All Waste Management & Environmental Articles
  • Preventing the hazards of aboveground storage tanks

    Heather Rhoades Engineering

    Aboveground storage tanks are generally used in locations where installing underground tanks is not practical. Despite their many uses, ASTs can prove to be a hazard if they are not installed and maintained as required.

  • The truth about the ‘water-energy nexus’

    Lucy Wallwork Natural Resources

    ​Environmentalists campaigning against the accelerating development of U.S. shale will not be heartened by the latest State Department study suggesting a minimal environmental impact for the Keystone XL pipeline. But in a world of highly-politicized studies on the unpredictable consequences of hydraulic fracturing technologies, the issue of water use during production is an increasingly contentious one, particularly in arid southern states such as Texas.

  • Benefits of going green in the warehouse

    Tracy Stevens Distribution & Warehousing

    ​Going green or lean in your warehouse by streamlining processes and introducing cost-saving initiatives can bring many benefits. To stay competitive and be on the leading edge, going green is a win-win process. Here are some steps to take to make your warehouse more energy efficient, resulting in a smaller carbon footprint.

  • Solar energy electronic and plastic material advances

    Don Rosato Engineering

    Most solar cells are commonly designed to operate outdoors for 25-plus years. A variety of films and plastic coatings have been developed to allow more flexible and mobile power systems to be built. These barrier layers protect against oxygen and water and are highly resistant to damaging ultraviolet light.

  • Refineries: The real winners of the shale oil boom

    Stefanie Heerwig Natural Resources

    Smoke rises again from the pilot flare of a Texas-based Blue Dolphin Energy refinery after a two-decade standstill — and that's just the beginning. Following the shale oil boom, is another boom: refining. Blue Dolphin Energy, Valero Energy, Kinder Morgan and many others are building new crude-processing equipment, reopening old refineries and building new ones.

  • US natural gas exports revisited: A real debate emerges

    Lucy Wallwork Natural Resources

    I have summarized both sid​es of the debate previously on whether the U.S. should start exporting its natural gas internationally. Now on the back of a Senate hearing in January, the debate over the wisdom of a continued ban on U.S. oil and gas exports has intensified.

  • AHR Expo highlights important trends in HVAC&R industry

    Denny Hydrick Facilities & Grounds

    I recently attended the AHR Expo 2014 in New York City along with several thousand more freezing souls. The show is co-sponsored by AHRI and ASHRAE, which is obviously pointed towards HVAC professionals, many of whom are employed in some type of facility (vs. construction or service companies). This fact alone made the Association for Facilities Engineering presence almost a necessity.

  • Why 2014 is a good time to be in the lighting controls business

    Allan McHale Construction & Building Materials

    This is now the most exciting time for the lighting industry since the early 20th century. We are truly at an inflection point, and the forthcoming shakeout over the next five years will determine the winners and losers in the game — as well as who will be the lighting giants of the future. The impact of LED technology is providing vast opportunities to improve lighting products and controls and their efficiency. This has coincided with the mandated demand to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in buildings, thus creating this challenging opportunity.

  • Solar energy global market drivers and challenges

    Don Rosato Manufacturing

    ​The worldwide solar energy or photovoltaic (PV) demand reached only 29 gigawatts (GW) last year, a 5 percent year-over-year increase. This is the first time in 10 years that the year-over-year PV industry market growth has been less than 10 percent. For supply and demand to have been balanced during 2012-13, end-market demand should have approached the 45 GW level. This overcapacity is having a significant effect on companies all along the supply chain as the industry consolidates.

  • US vs. Europe: Comparing different approaches to renewable energy

    Stefanie Heerwig Natural Resources

    Let's assume this statement is true: The world is running toward a huge climate crisis. Temperatures will rise by about 11 degrees F , if we do nothing, and the impacts of such a rise can be fatal — floods, droughts, food insecurity, migration, just to name some. Now, what should we do, and what is the best approach of creating the right policy in a fight against time? The common assumption, when comparing the European Union and U.S., is that the U.S. approach to renewable energy is lagging behind the EU.