Air Quality Nominees Sought for Governor’s Excellence Awards

DES MOINES—Iowans are encouraged to apply for the 2003 Governor’s Iowa Environmental Excellence Awards. These awards are the premier environmental honors in Iowa, recognizing leadership and innovation in the protection of Iowa’s air, land and water.

Applicants are sought for the special category of air quality, in addition to other program areas such as water quality, waste management, energy efficiency and renewables, and habitat restoration and development. Candidates can be businesses, individuals, communities, organizations, local governments or public facilities.

Additional information and application materials can be found www.iowadnr.com/other/ee/index.html. Applications must be received by November 10, 2003.

The awards program is coordinated by the Governor’s Office, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the departments of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Economic Development, Education, Public Health and the Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Past Air Quality winners include:

2002 Air Quality Category Winners
Five Seasons Transportation and Parking, Cedar Rapids
Five Seasons Transportation of Cedar Rapids provides route bus service throughout the metropolitan area. In 2001, the mass transit department made a commitment to cleaner air by using renewable, Iowa grown resources. Director Bill Hoekstra said his department is committed to using biodiesel and reducing pollution because "it's the right thing to do." "As for air quality, we believe that reducing harmful tailpipe emissions is very achievable for other diesel-using fleets in the state."

Five Seasons became Iowa’s first mass transit system to convert its entire 50-bus fleet from diesel to soybean-based biodiesel. Along with a programmable fuel control system, biodiesel dramatically reduces fossil fuel emissions.

Biodiesel can reduce cancer-causing agents by 90 percent, while decreasing carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter. The company also operates electric and hybrid-electric buses.

2001 Air Quality Category Winners
Alliant Energy (Cedar Rapids)
To reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, the general approach is to extract nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions after combustion through an expensive, inefficient catalytic process. But Alliant took a science-and-technology approach, conducting an extensive study that resulted in NOx reductions during the combustion process. As a result, the company’s “Combustion Initiative” has reduced emissions by 900 tons per year — more than 50 percent — and has improved thermal efficiency, which means less fuel is needed to produce energy.

Mirenco Inc. (Radcliffe)
Mirenco Inc. of Radcliffe has made huge strides in making diesel engines more fuel-efficient and less harmful to the environment. Mirenco’s DriverMax? technology automatically controls throttle position based on continuous analysis of vehicle exhaust. The technology has allowed one U.S. city to save more than 43,000 gallons of diesel fuel and reduce emissions by more than 11,000 pounds from its fleet of 130 public transit buses. Another new product, called “EconoCruise?,” incorporates a global positioning satellite that reads the topography ahead of the vehicle, allowing the cruise control to take a proactive approach to the terrain ahead.

Waverly Light & Power (Waverly)
The company’s effort to promote and build wind turbines now provides an astounding 4 percent of Waverly’s electrical power from wind generation. In addition, carbon dioxide output from fossil fuel burning has been cut by more than 5,000 tons per year, increasing the quality of the air Iowans breathe. Instrumental in this endeavor has been WLP’s Iowa Energy Tags? Program, through which companies and individuals can purchase tax-deductible tags that help pay for wind generation equipment and development.