The ISO has announced that June 15 will be the launch date for ISO 50001, the new international standard for energy management, Edie.net reports. The standard was initially scheduled to debut early this year, before the launch date was rescheduled for the autumn, Edie.net says. Now, ISO 50001 will start considerably earlier, which appears to have taken many by surprise. "The timescale is much shorter than was originally anticipated,” said Martin Fry, chairman of the Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA)."These are good developments - I'd rather that than long delays - but it does mean more meeting to sort out the finer points.”
Cadmium will be banned in all plastics as well as in jewelry and brazing sticks under Europe’s REACH regulations, from December. The EU said that high levels of the carcinogenic substance have been found in some articles, especially imported imitation jewelry worn by children. The ban will apply to all types of jewelry except antiques, to all plastics, and to brazing sticks, which are used to join dissimilar materials. An exception will be made for brazing materials used in very specific professional uses, the EU said. The latest regulations allow the re-use of of recovered PVC containing low levels of cadmium in a limited number of construction products, which will be marketed with a specific logo. The EU said that the European PVC industry has already decided to phase out cadmium from all PVC as part of a program called “Vinyl 2010”. The use of cadmium in batteries and electronics has been restricted since 2004, the EU said. The new ban will be listed in Annex XVII of the REACH Regulation (Regulation No. 1907/2006 for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has exempted a California natural gas power plant from air quality standards, the Sacramento Bee reports. The permit authorizes Avenal Power Center, LLC to build and operate the 600 MW plant about 70 miles south of Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley. The plant won’t have to adhere to 2009 regulations on nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, the Bee says, and the EPA says that ten to 20 other major industrial projects could also be “grandfathered in”.
The Council of the European Union has maintained an exception for solar photovoltaics in revisions to the Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS), SolarServer reports. The ruling means that cadmium telluride PV modules, such as those made by Arizona-based First Solar, can continue to be sold in Europe.
