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May 21, 2013
Crude Creeping Back Towards $100
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Connecticut Passes Mattress Recycling Law
175,000 Mattresses a Year Thrown on The Curb? Manufacturers Will Pick Them Up
SustainableBusiness.com News
Imagine looking into a landfill (or incinerator) - what would you see?
Tons and tons of still-useful stuff that could be recycled into new
products (creating lots of jobs too). What a waste - and a huge expense -
to throw so much away.
Connecticut is taking action on one problem product - mattresses. The
state just passed the first producer responsibility law for mattresses
in the US, which now puts the onus of responsibility on manufacturers.
Manufacturers will have to both finance and manage the collection and recycling of old mattresses.
Under the law, manufacturers will set up an organization that collects
mattresses and recycles them at no cost to municipalities. Each
manufacturer will pay into the program to fund the organization. That
fee, of course, will pass to customers when they buy new mattresses at
retail stores.
The law was written with input from the industry's trade association and
could become a model for other states. The nonprofit Product
Stewardship Institute worked with all the stakeholders to get support
for the bill.
About 175,000 mattresses are thrown away in Connecticut each year and
are mostly sent to other states to be dumped in landfills or
incinerated. By shifting the burden to manufacturers, local governments
will save about $1.3 million and the economy will benefit from
new recycling opportunities for businesses.
About 95% of the materials in a mattress are recyclable, such as steel, cotton and foam.
"Communities statewide stand to save more than $1.2 million from present
disposal costs borne by taxpayers. A cooperative and shared cost for
end-of-life management of mattresses lightens the taxpayer burden and
also transforms mattresses into feedstock for Connecticut's two mattress
recycling facilities," notes Marilynn Cruz-Aponte, assistant director
of Hartford's Department of Public Works.
The law passed both houses and is awaiting the governor's signature.
The Product Stewardship Institute is working on this at a national
level. Last year, the U.S. Conference of Mayors endorsed state
and federal producer responsibility legislation for mattresses as an
effective way to cut the costs of mattress disposal for municipalities,
create local recycling jobs and encourage other recycling opportunities
that this untapped waste stream offers.
Similar legislation is moving forward in California.
Read about the status of producer responsibility laws in the US:
May 20, 2013
More Fees at the Airport
Get ready to pay more to fly
Want to change your flight? That’ll be $200 extra
new
Portfolio Relevance
LEARN MORE
By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch
As air travelers become inured to baggage fees, airlines are betting they’ll accept additional extra charges.
In fact, 2012 was a record year for extra-fee revenues: U.S. airlines raked in a staggering $6.03 billion in baggage and reservation-change fees, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. And it’s likely they will climb even higher in 2013. “We’re going to see more and more higher fees and new categories of fees,” says George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog.com.
Reuters
Delta outpaced both its legacy rivals and smaller carriers in baggage-fee revenue, chalking up a jaw-dropping $866 million. United took second place at $706 million. (Delta merged with Northwest Airlines, and United merged with Continental.) American, still without a merger partner at the dance, racked up $557 million. Its suitor, U.S. Airways, came in fourth with $516 million — together, they would have left their counterparts in the dust at $1.07 billion.
As for cancellation fees, Delta again took the top spot, collecting $778 million in 2012, while United pocketed $661 million. American added $518 million to its top line as U.S. Airways brought in $298 million.
And those figures are only going to swell. In what FareCompare.com chief executive Rick Seaney calls “the worst fee ever,” cancellation charges already have risen: United last month upped its change fees to $200 from $150. As is typical of the herd mentality of the airline industry, American, Delta and U.S. Airways followed suit.
That basically renders some tickets unchangeable. If you bought a one-way discount ticket for $200 and wanted to change your flight, it would cost you another $200. Hobica thinks the change-fee hike isn’t targeted at discount leisure travelers but at business travelers who carriers hope will opt for the more pricey nonrefundable tickets. If the difference between the refundable and the nonrefundable fee is $300 but a change fee is $200 on a nonrefundable ticket, “business travelers might be more apt to choose the nonrefundable fee from the beginning,” he says.
Meanwhile, Frontier Airlines has introduced new charges that it hopes other carriers will follow, thereby decreeing an industrywide acceptance that travelers just have to, well, accept. So far, however, the legacy carriers are standing still.
Beginning this summer, Frontier will require passengers who bought tickets through a third party to pay carry-on baggage fees of up to $100. That’s right, for carry-on bags. The goal here is for travelers to bypass discount online providers like Expedia, Kayak or Hotwire, not to mention travel agents, in favor of Frontier’s own booking site.
Airplane wi-fi to speed up
The FCC is expected to approve a proposal that could speed up airplane Internet speeds. Photo: AP
If you buy the carry-on choice in advance, it will cost you $25. But it doubles to $50 if you pay at the counter or at an airport kiosk. It doubles again to $100 if you purchase it at the gate. But buy your tickets at FlyFrontier.com and the carry-on bag is included in the airfare.
Frontier also said it will begin charging $1.99 for coffee, tea, soda and juice on all flights. It’s unclear if taxes will be charged.
Frontier, which is transforming itself into what it calls the “ultra low-cost” carrier, is following the lead of Allegiant and Spirit airlines. Those carriers offer bargain-basement tickets for flights, but tack on exorbitant fees for everything else. Frontier’s carry-on bag charges, however, are steeper than Allegiant and Spirit.
Airline experts expect the carriers to again up their baggage fees, but at this point most are a standard $25 for the first bag. It’s the second bag that will cost you much more, depending on where you’re going, according to AirfareWatchdog.com.
For a thorough rundown of baggage fees by carrier, see AirfareWatchdog’s baggage-fee chart.)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/get-ready-to-pay-more-to-fly-2013-05-20?link=sfmw
May 16, 2013
May 14, 2013
Nano FR Solution
They describe successful development and laboratory testing of a new flame retardant coating for polyurethane foam. The “nanocoating” is so thin that 1,000 layers of it would fit across the width of a human hair, and it is made with a relatively benign polymer that creates a “gas blanket,” preventing oxygen from fueling a fire. It is the first flame retardant that both reduces the heat released from fire and prevents the foam from dripping and spreading flames to the rest of the room or house. “The heat release reductions are significant and likely would slow fire growth in real world fire scenarios, giving people more time to escape or to put out the foam, thus, preventing flashover events,” the report says.
Flame retardant nanocoating is safer and 'greener' |
|
| (Nanowerk News) Amid concerns over the potential health effects of existing flame retardants for home furniture, fabrics and other material, scientists are reporting development of an “exceptionally” effective new retardant that appears safer and more environmentally friendly. | |
 Scientists have developed an “exceptionally” effective new retardant that appears safer and more environmentally friendly — ideal for the polyurethane foam in couches and bedding that causes many fire deaths. Their report on the first-of-its-kind coating, ideal for the polyurethane foam in couches and bedding that causes many fire deaths, appears in ACS Macro Letters ("Exceptionally Flame Retardant Sulfur-Based Multilayer Nanocoating for Polyurethane Prepared from Aqueous Polyelectrolyte Solutions"). Jaime Grunlan and colleagues explain that upholstery furniture and mattresses are the items that ignite in about 17,000 fires each year, causing more than 870 deaths, thousands of injuries and millions of dollars in property loss. Since the polyurethane foam in these items is highly flammable, consumer protection agencies have issued stringent safety standards to reduce flammability. But health and environmental concerns exist over some of the traditional flame retardants that manufacturers add to meet those standards. Grunlan’s team thus set out to develop safer, more environmentally benign flame retardants. |
They describe successful development and laboratory testing of a new flame retardant coating for polyurethane foam. The “nanocoating” is so thin that 1,000 layers of it would fit across the width of a human hair, and it is made with a relatively benign polymer that creates a “gas blanket,” preventing oxygen from fueling a fire. It is the first flame retardant that both reduces the heat released from fire and prevents the foam from dripping and spreading flames to the rest of the room or house. “The heat release reductions are significant and likely would slow fire growth in real world fire scenarios, giving people more time to escape or to put out the foam, thus, preventing flashover events,” the report says.
Shifting Global Energy Scene
US shale oil supply shock shifts global power balance
Shale oil production adds economic value, but critics say the costs to the environment are also large
A steeper-than-expected rise in US shale oil reserves is about to change the global balance of power between new and existing producers, a report says.
Over the next five years, the US will account for a third of new oil supplies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The US will change from the world's leading importer of oil to a net exporter.
Demand for oil from Middle-East oil producers is set to slow as a result.
"North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world," said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.
The surge in US production will reshape the whole industry, according to the IEA, which made the prediction in its closely-watched bi-annual report examining trends in oil supply and demand over the next five years.
The IEA said it expected the US to overtake Russia as the world's biggest gas producer by 2015 and to become "all but self-sufficient" in its energy needs by about 2035.
The rise in US production means the world's reliance on oil from traditional oil producing countries in the Middle East, which make up Opec (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), would end soon, according to the report.
Slower growthUS production is set to grow by 3.9 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) from 2012 to 2018, accounting for some two-thirds of the predicted growth in traditional non-Opec production, according to the IEA.
"The regional fallout from the 'Arab Spring' is taking a toll on investment and capacity growth”
Meanwhile, global oil demand is set to increase by 8% which would be met mainly by non-Opec supplies, the report said
The IEA still expects production capacity among traditional Opec suppliers in the Middle East to continue to grow over the next five years, but at a slower rate.
Opec capacity, which counts for 35% of today's global oil output, is expected to rise by 1.75 million bpd to 36.75 million bpd in 2018, about 750,000 bpd less than predicted in the IEA's 2012 forecast.
The IEA cites the "growing insecurity in North and Sub-Saharan Africa" in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings as a key reason for the slowdown.
"The regional fallout from the 'Arab Spring' is taking a toll on investment and capacity growth," the IEA said.
FrackingThe sharp rise in US oil production is largely thanks to shale oil, a product many have hailed as the saviour of the US energy market.
Fracking, the process of blasting water at high pressure into shale rock to release oil (or gas) held within it, has become widespread in the US.
But critics of shale oil point to environmental concerns such as high water use and possible water contamination, the release of methane and, to a lesser extent, earth tremors caused by drilling.
The process has been banned in France, while the UK recently lifted a moratorium on drilling for shale gas.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22524597
May 13, 2013
Heatlh Care Taxes Scaring Small Business
Health insurance tax ‘scares the daylights’ out of some small-business owners
J. David Ake/AP - Small business owners are concerned that the structure of a new tax on insurers will translate into significantly higher health care premiums.
By J.D. Harrison, Published: May 12 E-mail the writer
Many small-business owners worry that a new tax on insurance providers in the health-care law will mean higher premiums for them, undermining the law’s capacity to lower their health-care costs.
Starting next year, the federal government will charge a new fee on health insurance firms based on the plans they sell to individuals and companies, known as the fully insured market. Meanwhile, the provision exempts health-insurance plans that are set up and operated by businesses themselves (the self-insured market).
Revenue from the tax will help pay for the health-care overhaul, which is expected to extend coverage to millions of uninsured or underinsured Americans.
However, because most large corporations self-insure their workforce, experts warn that insurance companies will pass the costs directly to small businesses. The vast majority purchase coverage in the fully insured market.
“Insurers have confirmed back to me that the tax will be passed down to consumers, and the direct impact will be staggering,” Ryan Thorn, owner of a small insurance planning firm near Salt Lake City, told lawmakers during a congressional hearing Thursday. “It disproportionately hits individuals and small-business owners, the people who have been hurt most by these challenging times.”
During his testimony, Thorn read letters from his small-business clients about the likely impact of the new health insurance tax. One wrote that the tax “scares the daylights out of us,” while another warned that it would likely “hasten the decision to move away from providing group coverage for our employees.”
The Department of Health and Human Services reports that among private businesses that offer health insurance, three of every four firms with between 100 and 500 employees purchase coverage in the fully insured market. The number jumped to 87 percent for firms with fewer than 100 workers.
On the other hand, 82 percent of large firms (500 or more employees) run their own health insurance programs.
Robert Zirkelback, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurance providers, acknowledged that small firms will likely “shoulder most of the burden” of the tax. Meanwhile, a new minimum-coverage requirement for employers with 50 or more workers will be broader than what some of them already offer, he said, which could further increase their costs as they are forced to supplement their current plans.
A new study by the National Federation of Independent Business, which has long pushed back against the health-care law, suggests that the health-care tax could reduce private-sector employment by several hundred thousand jobs over the next decade, more than half of which would come from small businesses. Based on its forecasts, the toll on gross domestic product could reach as high as $185 billion.
Paul Van de Water, an economist with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, took issue with parts of the study, saying that the model does not account for higher compensation for employees in the form of better health coverage. He disputed the claim that the tax would eliminate jobs, too, citing estimates from the Congressional Budget Office that any changes in employment because of the health-care law will be negligible.
But even if the tax has some negative side effects, he said, that is the price the country must pay to improve the health-care system.
“No one likes taxes, per se, but we raise taxes to raise revenues to pay for things that we want to pay for,” Van de Water told members of the House Small Business Committee. “In this case, we are paying for an expansion of health-care coverage to 27 million Americans.”
Nevertheless, the concerns from small-business owners and insurance companies have prompted lawmakers to introduce bills that would repeal the health insurance tax — one from Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and another from Reps. Charles W. Boustany Jr. (R-La.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah).
Business lobbying groups from the manufacturing, construction and farming sectors have supported those efforts, citing similar concerns about the likely impact on their health insurance premiums.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/health-insurance-tax-scares-the-daylights-out-of-some-small-business-owners/2013/05/12/40bf58fe-b8ca-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html
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Urethane Links
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European Association of Flexible Polyurethane Foam Blocks Manufacturers - Everchem Specialty Chemicals
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This website is run by the CPI to promote recycling of various plastics including polyurethane - Polyisocyanurate Manufacturers Association
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