“Is There Asbestos in My Home?”

The short answer to the question, “Is there asbestos in my home?” is “Yes, probably.” How much, where, and whether you should worry, depends mostly on when your home was built and what condition it is in.

In the U.S., if your home was built after the mid-1990s there might be asbestos in roof shingles, floor tiles, cement pipes and boards, caulking compounds, and joint cements. However, this is not necessarily something to worry about.

Asbestos is a mineral that breaks into small fibers. The fibers are dangerous to breathe, because if they settle in the lungs they can cause mesothelioma, a deadly lung cancer, and asbestosis, a debilitating disease that interferes with breathing. You should also avoid ingesting asbestos. However, as long as the asbestos fibers are encased in something so that the fibers can’t be breathed, or get into your water — generally the case with newer construction materials — you can safely leave it where it is.

Insulation in Home Built Before the mid-1990s

Homes built between 1920 and 1950 may have asbestos insulation. Also, be aware that homes built after 1950, and possibly as recently as the mid-1990s, may contain an insulation called Zonolite made of vermiculite contaminated with asbestos. The vermiculite came from a mine in Libby, Montana, a community so contaminated with asbestos the EPA recently declared Libby to be a public health disaster.

As long as the insulation is enclosed in a wall where fibers cannot escape, it is not hazardous. However, if walls are damaged, or if your remodeling plans involve cutting into a wall, you must arrange for state-certified asbestos abatement specialists to deal with the insulation. They may either remove it or find some way to contain it. But do not handle the insulation yourself.

Asbestos in Homes Built Before 1980

Here are just some of the other places you might find asbestos in an older home:

Shingles and walls. From the 1920s and until 1978 asbestos cement shingles were a popular choice for housing exteriors. Also until the 1970s, cement sheet, millboard, and paper with a high asbestos content were used around fireplaces and wood burning stoves. Cutting or drilling these materials can release asbestos fibers into the air you breathe.

Soundproofing. Until the 1970s, soundproofing material containing asbestos was sprayed on walls and ceilings. Asbestos also was used in textured paint and patching compounds until 1977. The asbestos in these applications can become loose and release asbestos into the air, if they haven’t already.

Hot water and steam pipes. These may be coated with asbestos or wrapped with asbestos tape.

Oil and coal furnaces and door gaskets. Replacing an old basement furnace in your home can create an asbestos hazard.

Inspection and Abatement

At this point, you may be worried about the cracks, chips, and flaking in your older home. It cannot be stressed enough that if asbestos really is present, you need professional help to deal with it. Deal only with asbestos inspectors and asbestos abatement contractors that are licensed by your state.

The first step is assessing whether there really is an asbestos danger in your home. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you hire an inspector who is independent from any abatement contractor you might use to avoid a conflict of interest.

Even if there is asbestos in your home, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have it all removed immediately. If the asbestos is in a place where it won’t get into the air or water, it may be left alone. But be aware that renovations or damage to your home might release the asbestos, and then you must call in an asbestos abatement contractor. Don’t try to deal with it yourself.

This is a guest posting by Barbara O’ Brien, an environmental blogger
Her blog
http://www.maacenter.org

A Bull by the Horns

Yes now most of you must be wondering as it to what I am going to talk about? Well it is a little different from my usual topics however is has some similar thoughts. I received a mail from RIPT Apparel, an online tee-shirt retailer who just launched their concepts to the world. They started off with a design focused on the usual traffic gridlock faced by billions of people on this planet.

Now gridlock is really frustrating and this is what the tee-shirt design depicts. The horns, the pollution, the heat, waiting in queues and so on. Now in terms of the environment, by avoiding traffic gridlocks, people can save money, time; it also reduces pollution such as noise pollution, air pollution, and many more.

For tee-shirt fans, who want some uniqueness in what design you want on your shirt, this is a good place to start cause the designs last for 24 hours and after the deadline a new design comes in. Each shirt costs $10 and they ship internationally so get your credit cards and start shopping. Btw to understand the title look at the picture carefully..

Out of the blue

Today's post is going to be different from the other posts. It has nothing to do with the blog topic however I wish to discuss it cause it could help us with a lot of things.

What I am talking about?Words just keep pouring but difficult to understand. Its www.yourquestion.org. Yes it is a site I found out via a blog community "Blog Explosion." Those of you who have been there know what I am talking about but those of you who have not keep following. Blog Explosion will give away 20 credits of traffic to bloggers if they visit www.yourquestion.org and blog about the site mentioned. Basically I would have to give my opinion about that site. After I finish the blog I would habe to inform them.

Let me give a brief description of this site. One can guess that this has to do something about society and not relating to a specific country but the entire world. All sorts of people voice their comments, questions, problems relating to politics, healthcare, education, social welfare, enviornment and other such topics. The basic concept is they will answer your questions associated with the problems mentioned. Who are "they?" They are highly-educated people, scientists, ministers, doctors and other extraordinary people. The site has a library of answers pertaining to relevant questions you voice.

I really appreciate what these people are doing, firstly because every single person comment or voice their concerns and the people can tell if the system is doing good,excellent or worse. Although there is a disadvantage to this scheme because it is powerful and if not checked it could bring a massive change. Sometimes people do not know what they want and that could be a problem. That is why the government is created. However the government does not know everything.

I want to finish this post by saying its a wonderful idea but must be checked and monitored by the creators.

Innovative energy source

Everything on this planet produces waste, what every species but as we humans are the dominate of the species we produce a lot a waste. As our oil reserves shrinks we must find an alternative source of energy and waste is the best source of energy. It is produced on a daily basis. Its kind of sick to think like that but it could one day become our only hope of survival. It is also renewable so it has some economical advantage. Maybe the conversion of these wastes to renewable energy may cost a lot but in the end it worth the risk.

The GreenHouse Effect 3

There is an effective scheme to preserve tropical forests. It is called debt-for-nature exchange or debt swap. The scheme recognises that many of the countries which are cutting down forests are struggling to repay foreign debts and are desperately in need of the revenue they will get for timber. In debt-swap a rich country agrees to cancel a debt from the poor country if that country will agree to conserve a certain area of forest in exchange. Cameroon and Madagascar in Africa and Costa Rica and Bolivia in South America are some of the countries that have benefited from the scheme. The whole world will benefit if the scheme expands.

The Greenhouse Effect2

Before the Industrial Revolution the carbon dioxide concentration was 280-90 ppm now it is 340ppm. By 2100, if the burning of fossil fuels continues at its present level, the concentration of carbon dioxide will have doubled. Climatologists estimate that doubling the carbon dioxide concentration would increase mean temperatures by 2-3 degrees Celcius. They also predict that increase would be greatest at high latitudes(near the poles) with Russia warming up by say 3 degrees Celcius, North America by 1-2 degrees Celcius and some countries like Japan, India and Spain showing little change in temperature.

Plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to use in the photosynthesis, Unfortunately, the world's forest cover is being drastically cut. In Brazil, the Amazon rain forest once covered 3 million square miles. As the region has been developed for agriculture and mining, 20% to 25% of the forest has been destroyed and a further 20% has been seriously disturbed. When felled trees are burned to rot, carbon doxide and other greenhouse gases are released. The same kind of deforestation is going on in some African countries, Indonesia, India and the Philippines. The loss of trees may already be making the Earth warmer.

Methane is another greenhouse gase. Methane enters the atmosphere from a number of sources. A single termite mound can emit about 5 litres of methane per minute. Swamps, rice fields, leaking North Sea gas pipes and herds of cows all send methane into the atmosphere. CFC's are powerful greenhouse gases.

A temperature increase of 0.5 degree Celcius has been observed since the beginning of the century. This may not sound alarmingly but scientists expect any greenhouse warming to be masked for quite a time by the enormous capacity of the oceans to absorb heat.

To be continued.......

The Greenhouse Effect

The mean temperature of our planet is fixed by steady state balance between the energy received from the Sun and an equal quantity of heat energy radiated back into space by the Earth. If disturbances in either incoming or outgoing energy is upset this balance, the average temperature of the Earth's surface will drift to a different steady state value. The resulting changes in the Earth's climate could upset food production, create deserts,raise the level of oceans or start a new ice age. One mechanism for resulting the Earth's temperature is the greenhouse effect.

Some of the things i am going to explain is going to be difficult but please bear with me.
The Sun emits radiation in a band of wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared( UV to IR, 200nm to 3000nm) with a maximum in the visible spectrum at 500nm. This radiation passes through the atmosphere of the Earth with very little absorption. When this radiation reaches the Earth, it warms the ground or sea. The warm surface of the Earth radiates energy outwards at the longer infrared wavelengths. Unlike sunlight, infrared radiation cannot travel freely through air. Infrared radiation is absorbed by water vapour, carbon dioxide, ozone and other gases in the lower atmosphere , warming up the lower layers of the atmosphere, which radiate some heat back to the ground and some into space.

The warming effect of carbon dioixde and water vapour has been named the greenhouse effect. The effect is compared with the glass of a greenhouse, which lets sunlight enter and prevents infrared radiation from leaving. ( Actually in addition to reflecting infrared radiation , real greenhouses trap heat mainly by preventing warm air from escaping by convection.)

There is more water in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, so most of the greenhouse effect is due to the presence of water vapour. The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon. Without it, the Earth would be uninhabitable. It is what keeps us from being a frozen planet. If gases such as carbon dioxide did not trap the Sun's energy , the Earth's mean temperature would be about -20 degree Celcius rather than its current 15 degree Celcius.


To be continued.......

The Ozone layer2

The decrease was later found due to the presence of CFC. It was then used as refrigant, aerosals and thermal insultions. Being chemically unreactive they would pass through the troposphere to the stratosphere where the UV light causes them to break forming chlorine oxide. Satellites detected that the ozone layer were eaten away due to the presence of chlorine oxide.

Guess that is why CFC usage was ban.

The Ozone layer

In the stratosphere (upper atmosphere) there is layer of ozone which protects us from ultraviolet rays from the Sun. This layer also protects the oxygen present in the troposhere(lower atmosphere).

Ozone is destroyed by chemical reactions with a number of substances that occur naturally in the stratosphere e.g. nitrogen oxides (from microbes and the combustion of fossil fuels) and methane( produced by microbes from in swamps). Increasing man-made substances are now attacking the layer.

The decrease in the ozone layer was first discovered in 1983, when scientists with the British Antarctic Survey observed that the concentration of ozone in the strastosphere decreased rapidly over Antarctica each spring to be replenished by the end of November.


To be continued......

Acid Rain Flow Chart

Acid Rain

Well today i will be talking abt acid rain and which countries are having an effect. Rain is naturally slightly acidic. Naturally acidic because it reacts with carbon dioxide in the air to form carbonic acid. Natural rain- water has a pH of abt 5.6 . In central Europe, rain-water is more acidic with a pH of abt 4.1 and on the fringes of Europe example Ireland and Portugal, rain-water has pH of abt 4.9. Rain from individual storms can have a pH below 3. Rain water below 5 is known as acidic rain.

Acid rain is now thought to be the cause of the extensive damage to Europe's trees and to the death of fish in lakes of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Wales, Scotland and other countries. Europe shows worst signs of damage by acid rain but it is becoming a global phenomenon due to the presence of greenhouse gases.

Thousands of lakes which once stocked fish are now dead. Death of fish is normally due to aluminium poisoning. Sulphates present in acidic rain combine with aluminium to form a product which interferes with fish gills. Basically clogging it hence the fish die by the lack of oxygen.

One of the chief culprits in the formation of acidic rain is sulphur dioxide. Natural sources like volcanoes, sea spray, rotting vegetation and plankton send sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.However most of the sulphur dioxide comes from the burning of fossil fuels. Over Europe 85% of sulphur dioxide come from fuels.

Fossil Fuels

Most of the energy used in the world comes from the combustion of organic compounds, such compounds are fossil fuels. They are finite resources and when we have used up Earth's reserves no more will be formed. We use fuels as if there is unlimited reserves but they are not. Although they have many advantages but the disadvantages are taking a toll on our ecosystem. These fuels contain sulphur which when reacts with oxygen and water they form acidic rain. However the biggest drawback is the formation of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas.

Some Hurricane comments

Experts agree it is impossible to say any one storm is caused by rising temperatures. Numbers of tropical cyclones like hurricanes worldwide are stable at about 90 a year although recent US research shows they maybe becoming more intense.
This is a comment by an expert: " As climate change is happening we know that the frequency of these disasters will increase. If we let climate change continue like it is continuing, we will have to deal with disasters like Katrina and Rita.
This is also a comment from another expert:" It is quite clear that the world's climate is changing and we should take note of it. The hurricance catastrophe in US should be a wake-up call for all of us. UN studies say a build-up of greenhouse gases is likely to cause more storms, floods, desertification and could raise the sea levels by upto a meter by 2100.

Catalytic Converters

Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are present in vehicle exhaust gases as a result of the incomplete combustion of fuel in the engine. Oxides of nitrogen are present in the air is at the temperature of the car engine.
The exhaust gases are passed through a catalytic converter a pipe containing a solid catalyst, plantinum and rhodium. The converter cannot remove oxides of nitrogen.
An engine can be fitted with a three-way catalytic system which can both oxidise fuel, carbon monoxide and also reduce oxides of nitrogen.
Lead poisons the catalyts in the converter.It destroys the catalytic action. Hence unleaded petrol must be used when using a catalytic converter.

Chemistry- The Car3

The simultaneous production of overoxidised pollutants,nitrogen oxide, and underoxidised pollutants, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, makes it difficult to clean up the exhaust with a single chemical treatment. The production of each major pollutant depends on the air/fuel ratio. A rich mixture(with less air than the ideal ratio) leads to the formation of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. A lean mixture (with excess of air) leads to the formation of nitrogen oxide. Altering the air/fuel ratio merely trades one set of pollutants for another.

Nitrogen oxide:
This oxide is a pollutant which attacks the ozone layer. It also contributes to the photochemical smog (i will explain this later) and to the formation of nitric acid in acid rain.

Carbon monoxide:
This is a poisonous gas. Hydrocarbons by themselves cause little damage, but in the presence of sunlight react with oxygen, ozone and oxides of nitrogen to form photochemical smog. One solution to the problem of pollution by vehicle exhausts is the catalytic converter.

Chemistry-The Car2

The petrol engine powers most of our motor vehicles. The burning of fuel in the cylinder after ignition by the spark is sudden and intense. The temperature soars about 2800 Celcius and some nitrogen and oxygen in the cylinder combine to form nitrogen oxide. As the piston is pushed of the cylinder, the combustion gases expand and cool in less than a hundredth of a second. The heating-cooling cycle occurs so rapidly that much of the fuel is not completely oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. Some carbon monoxide is formed and some hydrocarbons remains unburned.

To be continued

Chemistry-The Car1

Two hundred million motor vehicles are travelling the roads of the world. They are covering 2 million million miles a year and burning 70 billion litres of petrol. From their exhausts come 40 million tonnes of carbon monoxide, 4 million tonnes of nitrogen oxide, 4 million tonnes of hydrocarbons and 0.2 million tonnes of lead. These pollutants are discharged at the street level where people cannot avoid inhaling them.

To be continued

4 Hurricanes

This picture just shocked me. 4 hurricanes simultaneously. Ssshhhh!! and this image is old dated on 1998.

Ozone depletion

It is an old picture dated 2000. The blue area is where the ozone layer is depleted, which means radiation from the Sun entering through that hole and effecting our skins.

Flowchart of global waming

I was just browsing through google and found this picture. Its sort of a flow diagram how global warming is caused.