Green Star Partnership Quarterly Newsletter
June 2022
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New Partner Reporting Dates |
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In order to help our office promote, recognize, and share your organization's successes, we ask that you fill out and submit your semi-annual and annual reports. We’ve recently updated the Tennessee Green Star Partners reporting process to reduce the frequency of requests (from five a year to two); shift the annual reporting data cycle to cover the previous calendar year; clarify reporting requests; and streamline the reporting forms. Please find an overview of the new process below and tutorial video walking through the TGSP reporting process:
TDEC will only be requesting two reports each year.
Semi-Annual Report - Due January 15:
- We ask that participating facilities report information to us by no later than January 15th for July 1st - December 31st.
Annual Report - Due July 15:
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The reporting period for annual metrics for the Tennessee Green Star Partnership program is based on the previous calendar year January 1st to December 31st. Please report information to us by no later than July 15th. If you need assistance calculating metrics, feel free to use this Pollution Prevention Greenhouse Gas Calculator.
- Most members should have the previous calendar year’s operational metrics approved by corporate at this point in the year.
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EPA Announces Most Energy-Efficient Manufacturing Plants of 2021
WASHINGTON (March 15, 2022) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that 93 U.S. manufacturing plants earned the agency’s ENERGY STAR certification in 2021. ENERGY STAR certified plants are verified to be among the most energy-efficient plants within their industries. Together, they prevented more than 5 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector, which is responsible for nearly a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
"As these companies demonstrate, improving energy efficiency serves to confront climate change while strengthening our economy,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Manufacturing plants that reduce energy consumption as part of the transition to a zero-emissions future save money and create the resiliency needed for the long-term health of their operations, our economy, and our planet.”
Thanks to their superior energy performance over a single year, these plants avoided nearly 90 trillion Btus of energy consumption and prevented emissions equal to the annual energy use of nearly 650,000 American homes. Since the first plants were certified in 2006, ENERGY STAR certified plants have cumulatively saved manufacturers more than $7 billion on energy bills when compared to average-performing facilities.
Energy efficiency cuts energy waste and is an essential action for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 for both the United States' Long-Term Strategy and the sustainability of the manufacturing sector.
To assess energy performance, plants use EPA’s ENERGY STAR energy performance indicators (EPIs), or, in the case of petroleum refineries, the Solomon Associates Energy Intensity Index (Solomon-EII™) scoring system. Plants must score 75 or higher on these 100-point scales—indicating that they are more energy efficient than at least 75% of similar facilities nationwide—to be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification. ENERGY STAR certification is available for 20 manufacturing sectors, from cement and steel to glass and commercial bakeries.
Tennessee plants recognized as part of this program:
- Beiersdorf North America, Cleveland (pharmaceutical)
- Buzzi Unicem USA, Chattanooga (cement manufacturing)
- Crown Bakeries, Dickson (commercial bread and roll baking)
- Crown Bakeries, Nashville (commercial bread and roll baking)
- Nissan North America, Decherd (automobile engine) - TGSP Member
- Nissan North America, Smyrna (automobile assembly) - TGSP Member
- Tate & Lyle, Loudon (corn refining)
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Upcoming July11, 2022 @1:00 P.M. CST
TDEC's Office of Sustainable Practices have hosted two open discussion this year. Over thirty TGSP members participated on our most recent call, with discussion ranging from difficult to manage materials and waste to potential solutions to problems at facilities. Members were able to share successes and vendor information to aid other members.
During this open discussion members will have the opportunity to talk to other industry members about pollution prevention strategies, recycling, resource reuse, vendors, and any other items relating to facility environment, health, sustainability, or operations. Members will receive a reoccurring quarterly calendar appointment.
Join us if you can and meet other TGSP members. You never know if a solution to an issue you are having is discussed.
Last discussion yielded topics such as:
- Finding a reuse for a byproduct from 3M (Cristobalite). Discussion has yielded experiments using this product at Florim USA.
- Logistics is a killer for any solution!
- Waste to Energy doesn’t offset the tipping fees due to logistics and shipping to the few facilities.
- Corporate wants to vet vendors to verify that they are truthful about where the material is actually going. Can’t just take the word for it.
- Wood scrap is the biggest headache for Volvo Penta. They are working on becoming zero waste to landfill and this has become a huge issue. Also corporate is starting to take charge of vendors that aren’t even located in Tennessee.
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The RPPC (Rigid Plastic Packaging Container) Laws and Program got brought up. Janice Boren mentioned that this is something that CalRecycle has more information on. Here is the link for more information: https://calrecycle.ca.gov/plastics/rppc/
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April 2022 Member Highlight
NWI Nashville
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June 2022 Member Highlight
American Snuff of Clarksville
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Best Practices Expo in Atlanta
October 4-6, 2022
The Best Practices EXPO & Conference is devoted to Optimizing the On-site Utilities Powering Automation – including compressed air, blower, vacuum, pneumatics, motors and cooling water systems.
Join equipment sales engineers, engineering firms and manufacturing personnel for Continuing Education (PDH Credits), Certification Exams and Networking Opportunities. REGISTER today.
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Carbon Neutrality Terms & Definitions
The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) – an association of global automakers and their suppliers working together to advance environmental sustainability through the automotive supply chain – has published a new guidance document on carbon neutrality terms and definitions developed by a collective of automotive sustainability leaders.
Developed through a collaborative process between leading global automotive manufacturers – including Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda Development and Manufacturing of America LLC, Stellantis, and Toyota Motor North America – working through an SP Carbon Neutrality Work Group, this new guidance document is designed to provide information to automotive suppliers on terms and definitions related to the topic of carbon neutrality to further support the supply chain in implementing carbon reduction and reporting programs aligned with common industry expectations.
Guidance Document: Carbon Neutrality Terms & Definitions
As companies in the automotive industry proactively work toward long-term goals of achieving carbon neutrality, it is expected that suppliers take an active role in striving to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from their businesses as far as possible. The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to automotive suppliers on terms and definitions related to the topic of carbon neutrality to further support the supply chain in implementing carbon reduction and reporting programs aligned with common industry expectations.
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Distributed Generation for Resilience Planning
By Ben Bolton, Senior Energy Programs Administrator
The Distributed Generation (DG) for Resilience Planning Guide provides information and resources on how DG, with a focus on combined heat and power (CHP), can help communities meet resilience goals and ensure critical infrastructure remains operational regardless of external events. If used in combination with a surveying of critical infrastructure at a regional level, this guide also provides tools and analysis capabilities to help decision makers, policy makers, utilities, and organizations determine if DG is a good fit to support resilience goals for critical infrastructure in their specific jurisdiction, territory, or organization.
If you are interested in learning more about CHP, the U.S. Department of Energy free technical assistance to help evaluate your site through Tennessee Technology University and North Carolina State University in the Southeast Region. Please contact Isaac Panzarella, P.E., Director – Southeast CHP TAP at 919-515-0354 or ipanzarella@ncsu.edu.
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