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Posts tagged ‘salt lake chamber’

Jan 18

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Help Clear the Air! Sign up for the February Challenge

Clear

Transportation emissions are responsible for nearly 50% of the pollutants that make up our poor air quality. These pollutants become a serious concern during the winter months when normal atmospheric conditions (cool air above, warm air below) become inverted. This allows the air quality in the valley to become filled with particles that can quickly become unhealthy.

While there is much work being done to reduce those emissions (better transit, cleaner vehicles, more active transportation), the fact is– we can and should all help. We can each be a #CleanAirChampion.

There are many ways to participate! They all help the air and give you points in the Challenge:

  • Ride the bus or train
  • Bike or walk to work
  • Link your errands together when you are driving (aka “trip chain”)
  • Skip the trip by working from home or saving that errand for later

It all adds up!

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The Utah Division of Air Quality estimates that if every driver along the Wasatch Front were to give up driving for just one day per week, it would keep 6,500 tons of emissions (or 85 times the weight of the International Space Station) out of our airshed.

Read more

Aug 18

August 31 Panel Discussion: Learn how your business can save energy and money

A PANEL DISCUSSION

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Calling all local businesses!

The Downtown Merchants Association and SLCgreen invite you to
a panel discussion with local businesses and property owners as
they discuss how to become more energy efficient and promote
green practices.

Heavy appetizers and drinks will be served courtesy of Cucina Toscana.

When: AUGUST 31, 2017 | 5PM – 6:30

Where: Cucina Toscana: 282 S 300 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Panelists: Read more

Jul 19

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Mayor Biskupski Recognizes Business Leadership in Enhancing Energy Efficiency in Salt Lake City Buildings

Photos by Kyle Strayer

Today, Mayor Jackie Biskupski honored select Salt Lake City businesses, building owners, and managers with the 2017 Mayor’s Skyline Challenge Awards – an annual public recognition of organizations that have taken robust action in enhancing the energy performance of their buildings and contributing to the City’s air quality and general sustainability.

The award winners of the third annual event are: The Boston Building; Goldman Sachs Group; VCBO Architecture; XMission; Zions Bank; and Dominion Energy.

“The Skyline Challenge Awards is a high point in the year for the City and our Department of Sustainability, as it allows us to reflect on the energy efficiency work so many of our businesses are focused on,” said Mayor Biskupski. “We can look back at the previous year, as well, and point the progress that was made—new buildings that were benchmarked, money that was saved, and Energy Star scores that improved.”

Launched in May 2014, the Skyline Challenge encourages organizations across Salt Lake City and Utah to proactively improve the energy performance of their buildings and enhance their environmental and economic impact.

 

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Mayor Biskupski recognizes leadership in energy efficiency at the 2017 Skyline Challenge awards.

 

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 30 percent of the average commercial building’s energy consumption is wasted through inefficient building operation.

By participating in the Skyline Challenge, local organizations are invited to attend educational workshops, and to receive guidance on best practices and resources for evaluating their building’s energy use. Skyline Challenge participants set energy savings goals and undertake energy efficiency projects, which they may then nominate for recognition at the annual Skyline Challenge Awards luncheon.

Without further adieu, here are the winners of the 2017 Mayor’s Skyline Challenge . . .  Read more

Jun 24

Drive Less, Clear the Air & Win Prizes this July

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The 2014 Challenge kicked off at the Downtown Farmers Market on Saturday, June 14.

Are you ready to help clear the air? The 2014 Clear the Air Challenge starts next week on Tuesday, July 1!

The month long Challenge is just that — an excellent way to challenge yourself to “drive down your miles” and reduce your emissions. Choose alternatives to driving alone and track your impact on air quality.

(And keep an eye on the leader board for the Salt Lake City Corporation network, which is SLCgreen’s home team!)

The Basics

  • The Clear the Air Challenge runs July 1-31, 2014.
  • Register at www.CleartheAirChallenge.org (registration details below).
  • Track the trips and miles you save by using alternatives to driving alone:
    • Active transportation (walk, bike) — Biking and walking, also known as active transportation, are gaining popularity as healthy, efficient and sustainable means of transportation.
    • Public transit — To put it simply, ride UTA!
    • Carpool — Carpooling involves more than one person traveling together in a car and can be used for many occasions including commuting to work, attending special events or taking kids to school, practices or recreational activities. This strategy requires some coordination of schedules, but can be easily implemented to achieve significant results.
    • Telework — Teleworking is possible from just about anywhere – from home, a telecenter, the local coffee shop or anywhere that has a wireless Internet connection. Teleworking can include conference calling or video conferencing for meetings instead of driving to an off-site location or working from a remote office.
    • Skip the trip — The skip the trip strategy is as easy as it sounds. Just plan ahead to avoid unnecessary trips. These can be trips taken for work or for home activities.
    • Learn more about these strategies at TravelWise.utah.gov.
  • Join a network, track your impact and compete for great prizes!

Registration

This year there is a new and greatly improved tracking tool for the Clear the Air Challenge. The new tool will require all users to re-register, but the registration process will only take about 30 seconds and users now have the ability to sign up using their Facebook profile.

During the registration process you will be asked to join a team/network, although it’s not required. If you do not see your team/network listed, please email tracker@ppbh.com with the following information:

  • Team/network name
  • Team/network admin name (the person on your team who will have admin rights)
  • Admin’s email
  • Team/network address
  • Team/network description (a little about who your team is- optional)

Prizes

The Challenge has approximately $10,000 in prizes to give out this year to participants. A number of weekly prizes will be randomly given to people who have earned badges. Grand prizes will be given to the winners in various categories, including: most trips saved, most miles saved and overall champion. The Grand Prize for the overall individual champion will be a $1,300 pair of powder skis provided by Ramp Sports.

New technology

Here are some of the features of the new technology implemented this year:

  • Social media integration: Sign up with your Facebook account and share Clear the Air Challenge posts to your Timeline.
  • Easier tracking and recording of saved trips:
    • Set up favorite trips – Trips you take often can be easily added to your tracker dashboard
    • Multiple day trip recording – Forgot to track each time you took the TRAX over the past week? Simply click on each of the days you made the same trip and record them all at once!
  • Trip Planner: Not sure how you might use alternative transportation to get somewhere rather than your car? Simply enter in your starting and ending locations, and you’ll receive carpool, vanpool, transit, walking and biking options to get to your destination. Use this feature all year round whether you are tracking trips or not!

 

Feb 15

Mayors Take to the Hill for Clean Air

Mayors Clean Air Event

Yesterday, SLCGreen took a trip to the Utah State Capitol for a media event hosted by Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Ogden City Mayor Mike Caldwell and the Salt Lake Chamber’s Ryan Evans. The purpose of the event was to voice their support for state and local actions to help improve air quality, and to present a list of recommendations that would result in less air pollution.

Among the actions recommended:

  • Initiate a call to action by individuals to lessen single occupant vehicle driving and cold starts (a large contributor to poor air quality).
  • Implement a UTA transit pass sponsorship program.
  • Share local/state level strategies for others to consider:
    • Education everyone on the fact that most emissions come from “cold starts.”
    • Provide discounted or free transit passes to employees.
    • Have a robust carpooling program, creating preferential parking for carpools.
    • Encourage employees to telework.
    • Pass parking user costs on to employees.
    • Establish no-idling ordinances and educational campaigns.
    • Allow for flexible schedules to avoid rush hour traffic.
  • Propose a series of legislative/regulatory actions to improve funding for transit and local transportation funding, reducing vehicle use and removing state barriers to more aggressive action:
    • Provide additional transit funding by implementing an increase in the local-option sales tax; or by increasing the gas tax.
    • Repeal state law prohibiting Utah from setting air quality standards that are higher than federal regulations.
    • Extend tax credits for clean fuel and electric vehicles.
    • Change state vehicle registration fee schedule to be based on vehicle emissions.
    • Adopt additional driving restrictions during bad air days.
  • Support regulatory actions due to the new PM2.5 standard:
    • New point and area source regulations.
    • Trip reduction mandates for companies with over 100 employees.

What are you thoughts on the recommendations listed above? What would you like to see from the Utah State Legislature this session?