Carbon

Conrail officials have said that carbon buildup in the exhaust system of a train engine caused a fire that burned a mile-long strip through Charlestown Township April 26. About 200 volunteer firefighters from 33 companies in Chester and Montgomery Counties fought the fire, which was the largest recorded in the rural township. "We will make every effort to reimburse costs, if reasonable," said Minor Johnson, a member of the rail company's office of state and local affairs. Conrail had not received any claims for damages or requests for reimbursement.

From the vantage point of a typical angler fishing from the banks of the White Clay Creek, it is hard to believe that six million cubic meters of water courses through the stream each year. And within that volume of water, about 20 tons of organic carbon is also moving downstream, sometimes in forms so minuscule they are invisible to the naked eye. Not to worry. Organic carbon is a good thing. It is the lifeblood of streams, feeding the plants, insects and organisms whose diversity is a measure of stream health.

Do arsenic-tolerant bacteria redefine life, as some recent headlines pronounced? And why are people saying the finding increases the odds of finding aliens? After a much-ballyhooed NASA news conference Thursday, a number of biologists were also scratching their heads. NASA fellow Felisa Wolfe-Simon and colleagues found some microbes living at the bottom of California's Mono Lake, which has a high level of arsenic. The scientists took the microbes out of the lake and infused them with more arsenic.

Taken together, the world's forests - the humid tropical realms, the productive trees of the temperate zones, and the boreal expanses of the north - make up a third of the landmass of the planet. As such, they command a great deal of respect among scientists and others. But a paper recently published by two Newtown Square foresters and an international cadre of colleagues has upped the cache of forests considerably. The group found that the forests sock away far more of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, than anyone thought.

The president of a Westampton-based manufacturing company said yesterday that the firm received approval from both British and United States authorities before selling the Soviet Union custom-built furnaces that could help make materials for nuclear missiles. Raymond Roberts, president of Consarc Corp., which has offices in Rancocas and Scotland, said in an interview that the company did not know that the furnaces could be modified to make carbon-carbon, a light, durable material that can be used to make missiles fly more accurately.

Fifteen people attending a party at a community center in West Oak Lane were stricken by carbon monoxide poisoning and rushed to Albert Einstein Medical Center last night, a hospital spokesman said. About 75 people, mostly children, were at the H&H Community Development Center in the 2000 block of East Haines Street when fumes from a generator used to inflate a moon bounce amusement made several people dizzy and sick. The fire rescue squad was summoned at about 8:30 p.m. and sped the victims to Einstein.

From 1990 to 2000, a venerable British manufacturer participated in a global conspiracy to fix the price of tiny but vital carbon products used in trains operated by PATCO, SEPTA and other subway systems. When federal prosecutors in Philadelphia issued subpoenas to the company's U.S. subsidiary in 1999, top executives in England acted swiftly. They ordered incriminating documents destroyed. They encouraged conspirators at another company to lie to a federal grand jury in Philadelphia.

Books for Cooks This print, by Jane Mount, is part of her Ideal Bookshelf series. With the French Laundry, Chez Panisse, and Frank Stitt's Southern Table cookbooks featured, we couldn't agree more. Ideal Bookshelf 6, GW, 11 by 14 inches, $50; 16 by 20 inches, $200 at www.20x200.com . - Ashley Primis Nicer Slicer Kuhn Rikon's new watermelon knife has a Japanese carbon steel blade with cutouts that look like watermelon seeds but, along with the knife's nonstick coating, help prevent sticking.

The red Ford pickup was barrelling down New Falls Road, burning about a gallon of gas every 15 miles and spewing a mix of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. With his left hand, Paul Hutter flipped a small switch under the steering column. There was no change in the engine noise, no drop in power, but under the hood, the engine stopped burning gasoline, and a valve started shooting compressed natural gas into a combustion chamber. "We haven't lost any power at all, and we are emitting 30 percent less carbon into the atmosphere," Hutter said.

Even after Mary Mulderrig had weatherized her home, upgraded her heater, and switched her lightbulbs, she still didn't think she was doing enough. She decided to go the next step and buy "carbon offsets" that would, in effect, allow her to invest in antipollution projects to counterbalance what she produces - a lot of it just by driving around. There are plenty of options. But are they good ones? For $99.80, one company promises to offset the carbon produced annually by the typical Pennsylvania home by burning methane from cow manure to make electricity.

If you're driving your SUV to the farmer's market to buy local asparagus — and thinking you're making a difference for the planet — not so fast. You're focused on a detail and ignoring the gas-hogging elephant in the room. Likewise, if you're badgering your kids to turn out the lights and the bulbs are still incandescent, you could make more progress — and probably add harmony to your household — if you replaced those old energy-sucking bulbs with efficient ones. As the authors of a new book point out, you'd have to leave the old bulbs off three out of four days to get energy savings comparable to that of CFL or LED bulbs.

Taxing power plants for their carbon emissions doesn't kill jobs, it creates them, according to a report issued Wednesday by a New Jersey environmental policy group. New Jersey's participation in a regional effort to decrease greenhouse-gas emissions brought the state $151 million in economic benefits, including nearly 1,800 jobs, over three years, according to the study issued by Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center. The nonprofit group urged Gov. Christie to support a bill that would have the state rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

Four children were hospitalized for evaluation this morning after firefighters found above normal levels of carbon monoxide in a North Philadelphia rowhouse. Engine 45 responded to a possible gas lead at a home on the 3000 block of North 24th Street around 6 a.m. and measured carbon monoxide levels of 60 ppm. Normal levels are 0 to 5 ppm, according to health officials. It is not clear if the children showed signs of carbon monoxide poisoning but they were taken to St. Christopher's Hospital for evaluation, officials said.

At least five people have been hospitalized following a carbon monoxide leak in the boiler room of a Main Line apartment complex. There is not word yet in their conditions. Officials said the victims - including two children, according to one resident - were taken to Lankenau Hospital and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. One victim was the building's superintendent, said the resident, Stephanie Bell. Tenants of the Marks and Co. Apartment complex at the intersection of Conshohocken State and Llanberris Roads also were evacuated after the carbon monoxide leak.

A woman and her dog died Friday of carbon monoxide poisoning in an Abington Township home, police said. Police and fire personnel responded to the home shortly before 1 p.m. after someone called to report fumes. The investigation revealed that the woman apparently left her car running inside a closed garage. She and the dog were found unresponsive and later pronounced dead. The woman's name was not released. The police investigation is continuing. - AP

Carbon Dance Theatre made its Philadelphia debut Thursday evening at the Performance Garage with Swan Songs , a serious contemporary ballet program that uses the final songs written by classical and contemporary artists just before their deaths. Carbon's founding artistic director, Meredith Rainey, invited Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, a master character developer and choreographer, "to take the edge off" in the pauses between the four works. In this program, he is Jeremiah, a seriously funny MC who reads poems (some his)

Hurricane Irene's death toll increased by two Wednesday after Maine officials released the names of an elderly Lafayette Hill couple who died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning from an emergency generator at their summer home at Sebago Lake. Lewis S. Somers III, 85, and his wife, Elizabeth, 84, of Foxhound Drive, were discovered Tuesday inside their house in Raymond, where a propane generator in the basement was running because the storm that roared through Maine on Sunday knocked out electricity for more than 48 hours on their lakeside cove.

Taken together, the world's forests - the humid tropical realms, the productive trees of the temperate zones, and the boreal expanses of the north - make up a third of the landmass of the planet. As such, they command a great deal of respect among scientists and others. But a paper recently published by two Newtown Square foresters and an international cadre of colleagues has upped the cache of forests considerably. The group found that the forests sock away far more of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, than anyone thought.