Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Available at
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/
Accessed July 1, 2013.
15
Thorium-232 can be used in specially designed nuclear reactors that use
U
235
or Pu
239
. But the World Thorium reserves also stand around 6
million tons.
16
This one facility designed for 77,000 tons of waste will not be enough
even for our present needs. Furthermore, the area is seismically active,
and one needs to worry about the buried canisters of waste being
compromised in an earthquake.
17
The capital cost of growing corn is very different from that of installing
a field of solar cells. The comparison is therefore based on installed solar
cells versus growing corn.
18
UStotalinstalledcapacityoffuel-gradeethanolto15.0billionUSgallons.
19
Over95%ofmineralcommoditiesusedintheUSisimportedfromChina.
20
Communication services, such as the operation of satellites, GPS,
computers, and even cellphones, all depend on the availability of
specialized materials such as semiconductor materials, phosphorus, and
battery technology.
21
Already, the Pt content derived from automobile catalytic converters in
road dust has reached the levels it is present in South African Platinum
ore! (Cohen, 2007).
22
Data quoted from
www.forestinfo.org
by Dovetail Partners Inc.,
Minneapolis, MN.
23
A special group of plastics that include examples such as polyaniline
and polythiophene are inherently electrically conducting and are used in
electronic applications.
24
It is indeed a better index compared to GDP. For instance, GDP counts
pollution as income from the abatement and cleanup of pollution is a
business activity in the economy. GPI, however, counts it correctly as
a cost. Cut down a thriving forest into lumber; the GDP counts this as
income, while GPI counts it as cost.
