Farmers are signing up to “plant” rows of mini-wind turbines in their hedgerows and on wasteland as part of an innovative new project to harness wind power without the usual objections over “unsightliness”. Personally I think that large wind turbines look graceful and beautiful on the horizon and account some of this opinion to the fact that I know that they are making good, renewable energy. But the issue of erecting these large structures has divided communities and remains one of the biggest obstacles to the development of wind power in the UK.

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Our family car needs new back tyres and the quote from our local tyre dealership for a set of two run-of-the-mill type tyres was surprisingly expensive. My husband labours under the impression that retreads are of inferior quality and for that reason isn’t keen on us buying them, even though they would be an environmentally-friendly option and save us money.

So, I was very interested to read at letsrecycle.com that a month after the banning of the disposal of tyres in landfill, the Wales Environment Trust is championing the cause for retreads, and urging Welsh businesses to look again at using refurbished tyres. They have launched a campaign called rethink.retreads and are branding retreads a SAFE CHOICE: safe one the road, safe on your budget, and safe for the environment.

The rethink.retreads website explains why retreads are just as safe as new tyres and why they are a cost effective option. Consequently, I will not be turning my nose up at retreads again, and I am feeling positive about the effect that choosing retreads will be having on the environment, and on my pocket.

The push is on to find a technology that will reduce mercury emissions 90% by 2015 in the state of Michigan - a regulation more stringent than the national standard, which calls for a 70% reduction. They’re hoping a big part of the solution will be Toxecon, a new sysem designed to keep gaseous mercury from escaping wth the rest of the power plant pollutants. While there are still bugs to be worked out, researchers are optomistic about the technology.

Toxecon injects activated, powdery carbon into the superheated gas from coal incineration. The carbon absorbs the mercury and flows into a newly constructed building called a “bag house,” where it’s trapped inside the network of fabric bags.

As a bonus, designers hope the process also will remove up to 70 percent of the sulfur dioxide and 30 percent of the nitrogen oxide from the gas, along with the 1 percent of fly ash from coal combustion that isn’t captured earlier.

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