EPA Honors UC Irvine for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

EPA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 25, 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: Nahal Mogharabi, 213-244-1815, mogharabi.nahal@epa.gov


EPA Honors UC Irvine for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

LOS ANGELES – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Center for Corporate Climate Leadership announced the third annual Climate Leadership Award winners in partnership with the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO), the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and The Climate Registry (TCR). Nineteen awards were given to 15 organizations and two individuals in the public and private sectors for their leadership in addressing climate change by reducing carbon pollution. The University of California, Irvine has received an Organizational Leadership Award for its reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions at its campus.

"Today’s winners are champions in their communities because of the steps they’ve taken to reduce carbon pollution harmful to the environment,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "We are proud to recognize UC Irvine for its leadership in fighting climate change.”

The national awards program recognizes exemplary corporate, organizational, and individual leadership in response to climate change. Award recipients represent a wide array of industries, including finance, manufacturing, retail, technology, higher education and local government.

UC Irvine faces the challenge of reducing GHG emissions associated with lab, clinical, and academic space, as well as future emissions from facility and program growth. UC Irvine received the Climate Leadership Award for Organizational Leadership for:

• Setting a GHG reduction goal of 40 percent from 2011 by 2020.
• The implementation of energy efficiency projects including lighting retrofits, ventilation improvements, and campus energy reduction competitions resulting in an estimated annual reduction of 20,000 Million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MTCO₂e). UC Irvine’s monitoring-based commissioning through this process has also enabled the university to improve building performance through calibration and optimization of building energy systems.
• The campus’s Combined Heat and Power Plant that supplies electrical power, chilled water, and hot water and serves as a model for energy efficiency, reducing approximately 39,000 MTCO₂e per year.
• Building two advanced technology photovoltaic systems in 2012, with plans to add another 3.2 megawatts (MW) of capacity on three parking structures this year, bringing the campus total to 4.3 MW.
• The university’s Smart Labs Initiative using tools such as real time air monitoring and digital controls that have reduced energy consumption in campus laboratories by an average of 60 percent. 
•  Maintaining one of the most robust green building programs of any university in the U.S. with 19 energy efficient buildings saving about 172,000 MTCO₂e since 2007.
• The university’s extensive network of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit facilities as well as bike share and car share programs providing further incentives for students, faculty, and staff to go car free.

The President’s Climate Action Plan calls on the federal government to work with all stakeholders to take action to cut the harmful carbon pollution that fuels climate change. These organizations and individuals are working to do just that.  The awards are held in conjunction with the 2014 Climate Leadership Conference at the Hyatt Mission Bay Hotel in San Diego, Calif.

More information about the 2014 Climate Leadership Award winners is available atwww.epa.gov/climateleadership/awards/2014winners.html 

The EPA's Center for Corporate Climate Leadership was launched in 2012 to establish norms of climate leadership by encouraging organizations with emerging climate objectives to identify and achieve cost-effective GHG emission reductions, while helping more advanced organizations drive innovations in reducing their greenhouse gas impacts in their supply chains and beyond. The Center serves as a comprehensive resource to help organizations of all sizes measure and manage GHG emissions, providing technical tools, ground-tested guidance, educational resources, and opportunities for information sharing and peer exchange among organizations interested in reducing the environmental impacts associated with climate change.

More information about EPA’s Center for Corporate Climate Leadership: www.epa.gov/climateleadership

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