pollution

Plastic contamination in the world's oceans is worse than previously imagined and no amount of technology can clean it up, according to Charles Moore. The oceanographer returned February 23 from a five-week odyssey in the Pacific Ocean with samples showing 48 parts plastic for every part of plankton.

"We are damned to a future of pollution by plastic," said Moore, who has spent more than a decade investigating Pacific plastic pollution. "There's no evidence it will end in a millennium."

A plastic "graveyard" double the size of Texas swirls in the Pacific … Read more

Everything is going green, as we were just saying, though that doesn't necessarily mean hemp. There are all types of environmentally friendly technologies, of course, and MSI is experimenting with one that releases negatively charged ions to literally clear the air.

Trying to show that it's not just about superficialities, the Taiwanese computer maker is working on a concept notebook that can release as many as 550,000 ions per cubic centimeter, which PClaunches says is "more than if you were right next to mountains and beaches." As a result, MSI claims, the Anion PR620 Computer &… Read more

Coal is burned most days in my neighborhood in central Beijing. Even the newer electric heaters installed this year didn't stop my neighbors from cooking and keeping warm with smoke-spewing briquettes. Coal is a fact of life. But some businesspeople are marketing boilers that make the best of coal by burning it in a cleaner way, reports Feng Yongfeng of the Guangming Daily in a story republished at China Dialogue.

One such technology was developed by the Beijing Xiongcai Group, whose chairman, Wang Yongjiang, explains:

"Normally coal is burned from underneath," he explains, "but our boilers … Read more

SOMS Technologies says that its engine filter will extend the life of engine oil by 30,000 miles, enabling drivers to use 75 percent less oil and save hundreds of dollars in maintenance per car.

"You could say this would be terrible news for Jiffy Lube, but we don't look at it that way," said company CEO Miles Flamenbaum, who presented at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco on Wednesday. "It would allow them to charge a little bit more, take more of a margin from oil change costs, and do it less often."

The … Read more

Most owners of the 13 million recreational boats in the United States dump their waste in the water, fouling fish and coral reefs with sewage and fuel, according to Klean Marine. The start-up plans to help boaters clean up their act.

Its founders aim to launch a service that would clean sailboats, motorboats, and yachts in ports of harbor around the country. Klean Marine would thus be able to serve, say, traveling snowbirds whether they're docked in Chicago in July or Miami in December. An annual subscription would start at $250.

Company president Kean Fulton, presenting Tuesday at the … Read more

A company named Zero Pollution Motors says it plans to bring a car powered by air to the U.S. sometime in 2009 or 2010. The six pistons in the Air Car's engine are pushed by compressed air rather than gasoline combustion, an idea developed by F1 race car engineer Guy Negre. The car carries a compressor, making it possible to fill its compressed air tank by plugging it into an electrical outlet. At low speeds, the engine is cranked solely by air from the tank. At high speeds, it uses gasoline to heat a chamber, giving the air … Read more

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Jails or jobs. Those are the terms of a battle over a plot of land in the South Bronx, according to activist Majora Carter.

The Sustainable South Bronx, a community group focused on cleaning up poor communities, is trying to build a green industrial park on a 25-acre piece of land in a blighted section of the Bronx slated for redevelopment. The idea is to draw in companies that will make solar panels from solar cells and/or "green roofs" (lawns that are put on top of apartment buildings). The development will create jobs in … Read more

Anyone who's been to Beijing in recent years knows that there's no such thing as a clear blue sky over China's capital city, what with its endless array of construction projects, a still hearty smokestack industry, and a rising sea of automobiles on the roads. Not a very hospitable environment for world-class athletes looking to turn in peak performances for next summer's Olympic games there. Hence, the Chinese government is looking to take some drastic steps to cut back on the pollution.

See the full story in The New York Times: "Beijing to Halve Traffic for Games&… Read more

Citizens, industrial polluters, and scholars do not usually see eye to eye--but that may change with a new Web site that monitors corporate environmental performance in the United States.

Read about it at HBS Working Knowledge:"Mapping polluters, encouraging protectors"