Latest Environmental chemistry Stories

SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Tonight, Genomatica will be awarded the top honor in green chemistry, the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. The award, created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recognizes technologies that have broad application while incorporating the principles of green chemistry. The award validates Genomatica's impact on producing major industrial chemicals - those made and sold in billions of pounds per year - with better economics and...

Residents, Businesses Encouraged to Reduce Air Pollution HARRISBURG, Pa., June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection and its regional air quality partnerships have forecast an air quality action day for Tuesday, June 7, in the Pittsburgh region. The air quality forecast predicts Tuesday will be code ORANGE for ozone in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's...

An international study published today warns that nitrogen pollution, resulting from industry and agriculture, is putting wildlife in Europe's at risk. More than 60 per cent of the EU's most important wildlife sites receive aerial nitrogen pollution inputs above sustainable levels.There is evidence of impacts on semi-natural grasslands, heathlands and forests across Europe. This threat is set to continue unless there is further action on emissions of polluting nitrogen gases.The study calls...

Nitrogen is needed to feed a growing world population but pollutes air, soil and waterA major new study finds that nitrogen pollution is costing each person in Europe around £130 - £650 (€150 "“ €740 Euros) a year. The first European Nitrogen Assessment (ENA) is launched at a conference today in Edinburgh, Scotland.The study, carried out by 200 experts from 21 countries and 89 organizations, estimates that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen across Europe is...

Storing fruits and vegetables in ozone-enriched environments reduces spoilage explains a scientist at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. Dr Ian Singleton explains how ozone treatment could be a safe, effective replacement for pesticides as it leaves no residue on foods.It is estimated that up to 30% of fresh produce can be lost due to microbial spoilage. Dr Singleton from Newcastle University explains that low levels of gaseous ozone are able to prevent...

Youth from Nairobi, India, United States and other parts of the globe all share a concern: plastic pollution. March 11-13 summit hosted by Algalita Marine Research Foundation will include international environmental experts and ocean biologists. Youth have developed solutions and awareness programs, will travel to Long Beach, CA, to learn how to make their projects come alive and become part of a growing global effort to solve plastic pollution issues. Long Beach, California (PRWEB)...

On-site generated aqueous chlorine-based technology under development at MIOX is expected to yield a safer and more cost effective advanced oxidation process (AOP). Quakertown, PA (PRWEB) February 24, 2011 MIOX Corporation, a leader in safe water disinfection, announced it has received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research(SBIR) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the amount of $497,746. This funding, obtained by the MIOX science team in collaboration with...

The U.N.'s environmental watchdog warned on Thursday that tons of throw-away plastic and massive runoff from chemical fertilizer are choking the world's oceans. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said in its annual Year Book report that the two sources of pollution threaten biodiversity, harm water quality, poison fish stocks and undermine coastal tourism. The report, which was released ahead of a key meeting next week of environment ministers in Nairobi, highlights the need to...

Study helps to establish a new method to estimate rainfall in remote ocean areasA study by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science suggests a new way to estimate how much of the ocean's pollution is falling from the sky. The new findings can help improve scientific understanding of how toxic airborne chemicals, from the burning of fossil fuels and industrial power plants emissions, are impacting the oceans globally.By measuring...

Recalculating the global use of phosphorous, a fertilizer linchpin of modern agriculture, a team of researchers warns that the world's stocks may soon be in short supply and that overuse in the industrialized world has become a leading cause of the pollution of lakes, rivers and streams.Writing in the Feb. 14 edition of the journal Environmental Research Letters, Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Elena Bennett of McGill University report that the human use of...