Amount Of Environmental Pollution Research Articles

Thermal Design Developing for Steam Power Plants by Using Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Technologies

The main purpose of this study is to discuss the possibility of the development of thermal power plants to produce electric power with conventional steam to work as a semi-joint system to exploit an array of solar collectors concentrated type parabolic cylindrical in processing the amount of thermal energy for steam turbine units. The effectiveness of various designs for linking Matrix complexes' solar concentration in the thermal design of the plant steam has been studied in this investigation. As a result of the use of matrix compounds, the CSP study showed the economic efficiency and environmental design of the proposed terms of the amount of savings the lowest in the amount of fuel consumed in the network. The findings show that the decrease in the amount of thermal energy and the amount of environmental pollution from carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides which are produced in the surrounding medium.

ДИНАМІЧНА МОДЕЛЬ ОДНОСЕКТОРНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ З УРАХУВАННЯМ ЕКОЛОГІЧНОЇ ПОВЕДІНКИ ВИРОБНИКІВ І СПОЖИВАЧІВ

The urgency of formation and development of the economy with ecologically safe for the environment and human society processes of production and consumption is revealed. The necessity of ecologization of the economy and all other spheres of human life as a fundamentally important stage in building an ecological economy, in which the level, quality and safety of human life would be the goal of its functioning, is substantiated. Theory and practice of research of ecological and economic interaction results by modern foreign and domestic scientists are of utter significance and actuality. The effectiveness of modeling as one of the most powerful methods of modern research tools used in the study of ecological and economic processes and systems and the development of dynamic one-sector ecological economy model. The authors proposed a dynamic model of a one-sector economy, taking into account the ecological behavior of producers and consumers, i.e. an economy in which the production of basic aggregate products and utilization of production and consumption waste is carried out at the same time. The model takes into account the socio-economic structure of society, which is represented in the studied single-sector economy by two social clusters of production owners (producers) and workers (employees). The model was formalized in the space of ecological and economic variables, which include liquid savings (savings) of production owners and workers, the price of basic aggregates, the tariff for the disposal of pollution and the amount of environmental pollution. The model belongs to the class of differential models and is open to various extensions and modifications associated with increasing the number of spatial variables, taking into account the specific behavioral functions of production and consumption, as well as parameters playing an important role in model specification. In the context of theoretical significance, the proposed model and its possible modifications are designed to formalize and analyze the main approaches and principles of modeling environmental and economic processes, and in the applied sense, models of this class are used for experimental research in computer simulation of ecological-economic dynamics and support of management decisions in real economic practice on the level of ecologization of the economy. The availability of adequate information allows its identification, exploring the allowable areas of parameters’ change and their dependence on time, testing appropriate scenarios for the development of the economy under study and using the knowledge gained in decision support systems.

Optimal Operation of Multiple Energy System Based on Multi-Objective Theory and Grey Theory

The manufacturing industry consumes electricity and natural gas to provide the power and heat required for manufacturing. Additionally, large amounts of electric energy and heat energy are used, and the electricity cost, amount of environmental pollution, and equipment maintenance cost are high. Thus, optimizing the management of equipment with new energy is important to satisfy the load demand from the system. This paper formulates the scheduling problem of these multiple energy systems as a multi-objective linear regression model (MLRM), and an energy management system is designed focusing on the economy and on greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, a variety of optimization objectives and constraints are proposed to make the energy management scheme more practical. Then, grey theory is combined with the common MLRM to accurately represent the uncertainty in the system and to make the model better reflect the actual situation. This paper takes load fluctuation, total grid operation cost, and environmental pollution value as reference standards to measure the effect of the gray optimization algorithm. Lastly, the model is applied to optimize the energy supply plan and its performance is demonstrated using numerical examples. The verification results meet the optimized operating conditions of the multi-energy microgrid system.

ДВОСЕКТОРНА МОДЕЛЬ ЕКОНОМІКИ В УМОВАХ ЕКОЛОГІЗАЦІЇ ВИРОБНИЦТВА ТА СПОЖИВАННЯ

The urgency of the problem of ecologization of the economy and of other spheres of human life is revealed. This problem is one of the most acute and priority problems of the modern world, as the consequences of negative anthropogenic impact on the environment are environmental crises of regional and global scale, including climate change, which threatens not only socio-economic development of human civilization but also its existence. In this regard, not only the greening of the economy is relevant, but also the greening of consumption, education, culture, upbringing, and so on. The research of the stated and many other issues related to the greening of human activities requires the use of many scientific tools. The multifaceted nature of the object and subject of research is analyzed, which actually leads to the use of a set of conceptual, methodological and methodological approaches. The efficiency of the modeling method and the necessity of constructing the ecological economy models for the purpose to research conceptual bases and admissible scenarios of its formation and development are substantiated. The differential dynamic The urgency of the problem of ecologization of the economy and of other spheres of human life is revealed. This problem is one of the most acute and priority problems of the modern world, as the consequences of negative anthropogenic impact on the environment are environmental crises of regional and global scale, including climate change, which threatens not only socio-economic development of human civilization but also its existence. In this regard, not only the greening of the economy is relevant, but also the greening of consumption, education, culture, upbringing, and so on. The research of the stated and many other issues related to the greening of human activities requires the use of many scientific tools. The multifaceted nature of the object and subject of research is analyzed, which actually leads to the use of a set of conceptual, methodological and methodological approaches. The efficiency of the modeling method and the necessity of constructing the ecological economy models for the purpose to research conceptual bases and admissible scenarios of its formation and development are substantiated. The differential dynamic The urgency of the problem of ecologization of the economy and of other spheres of human life is revealed. This problem is one of the most acute and priority problems of the modern world, as the consequences of negative anthropogenic impact on the environment are environmental crises of regional and global scale, including climate change, which threatens not only socio-economic development of human civilization but also its existence. In this regard, not only the greening of the economy is relevant, but also the greening of consumption, education, culture, upbringing, and so on. The research of the stated and many other issues related to the greening of human activities requires the use of many scientific tools. The multifaceted nature of the object and subject of research is analyzed, which actually leads to the use of a set of conceptual, methodological and methodological approaches. The efficiency of the modeling method and the necessity of constructing the ecological economy models for the purpose to research conceptual bases and admissible scenarios of its formation and development are substantiated. The differential dynamic model of a two-sector economy in the conditions of greening of production and consumption processes has been developed, in which one sector is engaged in the production of the main aggregate product, and the other – in utilization of environmentally hazardous production and consumption residues. A specific feature of the model is also taking into account the socio-economic clustering of society, which allows in a sense to reflect both environmental, economic and social aspects of the economy uder the study. Spatial variables of the model are liquid savings or liquid capital of production owners and workers in each sector, the price of the main aggregate product, the tariff for waste disposal, the amount of environmental pollution. The proposed model serves as a theoretical basis for building models of ecological and economic dynamics and the basis for some of its modifications, taking into account the specifics of behavioral functions and parameters, and is designed for experimental research in computer simulation of major trends and features of real ecological and economic systems. The results of such a study with models of this class also provide an opportunity to analyze acceptable environmental standards of production and consumption, test and improve the relevant information support, detail the fundamentally important requirements for the functions and parameters used in formalizing the model and ultimately create a valuable information base for systems support of management decisions on forecasting and implementation of ecological and economic processes.

Peningkatan sadar lingkungan melalui penghematan sampah plastik

Plastic waste is difficult to decompose, so it causes environmental problems. The amount of environmental pollution by plastic waste in Indonesia is due to the lack of balance between the volume of waste and its handling efforts. The increasing volume of plastic waste has an impact on the severity of waste processing in Integrated Waste Disposal Sites. The community service team in collaboration with Mulyoagung Village Head held a community service program to change people's habits from passive about waste to active through waste saving education. There are three activities in this program, namely educate the public to reduce household waste especially plastic, carry out a campaign to save plastic waste by making and installing posters or billboards in strategic places, and encourage the Mulyoagung Village apparatus to initiate the use of tumbler. The result of this activity is the high participation of the community as seen from attendance of participants and enthusiasm of participants to ask questions, installation of posters and billboards, also used of tumblers to village office every day. To make this activity can be continuity and sustainable, the community service team will do community service program in the same place with the theme of environmental problems.

Environmental problems of animal husbandry development

The article is devoted to the ecological problem of animal husbandry development. The special role of animal husbandry in environmental pollution has been noted in the article. Large livestock complexes and poultry farms under modern conditions are represented by manure, droppings and other emissions as the most harmful pollutants of the environment. More than 45 types of pollutants are released into the environment from livestock farms, complexes and poultry farms. Atmospheric air is polluted by microorganisms, dust, ammonia and other animal waste products, which often have unpleasant odors in the area of livestock farms, complexes and poultry farms. Especially from pig farms unpleasant odors can spread at a distance of up to 10 km. With the increase in water consumption for animal husbandry, the discharge of manure-containing wastewater into water bodies also increases, which leads to their contamination and loss of useful properties. In Russia the amount of wastewater from livestock farms ranges from 250 to 3000 tons per day or from 90 thousand tons up to 1 million tons per year. Every day about 200 tons of manure is accumulated on the cattle feed site, where 10 thousand heads of cattle are kept. An equal amount of environmental pollution can be produced only by the pig-breeding complex per 100 thousand heads or the complex of cattle for 35 thousand heads, in comparison with the volume produced by a large industrial center with a population of 400–500 thousand people. In order to improve the situation the authors have recommend the use of a number of methods of biological disposal of agricultural waste.

Monitoring of Carcinogenic Environmental Pollutants in Women’s Breast Milk

Introduction In recent years, the amount of environmental pollutants has increased in all industrialized countries. The majority of these pollutants in food originate from precipitated particulate materials. The first report on the presence of the toxic chemical; dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (

Dinamika Peran Civil Society dalam Ruang Publik: Studi Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (Walhi) Lampung

This study aims to determine and analyze how the role of civil society as a non-State actor and publik sphere in environmental governance in Bandarlampung. This research is motivated by the amount of environmental pollution and the inportance of the role of a civil society. This study focuses on 4 main issues concerning the role of civil society thich are of concern to researchers namely the collection and dissemination of information about the environment, assessment and monitoring of the environment; advocacy for environmental justice and the community has full rights to every public activity. The result of this study are the implementation of the role of civil society going well but there are several indicators that are not optimal in carryng out their role to cooperate with the community in maintaining environmental conditions. The researcher’s suggestion for the role of civil society as a non-State actor and public sphere in environmental governance is that it is often best to conduct socialization and discussion related to environmental issues with the community and increase public access through community empowerment so that the community will be more active and aware of their environmental potential.

Endophyte-assisted phytoremediation of Organic pollutants

Rapid industrialization and urbanization have generated huge amount of environmental pollution. Especially, synthetic organic chemicals have been a serious international problem for over half a century due to their toxic and hazardous chemicals. Eco-friendly strategies for removing the chemicals from the soil and water are becoming a top priority around the world and biological treatment such as phytoremediation and bioremediation is less expensive and more sustainable than other conventional remediation techniques. Recently, many pollutant diminishing microbial endophytes have been discovered from various plants grown in contaminated area and the function of microbes to improve phytoremediation of organic pollutants has been reported. Thus, we classify synthetic organic pollutants into groups of similar compounds and discuss the contribution of endophytes to enhance phytoremediation.

Cerium oxide nano additive impact of VCR diesel engine characteristics by using Ginger grass oil blended with diesel

Diesel driven engines are the driving force behind industrialisation and commercial transportation till date. A world without diesel fuel would be a very difficult place to live in. The alarming depletion of this fuel resource, its ever increasing price and the amount of environmental pollution caused by its products of combustion has opened up wide opportunities for the search for an alternative fuel resource. Researchers have been exploring the idea of evaluating different plant and vegetable oils as a replacement of diesel for some time now. Based on this, an attempt has been made to investigate Ginger grass oil as a substitute for diesel fuel without making any modifications to the engine structure. The experiment was conducted on a 1500 rpm, four stroke, single cylinder, diesel engine. Cerium oxide nano-additive was added to the blends of Ginger grass oil with diesel and its effects on the Efficiency, and Exhaust Emissions were examined. The experiment yielded better values of Brake Thermal Efficiency and low Specific Fuel Consumption with B10 and B20 samples, while the B40 blend showed lower NOx emissions at all loads. The HC content was found to increase with the increasing quantity of Ginger grass oil in the blends.

Decrease in CO2 emission per capita as a result of the reduction in power grid losses in Iran

ABSTRACTIn power grids, a significant amount of the generated power in power plants is wasted in the grid between power plants and consumers. The amount depends on different factors. With regard to the vital role of electricity in economic and social development alongside with high investment costs in electricity generation, transmission and distribution, practical solutions for decreasing grid losses and enhancing the efficiency of existing facilities are crucial. Due to the global environmental situation and significant effects of energy consumption on the environment, the general trend is towards the deployment of methods which are more efficient and less fuel consuming. In addition, more implementation of monitoring and controlling equipment and instalment of more efficient equipment in electricity transmission and distribution sectors reveal the effort towards the reduction of pollutants. These facts reveal the importance of this issue amongst authorities in the power industry. In this research through the assessment of power grid losses and studying different types of power plants in Iran, the amount of electricity generation and grid loss are studied. In addition, the impact of different power plants on the amount of environmental pollutants especially CO2 is presented. Also, some solutions to reduce CO2 emission are provided.

Lead Contamination and Source Characterization in Soils Around a Lead–Zinc Smelting Plant in a Near-Urban Environment in Baoji, China

Economic reforms in China since 1978 have promoted nationwide socioeconomic advancement but led to a considerable amount of environmental pollution. The distribution and sources of Pb in a typical peri-urban industrial part of Baoji, China, were assessed by determining the Pb contents and isotopic compositions in 52 topsoil samples from the study area. The topsoil samples were polluted averagely with 40.88mg Pb kg-1, was 1.86 times higher than the Pb content of local background soil (22.04mg kg-1). Pb isotopic compositions were determined by analyzing samples prepared using total digestion and acid extraction methods. Radiogenic isotopes contributed more to the Pb concentrations in the acid extracts than in the total digests. This was shown by the 207/206Pb and 208/206Pb ratios, which were 0.845-0.88 and 2.088-2.128, respectively, in the acid extracts and 0.841-0.875 and 2.086-2.125, respectively, in the total digests. This indicates that anthropogenic sources of Pb could be identified more sensitively in acid extracts than in total digests. The Pb isotope ratios showed that burning coal and smelting ore are the predominant anthropogenic sources of Pb in the study area, i.e., a lead-zinc smelter and a coking plant are major sources of Pb in the study area.

A PROPOSED MODEL FOR MEASURING COST AND BENEFIT IN WATER INSTITUTIONS TO EVALUATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AN APPLIED STUDY ON TOSHKA PROJECT

The environment kept its miraculous balance due to God's power till man, intentionally or non-intentionally, started to corrupt God's creation. This led to a huge problem, namely damaging the environment. Hence, the researcher decided to study and analyze costs, environmental returns of water industrial facilities of Toshka project of agricultural expansion under the title A proposed Model to Measure Cost & Return in Water Facilities with the aim of Assessing Environmental Performance- Applied Study on Toshka Project . This is due to the importance quality of accounting information for decision-making and conducting a research study of the opinions of a sample of those responsible for industrial facilities of Toshka Project. For the theoretical part of the studyk, light was shed on care of these facilities of environmental issues and nature of environmental costs borne by these facilities. The researcher also examined concept and nature of environmental costs and means of approaching them. As for the applied part, it is the research study and building a measurement model of cost & return. Through a questionnaire form distributed on those working at industrial facilities at Toshka Project, results and recommendations to achieve goals of the research were attained, the most important of which are: Firstly, Results: There is no moral relationship of statistically significance between rationalizing costs in water facilities and the results of the environmental performance of these facilities. There is no moral- relationship of statistically significance between cost rationalization, revenue of water facilities & the amount of environmental pollution. There is no moral relationship of statistically significance among the results of suggested model for measuring the cost & revenue of water facilities & rationalizing environmental performance of Toshka Project. Secondly: Recommendations: Paying attention to laying out qualified cadres in the accountant units & operational ones related to environment. Activating the laws that make the facilities conform to their responsibilities towards the environment & paying attention to research & study for indicating the role of environmental legislations & their effects on environmental costs. Paying attention to evaluation as a tool for improving the facilities performance periodically as well as research and study of accountancy information in evaluating environmental performance .

Investigating the Histological effects of industrial and oil pollutant dust in the air of Assaluyeh, on the pancreas and ovary

Today air pollution as a very important issue nationally and internationally known. The annual air pollution leads to disease and death of thousands of people around the world. Although some countries take measures in order to minimize the amount of environmental pollutants, but there are still an increase in morbidity and mortality caused by air pollution. Scientific findings have shown a wide range of air pollution effects on the. Air pollution can have devastating effects on children's health, this article tries to explore the effects of oil contamination and pollutants in the air of Assaluyeh on pancreas and ovary of maternal and neonatal rats.

基于系统动力学的重庆三峡库区生态安全情景模拟及指标阈值确定

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于系统动力学的重庆三峡库区生态安全情景模拟及指标阈值确定 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201311122717 作者: 作者单位: 重庆交通大学 河海学院,重庆交通大学 河海学院,重庆师范大学 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家青年科学基金项目(41201546); 重庆市自然科学基金(csts2012jjA20010); 国家"十二五"科技支撑计划项目(2012BAJ25B09, 2011BAC02B02); 国家自然科学基金(41261038) Scenarios simulation and indices thresholds determination of ecological security in three gorges reservoir based on system dynamics Author: Affiliation: Chongqing Jiaotong University,Chongqing Jiaotong University, Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:根据重庆三峡库区生态系统的特征,建立了经济子系统、人口子系统和环境子系统的系统动力学模型,并在此基础上确定了其模型的主要参数和反馈关系,通过历史值与仿真值的对比进行了检验。选择了可持续发展型、资源衰竭型和自然状态型3种情景进行模拟最终确定其生态安全的指标阈值,并将其确定的阈值应用于生态安全评价指标,得出重庆三峡库区生态安全指标的综合得分,由此看出库区生态安全呈逐年递增的趋势,但仍然处于较为敏感的时期,需要相关部门的配合,从而最终实现库区的可持续发展。 Abstract:Ecological security is an interdisciplinary of natural science and social science. There is still no an internationally accepted definition of ecological security at present. In this paper, ecological security model of Three Gorges Reservoir in Chongqing was established using system dynamics. Firstly, according to special geographical features of Three Gorges reservoir, an improved DPSIR model, which involves all aspects of society, economy and environment, was applied to establish an evaluation index system of ecological security. AHP method with objective and subjective combination characteristics was selected to endow these indices weight. Secondly, based on the ecosystem characteristics of Three Gorges reservoir, a system dynamics model containing economy, population, and environmental subsystems was developed. The model was set up using specialized software VensimPLE and data from "Chongqing Statistical Yearbook 2001-2007" for population, GDP, and the amount of environmental pollution. Main parameters and their mutual feedback relationships in the model were determined. GDP, the total population, the amount of environmental pollution were selected as the main variables; grain output ratio, forest coverage rate, soil erosion rates and other indicators were selected as the important factor parameters; the area of soil erosion, Net-GDP, pollution treatment rate were selected as the evaluation factors. Meanwhile, historical and simulated values were compared to verify this model. The comparison of results from calibration and observation shows that the model corresponds to observed behaviors, and the simulated values fit well with the observed data and changing trends. Moreover, 3 scenarios named sustainable development, resource exhaustion, and natural state were designed to simulate future change of ecological security. The simulation runs demonstrate that the sustainable development model accords with the patterns of social development. The ecological security levels of natural state model and resource exhaustion model in Chongqing Three Gorges Reservoir are very worrying, since economic losses and environmental impact are severe. But the ecological security level of sustainable development model is relatively good. Net-GDP shows a clear upward trend; the amount of environmental pollution is small. Thirdly, according to the simulation results, ecological security thresholds were got. The thresholds can basically represent the main features of Three Gorges Reservoir's ecological security before 2050. The verification results can be got with the observation of "Net GDP-GDP" values. The overall verification results are appropriate. Then, the status quo of ecological security indicators (2007) was standardized using the determined thresholds. It turns out that the existing 11 indicators are uneven and the overall level is not high. These thresholds were applied into the assessment indices of ecological security for obtaining the comprehensive score of ecological security from 2001 to 2007. The results illustrate that the ecological security in the reservoir area has been emerging an increasing trend, but still in a relatively sensitive period. Consequently, to achieve the sustainable development of the reservoir area requires the cooperation of relevant departments. Finally, on the basis of system dynamics model, the paper determined ecological security index thresholds. Within the range of thresholds, the ecological security can effectively achieve its sustainable development. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Energy utilization, environmental quality and sustainable economic development: Evidence from Shandong Province in China

Abstract Nowadays, sustainable economic development is the key issue in the world. In this paper, we take Shandong Province as an example to analyze the relationship between energy use, environmental quality and economic development. Through the study, we find that the correlation between nominal income per capita and environmental quality can be shown in Kuznets inverted U-shaped curve. After 2020, with per capita income increasing, total amount of environmental pollutants will decline slowly; The relationship between per capita income and discharge amount of sulfur dioxide is consistent with EKC theory and is shown in inverted U-shaped curve, but the per capita income has no similar pattern with the other three environmental indicators; Although efficiency of energy utilization in Shandong Province increased steadily in recent years, but the rapid economic growth heavily depends on natural resources, and extensive mode of economic growth remains. Irrational industrial structure is the main cause for structural unbalance of energy consumption and environmental degradation in Shandong Province. It is argued that readjusting industrial structure and improving environment system of environmental pollution are the primary issuesin the reform.

Generation planning in Iranian power plants with fuzzy hierarchical production planning

The Power Plants Generation Planning (PPGP) usually encountered complicated problems. In this paper, a new hierarchical approach is applied for generation planning in power plants. In hierarchical approach, the main integrated problem is separated into some sub problems which could be easily solved by multi level models. Higher level models include organization total strategy and lower level models is concerned with detailed accurate planning. When models are broken down into several levels, the solutions of higher level could be considered as inputs for the lower levels. In the proposed structure, amount of future demand is predicted to specify time periods in first level. In the second level, amount of demand for each aggregate period is allocated to different aggregate methods of electricity generation like; steam, gas, combined cycle and hydro power plants in Iran by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Aggregate Production Planning (FAPP). This allocation is carried out according to two criteria of “share of total electricity generated by each type of generation” and “amount of environmental pollution”. AHP and Fuzzy Disaggregate Production Planning (FDAPP) are applied to determine best utilizing power plants for generation in the final level. The proposed Fuzzy Hierarchical Production Planning (FHPP) outputs express optimal combination of power plants which contribute for demand satisfaction.

The pressure membrane techniques as BAT in dairy industry

Progress of industrial development since years has been causing problems with increasing amount of environmental pollution as well as the levels of sources and energy consumption. Finally the environmental problems where considered as the prior value in the European Union (EU) law regulations. In 1996, common rules for permitting and controlling industrial installations were adopted by the European Council as the Integrated pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive. In essence, the IPPC Directive is about minimizing pollution from various industrial sources. According to the Annex I of the IPPC Directive operators of industrial installations are required to obtain an environmental permit. The conditions of the authorisation are mainly based on Best Available Techniques (BAT), the second principle of the IPPC Directive. The main environmental impacts related to the dairy industry are: the high consumption of water and energy, the discharge of effluent with a high organic load like whey in the waste...

Solutions to Health Care Waste: Life-Cycle Thinking and "Green" Purchasing

Health care waste treatment is linked to bioaccumulative toxic substances, such as mercury and dioxins, which suggests the need for a new approach to product selection. To address environmental issues proactively, all stages of the product life cycle should be considered during material selection. The purchasing mechanism is a promising channel for action that can be used to promote the use of environmentally preferable products in the health care industry; health care facilities can improve environmental performance and still decrease costs. Tools that focus on environmentally preferable purchasing are now emerging for the health care industry. These tools can help hospitals select products that create the least amount of environmental pollution. Environmental performance should be incorporated into the evolving definition of quality for health care.

Solutions to health care waste: life-cycle thinking and "green" purchasing.

Health care waste treatment is linked to bioaccumulative toxic substances, such as mercury and dioxins, which suggests the need for a new approach to product selection. To address environmental issues proactively, all stages of the product life cycle should be considered during material selection. The purchasing mechanism is a promising channel for action that can be used to promote the use of environmentally preferable products in the health care industry; health care facilities can improve environmental performance and still decrease costs. Tools that focus on environmentally preferable purchasing are now emerging for the health care industry. These tools can help hospitals select products that create the least amount of environmental pollution. Environmental performance should be incorporated into the evolving definition of quality for health care.