Consumer

"While sales of both heat pumps and gas furnaces were down in 2023, heat pumps are proving more popular than ever."

"Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new report."

"Wearing a lab coat, Eve Vitale asked a chemistry class at Warren Mott High School if anyone had heard anything bad about plastics. Hands shot up. It doesn’t degrade, said one student. It hurts the environment, said another. But “that’s not really the plastic’s fault,” said Vitale, chief executive of the Society of Plastics Engineers Foundation, a group of industry professionals. “That’s the fault of humanity.”"

"After a year of record-breaking air pollution from wildfire smoke, real estate brokerage Redfin has begun publishing air quality data in its home listings. Now, buyers can see how many days a year on average a particular area will experience poor air quality, and whether that number is projected to increase over time."

"As states across the country roll back how much they pay rooftop-solar owners for the surplus electricity they send back to the grid, Puerto Rico is bucking the trend, protecting its generous solar credits until at least the end of the decade."

"Attorneys general from 13 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen a proposal that seeks to limit Americans’ exposure to lead service lines."

"New testing finds evidence of “forever chemicals” in two types of condoms and one lubricant. The good news? The vast majority appear PFAS-free."

"In April, a dozen years after a federal agency classified formaldehyde a human carcinogen, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is tentatively scheduled to unveil a proposal to consider banning the chemical in hair-straightening products."

"They vowed to fix water woes and save cities millions. But a Times investigation found the deals racked up debt and left many worse off than before."