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Cleveland Clinic setting the bar for green facilities
Scott E. Rupp Facilities & GroundsFor more than a decade, the famed Cleveland Clinic has undertaken a systemwide sustainability drive to make the health system green and reduce its carbon footprint. Health Facilities Management magazine points out that the effort includes energy- and water-reducing strategies, energy-efficient facility design, environmentally-friendly purchasing and an aggressive recycling effort.
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Mudslides devastate Montecito, California
Michelle R. Matisons Waste Management & EnvironmentalAfter a deluge of rain was forecasted following containment of the Thomas Fire — the largest fire in California history — the prediction of mudslides was a bit much for Santa Barbara County residents. Now, the affluent town of Montecito, population 10,000, has reported 20 dead, with the death count expected to rise as recovery workers wade slowly and cautiously through new mud terrain.
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Peering over the edge of the F-Gas cliff
Andrew Gaved ManufacturingRegular readers may recall that when I first started writing about the revised F-Gas regulations, back in 2014, I reported some concern that the combination of bans and proposed phasedown of HFCs risked precipitating supply difficulties if the industry did not transition to lower-GWP refrigerants quickly enough.
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Connected and mobile devices putting a strain on the environment
Scott E. Rupp Waste Management & EnvironmentalThe always-on, internet-of-everything age of productivity in which we live actually has a down side (other than our constantly being connected to a device). These electronics cause a lot of emissions to be produced and might eventually stress the planet's power grid.
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Cannabis habitats: Hemp as a building aid comes of age
Bill Becken Construction & Building MaterialsDespite the recent Justice Department ruling, the forward march continues toward pervasive legalization of the plant cannabis sativa. A survey of U.S. state marijuana laws shows that, as of 2018, a decisive majority of states have legalized medicinal use of marijuana — and some even its recreational use (in seven states and the District of Columbia). Not surprisingly, legal cannabis businesses are expanding and multiplying across America.
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Power plants are no longer the biggest polluter in the US
Scott E. Rupp Natural ResourcesThere's a new king of pollution in the U.S., and data suggests we might all be to blame. For the first time in 40 years, power plants have been usurped as the biggest source of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution. What's on top now? The transportation sector: cars, trucks, planes, trains and boats.
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Los Angeles inferno wraps up 2017’s year of disasters
Michelle R. Matisons Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityThere's no rest for the weary, is there? 2017 has been a year of natural disasters related to climate change. We ended hurricane season barely intact, as Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico are recovering from a string of now-notorious hurricanes. Then, we had the northern California wine country fires in a year when California has witnessed 1 million acres burn — the most in any one year, ever.
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MIT researchers convert emissions into fuel
Scott E. Rupp Natural ResourcesScientists may have discovered a means by which they can transform emissions back into fuel, essentially using waste discharge to power our transportation needs, possibly in the not-too-distant future. The findings of the research were published in the journal ChemSusChem.
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Good and bad news for Houston’s post‑Harvey rebuilding efforts
Michelle R. Matisons Construction & Building MaterialsRecovery efforts are still underway after the devastating hurricanes and wildfires in late summer and early fall. For all of the rebuilding efforts in California, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and Texas, the phrase "one step forward, two steps backward" is rather fitting.
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New global alliance targets coal production
Michelle R. Matisons Waste Management & EnvironmentalPrior to global awareness of coal mining's role in climate change, experts projected that coal would be responsible for one-third of the world’s energy supplies by 2050. Now that climate change is a common household phrase, more and more governments, companies and citizens' groups are calling for renewable energy sources to replace coal.
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