How hard should we try to clean Houston’s smog? The TCEQ is, like, Dude! Relax! (Editorial)
The Houston Chronicle
How clean is Houston's air? To most people, the answer is a no-brainer: Not clean enough. ...A University of North Carolina study found that just one of those radical precursors — the formaldehyde released from flares — may contribute as much as 30 parts per billion to Houston's ozone problem. In other words, that single pollutant may account for as much as a quarter of the ozone in the air on our worst bad-air days. The TCEQ is wrong: Our air isn't clean enough. It's time for action — not time to breathe easy.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6639208.html
Students Hold Toothbrush Drive for Malawi
The Gouverneur Times (New York)
...The toothbrush drive is an offshoot of the University of North Carolina Malawi Dental Project, the brainchild of Dr. Ronald Strauss, former chair of the dental school at UNC-Chapel Hill, who is now the UNC System provost. The Malawi Project is a student-driven initiative that deploys select students from the UNC School of Dentistry to provide free oral healthcare services and oral HIV/AIDS education to the people of Malawi.
http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6468:students-hold-toothbrush-drive-for-malawi&catid=60:st-lawrence-news&Itemid=175
Study to focus on work sites
The Chapel Hill Herald
NC Prevention Partners is launching the next phase of an innovative comprehensive work site wellness study with the N.C. Department of Transportation that integrates the assessment of policies and environments with individually targeted wellness campaigns. ..."We are excited to have Dr. Laura Linnan, a national expert on worksite wellness, and Dr. Michael Bowling, an expert in public health statistics and evaluation design, from the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health join the study. They bring a level of scientific rigor that will benefit NCDOT and its employees, and will allow us to think about implications for employers throughout the state."
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-ORANGE+BRIEFS%20&id=3627192-ORANGE+BRIEFS&instance=main_article2
Drought returns, but worries don’t
The Carrboro Citizen
...But the key reason the utility is more comfortable heading into this drought is an impressive drop in water use by the University of North Carolina. “University consumption is down across the board,” Holland said. UNC is using about the same amount of water it used 10 years ago, he said. Ray DuBose, UNC’s director of Energy Services, said even though he’s been focused on the campus-wide efforts aimed at saving water, the numbers are still pretty jaw dropping, especially considering the school’s rapid growth over the past decade.
http://www.carrborocitizen.com/main/2009/09/17/drought-returns-but-worries-don%E2%80%99t/comment-page-1/
Wind farm deemed practical in waters off Southport
The Star-News (Wilmington)
Renewable energy, in the form of wind-generated electricity, could be flowing through Southport in as little as five years, according to UNC Chapel Hill professor John Bane Jr. He’s also the principal scientific adviser at Outer Banks Offshore Energy, a privately funded company created a year and a half ago to tap the wind energy in federal waters off the North Carolina coast. ...Commercially viable wind resources are about 40 miles south of Southport and 50 miles east of Pleasure Island, according to Coastal Wind, a nine-month study of the feasibility of wind resources off the N.C. coast by colleagues of Bane at UNC.
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090918/ARTICLES/909189991/1004?Title=Wind-farm-deemed-practical-in-waters-off-Southport
Related Link:
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090918/ARTICLES/909189986/1004?Title=Offshore-energy-to-be-subject-of-public-meeting
Sierra Club Helps Organize Protests Against Coal-Fired Plants on Campuses (Blog)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Sierra Club and student activists have generated news lately through their protests against coal power on campuses. ...The article says a Sierra Club report has identified more than 60 institutions that have their own coal-burning plants or that rely heavily on coal, like Indiana University, Pennsylvania State University's main campus, Oregon State University, the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Virginia.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6639208.html
North Carolina N.C. officials pitch wind farm plan
The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)
Gov. Beverly Perdue, state Sen. Marc Basnight and state Rep. Tim Spear on Friday gave local residents their first opportunity to learn more about a proposal that would put up to three wind turbines in Pamlico Sound. ...The University of North Carolina is expected to sign a contract with Duke Energy Carolinas by Thursday to install one to three turbines seven to 10 miles from shore in the sound between Avon and Buxton. ...Harvey Seim, a UNC-Chapel Hill marine sciences professor who worked on a wind energy feasibility study, said in the presentation that turbines would be able to be seen in the distance from the beach.
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/north-carolina-nc-officials-pitch-wind-farm-plan
Why UNC has (cling, clang, sss) steam heat (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The neighbors closest to our campus have been incredibly patient as Carolina has undertaken projects to improve our energy infrastructure, including repairs to the steam tunnel that connects our cogeneration facility on Cameron Avenue to the rest of the campus. At the university, we are well aware of how important steam and our cogeneration plant are to our operations, but I'm not sure if that knowledge extends beyond campus. So let me tell you the basics of how we generate energy at the UNC cogeneration facility and how we plan to do that even more sustainably in the future. (Holden Thorp is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/chh_holden_thorp
N.C. puts test fingers in the wind
The Charlotte Observer
After lagging behind other East coast states in developing wind as an energy source, North Carolina is preparing to plunge in with a test involving one to three wind towers in Pamlico Sound. Charlotte-based Duke Energy and UNC Chapel Hill are finishing the details of a contract that would have the company build the towers as early as next year. UNC researchers would monitor the towers to answer questions about environmental impacts, maintenance and other issues.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/969759.html
Related Link:
http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/basnight-offshore-wind-farms-needed-859822.html
UNC alums pitch bike rental kiosks
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Imagine stepping off one of Chapel Hill’s free public buses, swiping a card at a smartly placed kiosk loaded with bikes, grabbing one and riding off into the sunset. It could happen. Two recent UNC graduates are pitching a proposal for a subscription-based and pay-per-use bike rental program called WeCycles that would provide bicycle rentals throughout the town of Chapel Hill and the UNC campus. Hasan Abdullah and Ibraheem Khalifa said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp already has expressed interest in the program, for which market research shows 60 percent of UNC’s students willing to pay an annual $40 membership to use.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+alums+pitch+bike+rental+kiosks%20&id=3666363-UNC+alums+pitch+bike+rental+kiosks
Global health a boon for economy
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
...The forum also served to announce the launching of a new global health partnership. The Triangle Global Health Consortium, which groups Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State universities, along with prominent local nongovernmental groups Family Health International, Research Triangle Institute and IntraHealth International, is designed to promote collaborative research on global health and attract new scientists and others involved in similar activities to the state.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Global+health+a+boon+for+economy%20&id=3672548-Global+health+a+boon+for+economy
NC wants more information on drilling proposal
The Associated Press
...The governor plans to travel to the Outer Banks this week and attend a public meeting Friday in Buxton on the potential for coastal wind energy. It's expected to include researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who released a study last month showing potential for utility-scale production of wind energy off the North Carolina coast and possibly in eastern portions of Pamlico Sound.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090922/NEWS/909220335
OBX residents learn about offshore wind power
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue and other state leaders are on hand as an Outer Banks community is introduced to the idea of massive offshore wind farms. ...Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are expected to describe a new study that found parts of the coast and Pamlico Sound could generate industrial-scale wind energy. UNC researchers are expected to discuss the potential impacts of a wind farm on the coast's economy, quality of life, and environment.
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/6074632/
Awards will fuel scientists' work
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Three Triangle scientists have won prestigious awards to further their research. Tannishtha Reya, an associate professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University, and Joseph DeSimone, a chemistry professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, both have received this year's National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer award. The award comes with a five-year, $2.5 million grant.
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/technology/story/114994.html
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2898/107/
Author to speak at N.C. Garden
The Chapel Hill Herald
Author Doug Tallamy will speak at the N.C. Botanical Garden's new Education Center at 2 p.m. Oct. 11 on the theme "Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens."
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-ORANGE+BRIEFS%20&id=3703855-ORANGE+BRIEFS
UNC research scientists honored
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Three scientists from UNC Chapel Hill have received prestigious awards from the National Institutes of Health aimed at encouraging “high-risk” research and innovation. Joseph DeSimone has been selected for a Pioneer Award, one of only 18 such honors handed out this year, while Klaus Hahn and Mark Zylka are both receiving Transformative RO1 Awards.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+research+scientists+honored%20&id=3698447-UNC+research+scientists+honored
Related Links:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/business/triangle-scientists-win-nih-awards
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/09/21/daily49.html
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2898/1/
State to residents: recycle, pretty please
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Public service announcements, fliers, and in Raleigh's case, corporate-sponsored gift cards, are all aimed at getting North Carolina households to do their part in complying with a state law kicking in Oct. 1 that bans plastic bottles from landfills. ...Katie Burdett, who wrote about plastics recycling as a requirement for her master's in public administration from UNC-Chapel Hill this year, said the state would need to require recycling and develop an enforcement strategy to maximize the ban's impact.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local_state/story/113648.html
-Thanks to UNC News Services for finding these great stories AND compiling the summaries! You can find more UNC media coverage and stories online at:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/category/8/34/103/
