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Earth-friendly grenades proposed
Dec. 5,
2005
Courtesy Society of Chemical Industry
and World Science staff
Grenades aren’t made for kindness. They exist to kill.
But a group of scientists suggests the little throwable bombs could be
designed so that they at least go easy on the environment while wiping out its human inhabitants.
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Courtesy U.S. Department of Defense
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The “greener grenades” concept stems from a study of the environmental impact of grenades conducted by
researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
The scientists, Elisabeth Hochschorner and colleagues, found that
grenades harm
the planet considerably both during war and peace.
In peacetime, they said, mining of metals used in grenades and the costs
in energy needed to produce them damage the environment.
But topping the list of harmful effects are residues emitted during practice detonations.
In wartime, mining the copper used to make grenades damages the earth even more than
explosion residues,
the researchers added. This is because the exploded copper cannot be recycled as it is during peacetime
decommissioning.
The scientists suggested that replacing plastic for copper could make grenades greener.
The study, to be published in The Journal of Chemical Technology and
Biotechnology, used a method called “life cycle assessment” that
has never been applied to munitions before.
Steven Young, President of the renewable energy consulting company GreenhouseGasMeasurement.com, said the defense industry, one of the biggest industrial sectors, has embraced this type of study before.
The industry is “very well positioned“ to make progress on environmental issues, he added, as it tends to make analytical decisions and has huge purchasing power.
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