|
Posted by Pinky Bean
on July 4, 2008 6:21 AM
|
Filed Under: Life, Recreation |
Not to rain on anyone's fourth of July parade, however those fireworks you'll be admiring later tonight are unfortunately full of toxic chemicals that are bad news for the environment.
"The problem is, what goes up must come down sometime," said Georg Steinhauser, a licensed pyrotechnician and a chemist at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. "If you shoot something in the sky, that stuff can't just disappear."
Steinhauser is working with a team to develop more environmentally-friendly fireworks using high-nitrogen energetic compounds. The comm fireworks currently used in most celebrations are a made from a combination of metal coloring agents, binders and gunpowder, which release chemicals and toxins into the air such as heavy metals, particulates, carbon monoxide and sulfur oxides. The pollutants have been blamed for health problems such as asthma attacks, however the barium can cause problems for the heart, lungs and other organs, while perchlorates can mess with the thyroid gland.
Steinhauser's new high-nitrogen fireworks would eliminate the need for perchlorates by providing fuel, oxidizer and propeller capabilities all in one. The high nitrogen content produces minimal smoke and ask as well - far less than current fireworks. While some agree that there may be ways to produce fireworks while having less impact on the earth, they list cost as a concern. Steinhauser believes in the end, the green options are probably worth it because the benefits far outweigh the costs.
"If you take all the costs into account, including the costs of remedying the pollution, you could say that traditional (fireworks) might be more expensive in the long run. So, at the end of the day, it might be less expensive to use the nitrogen-rich ones."
» Milwaukee Journal Sentinel