Conservation/Environment
Energy News
PUD tunes up its own energy efficiency
Improving the controls for heating and air conditioning and expanding the options for recycling are among the issues tackled by a new Sustainability Committee at Chelan County PUD.
The PUD is taking inventory of its practices and programs, then plotting a future aimed at reducing environmental impacts while still accomplishing the work at hand. To document efforts, the PUD has started a new Sustainability Web page.
The focus for this first year is on making the Headquarters complex at 327 N. Wenatchee Ave. more energy efficient, and on improving recycling. The PUD has already done an energy audit of its main building and adjusted some of the control systems. An energy efficiency study of the building with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is under way.
The PUD had been recycling office paper and cardboard on its own (in photo above, employee Christy Mayo moves a load of used office paper out of PUD Headquarters), but is now expanding its efforts. On Aug. 26, the PUD began a pilot program with Waste Management to recycle newspaper, magazines, milk cartons, glass, plastic and aluminum cans. Waste Management hopes to use the PUD as a test to see how much recyclable material is generated in an organization of the PUD's size – and how much recycling reduces other normal trash flow. Based on the experience with the PUD, Waste Management may develop and expand its commercial recycling program throughout the rest of the city and perhaps the rest of its service territory.
A sustainability team meets once a month to share ideas and look for the best opportunities to keep the effort going. Customer suggestions are welcome; e-mail us at conservation@chelanpud.org.
Related links
Going green (Fortune magazine)
The Age of Corporate Environmentalism: Big Business Has Learned That It's Pretty Easy Being Green (Reason Online)
10 Steps to Reducing Costs While Saving the Environment (AllBusiness.com)