Kansas Environmental News

Summer/Fall 2011   

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Thank you for registering to receive electronic communications from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's (KDHE) Pollution Prevention and Small Business Environmental Assistance Programs.  KDHE is pleased to publish this Summer/Fall issue of Kansas Environmental News. We encourage you to share the newsletter with co-workers and friends to assist us in developing the e-mail contact list. Simply click the "Forward Email" button at the bottom of the page.KDHE Logo 

 

If you have any comments or recommendations on how to improve the e-Newsletter, feel free to e-mail Cathy Colglazier at [email protected]

In This Issue
Regulatory Agenda
KDHE Hosts Kansas Environmental Conference
Pollution Prevention (P2) Awards
Resourceful Kansas Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy Program
Environmental Sustainability for the Printing Industry
ISO 50001 Energy Management System Standard
Kansas P2 Intern Program
Upcoming Events

KDHE Division of Environment Regulatory Agenda 

 

KDHE's Division of Environment has numerous regulations currently in process. To view the regulatory agenda, click the link below. 

 

DOE Regulatory Agenda 

KDHE Hosts Kansas Environmental Conference

by Cathy Colglazier, KDHE

  

The 2011 Kansas Environmental Conference was held August 16 - 18 at the Maner Conference Center/Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka. The conference recorded its highest attendance with over 400 individuals participating throughout the event, which focused on environmental compliance, pollution prevention and sustainability.  

 

On Tuesday, August 16, the KDHE Bureau of Environmental Remediation and the Technical Assistance to Brownfields Program at Kansas State University hosted a Brownfields Workshop. Over 70 individuals attended the workshop to learn more about resources for redevelopment in Kansas communities.

 

The conference started Wednesday morning with a plenary session on the State of the Kansas Environment presented by John Mitchell, Director, KDHE Division of Environment. Concurrent sessions covered various topics related to air, water, waste, remediation, sustainability and pollution prevention. The conference closed with a plenary session on the Status of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan presented by Tim Barr, NBAF Site Manager for the Department of Homeland Security.

 

Thirty-five vendors displayed their products and services at the conference. Many of them offered great prizes for the vendor drawings held on Thursday. A vendor social hour was held on Wednesday evening. This was a great opportunity to visit with the vendors in a relaxed atmosphere.

 

The conference presentations are now available online at www.kdheks.gov/sbcs/environment_conf.html. If you'd like to participate in the planning of the 2012 conference, feel free to e-mail Cathy Colglazier at [email protected].

 

 

KDHE Presents Pollution Prevention (P2) Awards

 

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) announced the 2011 Pollution Prevention (P2) Award recipients during an awards luncheon at the Kansas Environmental Conference, held Aug. 16-18 at the Maner Conference Center.

 

John Mitchell, KDHE's Division of Environment, presented award plaques to Eaton Corporation-Hutchinson Division, John Deere Coffeyville Works, and Collins Bus Corporation of Hutchinson. Honorable Mention was given to Water District No. 1 of Johnson County.

 

The Kansas Pollution Prevention Program promotes pollution prevention as an environmental ethic to achieve improvements in public health and environmental quality. The awards are presented to entities that have reduced or eliminated waste at the source, reduced air emissions or practiced energy and/or water conservation. Companies, communities, schools and organizations each year are able to apply for the Kansas P2 awards.

 

"Our P2 award recipients are to be applauded for the successful planning and implementation that went into their conservation projects. In addition to recognizing these companies for their accomplishments in pollution prevention, the P2 program allows us to highlight specific efforts so that others might be able to incorporate the same projects into their business or manufacturing processes," said Mitchell.

 

Eaton Corporation, an internal supplier of machined components for PVE and medium duty piston pumps and gear pumps, is reducing water through reverse osmosis, allowing for a "greener" treatment of the water used in its boilers and cooling towers. The company also changed its lighting from the old 400W high-pressure sodium lights to T5 and T8 energy efficient lights.

 

John Deere Coffeyville Works manufactures pump drives, transmissions and gear related products for construction, forestry and agriculture components. John Deere reduced air emissions and waste, in addition to conserving energy and water, through a variety of pollution prevention projects. For example, to reduce electrical consumption, the company incorporated automated controls for tempering ovens, a factory lighting upgrade and the use of high-efficiency electric motors. To lower air emissions, John Deere avoided more than 400 pounds of NOx per month by replacing several diesel engines with electric motors for testing.

 

Collins Bus Corporation, a manufacturer of Type-A buses, was awarded for its efforts in water conservation and solid waste. Collins Bus reduced its reservoir change-outs to save more than 420,000 gallons of water annually, and it implemented a reusable shipping frame for its bus windows, replacing the wooden shipping frames that had to be disposed.

 

Honorable Mention went to Water District No. 1 of Johnson County for implementing source reduction projects such as reducing the amount of disposable cups and plates, reducing the amount of copy paper being used and reducing the amount of trash receptacle liners by centralizing fewer receptacles. The facility also implemented a Green Driver Program to monitor and improve driver behaviors to reduce fuel consumption for the water district fleet vehicles.

 

Additional information on the P2 projects is available on the P2 award website.

2011 P2 Award Recipients

2011 P2 Award Recipients

Resourceful Kansas Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy Program

by David Carter, K-State Pollution Prevention Institute

  

 

 

The Riley County Public Works Facility is leading a grant team to provide free energy efficiency and renewable energy services to several categories of eligible organizations, including city, county and state facilities; unified school districts and private schools; colleges, universities and technical schools; agribusiness and non-profit organizations.  

 

 

Resourceful Kansas, funded through the U.S. Department of Energy, is a new program whose mission is to "to engage communities throughout the state of Kansas in making a fundamental shift toward a less energy intensive, more efficient economy."  The application for Resourceful Kansas is live on the website, www.ResourcefulKansas.org Eligible organizations can attend a one-day seminar in Riley County to receive a hands-on tour of four different types of wind turbines, solar LED lighting, solar radiant floor heating systems and more. The next seminar is scheduled for October 26, and is open to all eligible Kansas organizations, regardless of location.  A portion of the organizations attending the seminar will be selected for a free energy assessment.  

 

Seminars will also be conducted on January 25, 2012; April 25, 2012; July 25, 2012; and October 24, 2012.

 

 

Please share this information with your county commissioners, county departments, mayors, public works directors, city councils, schools, libraries, museums and colleagues through your listserve and personal contacts and visit the website for additional information.  

 

 

If you have any questions, please contact David Carter at [email protected] or 785-532-4998. 

 

 

 

 

Environmental Sustainability for the Printing Industry

by Nancy Larson, K-State Pollution Prevention Institute 

 

Environmental compliance requirements can be confusing and intimidating for the printing industry, especially small printers. The Kansas Small Business Environmental Assistance Program (SBEAP) can help your business improve both its understanding of the requirements and environmental sustainability.

 

In partnership with the Printing Industries of America and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas SBEAP will host "Sustainable Printing: Environmental Compliance and Beyond" in Wichita and Olathe, Kan. next March. The events will help printers answer the following questions:

  • How can I make my practices more sustainable, reduce emissions, and save money?
  • How do I track my solvent emissions to determine if I need an air permit?
  • What type of air emissions record keeping should I be maintaining?
  • When is it legal for me to evaporate my waste solvents or inks?
  • What is the right way to handle used rags?
  • Is there a compliance assistance checklist?
  • What is the Sustainable Green Printers Partnership?

All of these questions and more will be answered at these events just for Kansas printers. Please plan to join us in Wichita March 1 or in Olathe March 6, 2012.

Questions? SBEAP can provide confidential, free on-site technical assistance too. Simply contact Nancy at 800-578-8898 or [email protected]

The New Kid in Town - ISO 50001 Energy Management System Standard

by David Carter, K-State Pollution Prevention Institute

  

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) welcomed a new member to its family of management system standards in June. Like both previous ISO management system standards, the ISO 50001 standard is intended to provide organizations with a recognized framework for integrating energy performance into their management practices. It follows the Plan-Do-Check-Act model for continual improvement of the energy management system. As stated on the ISO website, the ISO 50001 standard is intended to accomplish the following:

  • Assist organizations in making better use of their existing energy-consuming assets.
  • Create transparency and facilitate communication on the management of energy sources.
  • Promote energy management practices and reinforce good energy management behaviors.
  • Assist facilities in evaluating and prioritizing implementation of new energy-efficient technologies.
  • Provide a framework for promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain.
  • Facilitate energy management improvements for greenhouse gas emission reduction projects.
  • Allow integration with other organizational management systems such as environmental and health and safety.

In the ISO press release announcing the launch of ISO 50001, Ken Hamilton, Global Energy and Sustainability Services, Hewlett Packard, described ISO 50001 as a "very pragmatic standard" which will help companies to integrate energy management with business practices, and allow multinational companies like Hewlett Packard to reduce energy costs and increase the efficiency of energy use throughout global supply chains. Delta Electronics, one of the early adopters of ISO 50001, operates manufacturing plants in Brazil, China, Europe, India, Japan and Mexico. Delta Electronics used the standard to reduce power consumption by 10.5 million kWh at its factory in the Dongguan region of China.

 

ISO 50001 contains five broad categories of requirements - energy policy, energy planning, implementation and operation, checking and management review - each of which is divided into other requirements specific to those categories. As this is a voluntary standard, any company meeting all requirements of the standard can self-declare its conformity to the standard, invite its customers to verify its conformity to the standard (second-party verification) or obtain certification by an independent auditor (third party verification). In a press release issued earlier this summer, Schneider Electric's head office in France claims to be the first building in the world to earn the new ISO 50001 certification. However, for those of you interested in certifying to the standard, the titles of first building in the U.S. and first building in Kansas still remain.

 

ISO 50001, Energy Management Systems, was "born" when the first meeting of ISO's new project committee PC 242, whose mission was to develop an international standard on energy management, was held on September 8-10, 2008. Energy and management experts from 44 ISO member countries participated in the development of ISO 50001, with another 14 countries acting as observers. Existing national or regional energy management standards from more than 10 countries, including the United States, contributed to the ISO 50001 framework. ISO 50001's siblings include ISO 9001, Quality Management Systems (developed initially in 1979 and last revised in 2008), and ISO 14001, Environmental Management Systems (developed initially in 1993 and last revised in 2004).

 

For more information, or to purchase a copy of the ISO 50001 standard, visit the ISO website at www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/management_and_leadership_standards/specific-applications_energy.htm. You can also contact the Kansas Small Business Environmental Assistance Program at 1-800-578-8898, or visit our website at www.sbeap.org.

The Kansas Pollution Prevention Intern Program

by Nancy Larson, K-State Pollution Prevention Institute

 

Many of you in attendance at the 2011 Kansas Environment Conference heard about the amazing work these P2 interns have accomplished at Kansas industries. Nearly 50 million kWh reduced, 244 million gallons of water conserved and 7.4 million dollars saved for Kansas industries since 2006 based on the P2 intern project recommendations.

 

If you would like to learn more or want to "sell" upper management on the idea of hosting a 2012 intern, then plan to attend a short webinar, Thursday, Dec. 8, at

9 a.m., to learn more and ask questions. Information on the webinar can be found at www.sbeap.org.

 

Industry applications are due Jan. 30, 2012, and can be filled out online at www.sbeap.org/content/internships. If you have questions, please feel free to call David or Nancy at 800-578-8898. 

Upcoming Events 

 

Free Hazardous Waste Generator Workshops will be offered in September and October.  For more information, go to www.kdheks.gov/waste/p_workshops.html.

 

Healthcare Conference and Trade Show

October 5 - 6

For more information, go to www.kcahe.org/events/kcahe-annual-conference.

 

Kansas Works! Conference

March 27 - 29, 2012

Dodge City

Mark your calendars to attend the 2012 Works! Conference.  Information will be available at www.kdheks.gov/waste/index.html shortly before the conference.

SBEAP Logo

 

 

 

 

Are you a small business that has questions regarding compliance with environmental regulations or permits? Don't hesitate to call Kansas State University's Small Business Environmental Assistance Program for free, confidential technical assistance!  Simply call 800-578-8898 or visit www.sbeap.org.

KDHE LogoAs the state's environmental protection and public health agency, KDHE promotes responsible choices to protect the health and environment for all Kansans.

 

Through education, direct services and the assessment of data and trends, coupled with policy development and enforcement, KDHE will improve health and quality of life.  We prevent illness, injuries and foster a safe and sustainable environment for the people of Kansas.