Tag: emitting

A New Bulb on the Block

  • imothy D. Sands, at left, director of Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center in Discovery Park, and graduate student Mark Oliver, operate a "reactor" in work aimed at perfecting solid-state lighting, a technology that could cut electricity consumption by 10 percent if widely adopted. Purdue researchers have overcome a major obstacle in reducing the cost of the lighting technology, called light-emitting diodes. (Photo by David Umberger, courtesy of Purdue News Service)

Unless you like to live by candlelight,
you have to buy lightbulbs. But the options
out there aren’t that great. Jessi Ziegler reports how all that might change soon:

Transcript

Unless you like to live by candlelight,
you have to buy lightbulbs. But the options
out there aren’t that great. Jessi Ziegler reports how all that might change soon:

Plain-old incandescent lightbulbs are not efficient. That’s
old news.

And fluorescents? The color is funny and they have toxic
mercury in them.

So, what option is left?

LED lights. They’re as efficient as compact flourescents
minus the mercury.

The problem? They’re one-hundred-dollars-a-bulb
expensive.

But scientists at Purdue have been working on a way to
cut that cost.

Researcher Timothy Sands says in about 5 years, LEDs could
cost the same as the other bulbs.

“So, the nice thing about it is you can save energy, and
actually save money over the long haul – even though the
initial cost is very high right now, without changing what
you’re used to, or without lowering your standards for
lighting.”

And Sands says another big advantage of LEDs is you’d only
have to change the bulbs every 15 years.

For The Environment Report, this is Jessi Ziegler.

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Groups Sue Epa Over Factory Farm Agreement

  • Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, also known as factory farms, produce a lot of animal waste. Some groups are worried that a new EPA rule will be too easy on enforcement of environmental regulations. (Photo courtesy of the EPA)

A coalition of environmental groups is asking a federal judge to review an agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and operators of large-scale livestock farms. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman
reports:

Transcript

A coalition of environmental groups is asking a Federal Judge to review an agreement between the EPA and operators of large-scale livestock farms. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports:


The environmental groups say these large-scale farms are responsible for emitting harmful pollutants. The EPA recently offered farm operators the chance to take part in further studies on those emissions. In exchange, the agency relaxed its enforcement of certain environmental regulations during the period of the study.


The Environmental Integrity Project and three other groups recently filed a lawsuit questioning the legality of the agreement. Michelle Merkele is Senior Counsel for The Environmental Integrity Project. She says the agreement is unnecessary.


“The EPA has had the authority under the Clean Air Act to gather the kind of data it needs to determine emissions levels at these industrial farming operations. It doesn’t need the industry’s permission.”


The EPA says it believes the agreement is the best way to completely assess the situation and to eventually bring the entire industry into compliance.


For the GLRC, I’m Chris Lehman.

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