Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Moderator David@stives on November 21, 2008, 11:52:24 am
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Grimy windows share dirty little secret
Monday, 14 May 2007 Anna Salleh
ABCKeeping your windows clean may have an added benefit, researchers say (Image: iStockphoto) (Source: iStockphoto)Related Stories
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Dirty windows may worsen smog, according to Canadian chemists who say urban grime may help recycle nitrogen oxides into the air.
Susannah Handley and team from the University of Toronto report their findings online ahead of print in the journal Environment Science and Technology.
Window grime contains inactive nitrogen compounds that have been deposited from air pollution, say the researchers, as well as an oily mixture of organic compounds, including bird poo.
The researchers did a study suggesting that the nitrogen compounds in this grime can covert back into pollution-generating nitric oxides in the presence of sunlight.
"As far as I know no one's done that [study] before," says Ian Galbally, an Australian atmospheric chemist at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, commenting on the research.
"They find that there is significant recycling of the nitric oxides."
Motor vehicles and power plants produce nitric oxide and nitric dioxide, which help produce ozone, the main component of photochemical smog.
In the course of this reaction, these nitric oxides are converted to nitric acid and nitrates, which are no longer active, in terms of producing ozone.
Galbally says these can be blown away by wind or washed away by rain. Or they can settle on various surfaces.
If they settle on natural surfaces like plants or soils, they are absorbed or eaten by microbes, he says.
But if they settle on non-porous surfaces like windows they will stay there, caught in the grime, waiting to be recycled.
Galbally says we still don't know how important this recycling process is in contributing to urban pollution.
While the study suggests two-thirds of the nitrogen compounds landing on windows are recycled into nitric oxides, he says the seriousness of the issue will depend on how much of them land on windows in the first place.
Galbally says while planting more trees in cities helps absorb nitrogen, trees can also emit volatile organic compounds, which contribute to air pollution.
He says if nitrogenous fertilisers are used on trees, this can also cause the release of nitric oxide from the soil
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i'm going to print that off and put it in my leaflets ::) ::) ::) as i'm sure my customers will read and digest it all
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Dave I think you have had too much time on your hands today & spent way too much time surfin the web !! :)
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I am going on a course next week to learn about going green, maybe this could be part of the green issue
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I am going on a course next week to learn about going green, maybe this could be part of the green issue
dont need a course for going green mate
ten pints of stella and a bottle of vodka will do that for you :D ;)
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I am going on a course next week to learn about going green, maybe this could be part of the green issue
DMSL - In brief what did your original post mean?
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In Brief, I am going on a one day seminar to see what it takes to give my business green credentials.
I know wfp can be a bit ungreen due to the weight of the water etc, but it is the green aspect of how you run your business that is important, ie recycling etc, using green products, ie Ecover, pure water ?.
Just exploring another business direction.
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In Brief, I am going on a one day seminar to see what it takes to give my business green credentials.
I know wfp can be a bit ungreen due to the weight of the water etc, but it is the green aspect of how you run your business that is important, ie recycling etc, using green products, ie Ecover, pure water ?.
Just exploring another business direction.
Surely WFP is the most "UN-Green" system for window cleaning... if using any kind of RO!
The amount of "Waste" water produced, is anything but green! >:(
I use Rain-water harvesting to to make my pure water... That in my opinion is green!
100% no waste... I also only transport the amount of water I need each day!
1000's of liters of water are poured down the drain every day due to RO's... Disgusting! >:( :o ::)
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I know exactly what you are saying wfp itself isnt green,
but
My company can be green , i can recycle, i can use recycled, i can use timers and trn off pc's etc when they are not in use.
I can use inviro products, ecover etc
I dont think any companies products are truly green , even the company who makes ecover, yes they make a green product, but they need big trucks and lots of plastic, its the way you manage the excesses of polution which is important to be seen as green.
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;)
I know exactly what you are saying wfp itself isnt green,
but
My company can be green , i can recycle, i can use recycled, i can use timers and trn off pc's etc when they are not in use.
I can use inviro products, ecover etc
I dont think any companies products are truly green , even the company who makes ecover, yes they make a green product, but they need big trucks and lots of plastic, its the way you manage the excesses of polution which is important to be seen as green.
;) Good points!
I always thought that "Green" companies should all adopt the Tesco's slogan...
"Every little helps" ;)