Category Archives: Air Quality

Moving forward with a Comprehensive Sustainability Policy for Salt Lake City Corp

by Brooke Taylor

As our readers know, one of SLCgreen’s core goals is to help you adopt tips and practices to make your life more sustainable. Whether that’s reducing your contribution to air pollution, learning how to eat more local food, or understanding what to recycle, all of us have a role to play in making Salt Lake City a more sustainable place to live.

That goes for our own operations as well. One of the major areas of focus for SLCgreen (as the City’s Sustainability Department is known) is helping SLC Corporation adopt best practices when it comes to those same sustainability measures we ask of our community.

That’s why we’re delighted to share with you some elements of our new internal Sustainability Policy, signed in January 2017 by Mayor Biskupski.

Sustainability Collage

This policy affects Salt Lake City’s approximately 3,000 government employees, the community as a whole, our vendors, and the supply chains emanating from those vendors. By vowing to practice the best sustainable methods in all operations from prohibiting Styrofoam cups in break rooms, to carefully tracking our buildings’ energy usage, SLC is setting a community standard—a green standard.

We’d like to note that many of the guidelines in the Sustainability Policy were already in effect through various executive orders and policies, but this is the first time the best practices have been consolidated and turned into a comprehensive document.

If you’d like to read the whole policy, you can find it here.

Otherwise, read on for highlights . . . Continue reading

How to Improve Summertime Air Quality

Summer Ozone

Courtesy of www.ucair.org

Many of us associate bad air– yucky inversions and hazy gunk– with winter in the Salt Lake area. But did you know that we have bad air days in the summer too?

While it’s mostly invisible, ozone is just as harmful as particulate matter for the very young, very old, those with health conditions, and people who exercise outdoors.

Ozone is caused by emissions from vehicles, industry, and a multitude of chemical products which interact with sunlight and high temperatures.

So how can we reduce ozone?  Continue reading

Sustainability Highlights in the Mayor’s Proposed Fiscal Year 2018 Budget

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Last night, Mayor Biskupski presented her proposed 2018 fiscal year budget to the City Council.**

In the proposed budget, the Mayor continues to press for cleaner air and other practical approaches to addressing climate change.

Last summer, the Mayor and City Council adopted a historic resolution to completely transition Salt Lake City’s community electricity needs to renewables by 2032 and to reduce carbon output by 80 percent by 2040.

The Mayor wants to keep the momentum going toward greater sustainability citywide.

First up: Initial steps will be taken in partnering with Rocky Mountain Power in establishing a large solar farm for cleaner City energy. This goal is part of a robust Clean Energy Cooperation Statement the City inked with RMP last year that requires cooperation in evaluating and implementing multiple projects to help the City achieve its clean energy targets. Continue reading

SLC Mayor Biskupski Joins The Mayors For 100% Clean Energy Initiative

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Today, Mayor Jackie Biskupski and a coalition of U.S. mayors joined with the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign in a new effort to engage and recruit mayors to endorse a goal of transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy in cities throughout the country.

The initiative, “Mayors for 100% Clean Energy,” is led by Mayor Biskupski; Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine; Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin; and San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. The mayors function as co-chairs of the effort.

Salt Lake City announced its 100 percent goal last July when the Mayor and City Council passed a joint resolution establishing the goals of transitioning the community’s electricity supply to 100 percent clean energy by 2032, followed by an overall reduction of community greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2040. Continue reading

Looking for a new car? Sign Up for ZOOm Go Electric through May 31

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Are you waiting for the right time to buy a low-emission vehicle? Are you interested in helping clean the air and save money?

We’re excited to let you know that a new bulk purchase program for electric vehicles is BACK! (The last one, U Drive Electric, put 127 cleaner cars on the road in three months!)

ZOOm Go Electric is the newest discount program to launch. It runs from now through May 31, so get on it soon.

According to a 2013 analysis conducted by SWEEP and Utah Clean Energy “all electric” vehicles produce 99% lower emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 95% less sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, 76% less nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions as compared to a new gasoline vehicle. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles reduces emissions significantly as well. Continue reading

Salt Lake City Publishes Plan to Tackle Climate Change

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Salt Lake City Publishes Plan to Tackle Climate Change and Carbon Pollution

Climate Positive plan prioritizes regional collaboration, community participation, and innovation to reduce pollution and enhance local resilience to warming temperatures.

 Salt Lake City has released a comprehensive plan entitled Climate Positive 2040, detailing ways the Capitol City will sustain its leadership role in addressing climate change.

Continue reading

SLC Mayor Signs Sustainable Infrastructure Executive Order

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On January 12, 2017, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski signed the Sustainable Infrastructure Executive Order, calling for citywide collaboration on sustainability.

Continue reading

Salt Lake City Debuts 28 New Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

 

Mayor Biskupski Liberty EV

Mayor Biskupski charges up an electric vehicle using one of the 28 new Level 2 EV charging ports located across Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and DAQ Director Bryce Bird announced Wednesday the addition of 28 new electrical vehicle charging ports across the city.

The new “smart” Level 2 EV charging stations are located at 12 sites—new and existing—across Salt Lake City and have replaced five older units.

Locations include the International Peace Gardens in Jordan Park, Sorenson Multicultural Center, Sunnyside Avenue near Hogle Zoo, Pioneer Park, the Forest Dale Golf Course, and more.

Continue reading

Good News on Solar in Utah

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Google’s Project Sunroof shows Salt Lake City’s massive solar potential. Click the image to navigate to the Sunroof site to explore the city’s energy potential.

Did you know that more solar energy reaches Earth in just five days than all of the fossil fuel reserves combined? Harnessing that solar energy is a critical part of switching to renewable energy and creating a more sustainable community, especially for sunny Utah.

And while the $2,000 state solar tax credit is set to phase out by 2021, there’s still enormous room for growth.

Continue reading

Air Quality in the Utah Legislative Session

The Utah Legislative Session is in its final days. All proposed bills must be passed before midnight on March 9.

Salt Lake City has staff who attend important hearings, speak to our legislators, and represent the City’s interests in the 45-day session.  Here in the Sustainability Department, we closely follow important bills particularly as they relate to air quality, energy, food, and other sustainability initiatives.

One of the most impactful ways to improve air quality is to fully fund the state agencies that must research and regulate it. This is a common sense measure that Salt Lake City supports. Because it is not under our purview to regulate air quality permits, emissions, or compliance with the federal Clean Air Act, we want to see the State’s Division of Air Quality– which does undertake those tasks–receive the funding they need to do their jobs effectively.

However, receiving their full appropriations request is never a sure thing.

In the waning days of the 2017 session, we hope the Utah Legislature will support clean air funding and other bills to reduce pollution.

For more information, please read the below copy of Breathe Utah’s recent letter to the Executive Appropriations Committee.  To stay informed on air quality legislation, please visit HEAL Utah, Breathe Utah, Utah Clean Energy, or Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment.

Breathe Utah Logo

March 8, 2017

To: The Honorable Members of the Executive Appropriations Committee

Re: Budget for the Division of Air Quality Continue reading