The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) issued a May 7th news release announcing the winners of the Arkansas Environmental Stewardship (“ENVY”) Award, the Arkansas Environmental Technology (“TECHe”) Award, the Energy Excellence (“E2”) Award, and the ADEQuest Science Award.
Finalists for the awards had been announced by the agency in an April 26th news release. (See previous blog post here.)
Clearwater Paper—Cypress Bend was chosen as the winner of the ENVY Award.
ADEQ states that Clearwater Paper is the country's largest provider of private label tissue and a world-class manufacturer of high-quality bleached paperboard. The Cypress Bend facility formed sustainability improvement teams to identify and implement innovative ways to improve the mill’s performance.
Over a six-year period, the Cypress Bend plant has achieved a total savings of $5.6 million per year from the projects it implemented. Solid waste was reduced by seventy-three percent or 67,000 tons per year. Water was reduced by twenty-five percent or $390,000 per year. Natural gas was reduced by twenty-two percent, and electricity was reduced by eight percent or 23,500,000 kilowatt hours per year.
The Husqvarna Group was the winner of the TECHe Award.
The Husqvarna Group is the world’s largest producer of outdoor power products. The Group operates a Plastic Injection Molding Manufacturing Operation in Nashville.
In 2015, the manufacturer launched “Sustainovate,” an innovation-based initiative to make sustainability a real competitive advantage for the Group and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by one third before the end of 2035. As a result, in 2017, Husqvarna installed a 1.4 megawatt solar array at the Nashville facility. The array, estimated to have a full twenty-year life benefit, generates approximately thirty percent of the facility’s annual electricity, saving $137,762 over the last twelve-month period, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 33,189 metric tons per year.
Entergy Arkansas, LLC, was named the winner of the E2 Award.
Entergy Arkansas’s Home Energy Solutions program works with local trade allies to install ecobee Wi’Fi-connected thermostats in customers’ homes. The advanced thermostats help reduce the electric bill for customers when they are not home, and reduce demand on the electric grid through the demand response program. Since 2016, more than 4,000 advanced thermostats have been installed in Arkansas, and 1,500 are planned to be installed in 2019.
Collectively, Entergy customers have saved over 3,332,051 kilowatt hours of electricity—that’s equal to 2,356 metric tons of carbon dioxide—and over $170,000. Entergy Arkansas and other utilities in Arkansas, working with the Arkansas Public Service Commission and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have led the nation in creating regulatory required action in energy efficiency to benefit the economics to the consumer while maintaining the reliability and security of the electricity market.
The recipients of the ADEQuest Science Award was Anusha Bhattacharyya, a student at Little Rock Central High School.
In her project, she pioneered a completely new, inexpensive, and eco-friendly solution to economically and efficiently remove oil from waters using Hot Water Treatment, which allows for easily formed nanostructures to help separate oil contaminants in water. Central High School will receive an award of $500.00 to the school science program and Anusha will receive $500.00 to use for educational purposes.
A copy of the news release can be downloaded here.
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