News▼Briefs
The 2001 recession and economic aftermath of September 11 had little impact on most markets for environmental goods and services, according to Farkas Berkowitz and Company, a management consulting firm. The U.S. water and wastewater engineering market grew 10% to $3.8 billion in 2001, due partly to the move to membrane-based technologies by drinking water treatment plants and continuing wastewater infrastructure upgrades. The industrial waste management market remained flat at $3 billion, but the report predicts that innovative technologies like recycling hazardous waste into animal food products offer hope for a brighter future. However, the domestic market for remediation dropped by 2% to $3.7 billion. For more information about the Fourteenth Annual State of the Industry Report, go to www.farkasberkowitz.com. Roughly 76 million gallons of oil find their way into North American coastal waters from anthropogenic and natural sources every year, according to a report by the U.S. National Research Council (NRC). Global estimates tally more than © 2002 American Chemical Society
380 million gallons annually. Most of the releases related to human activity come from land-based runoff, industrial discharges, airplanes, recreational boats, and jet skis, rather than from tanker accidents and oil and gas rigs as commonly believed, the NRC finds. Oil in the Sea: Inputs, Fates, and Effects can be accessed at www. nap.edu.
PHOTODISC
Wind power could supply 12% of the world’s electricity by 2020, according to a joint report by the European Wind Energy Association, an industry group, and Greenpeace, a nonprofit environmental group. Wind Force 12: A Blueprint to Achieve 12% of the World’s Electricity by 2020 estimates that meeting this goal would generate 1.475 million jobs and eliminate 11,768 million tons of carbon dioxide. “If external costs, including environmental damage, caused by different fuels used for electricity generation were given a monetary value, then wind power would either benefit from a reduction in price or the cost of other fuels would increase substantially,” according to the report, which can be accessed at www.ewea.org.
Consumers are increasingly well informed about the environmental impacts of their buying decisions, but there is not yet enough public awareness about toxics from the electronics and cruise-ship industries, according to Vital Signs 2002, which is published annually by the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental think tank. Produced in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme, the book assesses a variety of global environmental indicators. Ecolabeling of consumer products is gaining ground, higher efficiency standards for new appliances are taking off, and car-sharing programs have emerged, but increasing numbers of computers and mobile phones have created disposal problems, asthma is on the rise, farmland quality is deteriorating, and many freshwater species are at risk. To read about these emerging global trends, go to www. worldwatch.org. More than 200 million people in the United States live in areas where the cancer risk from air toxics is 10 in 1 million, exceeding the U.S. EPA’s gen-
erally accepted level by 10 times, according to EPA’s National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, released May 31. Another 100 million individuals live in areas where the cancer risk from all air toxics emitted by on-road and off-road vehicles exceeds 10 in 1 million. Emissions of benzene, carbon tetrachloride, formaldehyde, and chromium present the greatest health risks. The assessment is based on a 1996 inventory of emissions and assumes that individuals spend their entire lifetimes exposed. It is meant to help EPA staff identify pollutants and sources of the greatest potential concern but doesn’t characterize risks for regulatory action. For a copy of the assessment, go to www.epa.gov/ ttn/atw/nata/. A wealth of information about the world’s oceans, including climatological and ecological data, maps, development trends, and threats to human health, can now be accessed online in one place. In early June, the United Nations and several leading international scientific agencies launched a Web site that focuses on sustainable management of the world’s oceans. To learn more, go to the U.N. Atlas of the Oceans at www. oceansatlas.org. Lithuania’s success in cutting organic pollution in the Baltic Sea by 93% has earned the country’s Housing and Urban Development Foundation the 2002 Baltic Sea Water Award, according to Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Lithuanian foundation is credited with “an overarching approach to reduce pollution loads in large parts” of the country. It has worked with a number of international financing agencies and donors, including the World and European Investment Banks, to implement 20 municipal environmental infrastructure projects, 121 energy efficiency projects, and 6 district heating projects. For more information about the award, go to www.siwi.org.
AUGUST 1, 2002 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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