News Briefs : Pollution and children's health - Environmental Science

Jan 1, 2001 - News Briefs : Pollution and children's health. Environ. Sci. Technol. , 2001, 35 (1), .... nanogenerators — and more! Each and every d...
1 downloads 0 Views 9MB Size
Environmental MNews orption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from water to soot has been found to be 35 to 250 times higher than predicted based on bulk organic carbon, proving soot to be one of the strongest geosorbents known to date. A study conducted by Thomas Bucheli and ôrjan Gustafsson at the Institute for Applied Environmental Research at Stockholm University, Sweden, shows that soot subfractions, frequently comprising 5 20% of total organic carbon in soils or sediments, potentially dominate the fate of PAHs in the field (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2000, 34 (23) 5144 5151). Knowing the phase distribution of contaminants such as PAHs is a crucial prerequisite for understanding and predicting their environmental behavior. The established organic-matter partitioning model, which only considers partitioning into the bulk organic-carbon fraction of soils and sediments, has been found to grossly underestimate PAH sorption in many field situations, making its use as a predictive tool questionable. Only recently have organic-matter fractions such as soot and charcoal (also referred to as black carbon), both products of incomplete combustion, been recognized as a possible cause for these deviations. The researchers for the first time directly measured distribution coefficients of several PAHs from water to model soot particles. Their proposed expansion of the classical organic-matter partitioning model includes PAH sorption to the soot carbon fraction of the solid phase, which is especially important for the toxicity assessment of sediment porewater systems, claims Gustafsson, who suggests this could greatly improve predictions of bioavailable PAHs [Okay?].

Please provide credit line

Does supersorbent soot control PAH fate?

S

Thishigh-resolution transm ission electron m icroscopyim age ofdieselsootparticlesshow sthe prim arysootspheres(30-nm diam eter)arranged on a string aspart ofa largergrapelike cluster.The sphere’sonionlike structure resultsfrom the concentric orientation ofthe planarpolyarom atic layers,w ith a m ean interlayerspacing of4.1è.

Anthropogenic substances have to be considered not only in terms of their role as environmental pollutants, but also as potentially strong sorbents that can govern the environmental fate of other pollutants, Gustafsson stressed. As future research, Bucheli and Gustafsson are aiming to isolate natural soot from various sediments to learn about variations in PAH affinity for these materials. To better understand how sorption works, research has to move from the traditional descriptive approach with bulk soils and sediments to the quantification of content and sorption capacity of clearly defined types of organic matter, said geologist Peter Grathwohl from the University of TÅbingen, Germany. He stressed the importance of soot and charcoal in soils and sediments worldwide, including highly industrialized areas in Central Europe, making their recognition indispensable for groundwater risk assessment.

The key issues for understanding hydrophobic sorption are proper characterization of soil organic carbon and understanding the behavior of individual fractions, agrees environmental engineer Bill Ball of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Ball is a member of a steering committee encouraging scientific input on the development of suitable black carbon reference materials for the environmental sciences community (www.du.edu/~dwismith/bcsteer. html). Although soil characterization will improve today’s understanding of sorption mechanisms, Grathwohl is not positive that it will finally lead to methods applicable for field predictions. The ultimate complexity of many soils may render an exact analysis of their components infeasible. The use of chemical probes representative of whole groups of chemicals may be a more realistic tool for making predictions, he suspects. ANKE SCHAEFER

Government Watch EU halon ban could have unintended consequences

Tapping energy from the sediment water interface marine environment. “Both are in the ocean in abundance, and numerous natural processes ensure their renewal right at the device,” says Tender. The fuel cell takes advantage of a voltage gradient that naturally occurs in the top few centimeters of the sediment column due to microbial decomposition of organic matter, which consumes a succession of oxidants (oxygen, nitrate, manganese, iron oxides, and sulfate) and makes the sediment more reducing with increasing depth. One electrode is embedded in the sediment (anode) and is connected through a variable load to a second electrode in seawater (cathode). As long as a voltage gradient exists, this simple electrode configuration can harvest energy from the net oxidation of sediment organic matter by dissolved oxygen. The amount of power that can be harvested is primarily dependent on the electrode design. “We were able to get more power per area of seafloor with carbon fiber electrodes than with platinum mesh electrodes,” says Reimers. “This is largely because the [carbon fiber] setup has more surface area available for the electron transport process,” she adds. In the paper, the researchers report being able to harvest 0.01 W/m2 of electrode geometric area, but according to Reimers, they can now do an order of magnitude better, Prototype fuel-celldevice afterrecoveryfrom Yaquina due to optimization Bay,OR.The electrode m aterialisgraphite and the botof the electrode tom electrode (anode)iscovered w ith a layerofsedimaterial. m ent. Clare Reimers

Each year, oceanographers and the military deploy sensors on the ocean floor, and most are powered by battery packs, says Leonard Tender of the Naval Research Laboratory. But just like children’s toys, instruments drain batteries, and typically, underwater devices can only be powered for 1 2 years, he says. “You have to commit resources to either deploy a new device or retrieve the device and refurbish the battery pack.” Either way is costly. In this issue of ES&T (pp. XXX XXX), Clare Reimers of Oregon State University, Tender, and researchers at Rutgers University and Nova Research of Alexandria, VA, describe a prototype fuel cell that could eventually supply long-term power for uninterrupted underwater monitoring applications. The new device uses organic detritus in sediment as the fuel and dissolved oxygen in seawater as the oxidant, both of which occur naturally in the

A ban by the European Union (EU) on the production, use, and sale of several ozone-depleting substances could be driving down dramatically the price of halons, stable compounds used as fire suppressants, significantly and result in the dumping of halons on the U.S. market, says the environmental organization Friends of the Earth. The ban entered into force in October as part of the EU’s commitment to the Montreal Protocol, but it contains exceptions for certain so-called critical uses such as in aircraft and military equipment. Over the long term, a ban may be the right thing to do, but in the short term, the environmental group says it fears the EU move could “completely undermine” U.S. efforts to recycle halons because a previously limited supply (U.S. halon production was phased out completely in 1994) created a higher price per pound, providing an incentive for halons to be sold from noncritical uses to critical uses. In addition, the high cost of decommissioning halon fire suppressant systems could encourage users to get rid of the halon by simply venting it to the atmosphere. U.S. EPA officials are sufficiently [AU: “so ... that ... .” better; there is no transition created by using the word “sufficiently”.] concerned with these potential developments that they are closely monitoring whether imports of the substance are on the rise, but at the time ES&T went to press, no sudden spikes in the number of halon imports could be ascertained. A unit head in the European Commission’s environment directorate concedes these concerns are warranted but maintains that export prohibitions will keep EU halons from being dumped on other markets. Likewise, the directorate is implementing a Continued on page X

Environmental MNews Sediment composition is another factor affecting how much power can be harvested. For similar electrode materials, the researchers reported seeing similar responses in salt marsh and estuarine sediments. Since the paper was submitted, however, Reimers says they have worked with other sediments that provide more power. “We suspect [the difference] is related to specific characteristics of the microbial populations and organic substrates in the sediment, but we are still trying to sort that out,” she says. Temperature also affects how well the device works. The oxidation of organic matter by bacteria produces reduced byproducts,

such as hydrogen sulfide, which are reoxidized at the electrode surface, explains Reimers. These byproducts must diffuse to the anode, and that process is affected by temperature. “At higher temperatures, the transport limitation is less,” she says. A power supply that harvests energy from the sediment water interface has the potential to run numerous sensors on the ocean floor indefinitely, says Tender. In addition to the standard conductivity, temperature, and depth gauge, acoustic sensors for determining changes in seawater composition and temperature changes in the ocean for global warming studies could be powered by the new device. “In the

long-term future, we’d like to be able to power seismometers with the device. Japan and other countries have a lot of seismometers on the ocean floor,” he says. Bjorn Sundby of the University of Quebec, Canada agrees that many applications may benefit from the new device. For example, he says, the NEPTUNE project (www.neptune.washington. edu), which is expected to be operational by 2005, has a goal of establishing a network of underwater observatories to study a wide area of the ocean and its floor for many decades, rather than hours or days. “Would it not be wonderful to have chemical instrumentation out there, powered by sediment-energy’?” he asks. BRITT E. ERICKSON

DOE and EPA embrace green power Scientists are constructing a commercial-scale prototype of a lowpolluting, power-generating technology at one of the U.S. EPA’s principal environmental laboratories. Once the new power plant, which combines fuel cells with a gas turbine, is functioning in 2002, officials from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) predict that it will be “the most efficient in the world.” The prototype power plant, which DOE Secretary Bill Richardson characterizes as “one of the most exciting new advances coming out of our energy research program,” is the product of decades of fuel cell research by Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation and DOE. The plant, located at EPA’s Environmental Science Center in Fort Meade, MD, will generate 1000 kW of power by using the hot air coming off a stack of more than 5700 solid-oxide fuel cells to turn a microturbine. The process generates electricity at more than 60% efficiency, nearly double the efficiency of a conventional power plant, says a senior DOE official, who predicts that the technology may ultimately be able to achieve greater than 80%

efficiency if it is also used to cogenerate heat. No cogeneration is planned with the prototype because it will not fit easily with EPA’s existing building design, however. There are already more than 200 fuel cell installations generating power throughout the world, according to the U.S. Fuel Cell Council. However, the hybrid design achieves higher efficiencies than fuel cells alone, in part because the 1000ß C temperature at which Siemens Westinghouse’s tubular-style solid-oxide fuel cells operate is much higher than the operating temperatures of the proton-exchange membrane, phosphoric acid, or molten carbonate fuel-cell models used in other stationary power applications, says Chris Forbes, manager of solid-oxide fuel-cell business development. The heat given off by the solid-oxide fuel cells drives the process of chemically reforming natural gas to generate the carbon monoxide and hydrogen that the fuel cells need to produce electricity. In other fuel-cell designs, this reforming process is often carried out separately, and therefore less efficiently, he says. The hot air that is produced as

a byproduct of the reforming and electricity-generating steps is able to turn the gas turbine because it happens to be at the right pressure and temperature. The component technologies “mate very nicely” with one another, the DOE official says. Because no combustion is involved in the process, the power plant’s emissions are lower than those of any other fossil fuel-based power plant, according to the DOE official. The plant produces SO2 and NOx in the parts-per-billion range, and it also reduces CO2 emissions considerably, he says. The main market for these new plants will be for distributed power, rather than centralized power, Forbes and the DOE official agree. Both fuel cells and microturbines are good sources of distributed power, which is often privately owned and located on the site of the main power user, according to Gregory Dolan, deputy executive director for the U.S. Fuel Cell Council. Allied Business Intelligence Inc., a market research firm, expects the U.S. market for stationary fuel cells to skyrocket from $33 million in 1999 to $10.9 billion in 2010. the

Government Watch strategy for dealing with the destruction of existing noncritical halon stocks, he says.

entire distributed generation market in 2010 is expected to be $48.4 billion, according to ABI. In the developing world, such distributed power technologies may help countries “leapfrog” to power sources that are cleaner and cheaper than building new coal or nuclear facilities and extending transmission lines, according to the Worldwatch Institute. However, fuel cells will not be truly viable alternatives for generating distributed power until their prices drop, Forbes admits. Although he expects that his company’s hybrid microturbine fuel cell power plants will cost $1300 $1500/kW (installed) when his company is producing them in 2004, he acknowledges that most predictions hold that gas microturbines in the same size range will cost half the price. But he maintains that his products will be competitive because of their greater efficiency, lower maintenance, and superior environmental performance. Other stationary fuel cells cost between $2000 $3000/kW, according to the DOE official, who adds that his

agency’s Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance is pushing to develop $400/kW fuel cells within the next 5 7 years. Additionally, DOE’s Vision 21 program is developing a version of the Siemens Westinghouse hybrid power plant that can use syngas derived from coal. The agency ultimately envisions that both syngas- and natural gasbased versions of this new power plant will be used to supplement the power output of utility-scale facilities, the DOE official says. When the new fuel cell is finally up and running, it will probably generate more power than needed to run the Fort Meade lab at times, according to Frederick Dreisch, the building’s facilities manager. The new power plant fits well with the lab because it was constructed to be a showcase for green technologies (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 33, 151A 152A), and it will be producing the world’s cleanest power once it is up and running, he says. KELLYN S. BETTS

The U.S.-supported move to spray Colombia’s illegal coca crop with a toxic fungus was dealt a significant blow in November when the environmental committee of the Andean Community recommended at an Andean foreign ministers meeting that the project be rejected. The action came after Colombia nixed a U.N. Drug Control Program proposal to test the Fusarium oxysporum fungus because of its potential risk to biodiversity and agriculture. F. oxysporum produces a mycotoxin that causes wilting and death in a myriad of crops, including watermelons, chickpeas, basil, and bananas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating a strain of F. oxysporum that attacks coca plants, the raw material for cocaine. But scientists in the Andean community Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela say that the fungus has not been adequately tested and could attack plants other than coca. Because it kills entire crops and could be the basis of a biological warfare agent that attacks food crops, aerial spraying of the fungus could violate the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, according to the Sunshine Project, a nonprofit organization that highlights abuses of biotechnology. It could also harm endangered species like the Agrias butterfly, which depends on coca’s wild relatives.

Proposed actions on fluorosurfactants The U.S. EPA’s proposed Significant New Use Rule, which puts Continued on page X

Please provide credit line

Andean nations reject fungal pathogen

Environmental MNews The smallest stowaways Ballast water carried around the world in the vast underbellies of ocean-plying vessels harbors not just stowaways such as the infamous zebra mussel or comb jelly, but also microorganisms with the potential for spreading diseases that could affect plants, animals, and humans, according to a new study (Nature (London) 2000, 408, 49 50) Ships regularly fill their ballast tanks with millions of gallons of fresh or saltwater to maintain stability during transits, discharging it as they pick up cargo. Until now, attention has focused on the larger species left behind in ports worldwide, but scientists have long suspected ballast water as a likely culprit behind such waterborne maladies as harmful algal blooms, which may be caused by phytoplankton transported by ships to places far away from where they were previously known.

Greg Ruiz, a scientist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the study’s primary author, and his colleagues collected ballast water samples throughout the year from vessels arriving in the Chesapeake Bay from foreign ports and measured concentrations of total bacteria and viruslike particles. Using fluorescently labeled antibodies, they also

determined the prevalence and concentrations of Vibrio cholerae 01 and 0139, bacteria that cause human disease. They found cholera bacteria in all of the ballast tanks they screened; notably, they recorded observations of dividing cells, which indicated that at least some of the bacteria were viable. “The scale of transfer is so much greater than what we see for bigger invading organisms that we predict the number of invasions by microorganisms are much greater as well,” Ruiz says. In addition, although these data do not distinguish among all the organisms that make up the total bacteria and total virus counts, “we believe their diversity is as high as it is in normal marine estuarine systems,” he notes. “This study sends a signal that a lot of other folks ought to be looking at this around the world,”

States tackle ballast water The lack of mandatory national and international standards regulating ballast water discharges is prompting a number of U.S. states to take matters into their own hands. California requires ballast exchange in mid-ocean where tanks are either pumped out and refilled with water or overfilled with additional water to dilute the ballast water. Washington requires ballast water to be treated, but is still defining exactly what that entails. Meanwhile, Michigan state senator Ken Sikkema (R-MI) has introduced legislation calling for the treatment of ballast water before it is discharged. New York and Minnesota legislators have introduced similar bills, and Ohio and Pennsylvania are poised to do so as well. All of this talk is sending shivers throughout the shipping industry, which says it does not want each state to deal with the issue differently. John Jamian, director of the Port

Authority in Detroit, admits that state efforts have really put pressure on the U.S. government and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the U.N. agency focused on improving maritime safety and preventing ship pollution, to come up with a single standard. The shipping industry has also stepped up efforts to come up with alternative treatments. Currently, ships heading for U.S. ports voluntarily perform ballast water exchanges and are required to file reports with the U.S. Coast Guard detailing whether, where, and when the exchange took place. The IMO also recommends ballast water exchange. Compliance with the voluntary measure, however, has been spotty, according to a recent assessment by the Coast Guard. The U.S. EPA, which was petitioned by a coalition of environmental organizations and water agencies in the Pacific Northwest to regulate ballast discharges under the Clean Water Act

(Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 4 (4), 151A 152A), was still mulling over a response as ES&T went to press. At this point, however, there is still no effective, economical method available for treating ballast water, but “alternatives that look pretty promising are busily being tested, and we’re very close,” says Allegra Cangelosi of the Northeast Midwest Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC. One of the biggest problems has been coming up with an accepted level of mortality, says Dean Wilkinson of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “You’re dealing with a whole range of different taxonomic groups ranging from bacteria to fish, and something that may work with one group may not necessarily be effective with another,” Wilkinson says. Alternatives being considered include filtration, cyclonic separation, ultraviolet radiation, and environmentally sound biocides. K.C.

says Jim Carlton of Williams College/Mystic Seaport who is considered by many to be the world’s leading expert on nonindigenous aquatic species. “We now have one data set from the Chesapeake Bay, but areas with warmer or tropical climates have a lot more potential for this vector to really move disease agents such as cholera around.” What remains unknown is whether the cholera bacteria coming into Chesapeake Bay or other ports around the world are different from the ones presently residing there, Ruiz cautions, but “if they are different, there’s potential for colonization of a new strain or even gene transfer, which may change how that organism behaves in the environment.” Previous scientific studies have shown that invasion success is “density-dependent”, meaning that the more organisms that are released into a system, the more

likely they are to successfully colonize or invade the system. “Since we’re releasing a lot more microorganisms than we are the invading clams, snails, fish, and crabs, we’d expect more invasions by microorganisms than we’re seeing for these larger organisms,” Ruiz says. Add to this fact that many microorganisms are asexual and can reproduce simply by dividing. Therefore, colonies may successfully establish themselves with a much lower initial concentration and increase their population quickly, says Hugh MacIsaac, a professor at Canada’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research. “The integrity of any given ecosystem is in real jeopardy because of this constant onslaught of new species coming in,” MacIsaac says. “Nobody has been able to pinpoint what percentage of species will successfully establish [themselves] once XXXXthey’re introduced, but clearly when you’re inoculating a

restrictions on fluorinated organic surfactants known as perfluorooctyl sulfonates, is expected to go into effect this month. The proposal is confined to some 90 chemicals that 3M Corporation intends to voluntarily phase out because they appear to be persistent, pervasive, and bioaccumulative, with toxic effects at low levels of exposure. One of the aims of the proposal is to gather information to verify that 3M is the sole U.S. manufacturer and importer, according to an EPA spokesperson. Casting a wider net, Environment Canada (EC) in June added over 180 perfluorinated alkyl compounds to its Domestic Substances List. The list includes the 90 compounds listed by EPA plus others that share the same fundamental chemistry. EC is currently screening the compounds to determine if there is a case for regulation or further assessment. Both countries, together with the United Kingdom and Japan, are evaluating perfluorinated alkyl compounds as part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s efforts to get a better handle on their health effects, persistence, and environmental behavior. Such information should indicate whether regulations to ban or limit their use are necessary.

Thailand chills out Thailand is participating in an innovative World Bank program to reduce the country’s chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) usage. If the pilot project succeeds, it could pave the way for other developing countries to use revolving funds that capitalize on energy savings to defray the costs of investing in new technologies to reduce their use of ozone-depleting substances and simultaneously decrease their CO2 emissions. Continued on page X

Please provide credit line

M icroscopic creatures know n ascopepods (show n above)are often found in ballast w aterand are considered to be a hostfor Vibrio cholerae bacteria (show n on the right) using a fluorescently stained antibody).

Please provide credit line

Please provide credit line

Government Watch

News M Briefs from fossil-fuel burning that harm children’s lungs include nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and acid vapors, but not ozone, to the surprise of researchers. The study appears to present the best evidence yet of a chronic effect of air pollution on children. More information on the research can be obtained by going to www.usc. edu and searching on “air pollution and children’s health.”

SO2 emissions in western and central European countries have decreased significantly since 1994, but coal-fired power plants continue to dominate the list of large point sources, finds a report commissioned by a coalition of Swedish environmental groups. Of the 100 largest sulfur emitters, which release more than 8 million tons of SO2 annually, 81 are coalfired power stations, among which older plants are responsible for more than 90% of sulfur emissions. Topping the list are two power plants in Bulgaria that together release some 60,000 tons of SO2 per year. For a copy of The Worst and the Best: Atmospheric Emissions from Large Point Sources in Europe, go to www. acidrain.org and choose “publications.”

Persistent organic pollutants releases could be eliminated without disrupting the economy, according to a study from the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC-based environmental research organization. These toxic and bioaccumulative pollutants are mainly produced by the paper, pesticides, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics industries. Nontoxic alternatives are available at competitive prices, such as chlorine-free paper bleaching, integrated pest management, and substitution of aluminum, wood, and iron for PVC in the construction industry. The report calls on governments to adopt the precautionary principle and restrict the use of chemicals until they are proven safe. For a copy of Why Poison Ourselves? A Precautionary Approach to Synthetic Chemicals, call (202) 452-1999.

Air pollution retards children’s lung development by as much as 10%, according to a University of Southern California study. Published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (162 (4), 2000, 1 8), the study followed more than 3000 students for over 10 years in clean and polluted communities in southern California. Pollutants

PhotoDisc

The United States is not running out of technologies to improve energy efficiency and environmental performance, according to a report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research organization. Produced in conjunction with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and sponsored by the U.S. EPA, as well as private industry, Emerging Energy-Efficient Industrial Technologies evaluates the energy efficiency of 175 products being developed around the world. The report characterizes more than 50 of the most promising technologies in detail, including products aimed at the aluminum, chemicals, electronics, and mining industries, as well as “cross-cutting” technologies like efficient motors and microturbines. To order a copy of the report, go to www.aceee.org.

The area needed to produce sufficient natural resources and absorb the CO2 emitted by their use is five times greater for the average North American than that required for the average Asian, African, and Latin American, according to the Living Planet

Report 2000. Published by the World Wide Fund for Nature, a nonprofit organization, the report calculates that humanity’s ecological impact on the Earth’s resources has increased by about 50% from 1970 to 1999. An “Ecological Footprint” index in the report measures the impact of people in different nations by calculating the area of biologically productive land or sea required to produce food, materials, and energy resources and at the same time absorb the waste associated with those resources. For a copy, go to www.panda.org. The best methods for mitigating CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion via underground carbon sequestration will be assessed by the Carbon Mitigation Initiative announced in late October by Princeton University. British Petroleum and Ford Motor Company together donated $20 million to the university, which will use the grants to investigate methods for capturing CO2 and sequestering it in geologic formations. The initiative, which will be part of Princeton’s Environmental Institute, will also evaluate the feasibility of switching to alternative fuels, especially hydrogen. For more information, go to www.princeton.org. The Honda Accord, Nissan Sentra, and Toyota Prius have the cleanest tailpipe emissions of all 2001model passenger vehicles sold in the United States, according to the U.S. EPA’s first-ever consumer guide to vehicle tailpipe emissions released in October. The guide ranks 2000- and 2001model vehicles based on emissions of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, both of which contribute to smog formation. The rankings complement EPA’s annual gas mileage ratings, providing consumers with information to make better choices that could protect their health and the environment. For a copy of the guide, which ranks more than 2000 new vehicles, go to www.epa.gov/autoemissions.

GOV OVERRUN BRIEFS OVERRUN The Thai project, which was scheduled to begin in November, is the first to target the chillers that cool commercial and residential buildings, says Steve Gorman, chief of the World Bank’s Montreal Protocol Unit. In the pilot phase, $5 million (U.S.) in seed money will be used to replace 24 chillers in hotels, hospitals, manufacturing, and residential structures. None of these businesses will have to invest the $300,000 $500,000 in a new, non-CFC chiller. Instead, the businesses will pay for the new equipment by reimbursing the revolving fund with the cost of the electric bills that they would have customarily paid to operate their old equipment. Because the new equipment is 20 25% more energy-efficient, its lower operating costs should effectively pay for the new equipment over a five-year period, Gorman says. If the pilot project to replace the chillers is as successful as the World Bank predicts, the Thai government has promised to fund the replacement of 530 more chillers, Gorman says. A number of countries, including Bahrain, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Yemen, have also expressed interest in the program, he says.

CO2 emissions from new passenger cars sold on the European market decreased 5.6% between 1995 and 1999, primarily as a result of technological developments fostered through environmental agreements with the European, Japanese, and Korean car industries, the European Commission (EC) reports. The EC says it hopes to improve fuel economy and achieve average CO2 emissions for new cars of 120 grams/kilogram by 2005, or 2010 at the latest. For a copy of the EC communication go to europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ co2/co2_monitoring.htm and click on “annual reports”.