Grafenberg, Germany, February 05, 2022 –(PR.com)– TROX GmbH is a global leader in the development and manufacture of components, appliances, and systems for indoor air conditioning and ventilation. Based in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, the company uses antibacterial polyurethane systems from RAMPF Polymer Solutions to seal, cast, and bond its air filters.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, the importance of clean air was well known. In operating rooms and intensive care units, lives depend on good air quality. It is also a critical production factor in the pharmaceutical, aerospace, and semiconductor industries.

The pandemic did, of course, highlight the importance of effective ventilation systems, including for schools, offices, restaurants, theaters, and exhibition centers. With its comprehensive portfolio of ventilation and air-conditioning systems, TROX provides a tailored solution for each of these challenges.

Pascal Pollmann, Product Manager Filter Technology at TROX GmbH – “In order to find new materials that meet our requirements, we were looking for a supplier with an innovative approach and high-quality products. RAMPF Polymer Solutions fitted the bill perfectly and has enabled us to improve our products.”

Antibacterial polyurethane systems for filter production

TROX uses antibacterial polyurethane sealing and casting systems from RAMPF Polymer Solutions for the production of air filter elements:

– Rigid foam: A RAKU® PUR two-component rigid foam is used to seal filter elements. Exhibiting excellent mechanical properties, its rapid curing also results in very short process times.

– Casting materials: RAKU® PUR two-component casting materials secure the individual filter elements in the filter frame. Ensuring maximum stability, the systems also benefit from high mechanical strength and outstanding adhesive properties.

Two-component adhesive for the X-CUBE X2 series of air handling units

TROX is using a RAKU® PUR two-component adhesive to manufacture its new X-CUBE X2 series of air handling units. The bonding system that joins the individual components of the sandwich panels impresses with its short curing time, exceptional mechanical strength, and high temperature and chemical resistance.

Material and machine from a single source

The DR-CNC dispensing robot from RAMPF Production Systems is used to process the RAMPF Polymer Solutions rigid foam system for sealing the filter elements. Stand-out features include highly adaptable X-Y-Z axis strokes and state-of-the-art control technology that combines the mixing and dispensing system perfectly with the maintenance-free CNC linear axes. The result is flawless interplay between the dispensing process and motion sequences.

Close collaboration between the two RAMPF companies and TROX means the material and machine are ideally matched, which optimizes quality and minimizes process times.

Michael Wahl, Director Business Center Casting Resins & Elastomers at RAMPF Polymer Solutions – “We are delighted about our successful collaboration with TROX. Our open and trusting relationship ensures the development of high-performance polyurethane systems that are tailored perfectly to the relevant application requirements. Thanks to our highly qualified development team and modern laboratory, we can also offer TROX a correspondingly high level of flexibility to make the development and production process even faster.”

Visit TROX – Booth G7 / Hall 7 – annd RAMPF – Booth E29 / Hall 8

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Originally Appeared Here

By Laura Legere
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — In the quest to avoid catastrophic climate change, a movement is rising to put out the little fires burning in homes every day.

Each flame fed by natural gas, propane or oil in furnaces, water heaters and stoves is a small source of greenhouse gas emissions. All together, burning fossil fuels for heating and cooking in homes and businesses adds up to roughly 13% of total climate warming emissions in the U.S.

The push is on to switch to energy efficient electrical appliances powered by an increasingly cleaner grid — even in southwestern Pennsylvania, where cold winters, abundant natural gas and leaky, aging homes make the transition a challenge.

In fact, the Pittsburgh homes of researchers, policymakers and remodelers have been unofficial laboratories, where failing furnaces and home improvement projects have inspired strategies for how the transition can happen here.

A key tool in this fight is an unglamorous household appliance: the modern electric air-source heat pump, which efficiently moves heat rather than generating it.

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For temperature control in buildings, heat pumps are essentially air conditioners that can heat and cool spaces through whole-house ducted systems or ductless “mini splits” for individual rooms.

In water heaters, heat pumps take heat from the surrounding air and transfer it to water in the tank. They are also effective dehumidifiers.

Heat pumps are typically three times more efficient than fossil fuel heaters, according to the International Energy Agency, based in Paris.

Electrification advocates are seizing the moment to promote a switch that climate scientists say is critical for curbing warming. In its pathway for the world to reach net-zero energy-related carbon emissions by 2050, the IEA said sales of new fossil fuel furnaces should end in four years.

Princeton researchers found that for the U.S. to meet its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, the share of homes with electric heat pumps should more than double within this decade.

“Electrify everything” is also being pitched as an opportunity to address energy costs — especially the disproportionate burden that utility bills pose for low- and moderate-income households.

The pandemic exacerbated that burden: A study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and other universities found that school and business closures and other early COVID-19 mitigation measures decreased commercial electricity use while increasing it by about 5% in the residential sector, with low-income and minority populations experiencing a larger impact.

Prices for natural gas, heating oil and propane reached decade-high levels this winter as economies began to emerge from the pandemic, pushing energy bills higher.

“This winter if you had a heat pump to heat your home across the U.S., your heating costs will go up — but $20, as opposed to $500 for fuel oil, $600 for propane, $160 for gas,” Alex Laskey, co-founder and executive chair of Rewiring America, told an audience at Carnegie Mellon’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation in December.

“By our analysis, 104 million households would save on their monthly bills if you could replace their existing heating technology with a new heat pump,” he said. “And it’s disproportionate: low- and moderate-income households have the most to save.”

The technology needed to electrify homes can be deployed widely now — an appealing factor when so much climate tech, like carbon capture or green hydrogen, needs huge investments and technological leaps before large-scale deployment will be possible.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Michigan found that heat pump adoption makes sense everywhere in the U.S. in existing single-family homes — if reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the only goal.

That fit shrinks to about a third of U.S. homes when other considerations are taken into account, including the cost of installing and running the systems and the health effects of conventional air pollution released by coal- and gas-fired plants powering the electric grid.

In Pittsburgh about 5% of single-family homes have heat pumps, but it would make both economic and environmental sense for nearly 25% of the city’s homes to adopt them, the researchers found.

Parth Vaishnav, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, said some of the inspiration for the study came as he was preparing for the inevitable failure of his 20-year-old furnace at his house in Swissvale when he worked at Carnegie Mellon. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technicians discouraged him from considering a heat pump as a replacement.

When he did the math for himself, he found that some of their warnings made sense — heat pumps are evolving quickly to work better in cold climates, but in the short-term it is often wise to have natural gas heat as a backup for the coldest days, for example.

He said in a region like Pittsburgh, where winters are cold and natural gas is cheap, households that rely on old electric resistance heaters, propane or heating oil have the most savings to gain and are the first priority to switch to heat pumps.

Heat pumps are also a good fit for households considering installing or replacing standard air conditioning, he said.

Summers in the region are getting increasingly hotter: Pennsylvania’s most recent climate impacts report forecasts that southwestern Pennsylvania will have between 41 and 62 days over 90°F by midcentury.

With a heat pump, “you’ve got an air conditioner, but for a couple thousand dollars extra, you now have a very efficient heater, which will actually reduce your heating costs for most of the year, except when it gets really cold,” he said. “And when it gets really cold, you can switch to a furnace.”

Manufacturers can also make air conditioners “heat pump ready” for a few hundred dollars extra, which will help homeowners take incremental steps toward electrification.

Some local experts agree Pittsburgh’s old and leaky housing stock requires a more nuanced approach than “electrify everything” all at once.

Lucy de Barbaro, an energy efficiency advocate, recommends installing heat pump water heaters, whose costs are quickly recovered through savings, and promotes induction cooktops, which are safer, more efficient and don’t release indoor air pollution like gas ranges.

But she rarely recommends replacing boilers or furnaces with heat pumps because the region’s aging homes lose so much of their heat through leaks and poor insulation.

She has encountered homes where the heating needs far outpaced their heat pumps’ capacity, forcing them into their least efficient operating mode. The owners ended up locked into paying as much as hundreds of dollars more in monthly electric bills.

“It is just not a good solution unless you have dramatically improved the performance of the home to begin with, if the home is old,” she said.

In most old Pittsburgh homes, air sealing and insulation should be the first investment to reduce energy demand, she said — and that can carry a considerable upfront cost.

That’s what Grant Ervin, chief resilience officer for the City of Pittsburgh, learned when he had an energy audit done on his century-old house.

“I couldn’t successfully electrify my home until I was able to address insulation, which also required me to address wiring,” he said. “There’s a domino effect.”

Still, he saved up to rewire and insulate his home and added split heat pump systems to provide cooling and supplement his existing furnace. Now he saves about $250 a month on his energy bills, he said.

His experience mirrors the city’s strategy for electrifying more homes: start with energy audits and then tailor efficiency improvements to each building. For example, the city allocated $10 million from its federal pandemic recovery funds to the Urban Redevelopment Authority to advance energy efficiency in low- to moderate-income homes.

In Pittsburgh, about 80% of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, according to the city’s most recent inventory in 2013.

This year, the city is discussing potential partnerships to analyze data on the city’s housing stock, its heating sources and the cost to transition them from existing fossil fuel systems to electric ones. It is exploring ways to collaborate on pilot electrification projects in both new construction and building renovations.

“We have started to identify targeted opportunities for electrification,” Ervin said. The city has also identified likely collaborators, including Duquesne Light, Carnegie Mellon and the Energy Innovation Center for workforce development training.

AJ Stones, a Penn Township-based contractor who specializes in energy efficient home remodeling, said he almost exclusively installs heat pump water heaters when he’s doing replacements.

But few other contractors buy them, which means few warehouses stock them. The HVAC industry is experiencing a retirement wave and the aging workforce isn’t apt to learn new systems, he said.

He sees opportunity in a younger generation of both contractors and homeowners.

“If we could start by just fixing these houses now at this phase, everything would be in place for the next phase to move to electrification when we’re ready,” he said. Consumers will have to prepare for the switch before their existing systems fail.

“People don’t make decisions until the water heater’s flooding their basement,” he said.

The debate on new construction

One area where experts agree electrification makes the most sense is in new buildings.

“For new construction, especially multifamily new construction, heat pumps are a no-brainer. We should require that we build those buildings to be all electric,” Vaishnav said. “You don’t have to bake natural gas into an asset that’s going to last, 50, 60 or 100 years. We don’t need to do that and we shouldn’t.”

Cities such as Ithaca and New York City already have laws phasing in full electrification or banning gas hookups in new buildings, and others are considering it.

In Pennsylvania, building codes are adopted at the state level and the state Public Utility Commission regulates utility connections. Still, the Republican-controlled Legislature is moving to ban electrification mandates. It is considering bills backed by the state’s natural gas utilities to prohibit communities from restricting natural gas hookups.

(c)2022 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Originally Appeared Here

Studies have confirmed that even in modern healthcare facilities with mechanical ventilation and active scavenging systems, employee exposure to various gaseous compounds is still commonplace. By combining sufficient ventilation with waste gas scavenging and continuous air monitoring and sampling, safety professionals can substantially improve both patient and working staff safety in these facilities.

Despite the issue of hospital air quality being well acknowledged by safety professionals, regular exposures still occur among the staff working in these locations (). Improved solutions and new innovations in healthcare air ventilation, gas scavenging and air quality monitoring are at the forefront of minimising these exposures. When done right, these are central elements in ensuring good indoor air quality in hospitals and other healthcare facilities, thereby minimising negative airborne health effects.

Gasmet GT5000 Terra analyser represents the next generation of hospital air quality monitoring. Learn more

What to monitor and how?

Read the full article on Gasmet’s website blog for details of what common gaseous compounds are often found in healthcare facilities and how those could be monitored.

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Originally Appeared Here

Key Takeaways

• Stanford researchers found that gas stoves and ovens release methane even when they’re not in use
• When a gas stove is turned on, the level of nitrogen oxides—air pollutants that could be damaging to health—surpasses the outdoor safety exposure limit within minutes.
• Kitchen vents can help reduce nitrogen oxide exposure, especially in smaller homes, but this is not a perfect solution.

Gas stoves release concerning levels of methane and air pollutants into residential homes, according to a new study published by Stanford University.

Researchers measured methane emissions from 53 California homes and found that the greenhouse gas was leaking from the gas stoves, ovens, and broilers even when they were off

Methane leakage from all U.S. stoves over a 20-year period may have the same impact as the carbon dioxide emissions from half a million cars every year, according to the study. In the course of two decades, methane is 86 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide.

When a gas stove is in use, methane is converted to carbon dioxide, which stays in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. But it only takes about a decade for methane to break down. This means that reducing methane emissions can help curb global warming in the near future.

Eric Lebel, PhD, lead author of the study and a senior scientist with PSE Healthy Energy, initially focused on methane emissions from storage and tankless water heaters before moving on to investigate kitchen appliances.

“Stoves are directly in people’s homes. They’re not required to have a vent like other appliances are,” Lebel told Verywell.

Nitrogen Oxide Exposure From Gas Stoves

Researchers also measured nitrogen oxides, a group of gases that can be toxic, especially for people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or, heart disease.

Chronic nitrogen oxide exposure may also increase the risk of permanent lung disease or other respiratory infections in children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Unlike methane emissions, nitrogen oxide levels were proportional to stove usage, the researchers found. Lebel said that the size, intensity, and quantities of the gas burners can all contribute to higher concentrations of nitrogen oxide output.

The United States has not set exposure standards for indoor air pollution, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a nitrogen dioxide limit for outdoors. As of 2018, the EPA’s one-hour outdoor exposure limit for NO2 is 100ppb.

The study suggested that houses with poor ventilation can surpass the safety limit within a few minutes of stove usage, especially in smaller kitchens.

Safer Ways to Use Gas Stoves

Lebel suggested limiting nitrogen oxide concentration by turning on the vent, if you have one, otherwise opening a window or turning on a fan could help too.

However, Lebel explained, other studies have shown that the effectiveness of kitchen vent hoods varies. For example, exhaust fans are not as effective as vent hoods at controlling pollutants.

“A vent is not going to necessarily completely solve the problem,” Lebel said. “We need to have better vent standards to accommodate for these emission rates from the stoves.”

Due to COVID-19 precautions, researchers were not able to take nitrogen oxide readings from many smaller, multi-family homes for this study. But generally, higher emissions are reported in tighter kitchens.

“People in lower-income neighborhoods typically have smaller kitchens and often lower quality ventilation systems,” Rob Jackson, PhD, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University and co-author of the study, told Verywell.

While efficient vents can reduce the risk of nitrogen oxide exposure, they can’t really reduce methane emissions. Lebel said that the methane levels reported in this study aren’t health-threatening, but they do affect the environment.

“We’re systemically underestimating the climate impact of gas appliances,” Jackson said. “We found that stoves emit far more methane than the EPA estimates, up to 1.3% of the gas they consume.”

Switching to electric stoves can eliminate these methane emissions. Some cities, like Seattle, San Jose, and New York, have even started to ban natural gas in new buildings in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from stoves and heating units.

Moving towards cleaner electricity is an important step in addressing the current climate crisis, Lebel said, and the U.S. is trending toward this type of energy. Gas stoves are concerns related to both climate and health, he added.

“It’s really not just a conversation about one or the other but it’s about both simultaneously,” Lebel said.

What This Means For You

The methane emissions recorded in this study were generally low enough to not cause a fire or impact health. Try to turn on the vent whenever you cook on a gas stove to reduce the level of nitrogen oxides.

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Originally Appeared Here

Despite skyrocketing school COVID -19 cases since the January school reopenings, decades of negligence and no fix on the horizon for the critical school ventilation situation, the Quebec government of Francois Legault and its public health director are still shamelessly denying the scientific evidence linking COVID-19 transmission to inadequate ventilation and stubbornly refuting the data from peer-reviewed studies confirming the effectiveness of air purifiers in reducing airborne transmission.

Why are school air purifiers so important?

For starters, 52,000 (58 per cent) of Quebec’s 90,000 school classrooms and indoor spaces do not have any mechanical ventilation and most likely very few meet minimal international standards recommended in times of pandemic. Parents and teachers are left on their own to figure out how to reduce the risk of contagion in schools from inadequate ventilation systems. 

An interesting do-it-yourself mass-production solution has grabbed international attention by storm.

It is a simple but extremely effective air-purifier made from low-cost materials readily available from local hardware stores.

The device is the brainchild of Richard Corsi, Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Davis and an indoor air quality expert and Jim Rosenthal, CEO of Tex-Air Filters who tested it.

It has been nicknamed the Corsi-Rosenthal box (or CR box), costs less than $150 and can be built in less than an hour by anyone who has solid experience at cutting duct tape with a pair of scissors.

Best of all, a recent study has shown that it demonstrated exceptional performance relative to most commercially available air purifiers.

Corsi said that some homemade units are delivering up to 600 cubic feet per minute (CFM) in clean air delivery rates (CADR).

“That’s phenomenal”, he said. “That’s actually better than a lot of the more expensive HEPA-based portable air cleaners”. 

Many underfunded school districts in several countries have turned this homemade technology into mass-production school and community events.

Students from a single classroom with a couple of parent volunteers can crank out a few dozen of those in a day, more than enough for the entire school.

It is a novel and rewarding way for students of all ages to integrate mathematics, science, art and writing skills into an exciting community project.

Theoretically, all Quebec classrooms could be equipped with CR boxes in 5-7 business days for about $20 million dollars, a fraction of the cost of equivalent commercial air-purifiers.

Government organizations and schools of public health agree that air purifiers using MERV-13 to 14 filters can mitigate the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

According to Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, “The Corsi-Rosenthal Cubes are a great example of a hands-on public health intervention that can have an immediate impact on the school environment and our community’s overall health.”

The Harvard School of Public Health and ASHRAE recommend targeting at least 5-6 air changes per hour (ACH) in classrooms for COVID-19 risk mitigation.

Note: this recommendation was made before recent, more transmissible variants, like Omicron.

It is fair to guess that extremely few Quebec classrooms come anywhere close to those levels, with the exception of those which have been fitted with air purifiers by the English school boards.

Using conservative estimates, two CR boxes per standard size classroom (1000 sq. ft. with an 8-foot ceiling) with 25 students could filter significantly more than six air changes per hour. In some areas like the nurse’s station where symptomatic children may isolate, up to 10 air changes per hour are recommended.

Construction is amazingly simple; all you need is a 20-inch box fan, four 20×20 one-inch furnace filters rated no lower than MERV 13 (or the equivalent MPR 1900 rating), and some duct tape.

The CR box is also very eco-friendly, as the cardboard box from the fan can be used to make the bottom and the top of the device.

The resulting device is safe: the EPA funded a study by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) which tested these DYI fans, finding them not to present a fire hazard even in extreme, modified conditions.

Although MERV-13 filters are not as efficient as HEPA-rated filters in filtering out COVID-19 viral-size particles which are around 0.1 micrometre, the virus is trapped in respiratory droplets that are predominantly 1 micrometre in size and larger.

The good news is that the MERV-13 filter is at least 85 per cent efficient at capturing particles in that size range which can stay aloft for a long time.

Valuable information about the construction and other aspects of the CR-Box is available on this link.

It is unfortunate that Quebec did so little to improve inadequate school ventilation and that several English schools board had to fend for themselves to provide safe environments for their staff and children.

The English school boards could do so because they were protected by the Canadian constitution.

Sadly, French schools are not so lucky as they need to obtain government authorization to procure air purifiers, which is fiercely against their use.

People should not risk their lives to go to work.

CR boxes may not end the pandemic on their own, but along with other protective measures such as wearing N-95s or double masking, they do add an extra layer of protection terribly missing in Quebec schools.

The CR box is more than an air purifier: it is a powerful statement of community empowerment in response to this government’s inept and harmful decisions.

COVID-Stop will hold an event on February 10th on safe schools which will speak about CR boxes. Details to come on their website and social media accounts.

• Michael Levy, MPH (Master of Public Health), Environmental Health Specialist and Epidemiologist
• Stéphane Bilodeau, ing., PhD, FIC, Indoor Air Quality Task Force Coordinator, World Health Network
• Nancy Delagrave, Physicist, Scientific Coordinator of Covid-Stop  

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Originally Appeared Here

Wake Forest University President Susan R. Wente, Provost Rogan Kersh, Vice President for Campus Life Dr. Shea Kidd Brown hosted a webinar Friday which centered around the university’s response to the Weaver Fertilizer Company plant Fire with other subject matter experts.

Wente commenced the webinar by thanking the community that helped respond to the fire including the city, state, federal emergency responders and the university’s incident management team. 

She continued to detail the efforts of the Weaver Plant Fire emergency operations center, which included a representative from the university who received hourly information regarding the state of the fire. 

“My goal for our time together is to make sure you have all the available facts, as we know them now . . . several people who join us today will speak on the criteria and how we coordinate our response,” Wente said before introducing the webinar panel.  

Kersh answered several outstanding questions, including the decision to cancel classes rather than resume them in an online format. 

“We had reports that dozens of students who had to evacuate hastily Monday evening did so without their laptops or course materials,” Kersh said. “Also, at least some of our displaced students did not have reliable access to quiet places for logging on and joining classes.”

He also reassured attendees that the spring semester calendar would be adjusted so that there is no reduction in Spring break. The canceled classes will likely be made up during two reading days, Thursday, April 28 and Friday, April 29. 

The first individual on the panel, August Vernon, director of emergency management for Forsyth County, joined the webinar from the site of the fire. The emergency management team operates under the Incident Command System during major incidents. 

“[The Incident Command System] allows us to work together to coordinate our response — everything from operations to public information to planning and logistics . . .” Vernon said. “We have over 35 agencies involved from state, local and federal partners, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

Chauncey Bowers, emergency service manager for the WFUPD, detailed their involvement during the turmoil, which started with the evacuation order. 

“So, first of all, right out of the gate, applying the evacuation order that was instituted by the Winston-Salem Fire Department to Wake Forest involved members of the police department . . .” Bowers said. “ We’ve worked with the Provost office, the academic deans and human resources as adjustments were made to academic schedules . . . we also supported major events with our athletics department and our chaplain’s office that has been coordinating emergency financial assistance from those directly impacted by the emergency.”

Bowers then handed the conversation over to another WFUPD Chief, Regina Lawson, who noted the convenience of the adjoining university fire department and nearby Winston-Salem police department, particularly in a time of emergency. 

“Not just in an emergency situation, we meet regularly and we talk often with the Winston-Salem Police Department,” Lawson said. “They understand campus culture, they understand student impacts and support the need for safe campus communities on a daily basis.”

She continued: “There’s still a lot of worry and concern, but I think we all have a lot to be very proud of and the professional interagency approach to this incident and the fact that it’s been contained and minimized without injury and loss of life. I’m very proud.”

Another member of the university police team, James Herring, added that decisions were made based on information received directly from the emergency operations center, which sometimes seemed to contradict the media’s information. 

“While I appreciate that the media wants to try to keep the community informed, the information that they were reporting sometimes came from sources not associated with the incident response,” Herring said. “Our information, on the other hand, came directly from the experts on the scenel Everybody really came together and looked out for the whole community right there at the emergency operation center.”

Director of Wake Forest Environmental Health and Safety Stephen Fisenne affirmed that though data collected from air monitoring stations around the area and outside Alumni Hall, as well as the EPA’s data, there was no detection of noxious chemicals in the air, such as nitrogen dioxide and ammonia, associated with the ammonium nitrate fire. 

Stan Meiburg, former deputy administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency brought reassurance to the conversation. 

“The good news is that as bad as this incident was, it’s improving and the risks of any long-term consequences for the campus in the surrounding area seem limited,” said Meiburg

John Shenette, vice president of Facilities and Campus Services, addressed potential student concerns regarding the quality of building ventilation. 

“During the pandemic, the campus building ventilation systems here at Wake Forest were enhanced,” Shenette said. “These changes provided a higher level of building filtration and these enhancements were operating properly and provided acceptable indoor air quality for anybody that was in our building.”

He also explained the specific filters and installation of GPS plasma and ionization technology which “increased the ability to capture fine particles” and that the “covert enhancements have proven very effective during the wave of fire.”

Brown highlighted several groups that helped ease the anxieties of housing displacement and various other concerns including The Student Support Center, Residence Life and Housing and Parking and Transportation partners. She emphasized that the university call center will continue to operate until 9 p.m. tonight. 

Wente concluded by giving gratitude to all responders and individuals involved during the ongoing incident, as well as the entire Wake Forest community.

“I appreciate your consideration and your respect for these individuals who are so devoted to the well being of our community, the well being of our students, our faculty and the staff. Our community is always our highest priority,” Wente said. 

Wente encouraged parents and students to reach out if they had any additional questions.

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Originally Appeared Here

Shareholders of the nation’s largest natural gas utility could be forced to pay nearly $10 million after using customer money to fight public policies that could slow the climate crisis.

California officials are poised to levy the fine on Southern California Gas Co., which sells natural gas to millions of homes and businesses for heating and cooking, and to power plant operators for electricity generation. The fossil fuel is a major source of the heat-trapping carbon emissions that have caused worsening heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods, and that are driving many species to extinction.

SoCalGas has engaged in a sweeping campaign to block clean energy measures that threaten its business model, including local bans on gas hookups in new housing and statewide efforts to encourage construction of all-electric homes.

The $9.8-million penalty was determined by an administrative law judge at the California Public Utilities Commission. It addresses a narrow set of actions that SoCalGas has taken since May 2018, when the commission ordered the company to stop using customer money to fund its energy efficiency advocacy work — an order the gas utility allegedly violated.

“Such insolence must be accorded a high degree of severity,” the commission’s chief administrative law judge, Anne Simon, wrote in her decision, which was released Thursday.

Tomas Morales Rebecchi, right, a senior organizer at the environmental group Food and Water, is joined by his family while marching in protest at SoCalGas’ Ventura compressor station in July 2021.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

SoCalGas now has 30 days to appeal, which would require the five members of the utilities commission — who are appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom — to vote on the penalty. If no appeal is filed, no vote is needed.

Gas company spokesperson Christine Detz declined to comment specifically on the fine. The utility has previously denied any wrongdoing, arguing that it’s looking out for consumers by trying to keep energy costs from rising, and that it can play a crucial role in fighting climate change by supplying cleaner fuels such as renewable gas and hydrogen.

“We are in receipt of the decision and are reviewing it. We expect and look forward to further engagement on this issue,” Detz said in an email.

The proposed fine is far less than the $124 million recommended by the Public Advocates Office, an independent arm of the utilities commission that works to protect ratepayers.

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But while climate activists were disappointed the number wasn’t higher, it’s still “really heartening that the commission is showing that it understands that penalties are necessary to deter this kind of malfeasance from SoCalGas,” said Sara Gersen, a senior attorney at the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice whose clients include the Sierra Club.

“These efficiency standards that SoCalGas is fighting tooth and nail are absolutely vital for us to meet our climate goals,” she said.

SoCalGas, a subsidiary of fossil fuel giant Sempra Energy, can spend shareholder money however it wants — lobbying against climate rules, for instance. But as a state-sanctioned monopoly, it is required to spend ratepayer money strictly on programs that benefit ratepayers, such as safety upgrades.

California utility companies are allowed to spend ratepayer money to try to influence policy as long as they’re advocating for higher efficiency standards for buildings and appliances. But after the Public Advocates Office found that SoCalGas had worked alongside industry trade groups to try to block a federal efficiency standard for gas furnaces, the utilities commission ordered the company to stop conducting any “codes and standards” advocacy backed by customer money.

SoCalGas didn’t fully comply, the commission now says, continuing to send ratepayer-funded employees to meetings where state and federal policy was discussed in the months following the May 2018 order.

SoCalGas is headquartered at the Gas Company Tower in downtown Los Angeles.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Later, SoCalGas worked to influence California’s new building code, again backed by customer funds.

Climate activists hoped the state would ban gas hookups in new homes and businesses, following the lead of dozens of cities that had required or encouraged electric heat pumps and induction cooktops. SoCalGas pushed back, arguing in written comments that the state “should maintain a diverse portfolio of energy options” and seeking to cast doubt on research showing gas stoves and other appliances can spew unhealthy air pollution into homes.

“They were busy reviving the tobacco industry’s playbook denying the public health research on the threats of using their product,” Gersen said.

The gas company has defended its efforts, arguing in a regulatory filing that the Public Advocates Office and the Sierra Club — which joined forces to press for penalties — were interpreting the commission’s order prohibiting ratepayer-funded advocacy too broadly.

SoCalGas also suggested the commission would be violating the company’s 1st Amendment right to free speech by penalizing it for trying to influence the state building code update. State officials ultimately encouraged but didn’t require new buildings to be all-electric.

“This is a clear attempt to punish SoCalGas for expressing viewpoints … that are different than [the Public Advocates Office’s] and Sierra Club’s, including on issues such as cost-effectiveness, customer affordability, and opportunities for the State to meet its longer-term decarbonization goals,” the gas company wrote in another filing.

The company also addressed its efforts to downplay research showing negative health consequences from gas appliances, writing: “It is in the public’s interest, including SoCalGas’s ratepayers, to have accurate and complete information on indoor air quality.”

The commission wasn’t impressed by the gas company’s defenses.

The agency’s decision states that the utility’s arguments for why it shouldn’t be penalized “demonstrate profound, brazen disrespect for the Commission’s authority.” The company’s conduct “has exacerbated its wrongdoing because its failure to comply has become a series of offenses to Commission authority,” wrote Simon, the administrative law judge.

The vast majority of the fine — $9.6 million — would penalize SoCalGas for “harm to regulatory process,” including the company’s failure to produce information demanded by the Public Advocates Office. The rest would consist of a series of smaller penalties for specific violations of the commission’s order requiring the company to cease ratepayer-funded advocacy.

Amanda Pantoja leads chants at a Protect Playa Now protest calling for the shutdown of SoCalGas’ Playa del Rey gas storage field on L.A.’s Westside.

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)

This isn’t the first time SoCalGas has clashed with climate activists and consumer watchdogs over its climate-related stances.

The Public Advocates Office and the Sierra Club have also urged the commission to fine the gas company $255 million over a separate series of ratepayer-funded actions, including efforts to block rules requiring more efficient water heaters and furnaces and advocacy against local building codes that limit gas hookups. A SoCalGas spokesperson responded that the utility “should not be discouraged from raising concerns about the affordability of proposed rules that would disproportionately drive up costs for our customers.”

“SoCalGas has been and will continue to be a partner in reaching California’s ambitious climate goals,” SoCalGas wrote at the time.

The Public Utilities Commission ultimately ordered the gas company to refund some money to customers but declined to issue any penalty, let alone $255 million. The Public Advocates Office and the Sierra Club are appealing that decision.

SoCalGas also faced criticism for using ratepayer funds to help create a self-styled grass-roots advocacy group called Californians for Balanced Energy Solutions, which supported the company’s successful campaign to persuade city and county government officials not to support local gas bans. SoCalGas later agreed to charge shareholders for its contributions to the group instead.

Meanwhile, SoCalGas faces continued calls to shut down gas storage fields that critics say threaten the health of nearby communities, including the Aliso Canyon facility in the San Fernando Valley and the Playa del Rey facility on L.A.’s Westside.

Clean energy advocates say Newsom has failed to live up to his promise to expedite closure of the Aliso Canyon storage field, which sprung a record-breaking methane leak in 2015. Just this week, SoCalGas settled a lawsuit stemming from the Aliso Canyon leak, agreeing to monitor levels of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, in the air breathed by Porter Ranch residents.

The Times also reported last year that the oil giant Halliburton — which was hired by SoCalGas to get the Aliso Canyon blowout under control — is claiming that key evidence dealing with its failure to stop the leak can’t be examined by state investigators because the only copies were on a single computer that was stolen out of a pickup truck.

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The renowned “Curly Girl Method” was created by Lorraine Massey, who explained to Newsweek that it’s “a simple three-step curly hair routine, which entails no brushes or combs, using three to four products (max) that must be plant-based, botanically infused, fully water-soluble and rich in natural emollients that deliver true hydration when coupled with water.” The curl community adopted Massey’s method and — unsurprisingly — trusted her brand, too.

DevaCurl has a range of popular products for curly-haired people and one of them is the Leave-In Decadence, which is a quick-absorbing, hydrating leave-in conditioner that “quenches dry, coarse curls” and helps with frizz and shine. As previously mentioned, it can be hard to have one product that fits all curl types. However, this leave-in conditioner seems to appeal to most. Mainly made for coarse, textured hair, the product can be used in smaller amounts for finer hair — it gives you a boost of moisture, regardless of curl type. It contains quinoa as its protein-building ingredient, fatty pequi tree oil, and chufa milk to rehydrate your hair. Most users seem to agree with this review: “Works great, smells great, but it is a bit costly!”

You get an 8 fl. oz bottle for $26, which is definitely steep. But if you’re ready to trust the reviews and splurge, get your hands on a bottle of DevaCurl Leave-In Decadence.

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ABC News has reported that a Connecticut mother filed a lawsuit last month against Meta and Snap for allegedly causing her 11-year-old daughter’s death.

The mom, Tammy Rodriguez, claims the “defective design, negligence, and unreasonable dangerous features” against the social media platforms of Meta and Snap were the reason her daughter, Selena, took her own life. A Meta spokesperson told ABC,

“Our thoughts are with the families affected by these difficult issues. Given this is an ongoing legal matter, we’re unable to comment further at this time.”

My immediate question would be, how can an attorney definitively prove that allegation? Matthew Bergman is the attorney suing the two social media platforms and is the founder of ‘Social Media Victims Law Center. (SMVLC)

The lawsuit alleges that Selena suffered “severe mental harm, leading to physical injury” while using social media, which caused a two-year addiction to Instagram and Snapchat. Tammy also had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency psychiatric hospitalization.

The more time that Selena spent on Instagram and Snapchat, the worse her condition became. It became her whole world. There were times when Selena became combative when her mom would attempt to confiscate her phone. Tammy told ABC News,

“We definitely started noticing that she stopped interacting with us, and she was a very recluse toward the end of everything, and she just always wanted to be on the phone,”

Mental Health professionals agree that social media can become an addiction especially in younger adults because the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until their early 20s so they haven’t developed the skills to know when to pull back.

Here are some tips for self-care during the pandemic:

KEEP READING: See 25 natural ways to boost your immune system

 

 

 

 

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Breathe Easier with Air Treatment for Your Facilities

Offers Solution That Eliminates 99.99% of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus

As a stocking distributor of WellAir’s Protect 900, IAQ Distribution has capacity to ensure every suite in SoFi is protected prior to the Super Bowl on February 13, 2022.”

— Chris Fall

INGLEWOOD, CO, USA, February 4, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — IAQ Distribution, a provider of sustainable, leading-edge energy and indoor air quality solutions, called upon officials at SoFi Stadium to take immediate steps to protect players, fans, and all those working at and visiting the arena from COVID-19 exposure during the Super Bowl. SoFi Stadium officials announced several precautions, but have provided little information about protecting indoor air quality.

Chris Fall, a SoFi Suite Holder is suggesting technology offered by his company can help protect players, coaches, employees and fans. Specifically, one of the solutions carried by IAQ is the WellAir NanoStrike® technology. These solutions provide an important line of protection against airborne viruses and bacteria and would be ideal for the sports arenas.

“The IAQ product line safely disinfects and recirculates clean, safe air. It provides a long-term solution for combatting harmful pathogens, reducing volatile organic compounds and pollen, and inactivating all airborne microorganisms on contact,” stated Fall. “At a time like this, we need to have professional sports to help us return to a sense of normalcy. We would love to help protect players, coaches, and of course, the fans at SoFi by installing products that are proven to work. We can have all indoor areas of the stadium protected in advance of the Big Game.”

As a stocking distributor of WellAir’s Protect 900, IAQ Distribution has capacity to ensure every suite in SoFi is protected prior to the Super Bowl on February 13, 2022.

Clean air technology from the IAQ Distribution product line is currently functioning in many Professional Golf Association (PGA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) facilities. Conversations in other professional sport facilities are underway to help leaders protect employees, players, and visitors.

“Many government agencies, public and private schools, and other municipal offices throughout the United States already have IAQ products deployed and many more entities currently in the procurement process,” Fall continued. “We would be thrilled and honored to share our experiences helping thousands of classrooms, businesses, and other facilities with SoFi.”

IAQ Distribution provides, innovative, and energy-efficient medical grade devices that measure, purify, and disinfect air within any room, using a combination of proven scientific processes. The technology deployed by IAQ Distribution has been shown in third party tests to reduce 99.997% of the live SARS-CoV-2 virus. Thousands of classrooms, businesses, and government agencies have already engaged IAQ Distribution to install solutions to measure air quality, address issues, and help ensure the safety of everyone inside.

###

Please visit http://iaqdistribution.com/.

To learn more about IAQ Distribution or schedule an interview with Chris Fall, contact Dan Rene of kglobal at 202-329-8357 or [email protected].

Dan Rene
kglobal
+1 202-329-8357
email us here

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