From The New York Times, Wednesday, Februrary 3, 2010:
President Obama moved on Wednesday to bolster the nation’s production of corn-based ethanol and other alternative liquid fuels and ordered the rapid development of technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal.
The president is trying to expand the portfolio of American energy sources to [...]
President Touts His Alternative Fuels Plan
February 8th, 2010 · No Comments
Category: Energy, Renewable · Legislation and Policy · Sustainable Living
Chimney fire threat grows with wet wood
February 5th, 2010 · No Comments
From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Thursday, February 4, 2010:
Check your chimney or have someone else do it.
Charlie Whitaker, who has cleaned chimneys for 25 years, sent me three photos of chimneys he cleaned this week.
During his career in Fairbanks, Whitaker has peered into 10,000 chimneys, but never has he seen a bigger problem with creosote.
He [...]
Category: Northern Living
Phone survey seeks home heating information
January 26th, 2010 · No Comments
From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Tuesday, January 26, 2010:
A telephone survey aims to find out how residents of the Fairbanks North Star Borough go about heating their homes.
Borough officials want to use the information to help develop a pollution control plan for PM 2.5, tiny particulates known to embed in the lungs and cause health [...]
Category: Alaskan Efforts · Energy, Information · Legislation and Policy · Northern Living · Sustainable Living
25 tips to improve air quality in your home
January 20th, 2010 · No Comments
From The Daily Green:
Use these 25 indoor air quality tips from the American Lung Association to help reduce the risk factors for asthma and other lung illness in your home.
Click here to read more.
Category: PORTAL
More sunlight equals cleaner Fairbanks air
January 19th, 2010 · No Comments
From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Tuesday, January 19, 2010:
Increasing sunlight has helped improve particulate pollution in Fairbanks, according to borough air quality specialist Jim Conner.
The average particulate pollution level in Fairbanks on Monday was 40 micrograms per cubic meter of air, making the air unhealthy for sensitive groups, Conner said.
Earlier this month, daily averages were [...]
Category: Northern Living
Trio of communities might offer insight into Fairbanks’ air pollution problem
January 18th, 2010 · No Comments
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Sunday, January 17, 2010:
The tiny town of Pinehurst, Idaho, sits in a valley and needed to do something about the pollution being caused by smoke from wood stoves.
So the federal government helped Pinehurst residents buy cleaner-burning wood stoves. The state government asked people to hold back voluntarily on wood burning [...]
Category: Alaskan Efforts · Northern Living
Wood-burning blamed for poor air in Fairbanks
January 14th, 2010 · No Comments
From The Associated Press, Wednesday, January 13, 2010:
On winter days when the air is still and Fairbanks area residents fire up their wood stoves and outdoor boilers, Alaska’s second largest city becomes entombed in a shroud of pollution.
The problem is due in part to wood stoves and outdoor boilers that belch out small particles, forcing [...]
Category: Northern Living
Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly to debate air quality agreement
January 12th, 2010 · No Comments
From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Tuesday, January 12, 2010:
An air quality agreement between the state and borough goes before the Borough Assembly for approval on Thursday.
The agreement provides little detail on how the borough will reduce air pollution but paves the way for an air quality plan led by the municipality instead of the state.
The [...]
Category: Alaskan Efforts · Legislation and Policy · Northern Living
E.P.A. Seeks Stricter Rules to Curb Smog
January 11th, 2010 · No Comments
From The New York Times, Thursday, January 7, 2010:
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a stricter standard for smog-causing pollutants that would bring substantial health benefits to millions of Americans while imposing large costs on industry and local governments.
The standard would replace one set by the Bush administration in March 2008, which has been [...]
Category: Energy, Renewable · Legislation and Policy · Sustainable Living
Fairbanks’ vehicle pollution control program ends
January 4th, 2010 · No Comments
From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Sunday, January 3, 2010:
An unpopular government program aimed at diminishing toxic vehicle emissions ended on Dec. 31, 2009, after 25 years.
No longer must vehicles in the Fairbanks North Star Borough undergo inspections and emissions tests at a biennial cost to the owner of up to $125. And that was for [...]
Category: Northern Living
