Environment Protection Department (EPD) Punjab issued notices to 110 polluter industrial units on Friday.

EPD sources said that six squads were constituted last week in view of increasing cases of environmental pollution which was causing health hazards.

The sources said industries were issued an environmental approval with certain conditions to enure that there was no negative impact on the environment and National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) were followed strictly.

NEW DELHI: The e-waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011 will come into effect from Tuesday. The rules were notified in May 2011 and aim at reduction in the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment by specifying threshold for use of hazardous material including lead, mercury and cadmium.

These rules were notified in advance to give the various stakeholders adequate time to prepare themselves and also to put in place the required infrastructure.

The United States lead recycling industry will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with tightening environmental rules but the pressure of rising costs eventually may force some output cuts or closures, according to industry experts.

Some firms in the U.S., particularly those without well-established collection systems for old batteries, may struggle long term as new domestic lead smelter capacity comes on line, increasing competition for an already limited pool of the feed.

Lead emission from factories and the natural environment in China's manufacturing heart of Guangdong has poisoned 160 children, Xinhua said on Sunday in the country's latest case of unfettered industrial toxins.

Children from Dongtang town in Renhua country were found to have "elevated" levels of lead in their blood after inhaling lead-contaminated air and eating food tainted with lead, Xinhua said.

Th e natural level of lead in Dongtang is also higher than usual as the town sits on a lead-zinc ore belt which raises the lead content in the soil, Xinhua said.

Contrasting lessons from Germany's 20-year pursuit of solar and wind power shows how other countries might create industrial champions to develop new energy technologies.

A long-term, global energy recipe for climate change and security may be emerging, as countries plan broadly to shift to gas from coal, to electricity and biofuels from oil, and add more or less of nuclear, renewable energy and, in the future, carbon capture and storage (CCS).

One of the primary concerns with owning an electric vehicle is cost of the battery, the range it offers, and the time it takes to recharge. Those concerns will be significantly lessoned with the development of a new lithium-ion battery. Designed by scientists at Envia Systems, a US-based company, the new battery has roughly twice the energy density of existing rechargeable batteries. Such an innovation could greatly increase the range of electric cars as well as cut the price of the battery packs in half.

Vehicles criss-crossing Delhi to reach destinations in other States are adding to pollution as well as congestion in the capital, the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dixit, has said.

Addressing a seminar on ‘Air Pollution Control Strategies' on Tuesday, Ms Dixit said electronic display boards flashing information on air pollution should be placed at various locations in the city, including her own residence to spread awareness about its rising hazards.

A China battery unit of Johnson Controls was ordered to halt production by the government after the plant was linked to incidents of lead contamination in Shanghai that had sickened some children.

Shanghai Johnson Controls International Battery Co came under the spotlight after children in the Kangqiao area of Shanghai were found to have ultra-high levels of lead in their blood during medical checks.

Shanghai authorities for the first time directly linked lead pollution that they said had sickened local children to emissions from a battery plant owned by Johnson Controls Inc., putting a further cloud over a facility that is already likely to be closed longer than initially expected.