EPA Highlights for the Week of September 12, 2016
- EPA Announces GreenChill Award Winners
- EPA Awarded GreenGov Presidential Sustainability Awards
- Competition is Open for the Smart City Air Challenge
EPA Announces GreenChill Award Winners
GreenChill partners represent 29 percent of the U.S. supermarket industry.EPA recognized 13 companies in the supermarket industry for their achievements in reducing emissions of environmentally harmful refrigerants as part of the GreenChill Program. If supermarkets nationwide reduced the amount of refrigerant they leak to the current GreenChill partner average, they could avoid $169 million in refrigerant replacement costs while preventing the equivalent of 29 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, roughly equal to the annual emissions of about 6 million cars.
GreenChill partners were recognized in the following categories Best Corporate Emission Rate, Most Improved Emissions Rate, Goal Achievement, and Distinguished Partner.
EPA Awarded GreenGov Presidential Sustainability Awards
Reduce toxic chemicals and environmental impacts through the material lifecycle.EPA received three White House Presidential GreenGov Sustainability awards in the areas of advancing climate resiliency, composting, and sustainable demolition practices, which includes one for helping Long Island Communities develop post-Hurricane Sandy climate resiliency strategies . The GreenGov Presidential Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in the pursuit of President Obama’s federal sustainability goals.
Federal agencies will release their annual Federal Agency Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans, outlining how they are working to meet sustainability goals such as achieving a 40% reduction in Federal greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Find out more about EPA's toolkit that's changing the way communities deal with demolitions across the country.
Competition is Open for the Smart City Air Challenge
Get involved by bringing innovation to your community.EPA is challenging communities across the country to collect data using hundreds of air quality sensors as part of the Smart City Air Challenge. The agency is offering up to $40,000 apiece to two communities to help them develop and implement plans for collecting and sharing data from air quality sensors.
To qualify for the challenge, communities will need to submit plans by Oct. 28, 2016 for deploying air quality sensors and managing the data they collect. The award money only covers part of the program costs, so communities will need to partner with sensor manufacturers, data management companies or others to get resources and expertise to implement their plans.
Learn more about the Challenge. Read a blog post about the new Smart City Air Challenge.