public called “protecting the environment” a priority in 2009, compared to 56 percent a year earlier, according to a Pew poll.
Fighting ideas with ideas?
“Open for Business” has received attention from a variety of scholars studying environmental politics; Harvard University sociologist Theda Skocpol has called it a “brilliant book” that shows “how conservative and business interests have not only blocked major new legislative breakthroughs to address climate change, but have also chipped away at existing regulations and enforcement.”
As Layzer makes clear in the text, she herself would like to see more government action on the environment, although she says significant action on climate change “is going to be incredibly hard.” Greater energy efficiency, she argues, will not have enough impact to mitigate climate change, given the world’s rapidly growing population. To usefully limit the effects of global warming, Layzer says, “I think what really has to happen is quite drastic,” and, she concludes in the book, has to include a rethinking of the central importance we place on economic growth and consumption.
That means not just a new set of policies, but an ideological shift in society — even if, as Layzer acknowledges, such a change seems unlikely. “That’s what the conservative movement did that was so clever,” she says. “It really was about ideas. And you have to fight ideas with ideas.”
The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: Over 600 Natural, Non-Toxic and Fragrant Recipes to Create Health - Beauty - a Safe Home Environment
A necessary resource for anyone interested in alternative approaches to healing, this book contains more than 600 easy-to-follow recipes for essential oil treatments and aromatherapy.
Price: $19.95
Size diversity in cement nanoparticles optimizes packing density to give concrete its strength
Concrete may be one of the most familiar building materials on Earth, but its underlying structure remains a bit of a mystery. Materials scientists and concrete engineers still don’t fully understand exactly how the cement paste that works as glue in concrete hardens during the first hours after water and cement powder are mixed.
New technologies are making it possible for researchers in MIT’s Concrete Sustainability Hub to make steady progress toward solving this mystery. First they determined that cement paste is a granular material, where the particles or basic nanoscale units pack together most densely when arranged orderly. A few years later they discovered that the calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) molecules that make up the basic nanoscale unit of cement have a disorderly geometric arrangement, rather than the orderly crystalline structure scientists had long assumed.
In new work, researchers found that the size of C-S-H particles themselves is also somewhat disorderly: The particles form at random sizes, not in homogenous spheres, and this diversity in the size of the nanoscale units leads to a denser, disorderly packing of the particles, which corresponds to stronger cement paste.
The researchers hope this understanding will allow materials scientists and concrete engineers to alter the C-S-H particles at the molecular level to develop stronger, more durable concrete that will have a reduced environmental footprint. If concrete is stronger, less of it is needed. And if it’s more durable, structures made from it will last longer.
Physical Review Letters recently published a paper about this work by Enrico Masoero, postdoctoral associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE); Professor Emanuela Del Gado of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; Roland J.-M. Pellenq, CEE senior research scientist; Franz-Josef Ulm, the George Macomber Professor in CEE; and Professor Emeritus Sidney Yip of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)