ozone

2011 Japan tsunami unleashed ozone-destroying chemicals

The 2011 tsunami that struck Japan released thousands of tons of ozone-destroying chemicals and greenhouse gases into the air.



  • Wilderness & Resources

ozone

Antarctic ozone hole among the smallest recorded in 20 years

The ozone hole above the Antarctic has hit its maximum extent for the year. Due to warm temperatures, the opening in the protective atmospheric layer was the se



  • Wilderness & Resources

ozone

Ozone hole shrinks to record low

Good news from Antarctica: The hole in the ozone layer is shrinking, new measurements reveal.



  • Wilderness & Resources

ozone

Arctic's ozone hole is looking good

The worldwide ban on ozone-depleting chemicals stopped Arctic ozone from disappearing and forming an "ozone hole" similar in size to Antarctica's.



  • Wilderness & Resources

ozone

New ozone-destroying chemicals discovered in atmosphere

Loopholes in the Montreal Protocol may need to be tightened, researchers say.



  • Wilderness & Resources

ozone

Ozone hole nears record-breaking size again

The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is nearing record-breaking size again, scientists say.



  • Wilderness & Resources

ozone

Earth's ozone layer may still be in trouble

The hole over Antarctica is slowly healing, but research suggests the ozone layer is thinning at lower latitudes.




ozone

Court Prohibits Dallas Health Center from Touting “Ozone Therapy” as a COVID-19 Treatment




ozone

Ozone injury in west coast forests: 6 years of monitoring

Six years of monitoring for ozone injury by the Pacific Northwest Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program are reported. The methods used to evaluate injury, compute an injury index, and estimate risk are described. Extensive injury was detected on ozone biomonitoring sites for all years in California, with ponderosa and Jeffrey pines, mugwort, skunkbush, and blue elderberry showing injury. Little or no injury was detected in Oregon and Washington. The relation of observed injury to ambient ozone levels is discussed. The areas with the highest modeled risk of ozone injury are the areas east of Los Angeles, the southern Sierra Nevada, and portions of the central coast.




ozone

Steam plasma arc hydrolysis of ozone depleting substances

A two step process for the destruction of a precursor material using a steam plasma in a three zone reactor wherein the precursor material is hydrolyzed as a first step in the high temperature zone of the reactor, followed by a second step of medium temperature oxidation of the reactant stream in the combustion zone of the reactor where combustion oxygen or air is injected and immediate quenching of the resulting gas stream to avoid the formation of unwanted by-products. A related apparatus includes a non transferred direct current steam plasma torch, an externally cooled three zone steam plasma reactor means for introducing the precursor material into the plasma plume of the plasma torch, means for introducing the combustion air or oxygen into the combustion zone, means for exiting the reactant mixture from the reactor and means for quenching the reactant mixture located at the exit end of the reactor.




ozone

Ozone generator

Ozone generator cells that include two thermally conductive plates that maintain contact between various layers of the cells in the absence of a bonding agent. The cells lack aluminum-containing materials in the discharge region of the cell.




ozone

Gas treatment by catalytic ozone oxidation

In one embodiment, a catalyst for ozone oxidation of pollutant components dispersed in a gas is provided. The ozone oxidation catalyst has a porous body formed from a metal body, a ceramic, or polymeric fibers coated with metal. A catalytic noble metal composition is deposited on the surface of the porous body. The catalytic noble metal composition is formed from particles of a noble metal supported by a mesoporous molecular sieve.




ozone

Treatment of hydrocarbon fluids with ozone

A system for separating contaminants from wellbore cuttings that includes a processing chamber, a heat source connected to the processing chamber adapted to vaporize hydrocarbons and other contaminants disposed on the material, a condenser operatively connected to an outlet of the process chamber and adapted to condense the vaporized hydrocarbons and other contaminants, and an ozone source operatively connected to the condenser.




ozone

In-line treatment of hydrocarbon fluids with ozone

A system for treating recovered fluids in-line that includes a thermal reactor for separating contaminated drill cuttings into drill cuttings and contaminants by applying heat to the contaminated drill cuttings so as to vaporize contaminants from the contaminated drill cuttings; a first condenser in fluid connection with the thermal reactor for condensing the vaporized contaminants; a separator in fluid connection with the first condenser for separating the condensed vapors into an oleaginous liquid and an aqueous liquid, wherein at least a portion of one of the aqueous liquid and oleaginous liquid is fed back into the first condenser via a feedback line; and an ozone generator operatively coupled to the feedback line, wherein at least the portion of the fed back liquid is ozonated by the ozone generator and fed into the condenser is disclosed.




ozone

System for the application of ozone in grains

System for application of ozone on grains made up essentially by one or more ozone mixers with particulates separator (1) for injecting air in the grains mass, one or more ozone mixers (2) for injecting air in the grains mass, a base of the device for grains treatment with ozone (3), a transport and discharge device (4), and an air cooling filter (5) that can be used individually or jointly to apply ozone on the grains mass.




ozone

METHODS FOR PRODUCING OZONE

A method for producing ozone is disclosed. The ozone is separated by an adsorbent separation system from a mixture of oxygen and ozone. The adsorbent separation system operates by adsorbing ozone at higher pressures, then desorbing the ozone at normal pressures. Increased ozone concentrations result from these steps while the oxygen component can be recovered and used in producing the mixture of oxygen and ozone.




ozone

OZONE GENERATING SYSTEM AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF

In an ozone generating system which performs intermittent operation, that is, an operation in an ozone generating operation period in which ozone is generated by discharging gas including oxygen at a discharge electrode part and an operation in an ozone generating operation standby period in which ozone is not generated by stopping discharge are alternately repeated, a gas circulating device which circulates gas in the ozone generating apparatus and removes at least nitric acid from the gas which is circulated is connected to the ozone generating apparatus.




ozone

METHOD FOR REDUCING COD OF WASTEWATER WITH IMPROVED UTILIZATION EFFICIENCY OF OZONE

Provided is a method for reducing COD of wastewater with improved utilization efficiency of ozone. The method achieves an objective by adding agents for removing hydroxyl radical scavengers produced by base-catalyzed ozone advanced oxidation to wastewater. The addition of calcium ion, barium ion, etc. to a base-catalyzed ozonation system makes the hydroxyl radical scavengers form precipitates, separated from water and lose the capability of scavenging hydroxyl radicals, thereby enhancing ozone utilization efficiency. Furthermore, calcium ion, barium ion, etc. form precipitates with partial organic acids yielded in the wastewater ozonation and are separated from water, hence diminishing ozone consumption and indirectly improving the ozone utilization efficiency in the wastewater treatment. The present invention can not only significantly enhance the reaction rate and utilization efficiency of ozone, saving reaction time and costs, but also enable complete mineralization of the organic compounds, significantly reducing COD and total phosphorus of wastewater.




ozone

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR TREATING LIQUIDS BY MEANS OF OZONE

A method for treating contaminated liquids in a flow by ozone, wherein the ozone is fed in gas form into the flow at one point and then is mixed into the flow in stages by mixers following one another in the flow direction, so that an absolute quantity of introduced ozone increases after each mixer until a feed efficiency of more than 95 percent is reached.




ozone

Eurozone Private Sector Registers Record Downturn In April

The euro area private sector experienced a record downturn in April due to the severe disruption caused by the coronavirus, or covid-19, pandemic, final survey results from IHS Markit showed Wednesday. The composite output index slid to a new series low of 13.6 from March's 29.7. The flash score was 13.5. Both manufacturing and services reported record fall in output in April.




ozone

ECB Policymakers Say 'More Determined' To Support Eurozone

European Central Bank Vice-President Luis de Guindos and Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf said separately on Thursday that the central bank was more determined to support the euro area economy during crisis periods and the bank stands ready to adjust all tools at its disposal, just days after the top German court ruled that the bank's government debt purchases were in violation of its mandate.




ozone

Bentley v. AutoZoners, LLC, et al.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed. In appealing an award of summary judgement for the defendants, plaintiff argues she proffered sufficient evidence to raise triable issues of fact in her sex discrimination case. Finding plaintiff’s arguments fail on the merits, the panel affirms.




ozone

Bentley v. AutoZoners, LLC, et al.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed. In appealing an award of summary judgement for the defendants, plaintiff argues she proffered sufficient evidence to raise triable issues of fact in her sex discrimination case. Finding plaintiff’s arguments fail on the merits, the panel affirms.




ozone

Bentley v. AutoZoners, LLC, et al.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed. In appealing an award of summary judgement for the defendants, plaintiff argues she proffered sufficient evidence to raise triable issues of fact in her sex discrimination case. Finding plaintiff’s arguments fail on the merits, the panel affirms.




ozone

Princeton scientist solves air quality puzzle: Why is ozone pollution persisting in Europe despite environmental laws banning it?

As global climate change leads to more hot and dry weather, the resulting droughts are stressing plants, making them less able to remove ozone — which at ground level is a dangerous pollutant — from the air.




ozone

€240 billion in low-cost credit for eurozone states

Eurozone ministers have formally approved €240 billion in credit lines to help European countries meet the crippling costs of fighting the coronavirus outbreak.




ozone

A Global Response to HFCs through Fair and Effective Ozone and Climate Policies

11 July 2014

Rising HFC use poses a significant threat to intergovernmental efforts to combat climate change. At present, there is a glaring regulatory gap in this area. Although challenging, there is no reason why the international community cannot come together to address this new problem of coordination and ensure that legal regimes support each other.

Duncan Brack

Associate Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme

Stephen O. Andersen

Director of Research, the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD)

Joanna Depledge

Affiliated Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge

20140710GlacierHFCClimate.jpg

In this aerial image, icebergs are seen as a glacier is flown into the sea on July 30, 2012 near Qaanaaq, Greenland. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are replacements for many of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) currently being phased out under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Unlike those ozone-depleting substances (ODS), HFCs do not destroy the ozone layer, but they are very powerful greenhouse gases (GHGs) – up to thousands of times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide – and their use is currently growing faster than any other category of GHGs. Projections show HFC use increasing as much as 30-fold by 2050, adding up to 0.1°C of global average temperature rise by mid-century, and increasing up to five-fold, to 0.5°C, by 2100. This clearly makes it more difficult to limit the rise in global temperature to the internationally agreed ceiling of 2°C – and thereby avoid dangerous climate change – by the end of the 21st century.

As GHGs, HFCs fall under the purview of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and are explicitly listed under the UNFCCC’s 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which controls emissions of HFCs and other GHGs. They are not, however, subject to any specific measures under the climate agreements, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. Accordingly, the last five years have seen proposals to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs.

Such a step would have a number of advantages. Since substitutes already exist for almost all uses of HFCs, the consumption and production phase-out model of the Montreal Protocol is better suited to controlling HFCs than the emissions limits controls of the climate regime; and the individuals and organizations involved in implementing the Montreal Protocol have accumulated substantial experience and expertise in dealing with precisely those industrial sectors in which HFCs are used, including refrigeration and air-conditioning, foams, solvents and aerosols.

This paper, which draws on the discussions at a workshop held at Chatham House in April 2014, outlines the main issues around the question of how best to craft a fair and effective global response to the growth in HFC use. A number of key issues are central to the debate: the principle of equity between developed and developing countries; the availability of alternatives to HFCs; the need for financial support for developing countries; the legal relationship between the climate and ozone regimes; and, underlying all these, the need for political will to resolve these challenges.




ozone

Why This Rare, Huge Ozone Hole Over the Arctic Is Puzzling Scientists

The new wound further diminishes Earth’s protective shield against damaging solar radiation




ozone

Eurozone inflation in Jan at lowest level since 2009

Inflation in the eurozone has fallen to its lowest level since 2009, according to official data released...




ozone

Ozone layer is healing! Amidst Coronavirus gloom, Ozone cover above Antarctica records substantial recovery

Efforts of all the countries to stop the damage to the Ozone layer seem to be paying off as the damage to the Ozone layer above Antarctica has recovered.




ozone

[Ticker] Commission: Eurozone will contract by record 7.75%

The eurozone will contract by a record 7.75 percent in 2020 but grow by 6.25 percent in 2021, the EU Commission said in its economic forecast on Wednesday. The EU-wide economy is to contract by 7.5 percent this year and grow by around six percent in 2021. The sharpest drop is estimated in Greece with 9.7 percent, in Italy with 9.5 percent and in Spain by 9.4 percent.




ozone

Hot Weather's Return Brings Ozone Warnings

Title: Hot Weather's Return Brings Ozone Warnings
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2012 4:06:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2012 12:00:00 AM




ozone

Sudden stratospheric warming is the unusual climate variation affecting ozone, heat and wind

Sudden stratospheric warming it's great for the ozone layer at the South Pole, but not so great for heat and rain levels over the next few months.




ozone

BASF Corporation Agrees to Clean Air Act Upgrades to Protect Stratospheric Ozone

BASF Corporation has agreed, under a Clean Air Act settlement filed today in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to reduce the use of refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer.



  • OPA Press Releases

ozone

Businessman Convicted for Evading $1.9 Million in Taxes on Sales of Ozone-Depleting Greenhouse Gases

Dov Shellef, a businessman from Great Neck, N.Y., was convicted today on 86 counts, following a five-week jury trial, for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service in the collection of approximately $1.9 million in excise taxes due on sales of the ozone-depleting greenhouse gas known as CFC-113.



  • OPA Press Releases

ozone

United States Reaches Settlement with Safeway to Reduce Emissions of Ozone-Depleting Substances Nationwide

In a settlement agreement with the United States, Safeway, the nation’s second largest grocery store chain, has agreed to pay a $600,000 civil penalty and implement a corporate-wide plan to significantly reduce its emissions of ozone-depleting substances from refrigeration equipment at 659 of its stores nationwide, estimated to cost approximately $4.1 million.



  • OPA Press Releases

ozone

United States Settles with Costco to Cut Ozone-Depleting and Greenhouse Gas Refrigerant Emissions Nationwide

Costco Wholesale Corporation, one of the nation’s largest retailers, has agreed to cut its emissions of ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases from leaking refrigeration equipment at more than half of its stores nationwide.



  • OPA Press Releases

ozone

Effectiveness of the adjunctive use of ozone and chlorhexidine in patients with chronic periodontitis




ozone

2010 CUSE Annual Conference: From the Lisbon Treaty to the Eurozone Crisis

Event Information

June 2, 2010
9:30 AM - 3:00 PM EDT

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Register for the Event

With a U.S. Administration still popular across Europe and a new Lisbon Treaty designed to enhance the diplomatic reach of the European Union, transatlantic relations should now be at their best in years. But this is clearly not the case, with the strategic partners often looking in opposite directions. While the United States channels its foreign policy attention on the war in Afghanistan, counterterrorism and nuclear non-proliferation, Europe is turning inward. Despite its ambitions, the European Union has yet to achieve the great global role to which it aspires, or to be the global partner that Washington seeks. Moreover, the Greek financial crisis has raised questions about the very survival of the European project.

On June 2, the Center on the United States and Europe (CUSE) at Brookings and the Heinrich Böll Foundation hosted experts and top officials from both sides of the Atlantic for the 2010 CUSE Annual Conference. Panelists explored critical issues shaping the future of transatlantic relations in the post-Lisbon Treaty era, including Europe’s Eastern neighborhood and the role Russia plays, and the impact of the Eurozone crisis.

After each panel, participants took audience questions.

Audio

Transcript

Event Materials

      
 
 




ozone

Eurozone Crisis an Opportunity for G-20 Leaders in Cannes

Leaders from the world’s largest economies are gathering in Cannes, France for the second round of G-20 talks this year. The most pressing issue on the agenda is the ongoing sovereign debt crisis that is still looming despite a plan to help stabilize the fiscal free fall in Greece. The call from all quarters is for leaders to hammer out an action plan that spurs global growth, promotes investment and facilitates trade. Nonresident Senior Fellow Colin Bradford says dealing with the eurozone debt crisis presents an opportunity for leaders to make a serious commitment to a serious problem.

Video

     
 
 




ozone

Eurozone desperately needs a fiscal transfer mechanism to soften the effects of competitiveness imbalances


The eurozone has three problems: national debt obligations that cannot be met, medium-term imbalances in trade competitiveness, and long-term structural flaws.

The short-run problem requires more of the monetary easing that Germany has, with appalling shortsightedness, been resisting, and less of the near-term fiscal restraint that Germany has, with equally appalling shortsightedness, been seeking. To insist that Greece meet all of its near-term current debt service obligations makes about as much sense as did French and British insistence that Germany honor its reparations obligations after World War I. The latter could not be and were not honored. The former cannot and will not be honored either.

The medium-term problem is that, given a single currency, labor costs are too high in Greece and too low in Germany and some other northern European countries. Because adjustments in currency values cannot correct these imbalances, differences in growth of wages must do the job—either wage deflation and continued depression in Greece and other peripheral countries, wage inflation in Germany, or both. The former is a recipe for intense and sustained misery. The latter, however politically improbable it may now seem, is the better alternative.

The long-term problem is that the eurozone lacks the fiscal transfer mechanisms necessary to soften the effects of competitiveness imbalances while other forms of adjustment take effect. This lack places extraordinary demands on the willingness of individual nations to undertake internal policies to reduce such imbalances. Until such fiscal transfer mechanisms are created, crises such as the current one are bound to recur.

Present circumstances call for a combination of short-term expansionary policies that have to be led or accepted by the surplus nations, notably Germany, who will also have to recognize and accept that not all Greek debts will be paid or that debt service payments will not be made on time and at originally negotiated interest rates. The price for those concessions will be a current and credible commitment eventually to restore and maintain fiscal balance by the peripheral countries, notably Greece.


Authors

Publication: The International Economy
Image Source: © Vincent Kessler / Reuters
     
 
 




ozone

Ozone Hinders Plants' Ability to Absorb Carbon Dioxide

Ozone — best known for filtering out harmful UV light as a component of the Earth's stratosphere — could dramatically reduce plants' ability to act as a carbon sink and thus cause further accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to




ozone

Ozone Could Slash Global Crop Yields by 40% by Century's End

We recently told you of a study warning that global warming could prompt the large-scale collapse of the world's crops by 2080; now comes another study concluding that rising levels of ozone could achieve the same result by century's end. The study,




ozone

Who's Looking Out for Your Lungs? Industry and Legislators Pressing EPA to Drop Tighter Ozone Standards

You can't blame them for trying: With the White House set to change hands in less than a year's time - likely bringing on board a more eco-friendly administration - industry groups have been pressing the EPA to squelch stricter air-quality standards




ozone

Could Fixing the Ozone Layer's Hole Make Global Warming Worse?

Talk about a lose-lose situation: On one hand, not taking any action to repair the hole would allow harmful UV radiation to percolate through; on the other hand, helping to accelerate its recovery could strengthen global warming by




ozone

Existing Ozone Controls Aren't Protecting Human Health or the Environment, Report Says

Image from NASA updated: As many noted, I (idiotically) cited the Montreal Protocol's success here, which has nothing to do with reducing tropospheric ozone -- rather, it has to do with fixing the ozone layer. Thank you commenters, and my apologies for




ozone

Ozone Depletion Contributes to Ocean Acidification in the Southern Ocean

Forty percent: That is the share of annual oceanic carbon dioxide uptake accounted for by the Southern Ocean. Given that oceans comprise Earth's largest carbon sink, that is not an insignificant figure;




ozone

Beautiful Sweaty Snowflakes Dissolve Polar Ozone

Image credit: Purdue University photo/Shepson Lab digg_url = 'http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/beautiful-sweaty-snowflakes-dissolve-polar-ozone.php';Snowflakes, we have seen, are beautiful and diverse but they are not inert byproducts of cold




ozone

In 2011 the Arctic's Ozone Layer Hole Grew to an Unprecedented Size

Left: Ozone in Earth's stratosphere at an altitude of approximately 12 miles (20 kilometers) in mid-March 2011, near the peak of the 2011 Arctic ozone loss. Right: chlorine monoxide - the primary agent of chemical ozone destruction in the cold polar