Free Republic

John's of Bleecker Street general manager Kevin Jackson details changes the pizzeria must make to comply with new green energy regulations. #FOXBusiness

More than two dozen environmental organizations petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of natural gas for home heating nationwide, arguing the federal agency must regulate “deadly pollution from heating appliances.” The petition, sponsored by the Sierra Club, claims fossil fuel-fired home furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers and stoves emit enough nitrogen dioxide (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2) that they must be classified as “new stationary sources” of air pollutants, placing them in the same regulatory regime as power plants and factories. The petition resembles – but goes beyond Gov. Jared Polis’ Greenhouse Gas Roadmap for a clean...

Gas stoves are contributing more to global warming than previously thought because of constant tiny methane leaks while they’re off, a new study found. The same study that tested emissions around stoves in homes raised new concerns about indoor air quality and health because of levels of nitrogen oxides measured. Even when they are not running, U.S. gas stoves are putting 2.6 million tons (2.4 million metric tons) of methane — in carbon dioxide equivalent units — into the air each year, a team of California researchers found in a study published in Thursday’s journal Environmental Science & Technology. That’s...

Frustrated European officials alerted the US to Volkswagen's emissions cheating scam after the European Commission failed to act on the intel for years, German media reported on Friday. [...] "Officials from the EU informed the US environment group ICCT about the possible cheating on nitrogen oxide emissions," Mary Nichols, who heads the California Air Resources Board, told WirtschaftsWoche. The weekly reported that the European Commission had been told by a Volkswagen supplier of the cheating as early as in 2011. ...

Diesel pollution makes it harder for honeybees to find flowers by changing the chemical make-up of their scent, scientists have found. Honeybees use floral odors to find flowers that will give the best yields of pollen and nectar, but diesel fumes can affect their ability to locate and recognize the plants, potentially affecting pollination and ultimately global food security. British researchers took eight chemicals found in the odor of oilseed rape flowers and mixed them both with clean air, which had no impact on the scent, and air containing diesel fumes. When mixed with diesel fumes, six of the eight...

ARGONNE, Ill. (April 27, 2007) — A catalyst developed by Argonne researchers could help diesel truck manufacturers eliminate harmful nitrogen-oxide emissions from diesel exhausts. The technology — which has a patent pending — appears so promising that multiple large and small companies have expressed interest in licensing it and working with Argonne researchers to scale up the technology and bring it to market. Argonne researcher Christopher Marshall, one of the technology's developers, believes there could be a commercially available product within two to three years. Nitrogen oxides — collectively called “NOx” — contribute to smog, acid rain and global warming....

Elected officials, business leaders and environmental watchdogs, invited by the editorial board, recently met at The Dallas Morning News to discuss clean air issues. This is the first of three excerpted transcripts from the roundtable. The speakers quoted: Colleen McCain Nelson, editorial writer; Margaret Keliher, Dallas County judge through 2006; Richard Greene, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency; Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office; Jim Schermbeck, Downwinders at Risk board member; Todd Campbell, director of public policy for Clean Energy and mayor of Burbank, Calif.; Al Armendariz, assistant professor, SMU School of Engineering; Robert Cluck, Arlington...

Georgia Tech researchers have created a new combustor (combustion chamber where fuel is burned to power an engine or gas turbine) designed to burn fuel in a wide range of devices â with next to no emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO), two of the primary causes of air pollution. The device has a simpler design than existing state-of-the-art combustors and could be manufactured and maintained at a much lower cost, making it more affordable in everything from jet engines and power plants to home water heaters. A comparison of Georgia Tech's combustor with a traditional combustor:...

Unless the Texas biofuels industry can convince state officials that vegetable-based diesel fuel won't foul the state's air, it risks being forced from the huge Texas diesel market. Texas is the nation's largest producer of biodiesel, a mix of regular diesel and vegetable oil. A decision to allow or forbid the fuel is expected before year's end. The state's chief environmental regulatory agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, has told the fledgling industry it must prove the fuel is clean enough for Texas. That position puts Texas in a class all its own; other states are embracing the fuel....

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be allowed to implement potentially counterproductive smog-prevention regulations after the U.S. Supreme Court on November 14 let stand a lower court decision that a legal technicality prevented the National Alternative Fuels Association (NAFA) from challenging the regulations. Complex Interactions EPA says regulations it implemented in 2000 will reduce the formation of ground-level ozone, a key smog component. Ozone forms when nitrous oxides (NOx) react with volatile organic compounds (VOC) on hot, sunny days. Accordingly, "smog season" in the U.S. tends to run from approximately April 1 through September 30. A cursory look at...

Congress enacted New Source Review (NSR) in 1977 as a permitting program for construction of large new industrial facilities, or major modifications to existing ones. If new construction or a major modification will increase emissions by an amount large enough to trigger NSR requirements, the facility must obtain a permit before it can begin construction and install the best available air pollution control technology. States are key partners in the program. Under the Act, states have the primary responsibility for issuing permits. States are allowed to customize their NSR programs within the limits of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. In...