EPA Honors Work of Exceptional U.S. Virgin Islands Environmental Leaders

EPA Press Release:

EPA Honors Work of Exceptional U.S. Virgin Islands Environmental Leaders

Contact: Mary Mears (212) 637-3673, mears.mary@epa.gov 

(New York, N.Y. – April 23, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today honored three individuals and organizations from across the U.S. Virgin Islands with Environmental Quality Awards for their achievements in protecting public health and the environment. EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck presented the awards at a ceremony at EPA’s offices in Manhattan. Michelle DePass, former Assistant Administrator of the EPA Office of International and Tribal Affairs and currently Dean of the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at the New School for Public Engagement in New York City, delivered the keynote address.

“Today we celebrate the exemplary work of people who work tirelessly to protect the environment and give their time and energy to create a cleaner and healthier future for us all,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “Their extraordinary contributions serve as an inspiration to all who strive for a more sustainable environmental future.”

The EPA presents Environmental Quality Awards annually during Earth Week to individuals, businesses, government agencies, environmental and community-based organizations and members of the media in EPA Region 2, which covers New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight federally-recognized Indian Nations. The awards recognize significant contributions to improving the environment and public health in the previous calendar year. For information about the Environmental Quality Awards in EPA Region 2, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/eqa/.

   

The Environmental Quality Award winners from the U.S. Virgin Islands are (in alphabetical order):

Carib Sun Energy

Founded in 2012, the Carib Sun Energy team is comprised of certified electricians and plumbers with decades of experience in the manufacturing and residential sectors. They have harnessed indigenous energy sources and have committed to help U.S. Virgin Islands communities burdened by high energy costs with competitive pricing and quality customer service. Though still a young company, Carib Sun Energy has already successfully produced more than 39 million watts of solar energy and saved 34,302 pounds of carbon emissions, having achieved the equivalent benefit of 52 trees.

Ivanna Eudora Kean High School

The Ivanna Eudora Kean High School built the first aquaponics and vegetable farm in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The farm was created in 2012 by founder and science teacher Kirk Lewis. He wanted to inspire the student members of the Future Farmers of America to promote healthy lifestyles and develop a positive awareness of the environment. The farm provides sustainable food without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers, as students learn how to harvest both fish and vegetables. 

Virgin Islands Hotel & Tourism Association

Virgin Islands Conservation Society

Valerie Peters

Blue Flag USVI

On December 1, 2013, seven “Blue Flags” were raised over beaches and marinas throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands. Blue Flag certification is based on compliance with 32 criteria including environmental education and information, water quality, environmental management and safety and services. The VI Hotel & Tourism Association, with partner organizations such as the VI Conservation Society, undertook the challenge of Blue Flag certification in 2009 and continues to demonstrate that the U.S. Virgin Islands has the ability to implement and sustain the International Blue Flag certification label. Valerie Peters, a long-time environmental volunteer, helped champion the introduction and implementation of the Blue Flag USVI program.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook athttp://facebook.com/eparegion2.

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Northrop Grumman Sets New Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Goal of 30 Percent by 2020 (NYSE:NOC)

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – April 22, 2014 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced today its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30 percent from 2010 levels by 2020, as part of its commemoration of Earth Day.



Northrop Grumman Sets New Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Goal of 30 Percent by 2020 (NYSE:NOC)

GE Press Release:

Why Data Center Efficiency in the 2000s is like Paper Recycling in 1970s

April 21, 2014

  inShare0 

 

DALLAS---April 21, 2014---On the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, the World Wide Web existed only in research labs, "texting" was something you wrote in a notebook and the closest thing to a data center was the public library. On that day, millions of people gathered at events around the country to learn, share and work toward innovative solutions to protect our natural resources. In advance of Earth Day, Jeff Schnitzer, general manager, GE's Critical Power business (NYSE: GE), discussed recent trends in data center energy efficiency.

"In 1970, we worried about landfills and paper waste, some 44,310,000 tons of it annually[1]. Today, those things that were on paper now are in digital format, with an estimated 639,800 gigabytes of that digital information[2] passing through data centers every minute. Forty-four years later, Earth Day 2014 reminds us to examine the impact data centers have on our natural resources and sustainability and the strides being made by businesses and governments to meet new data center energy efficiency levels," said Schnitzer.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, data centers account for up to 2.5 percent of the total electricity generated in the United States. Schnitzer added, "There are a number of technology innovations that contribute to the overall energy efficiency of data centers." Some examples include:

• Capturing Free Cooling: About 30 percent of all data center energy is used to cool servers and information technology equipment with power-hungry air conditioning chiller units, which are used at both the server rack and printed circuit board levels. Many companies today are investing in "free cooling" technology to draw in exterior ambient temperatures to keep data center systems cool and to reduce energy. In 2013, Facebook unveiled a new data center in Sweden that uses free cooling technology that harnesses the average exterior temperature of 34 degrees Fahrenheit[3].

• A Few Percent Matters: According to Frost & Sullivan, raising energy efficiency levels of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems in data centers from 90 to 98 percent can save the United States $3 billion annually in energy costs. CoreSpace, a GE customer in Dallas, is saving an estimated $25,000 a year with its eBoost*-equipped, multi-mode UPS systems operating at 99 percent efficiency.

• Overnight Ice: To lower the temperature at its 538,000 square foot data center in Phoenix, i/o Data Centers engineered a set of cooling tanks filled with a mix of ice balls and glycol that are chilled during the night when electricity is less expensive and used to cool data center equipment during the day[4].

• Modular Power: With data center capacity expected to expand by 33 percent over each of the next five years[5], squeezing more capacity and efficiency from existing data facilities is vital to sustain growth. Containerized, or modular, data center and power protection units---such as GE's PowerMod* technology---connected to existing facilities lets companies scale the capacity and energy use they need. These outside units use ambient air to reduce excess heating and energy consumption.

• Mining Energy: To save energy costs, Iron Mountain built its data center in a former limestone mine in Pennsylvania. It keeps the data operation cool by letting the subterranean walls absorb as much 1.5 British thermal units of energy per square foot4.

• Powering the World's Cell Towers: Powering the world's 640,000 off-grid cell towers with diesel generators burns more than 11 billion liters of diesel a year. Hybridizing a cell tower using GE's innovative sodium nickel chloride Durathon* batteries cuts fuel consumption at sites by up to 50 percent and can enable more towers worldwide to be powered by renewable sources such as solar. Cutting fuel consumption by up to 50 percent delivers significant cost savings for the industry and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from each off-grid cell tower.

"As we create, share and use more and more data in our business and personal lives, data center energy efficiency will remain one of the great challenges facing the industry," continued Schnitzer. "The innovations we're deploying today not only provide real and immediate benefits, they are leading the way to new solutions for tomorrow."

GE's Critical Power business provides mission-critical applications with end-to-end power product and service solutions that maximize uptime and power efficiency. The solutions add to GE's broader Industrial Solutions portfolio of leading technologies designed for the delivery, management and optimization of electrical power for customers across multiple industries. To learn more about GE's Critical Power business visit: www.gecriticalpower.com.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

Follow GE's Critical Power business on Twitter @GEcriticalpower.

The figures cited in this release unless otherwise noted, are based on industry-standard information or data collected by GE in the deployment of critical power systems. The results cited are not a guarantee of performance or specific results, and individual results may vary based on specifications and operating conditions.
*Trademark of the General Electric Company; may be registered in one or more countries.
[1] Earth 911 - United States Waste in Numbers then and Now
[2] Intel - What Happens in an Internet Minute?
[3] BusinessWeek - Inside the Arctic Circle, Where Your Facebook Data Lives
[4] CIO -- 7 Innovative Data Center Designs
[5] IHS - Containerized Data Centers - World - 2012

Tags

• Business Unit: Energy Management
• Region: North America
• Topics: Topic, Products & Services, Technology & Research, Citizenship, Energy, GE Energy Management
• Keywords: GE, Critical Power, Earth Day, Jeff Schnitzer, free cooling, eBoost, PowerMOD,Data Centers, modular power, mining energy, cell towers, Durathon

Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center Helping to Clean Streams While Generating Electricity for Customers - Apr 22, 2014

RICHMOND, Va., April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Since beginning commercial operation in July 2012, Dominion Virginia Power's Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County has recycled nearly 1.1 million tons of waste coal, following through on a commitment to help clean environmental hot spots that dot the coalfields of Southwest Virginia.



Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center Helping to Clean Streams While Generating Electricity for Customers - Apr 22, 2014

Dominion's Project Plant It! Inspires 33,000 Students to Learn about Trees, Plant Redbuds Honoring Arbor Day, April 25 - Apr 21, 2014

RICHMOND, Va., April 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Thirty-three thousand elementary school students in six states are participating this year in Dominion's Project Plant It!, the environmental education program developed by Dominion to teach the next generation of tree-planters about the benefits of trees to our ecosystem. The program culminates with outdoor celebrations and tree-planting events throughout the week of Arbor Day, April 21-25, at many of the participating schools.



Dominion's Project Plant It! Inspires 33,000 Students to Learn about Trees, Plant Redbuds Honoring Arbor Day, April 25 - Apr 21, 2014

E-Waste - Saving the Environment One IT Asset at a Time - YouTube

By reengineering the IT Asset Disposition Program, Pete Daunais has helped FedEx achieve a 100% reconciliation rate for its e-waste assets in the U.S.



E-Waste - Saving the Environment One IT Asset at a Time - YouTube

Why Research is Vital for Eradicating the Asian Longhorned Beetle

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Rhonda Santos, APHIS Asian Longhorned Beetle Eradication Program, on April 23, 2014 at 10:30 AM

At the APHIS Otis Lab in Massachusetts, employees conduct research for several APHIS forest pest emergency response and eradication programs, including Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), Asian gypsy moth (AGM), emerald ash borer (EAB), and Sirex noctilio woodwasp.

In addition to the existing science-based eradication protocols for fighting an Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) infestation, such as surveying trees and removing infested ones, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) relies on on-going research to not only improve current protocols, but also to develop new ones.

APHIS’s Center for Plant Health Science and Technology continues research to develop attractant-baited traps designed to lure and capture adult insects. The attractants include plant odors and pheromones, which are naturally occurring chemicals created and used by insects to communicate with each other.  These attractants are used to lure beetles to traps that are hung on trees that the beetle will attack.  Traps can aid in early detection of insects in areas where survey staff may not be working. When the traps are checked by staff members and a beetle is found, nearby trees may be surveyed to determine if they are infested. This year, the traps will be placed in the spring and early summer in strategic locations in all three ALB-affected states: New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio.  APHIS is also working with the U.S. Forest Service and Penn State University on their research with similar ALB traps.

APHIS has a number of additional ALB-related research projects, including defining the specific wood-chipping and grinding methods needed to kill all ALB in wood from infested areas, determining if treating trees with insecticides in the fall can be as effective as the current practice of treating trees in the spring, developing treatments for nursery stock that allow it to be moved safely out of ALB-infested areas, gaining better information on ALB’s ability to attack and develop on different kinds of trees, DNA analysis, and understanding how ALB infestations grow and spread in different types of habitats.  This kind of information can help the ALB program decide where to carry out key activities such as surveys and control treatments.

All ALB-related research supports the goal to eradicate the pest from the U.S. and protect hardwood forests and park lands, trees within affected communities, and many different forest product industries.

You can help.  When you are outside, take a look at a tree and see if it has round holes on the trunk and/or branches – these holes are caused by the adult beetle when it exits the tree.  The holes are a little bit smaller than a dime and just a bit bigger than the circumference of a pencil.  You may also see an adult beetle on the tree itself or surrounding surfaces.  If you see signs of ALB, please make a report online because the sooner we know about an ALB infestation, the sooner we can do something about it.