Green Technology Forum

The Green Enterprise Unconference is a gathering of professionals leading social responsibility, sustainability or environmental concerns and social entrepreneurship programs in their organizations.

It is inspired by the “open space” conference format, which puts control of the event content in the hands of the attendees. The Unconference format allows the best ideas of the group to come forward, facilitates extensive networking, and ensures thorough documentation of the proceedings.

The Green Enterprise Unconference is intended for those in their organizations responsible for green strategy and leading sustainability initiatives. We also expect related professionals, including other corporate representatives (such as from manufacturing, facilities, marketing, or IT); service-related companies relevant to this topic, VCs, the Press, and interested individuals from academia or the public. We expect several dozen sessions covering a broad range of topics relevant to enterprise green strategy, implementation, measurement, education, and practical experience regarding best practices.

And Green Technology Forum readers are eligible for a $50 discount on conference registration. Just enter the discount code: blgeu.

EnerTech Environmental, Inc. announced today that it has signed an Expression of Interest to build a SlurryCarb demonstration facility at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Masdar City will be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city, completely powered by renewable energy.

EnerTech’s SlurryCarb demonstration facility will process biosolids (sewage sludge) produced from the permanent buildings erected during Masdar City’s first phase as well as from the accommodation for the several thousand workers building Masdar City between 2008 and 2016. Biosolids from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the workers’ accommodation, and the headquarters of Masdar will be converted into renewable E-fuel, a fossil fuel replacement. The demonstration facility is the first step towards installing a permanent SlurryCarb facility in the city.

“This is an opportunity to showcase the SlurryCarb process to the Middle East and work with the international community to build a city that truly embodies sustainable living and working,” said Kevin Bolin, EnerTech CEO. “It showcases the SlurryCarb process as the best available biosolids technology when it comes to sustainability, renewable energy, and the reduction of greenhouse gases.”

Masdar is Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted, multi-billion dollar investment in the development and commercialization of advanced and innovative technologies in renewable, alternative and sustainable energies as well as green design. By applying scale and leveraging Abu Dhabi’s low-cost, tax-free manufacturing base, businesses will enjoy significant competitive advantages, allowing them to compete internationally and provide significant diversification to the Abu Dhabi economy. On February 9, 2008, Masdar broke ground for Masdar City.

Source: prweb.com

This Wednesday, May 14, actor Ed Norton, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and experts in the field of green building appeared before Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to discuss how more efficient buildings and better building policies can reduce energy costs and cut global warming pollution. Norton is a Trustee for the Enterprise Foundation and works to bring green building practices to low-income housing development.

The building sector is responsible for 48 percent of all heat-trapping emissions, and it is estimated that 76 percent of all electricity generated by U.S. power plants goes to operate buildings. As energy prices rise — increasing the costs of cooling, heating and construction — green building has become a popular mantra for homeowners, corporations and environmentalists alike. Yet the numerous definitions of green buildings can lead to confusion, inaction or ineffective policy. As Congress examines all sources and causes of global warming emissions, it must consider how the buildings we work and live in can contribute to reducing the impact of climate change.

Source: globalwarming.house.gov

The recent report entitled Water for People – Water for Life of the World Water Assessment Programme of the UNESCO says that more than 6000 people die every day due to water-related diseases, including diarrhoea, worm infections, and infectious diseases.

In addition, organic pollutants from industrial wastewater from pulp and paper mills, textiles and leather factories, steel foundries, and petrochemicals refineries, are a major cause of illness in parts of the world where regulations do not necessarily protect people from such industrial outflows.

So the availability of drinking quality water is fast becoming a major socio-economic issue across the globe, especially in the developing world. However, water purification technology is often complicated, requires sophisticated equipment and is expensive to run and maintain. Moreover, it usually requires a final costly disinfection stage.

Now a team of scientists at the Ian Wark Research Institute at the University of South Australia are tackling this by taking a nanotechnology approach to water purification – a move that has the potential to prevent disease and poisoning from affection millions of people.

Research professor Peter Majewski and biomolecular chemist Chiu Ping Chan have investigated how silica particles can be coated easily with a nanometre-thin layer of surface active material (SAM) based on a hydrocarbon with a silicon-containing anchor. The coating is formed through a chemical self-assembly process so involves nothing more than stirring the ingredients to make the active particles.

These active particles were then tested to demonstrate that they could remove biological molecules, pathogens such as the polio virus, bacteria such as Escherichia coli, and Cryptosporidium parvum -– a waterborne parasite.

Source: engineerlive.com

Prana the Dinosaur is an inflatable “smart” sculpture built by the Contemporary Art and Technology class at Cypress College. The design enables the sculpture to monitor and visualize current air quality data of North Orange County, CA.

Prana (”breathing”, the breath of life) is described on Wikipedia as a Sanskrit word that refers to a vital, life-sustaining force of living beings and vital energy in natural processes of the universe. Prana is a central concept in Ayurveda and Yoga where it is believed to flow through a network of fine subtle channels called nadis.

Prana has been programmed to change color in accordance to the current air quality data extracted from airnow.gov, a cross-agency government website. Airnow.gov is dedicated to transmitting U.S. air quality conditions and forecasts. The hope for this project is to inform our school community with specific air quality data and to spark critical dialogue on campus. This sculpture was inspired by the many other air quality related projects studied in the course.

Source: air-dino.info

Green is the new gold for OMI Industries, maker of an odor neutralizer for factory emissions that has parlayed its all-natural product into a hit with eco-minded consumers.

The company’s Fresh Wave line of odor-eliminating sprays, candles and crystal gels is ringing up about $12 million annually from sales at Ace Hardware

Source: chicagotribune.com

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has settled with ATEN Technology, Inc., of Irvine, Calif., acting for its subsidiary IOGEAR, for selling unregistered pesticides and making unproven claims about their effectiveness.

EPA maintains that IOGEAR made unsubstantiated public health claims regarding unregistered products, and their ability to control germs and pathogens — a violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

“We’re seeing far too many unregistered products that assert unsubstantiated antimicrobial properties,” said Katherine Taylor, associate director of the Communities and Ecosystems Division in EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “Whether the claim involves use of an existing material such as silver, or new nano technology, the EPA takes these unverified public health claims very seriously. Consumers should always follow common-sense hygiene practices, like washing hands frequently and thoroughly.”
Source: yosemite.epa.gov

One of the more promising cleaning innovations to hit the US consumer market in recent years is the vapor steam cleaner. Using only tap water, these clever devices disinfect, clean, and deodorize all in one simple process.

Typical buyers are allergy or asthma sufferers, as well as anyone who is germ-phobic. The very hot, low-water-content steam that the machines emit can kill dust mites, viruses, bacteria, molds, and fungi, and do it all without chemicals, which themselves cause allergic reactions in some people.

The better steam cleaners come with attachments that allow you to clean everything from kitchen floors to heating vents to carpets to clothes.

But buying a steam cleaner is no simple matter. You can pay less than $100 for a small machine up to several thousand dollars for a large, multipurpose device.

“I would approach it by educating myself first,” says Mercia Tapping, founder of the Waltham-based website AllergyBuyersClub.com and an allergy sufferer herself. “There is a big amount of difference between the least expensive steam cleaner and the top of the line.”

Steve Hanson, cofounder of TheJanitorialStore.com, a Brainerd, Minn., firm that sells products to cleaning companies, says: “The best advice is to match the machine to your needs.”

Tapping says before you start shopping, you should understand how steam cleaners work.

First, they boil water in a tank. Then, when you pull or press a trigger, steam comes out and sanitizes whatever you are trying to clean. The steam then rises into the machine and is trapped in a towel that is attached to the device.

“They look like vacuum cleaners, but they don’t vacuum anything up,” Tapping says. “They use heat to draw it out.”

The better and more expensive steam cleaners make the water hotter, and some newer ones have a patented technology that actually changes the molecular structure of water, according to Tapping.

“It’s called TANCS, which is an EPA-registered disinfectant. It uses nanotechnology,” she says. “It’s more effective than chemical disinfectants.”

Source: boston.com

Japan’s largest drug company, Takeda Pharmaceutical, agreed on Thursday to pay $8.8 billion in cash for Millennium Pharmaceuticals, one of the earliest American genomics companies, in a deal that spurred a general rise in biotechnology stocks.

The $25-a — share deal represented a 53 percent premium to Millennium’s closing price on Wednesday and set off speculation that other biotechnology companies might be acquired at high valuations, particularly by foreign companies that can take advantage of the weak dollar.

The Amex Biotechnology Index was up nearly 5 percent on Thursday. Millennium shares were up nearly 50 percent for the day, closing at $24.34, a gain of $7.99. “Anyway you cut it, it’s expensive based on today’s numbers,” Kurt von Emster, portfolio manager for the MPM BioEquities Fund, said of Takeda’s purchase. He said the deal showed that biotechnology companies “are valued more greatly by strategic buyers than they are by investors.”

The acquisition will give Takeda control of Millennium’s cancer drug Velcade, which is used to treat multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. Sales of Velcade in the United States reached $83.5 million in the first quarter of 2008, up 42 percent from a year earlier, in part because of new data showing the drug’s effectiveness.

Source: nytimes.com

In the unknowns of emerging nanotechnology, researchers are wondering if the science behind trendy no-smell socks, underwear and hunting gear might create unintended consequences in the environment.

Just a few simulated washings, for example, can pull nanosilver out of new socks that rely on it for killing odors, researchers said Sunday. That action sets the substance free to travel into wastewater and perhaps into fertilizer.

That prospect underscores the importance of studying nanosized materials that are increasingly a part of clothing and medical, electronic, and other consumer products, said UC Davis professor Alexandra Navrotsky.

“As a society, we should be doing research on these effects ideally before products go to market, not after,” said Navrotsky, who heads a campus nanomaterials research unit.

Source: sacbee.com