what’s working
this year’s winners:
sustainable communities & green building
pacific northwest national laboratory, richland
PNNL continues to prove that innovation, collaboration
and detailed planning can lead to energy efficient and
sustainable facilities that support important research and
development. In the past two years, PNNL has certified
three buildings as High Performance Sustainable Buildings,
resulting in 36 percent of its campus facilities meeting
the HPSB criteria, saving $146,000 a year in energy costs.
This included an extensive retrofit to the Radiochemical
Processing Laboratory, originally built in 1953. Its newest
facility, the Systems Engineering Laboratory, earned a LEED
Gold certification and is connected to the PNNL building
automation system to find energy-saving opportunities
throughout the site.
PNNL also supports sustainable commuting. Its support
for bicycle commuters, from street upgrades to shower/
change rooms and bike racks, earned praise from the League
of American Bicyclists. Through the Telework Program,
PNNL staff have eliminated 263 metric tons per year of
carbon emissions by avoiding commutes to and from work.
The community now has the nation’s first diesel converted
to all-electric bus, with a 130-mile range per single charge,
in regular transit service thanks to PNNL’s partnership
serving its campus.
resource conservation/pollution prevention
shields bag & printing co., yakima
This family-owned business manufactures flexible packaging products shipped worldwide. Their full-color printing
process uses solvent-based inks containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). To destroy the VOC emissions, the
company has
invested its
resources in an
energy-intensive
combustion process known as
a Regenerative
Thermal Oxidizer. A Regenerative
Thermal Oxidizer
(RTO) provides
more than 99 percent efficiency in destroying VOCs while
recovering 97 percent of the heat generated in the process.
After months of site preparation and planning, the company installed and started up the new, highly-efficient
environmental control system in August. This state-of-theart technology came with significant initial capital costs,
but the lower ongoing operating costs justify the investment
— as does the prospect of saving enough natural gas to heat
more than 325 homes and enough electricity to power over
600 homes. The company has also calculated that it will
reduce its carbon emissions by 1,500 tons per year while
reducing nitrogen oxide by two tons.
ieds logistics, spokane
IEDS Logistics is reducing its environmental footprint by
cutting energy use and carbon emissions, reducing fuel
use and expanding its recycling programs. In January, the
company installed electronic on-board recording devices, a
move that is not required by regulators but which has already
paid off for IEDS and the environment. IEDS Logistics uses
the real-time driver and vehicle performance information to
optimize delivery routes and reduce fuel usage. Within the
first two months, the company reduced engine idle time by
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