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Forest Management: Less Smoke, Less Pollution, Better Human Health

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11 Oct, 2023

This post was originally published on Healthy Forest

Wildfire smoke has reversed a quarter of air quality gains achieved under the federal Clean Water Act, according to a new study published in Nature.

The Clean Air Act, first approved in 1972, targets particulate matter called PM2.5 that is 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. PM2.5 is commonly emitted through the burning of coal or gas but is also found in smoke from forest fires.

PM2.5 dropped by 42 percent nationally between 2000 and 2022, as more coal- and gas-fired plants were closed or retired, and as catalytic converters and other technology worked to reduce pollution.

Today, wildfire smoke is the primary cause of bad air in four western states, and a major contributor in 17 others.

Hazardous air quality is now routine in much of the western United States, especially during the summer months when fires are raging. Yet PM2.5 has the ability to travel thousands of miles, impacting air quality throughout the country.

Between 2006 and 2020, we’ve seen an 11,000-fold increase in the number of people in the U.S. experiencing the most extreme levels of smoke pollution, and a 27-fold increase in the number of people living in areas experiencing unhealthy air at least one day per year.

Wildfire smoke is not just an environmental problem, it’s a public health crisis. PM2.5, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and other dangerous toxins can be extremely harmful to the lungs, especially for children, older adults and those with asthma, COPD and bronchitis or chronic heart disease or diabetes.

It has been linked to premature death and many other terrible health outcomes such as learning and behavioral problems in children.

That’s why active forest management, including thinning overstocked and careful prescribed fire, is just as important to human health as it is to improving the health and resiliency of our forests.  More public health advocates are taking notice.

The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) and Blue Forest recently released a report exploring how forest management is linked to reducing the overall smoke burden on populations and the resulting impact on human health and health organizations.

They found greater collaboration between forest managers and the health sector in the pursuit of resilient forests would help drive progress in improving ecological and human health outcomes.

In case we need more reasons to manage our forests, it is also essential to reduce air pollution throughout the United States and to protect the health of millions of Americans.

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Source: Healthy Forest

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ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB has gained Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) status for its Gearless Mill Drive (GMD) ring motor — technology used to drive large grinding mills in the mining industry.

An EPD is a standardised document that provides detailed information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. Based on a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, the EPD highlights ABB’s commitment to transparency, environmental responsibility and supporting customers in making informed decisions on sustainability in their supply chains.

ABB analysed the environmental impact of a ring motor across its entire life cycle from supply chain and production to usage and end-of-life disposal. The study was conducted for a ring motor of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill with an installed power of 24 MW and was based on a reference service life of 25 years.

“Sustainability is at the core of our purpose at ABB, influencing how we operate and innovate for customers,” said Andrea Quinta, Sustainability Specialist at ABB. “By earning the Environmental Product Declaration for our ring motor, we emphasise our environmental stewardship and industry leadership for this technology. We adhered to the highest standards throughout this process, as we do in the ABB Ring Motor factory every day. This recognition highlights to the mining industry what they are bringing into their own operations when they work with ABB.”

The comprehensive LCA was conducted at ABB’s factory in Bilbao, Spain, and was externally verified and published in accordance with international standards ISO 14025 and ISO 14040/14044. It will remain valid for five years.

The ring motor, a key component of the GMD, is a drive system without any gears where the transmission of the torque between the motor and the mill is done through the magnetic field in the air gap between the motor stator and the motor rotor. It optimises grinding applications in the minerals and mining industries by enabling variable-speed operation, leading to energy and cost savings.

The full EPD for the ABB GMD Ring Motor can be viewed on EPD International.

Bee Hotels Can Help Native Pollinators Recover in the Wake of Climate-Fueled Wildfires: Study

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The post Bee Hotels Can Help Native Pollinators Recover in the Wake of Climate-Fueled Wildfires: Study appeared first on EcoWatch.

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