Western Kentucky University Receives Environmental Sustainability Award

Western Kentucky University (WKU) has been selected as a recipient of the Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center’s (KPPC) Douglas C. Griffin Environmental Sustainability Award for 2016. KPPC created the award in 2009 to recognize those Kentucky companies that have demonstrated a commitment to the principles of sustainability by reducing waste, lowering energy use and practicing environmental stewardship. The award is presented each year in conjunction with National Pollution Prevention Week.

WKU Chief Facilities Officer Bryan Russell and other staff members accepted the Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center’s Douglas C. Griffin Environmental Sustainability Award for 2016 presented by Lissa McCracken, KPPC Executive Director (third from left).

This year’s winner, WKU, was founded in 1906 and now enrolls approximately 20,000 students at four campuses in Bowling Green, Glasgow, Owensboro and Elizabethtown/Fort Knox. WKU has been actively engaged in sustainability efforts for a number of years, and has a very successful energy management program, academic programs related to sustainability, important research initiatives, and an overall culture of sustainability. WKU was a key contributor to KPPC’s Energy Efficiency Outreach and Training initiative in 2015-16, sharing their successes and hosting a workshop on campus.

Bryan Russell, Chief Facilities Officer at WKU, accepted the award in Bowling Green on Oct. 27. “I want to accept this award on behalf of our staff, students, faculty and our campus partners – especially those who practice and support our sustainability commitments – they’re the ones on the front lines who have made energy management, waste reduction and sustainability a priority on our campus and for our community,” he said.

To find out more about WKU’s sustainability commitment, check out the Office of Sustainability Website for information about the sustainability related services, sustainability report and the WKU Energy Kiosk for up to date measurement of energy use across the campus.

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KPPC Board Member Elected KLC President

Sadieville Mayor Claude Christensen has been elected president of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) with Richmond Mayor Jim Barnes as First Vice President and Mayfield Mayor Teresa Rochetti-Cantrell as Second Vice President. The officers will serve one-year terms. Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison will serve as Immediate Past President. Mayor Christensen also serves on the Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center Board of Directors representing local government.

Claude Chrsitensen, Sadieville Mayor and KPPC Board Member

Mayor Christensen was sworn in by Sadieville City Attorney Rand Marshall on Thursday, October 6, during the President’s Banquet at the KLC Conference & Expo in Lexington.

“KLC is fortunate to have an engaged and diverse Board representing cities of all sizes across the commonwealth,” said Jonathan Steiner, KLC executive director/CEO.

Christensen has been active with the League for several years, having served on its Board and Executive Board. KLC is an association with more than 370 municipal members. The League provides a number of services for cities including advocacy, training, legal and other services, as well as very successful insurance and finance programs.

Read more about the 2016-2017 KLC officers and executive board and Mayor Christenson’s election as president.

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Understand Pollution – Environmental Impacts from Food

The food manufacturing sector encompasses a massive range of small and large businesses throughout the United States, and a growing population guarantees strong demand. Barely dented by the 2008 recession, the industry has enormous untapped potential for saving money and regulatory compliance costs with pollution prevention.

Food manufacturing employs millions and pumps billions of dollars into the economy. The industry is made up of several sub-sectors, sometimes referred to by their NAICS code. These sectors range widely, from grain or oilseed milling to seafood production. However, they all involve processing various raw food items into edible consumer products.

Through its National Emphasis Areas, EPA’s pollution prevention program focuses on possible solutions that companies can use to improve their environmental performance.

Gain insight into food as part of the economy and the opportunities that food manufacturing presents for pollution prevention along with data based perspectives developed using the TRI Pollution Prevention Tool available on the U.S. EPA Envirofacts Website.

Read the full article in the P2 Impact section of GreenBiz.

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Newsbits

KSTC Announces Requests for Proposals

The Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) announces a new Request for Proposals (RFP) opening November 18, 2016. This round of funding (KSEF’s RDE-020) through the Research and Development Excellence Program, is open to scientists and engineers from accredited universities, colleges and other postsecondary institutions, and to small businesses in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The maximum award size for RDE-020 is $50,000. The period of the grant request will not exceed 12 months.

Starting this year, the intent of the Kentucky Commercialization fund (COMM) will be integrated within KSEF’s RDE efforts. University applicants submitting a project based on an already existing non-provisional or assigned patent, who intend to commercialize their ideas, should submit under the “Technology Commercialization” specific Target Area (under the “Emerging Technologies” category).

The purpose of KSEF’s Research and Development Excellence (RDE) is to provide seed funding to perform
scientific work on innovative ideas and the development of technologies.  The purpose of the funding is to invest in the initial development of new knowledge and budding technologies with promising societal impact. The program seeks to make high‐risk investments that will help to make Kentucky a leader in science and technology developments.

Visit the KSTC Web site to find out more about this funding opportunity or to submit a proposal.

Why Sustainable Business Leaders Must ‘Think Exponentially’

As corporations increasingly embed sustainability into their long-term plans and decision-making processes, new business models are emerging that promise to deliver financial and non-financial (such as environmental and societal) values while working toward a net-zero emissions economy.

A new paper by Volans, commissioned by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission, calls these “Breakthrough Business Models.” As Volans chairman John Elkington writes in an article on Medium: “As leaders learn to ‘Think Sustainably,’ they will also need to learn to ‘Think X,’ shorthand for ‘Think Exponential’ … And in Thinking X, business leaders need to focus on four key domains where the X agenda is already playing out.”

The four “exponential” characteristics of breakthrough business models, as detailed in the report, are:

• Social X: delivering positive impacts for people.
• Lean X: maximizing the value of all forms of capital, including human and natural.
• Integrated X: connecting economic, social and environmental systems.
• Circular X: making inputs and outputs as circular as possible.

Read the full article on the Environmental Leader Web site.

Improving Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing

The Superior Energy Performance (SEP) program administered through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently was named a finalist for the Green Electronics Council’s 2016 Catalyst Award. The prestigious global competition honors creative solutions for the greening of electronics — an initiative that has already helped the industry aggressively shrink its carbon footprint — particularly in the customer end-use phase.

SEP focuses sustainability efforts on the similarly important manufacturing stage of the electronics supply chain.

This recognition underscores the potential for Superior Energy Performance and the global ISO 50001 energy management system standard to support further advancements in an industry already working diligently on sustainability, according to a Department of Energy press release. Supply chains can be complex, but production process improvements offer major opportunities to reduce a product’s carbon footprint.

SEP helps boost energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the electronics supply chain. Many sustainability efforts focus on product end use or recyclability, but production can account for 80 percent or more of a product’s GHG emissions. Electronic product OEMs can help their suppliers discover SEP and find new ways to continually improve manufacturing energy performance.

See What’s New at ESRC

The Environmental Sustainability Resource Center (ESRC) is a member of the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx™), a national network of regional information centers. The objective of the ESRC is to provide technical environmental sustainability information and training to industrial service providers. The primary service area for the ESRC is EPA Region 3 & 4. Region 3 includes Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, D.C., Delaware and Maryland. Region 4 includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. ESRC resources and staff are available to users in industry, consulting and universities. Please visit the ESRC website or call toll free (855) 531-3772 for more information.

GreenBiz – Sustainability News & Resources

GreenBiz advances the opportunities at the intersection of business, technology and sustainability. Through its websites, events, peer-to-peer network and research, GreenBiz promotes the potential to drive transformation and accelerate progress — within companies, industries and in the very nature of business. Since 1991, GreenBiz has chronicled and been a catalyst for thought leadership in aligning environmental responsibility with profitable business practices.

Find the latest articles, videos and resources on the GreenBiz Website.

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Upcoming Training, Events and Conferences

Environmental Assistance Workshop
The Division of Compliance Assistance (DCA) is providing an educational opportunity with the goal of assisting and educating regulated facilities so they understand and can comply with environmental regulations related to air permitting, waste management, water permitting along with common violations at manufacturing and industrial facilities.
December 8 – Owensboro, KY – Find out more about the training and how to register.

EPA Webinars:

Benchmarking Water/Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Portfolio Manager
Learn how to track the progress of energy efficiency efforts and compare the energy use of wastewater treatment plants to other peer facilities across the country. Attendees will learn how to measure and track energy use and carbon dioxide emission reductions in water and wastewater treatment plants to establish baseline energy use, prioritize investments, set goals, and track improvements over time.
December 1 at 1:00 pm EDT

Portfolio Manager Series
101 – December 27 at 1:00 pm EDT – Attendees will learn how to: navigate the new Portfolio Manager; add a property and enter details about it; enter energy and water consumption data; share properties; generate performance reports to assess progress; and respond to data requests.

201 – December 28 at 1:00 pm EDT – Learn more advanced functionalities such as: managing and tracking changes to your property uses over time; using spreadsheet templates to update property data; setting goals and targets to plan energy improvements for properties; generating and using custom reports; and using the Sustainable Buildings Checklist.

301 – December 29 at 1:00 pm EDT – Learn about some advanced features including: using spreadsheet upload templates to update property data; setting goals and targets to plan energy improvements for properties; creating custom reports; and using the Sustainable Buildings Checklist.

View these plus more training opportunities and to Register.

View recorded ENERGY STAR webinars at any time.

To view these and other sustainability-related events, please visit the KPPC Events Calendar.

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